Pioneer Square Walkabout, Seattle’s Historic Treasure Trove

Pioneer Square is a lot of things that Seattlites love.  It’s great shopping.  It’s lively and eclectic, with fun and funny takes on pubs and dining.  It’s near the ferries so you can pop over from the islands and stroll around to

Pioneer Square in Seattle

meet friends.  It’s in the “free bus” area of downtown, making it easy to get around and play, shop, enjoy coffee or the historic features everywhere you turn which lends it that “Old Seattle” feeling and ambiance.  Here is a little walkabout photo tour, and some examples of the city’s favorite haunts.

Photo Tour, a few shots of Pioneer Square (click here)

Historically, Pioneer Square is Seattle’s 2nd oldest neighborhood (the first settlers landed in Alki, now West Seattle, and establish a town but moved the second year to find a more sheltered spot for their settlement).  Since it’s adjacent to Quest Field and Safeco Field, the huge, relatively new sports stadiums that house Seattle’s treasured teams, the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks, it’s a popular place to go afterwards for a meal or a drink. After dark, it is full of entertainment in the form of dancing, live music, pubs and eateries for the evening hours. For

Paloma Cafe

those shopping and sightseeing in the daytime, it’s great for used books and well known Seattle book stores (check out Elliot Bay Book Company, Seattle’s beloved landmark, a warm and charming space with weathered wood and brick, Seattle Mystery Bookshop for a mystery specialist, and Wessell and Lieberman Booksellers for art and Northwest themes), and great antique shops. Some new to town don’t know that present day Seattle was built above an older version of the city which suffered a fire in 1889.  The Seattle Underground Tour is a popular afternoon’s exploration of the bones of the older Seattle below our modern day Pioneer Square.  Quite a few art galleries are located here, and there is a Pioneer Square Art Walk, a free tour the first Thursday of the month.

A sampling of restaurants includes:

New Orleans Creole Restaurant,
Mae Phim Thai Restaurant,
Wild Ginger Asian Restaurant (one of my favorties, NEVER been disappointed, not really in Pioneer Square but on the outskirts…)
Ivar’s Acres of Clams
Elysian Fields
Armandinos’s Salumi
FX McRory’s

A couple of the best or most interesting bars and drinking places would include:

Cowgirls (can be wild, they have bull riding) (sorry, website was infected, but look at it on Yelp)
Owl and Thistle Irish Pub (definitely a Seattle landmark)
Hwy 99 Blues Bar (yep, blues, old Seattle blue collar atmosphere)
Triangle Pub (top rated by Seattle pub goers!)
Marcus’ Martini Heaven (gets top ratings too, pictured in the virtual tour)