The Alaska Building

photo from vintageseattle.orgBuilt in 1904, the Alaska Building sat 14 stories above 2nd Avenue in Pioneer Square as the first steel-framed skyscraper, and subsequently the tallest building, in the Seattle. The Alaska Building held the title until 1911, when it was surpassed by the 18-story Hoge Building just down the road.

Seattle Regrade

Seattle wasn't simply building up, however; in the early 1900's, the city was in the midst of a series of regrade projects (60 in total), sluicing roughly 45,000,000 tons of earth into Elliott Bay and creating the city we know today. The work was dangerous, and the towers of dirt left by the sluicing proved precarious. A number of people fell to their deaths. 

Rumor has it, one such death occurred near where the Alaska Building sits, and that the ghosts of project engineers haunt the hotel that now occupies the building. Men's voices can be heard in the back office. Cash drawers of the hotel's registers will fly open on their own. In one story about the building, a group of staffers noticed the lights in the alley had all gone out and they went to investigate, only to return to find the downstairs lights out, followed by the bank of computers in the lobby, and finally the TVs in the guest rooms.

The Lusty Lady and her Famous Marquee

In June of 2010, after 27 years of business on First Avenue, the Lusty Lady closed its doors. Following in the footsteps of decades past, the Lusty Lady was a $0.25 peep show featuring live dancers (according to the Post Intelligencer, the Lusty Lady was the only $0.25 peep show left in Seattle). More famous than any of its performers, however, was the vintage-styled pink and black marquee featuring witty remarks and tawdry puns. Seattleites were so fond of the marquee that multiple websites and twitter accounts were dedicated to its every word. Some favorites include:

"Dangerous Curves Ahead" ~ "Where Every Miss is a Hit" ~ "Clash of the Tight Buns" ~and the fond farewell: "Thanks for the Mammaries" 

If you're feeling nostalgic, or if you've never seen it before, you can visit the marquee in its new home at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) in Montlake. The museum has plans to develop a family-friendly interactive exhibit around the marquee when they move into their South Lake Union location late next year.

To learn more about the Lusty Lady and the history of 'Flesh Avenue', check out our over 18 Ghost Tour, also known as the Lust Tour at 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays!

The Japanese Farmers Market

Seattle experienced a decades-long economic boom during World War II, due in large part to Boeing military contracts and the influx of American troops passing through on their way to the Pacific. At the same time, however, Seattle suffered a great loss as thousands of Japanese-American citizens were removed from their homes and relocated to inland internment camps. In the first two months of internment, almost 7000 people had been moved into Camp Harmony in Puyallup.

By 1940, almost 3/4 of the farmers supplying Pike Place Market were of Japanese descent. As the number of produce vendors dwindled from 600 to as low as 50, the Market struggled to supply enough food to feed the growing numbers of sailors, soldiers, and civilians in the city, and many think the decades following the war were the most harrowing for the Market and its vendors.

Some Japanese were very lucky: their neighbors purchased their farms and businesses for mere dollars, selling them back to the families for as little when they returned from the camps. Most were not so lucky, however, and some 44,000 voluntarily remained in the camps after they were released because they had no homes or businesses to return to, and they feared widespread racism.

The Seattle Japanese American Consortium League, in conjunction with the Market Public Development Authority, the Wing Luke Asian Museum and other organizations, has created the Pike Art Project to commemorate the Japanese-American farmers. You might notice some of the art as you walk through the Market, like the mural located just below the ‘Farmers Market’ sign on Western Ave and Pike St. To learn more about the project, check out the website at www.pikeartproject.org.