SEATTLE: Jet City Weekend

ThatDarnSacramentan · #1 Posted **Jan 21, 2013, 4:50 PM**

I needed a break from Portland and I had a three day weekend. Usually, I'd fly home to Sactown. This time around, I did something different (and cheaper): weekend road trip to Seattle. I love Seattle. Easily the only place outside of California that I'd consider living. I'm not thrilled about having my basketball team taken from me, but to me, Seattle is exactly what a city should be, feel, and look like. This weekend trip was the happiest I've been in a while, and goddamn it, I'll be spending a lot more time up there one way or another!

There's a lot of everything in here, so without further ado, I give you Jet City through my lens. Let's go!

OhioGuy · #2 Posted **Jan 21, 2013, 6:15 PM**

Love that city! If I were to move to the West Coast and didn't live in San Fran, Seattle would likely be my next choice. I loved it both times I visited the city/region.

cabasse · #3 Posted **Jan 21, 2013, 6:49 PM**

DAMN.

i have to make it out there sometime soon. i would drop everything and move there if the opportunity presented itself.

mhays · #4 Posted **Jan 21, 2013, 8:25 PM**

Sweet, merciful jebus. Phenomenal photos.

seaskyfan · #5 Posted **Jan 21, 2013, 8:48 PM**

Great photos! Glad you enjoyed your trip.

fflint · #6 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 2:49 AM**

Great set of pics. Seattle is awesome.

mello · #7 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 4:22 AM**

After just getting back from Sydney I would have to say Seattle's skyline would be close if it had about another 5 500 to 600 footers thrown in the mix. From certain angles it looks very built up with towers over 300 feet or so. Especially in those views from the North. Wow, for its metro size it really does kick ass and the Bellevue skyline is almost like Century City now so SEA be poppin.

Love the hilliness and it does look very urban in these shots. I haven't been there in 18 years... I need to get back. Oh and the port had no boats in it though... must have been a slow weekend.

Danny · #8 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 6:51 AM**

Very nice tour and pictures! Thanks for sharing.

I´d move to Seattle at once too. It looks a comfortable city to live in, full of life. I´m wishing to visit it, I hope someday...

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

BoiseAirport · #9 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 7:46 AM**

Awesome set of photos, really well done!!

I agree with your statement that Seattle is everything a city should be. Great culture, gorgeous skyline, huge sense of civic identity, high potential for future growth, and it just has a general feeling of balance. The density in this shot is just perfect:

Thanks for posting.

Architype · #10 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 9:12 AM**

Great photos, and some of the new buildings are outstanding. I'm a bit surprised that you think Seattle is the ultimate city. I've always liked it, but with all the freeways cutting through it, it was IMO somewhat spoiled (My Vancouver POV). The Space Needle was definitely an astute way of making the skyline iconic.

JiminyCricket II · #11 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 9:26 AM**

Absolutely amazing set, you gots a talent for photography I wish i could duplicate. Sorry bout the Kings... For real, incompetent owners don't realize the civic pride and duty they actually wield on their whim and it sucks that's what it comes down to.

Can't help but love that bum, the middle finger with a smirk on his face.

mhays · #12 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 4:30 PM**

We're a looooong way from perfect.

But one of those freeways (the one with a waterfront viaduct section) is going away in early 2016, replaced by a two-mile deep bypass tunnel.

Our imperfection, to me, is 50% about underused space. But that's also a boost. First, we get to watch construction for more decades to come. Second (and more importantly to most people), when a big organization wants to build new offices/labs/whatever on a large scale in/near Downtown, it still can. Recent examples are the Gates Foundation, Seattle Children's Research, the University of Washington SLU campus, Cornish College of the Arts, and of course Amazon, which is already three million square feet (already an astonishing figure) and plans to double in short order. On a smaller scale, we also have room for a lot of other offices, hotels, housing, labs, hospital expansions, parks, and so on.

ChrisLA · #13 Posted **Jan 22, 2013, 10:41 PM**

I haven't been to Seattle in years, I would love to visit during it's rainy season. The time I visit it was sunny and warm the entire week I was there, very nice images of this beautiful city.

Thundertubs · #14 Posted **Jan 23, 2013, 1:51 AM**

Holy hell, that's a good thread. Some really nice urban context shots in there.

I was sent to Seattle for business last spring for a week and loved it.

ColDayMan · #15 Posted **Jan 23, 2013, 2:26 AM**

Great city.

ThatDarnSacramentan · #16 Posted **Jan 23, 2013, 4:24 PM**

Thanks for the responses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhays

Sweet, merciful jebus. Phenomenal photos.

Best reaction I've gotten to a photo thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Architype

Great photos, and some of the new buildings are outstanding. I'm a bit surprised that you think Seattle is the ultimate city. I've always liked it, but with all the freeways cutting through it, it was IMO somewhat spoiled (My Vancouver POV). The Space Needle was definitely an astute way of making the skyline iconic.

Perhaps ideal is the better word. I've never been to Vancouver, and I'd like to visit someday. To me, when I think of a city, with all its intricacies and its people and built environment, Seattle has always been what comes to mind first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JiminyCricket II

Absolutely amazing set, you gots a talent for photography I wish i could duplicate. Sorry bout the Kings... For real, incompetent owners don't realize the civic pride and duty they actually wield on their whim and it sucks that's what it comes down to.

Can't help but love that bum, the middle finger with a smirk on his face.

That bum had better be the Maloofs a few years down the road.

InlandEmpire · #17 Posted **Jan 23, 2013, 9:47 PM**

Great set! One of the best collections of photos of this city I've seen on here in awhile. Interesting you wanted to get away from Portland to come visit Seattle; seems most Portlanders I know like to drive right on through to Vancouver haha...

With all of the current and upcoming development in Seattle, it almost seems like it's pulling further away from Portland and becoming a different kind of PNW city, if that makes any sense. Maybe less comfortable and more dynamic.

atlantaguy · #18 Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 4:54 AM**

Absolutely fantastic images of one of my top 3 favorite American cities, ThatDarnSacramentan.

You have an excellent eye for amazing perspectives.

ThatDarnSacramentan · #19 Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 7:28 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by InlandEmpire

Great set! One of the best collections of photos of this city I've seen on here in awhile. Interesting you wanted to get away from Portland to come visit Seattle; seems most Portlanders I know like to drive right on through to Vancouver haha...

With all of the current and upcoming development in Seattle, it almost seems like it's pulling further away from Portland and becoming a different kind of PNW city, if that makes any sense. Maybe less comfortable and more dynamic.

I am not and never will be a Portlander; how dare you sully my good California name with that accusation!

To me, I think the heart of the difference (besides the economies and growth patterns and the rest of that) is in the culture of the two cities. Portland just isn't a serious place in my opinion. The culture is laid back to the point of laziness and not being serious. Portland is content with what it has, for the most part. Seattle, on the other hand, has long been aware that it can be a premier city if it works toward it. It still has the overall West Coast relaxed feeling, but Seattle remains serious, competent, and competitive enough to be continually improving, and that's how Seattle can be on par with cities like San Francisco and Chicago. Me, personally? Seattle's my favorite city on the West Coast (leaving the Kings issue aside).

mhays · #20 Posted **Jan 24, 2013, 5:04 PM**

Portland does a lot to improve itself. It's usually qualitative and of moderate scale. The result is a very nice, moderately-scaled city. They've gone big in some ways, most notably the South Waterfront (a work in progress) and the Pearl.

It doesn't go big, and in some ways precludes going big. For 25(?) years Downtown had an unmoving limit on parking spaces. The result was a good mode split and pleasant walkable streets. But, along with height limits etc., it also limited growth.

Seattle, meanwhile, has allowed itself to grow far more, both in/near Downtown, in urban villages, and in suburban nodes. At the outer edges, our growth management is looser, which is mostly not good but does make it easier to grow certain types of companies. Add to that the luck of having Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, and the military, plus the foresight/luck that put the UW in the middle of town and made it a massive research machine in addition to academics.