Friday, January 16, 2009

Crossroads


Photo & Text Copyright 2009 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

A major freeway carves its way north and south through downtown Seattle, dividing it from Capitol Hill to the east. These cross streets, Boren and Pine, create a giant floating X over I-5 and keep the neighborhoods connected via surface streets. Many a Capitol Hill resident walks this route from their downtown job or the bus terminal to their apartment on CH. Maybe you see a place you lived or went to school or commuted through in this view over the ridge toward the Cascades?

18 comments:

Pat said...

Have often passed over both streets. This would have been a good post for ABC Wednesday's recent 'X'!

Small City Scenes said...

That is a very interesting shot. When you are down on the street you never think about what you look like from above. MB

brattcat said...

Wow, X really does mark the spot. What a rich photograph...so much to see and still the eye continues to travel back to the X.

Katney said...

You missed my son's old place by a few blocks.

Becky said...

Ooh, cool shot! I do love the hovering "x". I don't know street names well enough to say, but I've done my fair share of driving around Seattle. So perhaps I have crossed this very spot. I like this "Seattle Live" shot.

Sorry I've been absent...in December my husband and I found out we are going to have our first child, and things have been a bit...distracting! :)

Anonymous said...

Look at the colours! Even the trees are bright red!

Wayne said...

Sometimes I stay at Springhill Suites and this looks quite familiar. I think the hotel fairly close by.

cara said...

This is one of those photos I could just stare at for ages - there is so much to see.

Dantes said...

This is my first time commenting!! I feel like I grew up with this blog. I'm from NYC and starting my second semester of college in Boston... I feel like Seattle is a place for me and the photos just make it seem like my dream place is getting closer and closer by the day. I'm currently studying entrepreneurship.. and Seattle is full of that (from Microsoft to Amazon lol). Keep it up!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome photo! Were you in a building when you took this?

postie said...

Its so nice to see pictures of Seattle that as a casual visitor you never see. Love the x over the freeway concept. Keep up the good work

Anonymous said...

Wow. There is just enough color in this shot to make the picture beautiful.

Tania said...

I love how much you got in this shot! I walked down Boren to this intersection many times. I see those radio towers in the corner that my husband would have to run to for PT back in the days of SU ROTC.

Kim said...

Bibi, thanx. you CDPBers that incorporate the special projects like ABC Wednesday, Skywatch Friday, Zen Monday, Oddshots and the like have my admiration.

MB, I had to laugh, because ever since Google Earth came out I've been extremely aware of how watched we are. . .in the shot of my house I can see the car in the driveway and me standing on the back deck! In the street view of a family member of mine's house in California the Google Cam came by when he was working in his open garage. He had no idea until I mentioned it. Of course, me and my street shots of folks also makes me aware how often I shoot folks who never notice me there. . .There are cameras everywhere. If my roof wasn't covering my head, the satellites would have shots of me cooking dinner! :-)

Brattcat, Thank you!

Kateny, well, I would have got it if those highrises weren't in the way ;^). Which direction?

Becky, thanx, and congrats! I've sent you an email.

Winnie, I think those trees are Liquid Amber trees, which have become popular here on the west coast for giving mapel-like colors of gold, orange, and red. They have these nasty little prickly pods, though. And don't park your car under one unless you want to spend an afternoon tediously removing the fine mist of sap droppings they give off at a certain times of year. They are beautiful, but as street trees over parking spots are not the best choice.

Wayne, yes, I think it is just up the street I was shooting from about four or five blocks. Hey, would you recommend that hotel? People are always asking me about places to stay.

Cara, Tank you. For me it is fun because I know so many of the places only from the ground level and enjoyed getting this territorial vantage point.

Damanick, Thanks very much. It is a wonderful city. Dude, have you been viewing for that long? ;^) well, SDP has only been around since 2006, but that transition you just made this fall seems like a big chunk of a lifetime, eh?

Bryan, Yes I was in a building (as opposed to an airplane or on a hill ;^). I was up 18 stories for this shot.

Postie, thank you so much. I see you've joined the fabulous Benjamin in blogging about beautiful Victoria. Anyone who visits the Pacific Northwest needs to visit your fair city and the rest of Vancouver Island. You are so blessed to live there (and get to walk its loveliness everyday!).

Abe, thanks so much. When our skies and our concrete cityscape seem to take on the same gray tones, it is nice to see those bright blocks of color on some buildings and the street trees and freeway plantings chosen for their colors.

Tania, OMGosh, running up CH to the towers. . .I can't even imagine. What a workout. Your sweetie went to SU? So did mine! It's weird that when I walk through or drive through that intersection, it doesn't seem so elevated from the street perspective. I saw a film recently that incorporates a flyover view of this intersection and it looks amazing from directly above.

Thanks to each of you for your kind comments and for stopping by!

-Kim

Katney said...

Three blocks north--just east of Cal Anderson Park. They sold their coop apartment last summer and moved to California.

Petrea Burchard said...

That is an outlandishly fantastic shot. Jeez.

Maya said...

Oh, yes. I've walked that way many times! Though I'm usually on a similar intersection just one block to the South.

Maya said...

Oops, I was looking at it wrong. That is, in fact, the actual intersection I usually walk!