Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
In a city perched on many steep hills around several bodies of water, these bike racks on the front of Sound Transit and Metro buses are a welcome aid to cyclists trying to find solutions to getting past obstacles in their commutes. A nice backup for the occasional flat when you've left your pump home, too :-).
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Transportation via bus in Seattle is quick and reliable (this spoken from someone with years of commute time racked up on rapid transit, light rail, and bus in San Francisco and the East Bay). Considering the price of parking downtown, bus fares are a bargain and many people choose to visit their favorite shopping areas via Metro services.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Evening shoppers wait for traffic crossing University Ave. Many a student in many an era has walked through this scene. The U District was looking a little deserted this Thanksgiving weekend, but University of Washington students will be back in force Monday for the start of their last two weeks of classes and finals before the winter break. That route 30 Metro bus is taking riders south along the avenue which is decked with festive stars.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
On this Thanksgiving Day I'm thinking of my generous parents who made a wonderful life for me and my brother and shared so much of what they had with friends, family, and perfect strangers over the years. I'm thankful for churches, organizations and individuals who share their time and resources with the poor and take risks, leaving personal comfort zones to show friendship and care through personal and collective action. As the weather turns cold and economic worries have everyone wondering "will we have enough?", it's good to take stock of what is important in life and keep sharing with each other. Seattlites are such generous folks. Thanks to everyone who is making food donations, serving community meals, distributing warm clothing and sleeping bags, providing shelter and showers, caring for kids and the elderly, giving gifts to community organizations, and making life a little easier for someone who could use a lift to their spirits.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
A cold afternoon didn't deter runners and walkers around Greenlake from fitting in some activity before tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast and the start of a long weekend of fun and family gatherings. Hope your pies turned out well :-). Ours are cooling as I write this, and their fragrance is wafting through the house. We hit the road for Portland in the morning and a fun day with dear friends. Wishing all of you in the USA a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow! Will you be a host or guest, or have alternate plans for the day?
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
An end of the work day stream of traffic flows under the Washington Convention and Trade Center's goliath clear barrel arch that covers Pike Street for a full block. It has redefined the space for seven years now and unifies the two sides of the street. I notice some lovely spangles adorning the arch's interior right now.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Still sporting summer's cotton crop pants with her fall suede boots , this cycling lass is waiting for pedestrians to clear an intersection before she turns a corner in her downtown commuted home. The rain is just starting on this chill autumn evening. Two small cards adorn her front spokes, one has a great owl graphic advertising an event at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Where else but Seattle? :-)
I'm not sure of the properties of light that create this appearance in an overcast night sky, but I have gotten this coffee brown color in cloudy or rainy night shots before. These colors are straight out of the camera with no alteration, and that's the top of the old WaMu building. Maybe it's less cappuccino colored and more Theo chocolate colored? Or is it Market Spice cinnamon tea colored? ;^)
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
This is the rotunda entrance of the City Centre building at 5th and Pike with a view of the rainy streets and sidewalks outside. The street trees are alight and festive decorations already adorn much of downtown as Seattle readies itself for the holidays. Festivities kick off in a hometown sort of way the day after Thanksgiving with the Macy's parade in the morning, and that evening the 51st lighting of the Bon Marche/Macy's Star and the lighting of the Westlake Center Christmas tree at 5 PM, followed by a grand fireworks display. All that will take place about a block away from this building in the core of downtown's shopping district next Friday. Seattlites turn out in very large numbers to enjoy the long-held Thanksgiving weekend traditions together. Lights, festivals, feasting and holiday activites will flow on from there throughout the city and at Seattle Center's month long Winterfest, complete with ice skating, Nutcracker performances, and free Saturday night bonfires. The fun keeps on rolling right through Advent, Las Posadas, Hanuka, Kwanzaa, Solstice, Yuletide, Christmas, Shogatsu, and ending with the New Year's fireworks display at the Space Needle.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Here is the peak-filled view looking east across Lake Washington toward Stevens Pass in the Cascade range. A cormorant is sunning itself on a white piling after drying its wings, and a mother and daughter visit with the ducks.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Lots of small eateries and cafes are crammed into a popular stretch along Alki beach. Many offer enticing specials for lunch or dinner. Now that our Pacific Northwest early evenings are darker and chillier, the lighted signs make a cheerful welcome to come in from the beach and the wide bike and pedestrian path to enjoy a warm meal. Might you head upstairs or downstairs here?
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Two cyclists take a stretch at Matthews Beach. The Burke-Gilman trail offers splendid views across Lake Washington, here looking northeast across the northern finger of the lake to an area near Denny Park on the Eastside. Hope your day is as pleasant as ours here today, where the sun is shining in a hazy blue sky and the mountain is "out" :-) .
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Seattle is crisscrossed by creeks and watersheds. This is a photo of Thornton Creek near the entrance to Matthews Beach Park in the Wedgewood neighborhood. A family with three small children and a photographer were on the bridge snapping away on this idyllic autumn day. The creek meanders through this hilly neighborhood past homes whose backyards run along the creek bed, sometimes incorporating the creek through them with small foot bridges and overhanging decks. One home to the left of this shot actually had a tower of sandbags atop the concrete wall separating their yard from the creek side, perhaps a sign of high water from the rains last week.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Cooperatively created by neighbors in lieu of a raised traffic circle, this painted ladybug in a busy Wallingford neighborhood intersection catches people's attention in a big way, and that hopefully slows their speed. A neighbor told me it was an idea his former housemate suggested after seeing something similar in Portland. The neighbors organized and formed a plan, got Seattle Department of Transportation review, permits, and funding to create their whimsical reminder to slow down. They get together for a fun block party each year to refresh the paint. Fun coincidences happen when you are creating a blog entry: Bruce Cockburn's "Slow Down Fast" was streaming while I worked on this, suggesting the perfect title :-).
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
. . .that's what the banner on the apartment house reads. It predates the homeless encampment on the parking lot of University Christian Church. The church is being fined by the city for hosting the encampment, named "Nickelsville" (a la depression era "Hoovervilles") for mayor Greg Nickels, whose support for sweeps of homeless campers from parks, underpasses, and vacant lots last year and this prompted protest and an attempted but thwarted large encampment on city and county lands last month before relocating here. Several of the city's christian congregations have hosted a well organized rotating "tent city" in their parking lots over the past number of years and been similarly threatened with fines for doing so under former mayor Schell and current mayor Nickels. Many congregations have opened their indoor spaces to serve as evening shelters, but not all can. One wonders if the tents were those of a youth group, cancer walk or scouting event if the city would take notice or impose fines for camping on private property. According to reports, the city is suggesting that the church shelter all 80 campers inside their building rather than host an exposed encampment, but offers no financial assistance to do so.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
One more find of a cheerful, creative Seattle roofline for you. This scalloped portico's shape extends through to become the interior ceiling of this White Center neighborhood commercial building in West Seattle. Playing with geometry and repeats seems to have been a very popular commercial design feature in the 1950s and 1960s. Construction didn't seem to to be of superior quality, though, so if not well-maintained, they might rapidly deteriorate.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Like a rolling sea, 50s and 60s architectural details took curves and angles and worked them into almost everything. Of course, so did the deco period, but in a different, less "space age" way. This portico is at Seattle Center. Tomorrow, another related photo. Happy Friday everyone!
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
The 60's leaves its mark. The repeating design element of this roofline caught my eye in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. I'm calling this Googie, but I'm not sure if these geometric designs influenced by patterns in science and space age preoccupations might have another name. With a figure walking in the opposite direction of yesterday's shot, I thought I'd kick off a series of shots related to each other in some way or another.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
The Troy Laundry facility was the largest in the pacific northwest in 1948. Designed by prolific Seattle architect Victor Voorhees and built in 1927, it is now has landmark status. Thirteen years ago the Seattle Times whose old plant was next door, asked for permission to raze the adjoining laundry to expand and modernize its newspaper plant. The request was denied, appealed, and denied again. So, the Times moved a big part of its operation to Bothel in 2001 and uses part of this building to store newspaper vending machines. The rest lies vacant. This southern wall shows off some of the patterned masonry facade and white terracotta architectural elements. Click here for some other views.
Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
Night ride home, but these cyclists paused to view the lights and reflections on a glassy Lake Union. Today is a day we all can pause and reflect on the sacrifice of lives since "the Great War" which ended in an armistice at the eleventh hour on 11-11. My mom was a Navy veteran during a later war. I'm missing her a lot and reflecting this Remembrance Day / Veterans Day about her years of service in the WAVES and the five other young women who became her life-long dear friends after meeting in training and serving together. Here is a salute to Stinky, Irene, Mary, Brownie, Sexy, and Inez. I'm thinkinboutcha all as I look out on the water.
