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Sub Pop
Sub Pop was the original grunge label, home to Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney. It was Soundgarden that brought the label’s founders Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman together in Seattle in 1987. Grunge, or the Seattle sound, is a hybrid of punk rock and heavy metal. The owners marketed the style cleverly, encouraging the media to describe it as…
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Labyrinth
The Artists at Play Plaza, located right next to the Museum of Pop Culture, is an artist-created playground. A 30-foot climbing tower joins an inviting labyrinth with a rebus at its center, a human-powered carousel, child-inspired musical instruments and much more to offer child-friendly fun. The labyrinth at Artists at Play is a replica of…
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El Corazon
The 120-year-old downtown club, has been a Seattle music venue and bar since 1910. It gained fame during the grunge era, hosting Pearl Jam’s first live shows as Mookie Blaylock and performances by Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and Mudhoney. Nirvana debuted an early version of Aneurysm here in 1990. The venue was the heart of…
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Giant Sequoia Tree
Who remembers when trees grew wild throughout the Pacific Northwest? To honor its evergreen past, Seattle moved a 30-foot-tall Sequoia (now 90 feet) 🌲 to a downtown triangle park from Aurora Avenue back in 1973. Did you know that Seattle’s Giant Sequoia🌲 made headlines in 2016, thanks to the #ManInTree incident? Dressed in khakis, a…
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Understory
The Spheres, part of Amazon’s headquarters, feature three large domes housing over 40,000 plants from 30+ countries, creating a lush workplace.Understory at The Spheres is an exhibit space hosting Amazon’s Artist in Residence program. Local artists engage with the community through workshops and exhibitions.Located on the ground floor Understory is open to the public from…
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Chief Seattle
The bronze statue of Chief Seattle, for whom the city is named, stands in Tilikum Place (meaning friends, tribe, welcome in Chinook Jargon). It was sculpted by Seattle artist James A. Wehn, who also designed the city’s seal. Suquamish Chief Noah Sealth (c. 1790–1866) maintained a peaceful relationship with the area’s first white settlers, who mispronounced his name…
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The Raven & the Light
The sculpture by Iole Alessandrini is a microcosm of both the sky and Seattle. This project invites visitors to contemplate the interplay between the Raven and the Light and is a portal to the celestial universe, a place to discover the sky through SkyView® Lite, a free stargazing app. This interactive display was inspired by…
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Monorail Man
Monorail Man was created by the Seattle Monorail Services Maintenance Team from discarded parts from the Monorail trains and stations.Fun fact: Monorail Man was built with about $15 in scrap metal. The Monorail was constructed in eight months at a cost of $4.2 million for the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a world’s fair hosted at Seattle Center. Century 21 broke…
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Flame No. 2
The bronze Flame by Egon Weiner was initially installed at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, a gift by Building Construction Magazine in recognition of the fair’s architectural and engineering achievements. The Century 21 Exposition (also known as the Seattle World’s Fair) was held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle. Nearly 10 million people attended the fair during…
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Plymouth Pillars Park
Those pillars once marked the entrance of the historic Plymouth Congregational Church, built in 1873. In the late 19th century, amid widespread hatred of Chinese immigrants, this church supported immigrants’ rights. During the 1909 World’s Fair, it hosted the National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention, advocating for women’s right to vote. After sustaining structural damage…
