Seattle is perhaps best known for the Space Needle and Starbucks, but there are many other unique quirks and features that make this city special. So whether you’re already a local or considering a move to the city, here are 12 facts about Seattle What you need to know
1. There’s a big troll living under one of Seattle’s bridges.
The 18-foot-tall, 30-year-old concrete troll beneath the Aurora Bridge at N. 36th Street and N. Troll Avenue was created by artist Steve Badanes and his team during a 1990 art competition aimed at renovating the area below the bridge. . The troll is inspired by Billy Goats Gruff, and if you find him, you will see that he is crushing a Volkswagen Beetle under his hand.
2. There are more houseboats in Seattle than any other city in the world.
Houseboats are a big part of what makes Seattle so unique and special, and many people are willing to pay a premium to live on the water. The city is also home to the famous Sleepless in Seattle houseboat, which rests right on the shores of Lake Union.
3. Pike Place Market was created in response to the price gouging for onions
Pike Place Market, which opened in 1907, is the oldest continuously operating farmers’ market in the country. The original Pike Place Market was created to combat the high prices of onions. In 1906, the city proposed the establishment of a public market where farmers could sell their products directly to consumers, thus avoiding the high prices charged by middlemen. This market was known as Pike Place Market and is now an iconic destination for both visitors and living in seattle.
4. The bronze pig and the flying fish at Pike Place Market have interesting stories.
The bronze piggy bank in the middle of the market is named Rachel. It weighs 550 pounds and was named after an actual 750-pound pig that won the 1985 Island County Fair. When it came to the flying fish, the fishmongers at the Market got tired of going to the fish table every time a customer asked for a fish, so they began to throw it on the counter.
5. Despite the rain, Seattleites buy more sunglasses than people living in any other city in the world.
Some of the reasons that contribute to this phenomenon may be: the need for protection against the glare of the sun on wet roads; the unique lighting of the Pacific Northwest, as even when the sky is covered in gray clouds, the area still has a distinctive glow; and the fact that the locals in Seattle are always on the go, no matter the weather.
6. Seattle is home to the longest permanent floating bridge
The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge is the longest floating bridge in the world, spanning 7,708.5 feet above Lake Washington in Seattle. Why do floating bridges exist? The answer has to do with the difficult geographic location of Lake Washington. The lake bed is too soft to support the piers of a conventional bridge. Another option would have been a suspension bridge, but that would require bridge towers as tall as Seattle’s Space Needle and would have been too expensive.
7. Places like Houston, New York, Atlanta, and Boston get more rain each year than Seattle.
Despite what many people think, it doesn’t rain all the time in Seattle. The city has gray days and a bit more rain than elsewhere, but on average, the city only gets about 38 inches of rain per year.
8. Seattle was the first major American city to have a female mayor.
Bertha Knight Landes was elected mayor of Seattle in 1926 and just six years after American women gained the right to vote. She was the only woman to serve as the city’s mayor until Jenny Durkan took office in 2017.
9. Seattle sits on top of an underground ghost town
The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 occurred on June 6 and changed the city forever. The fire started at 2:30 p.m. in a paint and wood shop and spread rapidly, engulfing 100 acres of the business district and waterfront. After the Great Fire in Seattle, many businesses were rebuilt in their original locations. The street was raised 22 feet, the water system and fire department were modernized, and wooden buildings were prohibited. Now you can take an underground tour below to see the original city that Seattle was built on.
10. The Space Needle was first designed on a cocktail napkin.
In 1961, Edward E. Carlson drew the Space Needle on a cocktail napkin as inspiration for the 1962 World’s Fair. Thanks to the underground base that extends up to 30 feet, and the structure built in just 400 days it can withstand up to 200 mph of wind speed and earthquakes of magnitude 9.1.
11. The city is about to suffer a great earthquake.
An earthquake with a magnitude between 6.8 and 9 is expected to hit Seattle in the next fifty years. The last time the Cascadia Fault erupted was in 1700.
12. Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks
The original Starbucks first opened in 1971. The “original store” found in Pike Place Market has retained its original floors, fixtures, and counters, making it unique compared to more than 20,000 other Starbucks locations around the world. world. For fans, there’s something special about being where it all began.
If you want to avoid the line at the original location, you can go to Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood to see the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. In addition to the Seattle location (which opened in 2014), there are outposts in Shanghai, Milan, New York, Tokyo, and Chicago. The menu is quite different from your typical Starbucks, with single origin coffees roasted on site, freshly brewed food and treats, and alcoholic beverages.
