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Seattle history

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The 26 best things to do in Seattle

The city’s most iconic buildings, parks, public art, and more for you to visit right now.

In Seattle’s Bryant neighborhood, an eclectic shop finds a sense of place

A small row of neighborhood businesses overlooking a cemetery is a pocket-size time capsule in a changing city.

The multifaceted Horace Mann building has spent more than a century with Seattle Public Schools

The Horace Mann Building—currently home to Nova High School—is the district’s oldest, and perhaps most colorful.

The Re-Bar building has racked up nine decades of ghosts

While the physical building isn’t especially significant, it has a rich history in arts and community—and plenty of stories to tell.

Seattle’s long history of transit funding

The Emerald City’s reliance on car tabs is fueled by a complicated history.

Seattle’s favorite clown keeps goofing around in Fremont

‘Late for the Interurban’ keeps breathing life into iconic Seattle character J.P. Patches and his girlfriend Gertrude.

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Seattle’s most notable cemeteries

Cemeteries: We pass by them almost every day. In some cases, we may even walk through them without even knowing that graves lie beneath our feet.

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12 stunning historic buildings by Frederick Anhalt

These 1920s and 1930s buildings cover the city in Tudor and Mission Revival style—especially in Capitol Hill.

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Seattle’s most haunted hotels for ghostly vacations

Check into these storied, historic hotels—but never check out.

Fremont’s own flatiron building has hosted many a neighborhood icon

The former home of Auditorium Cleaners and Empty Space Theater was originally built as an Oddfellows hall—and continues to host iconic local businesses.

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Ten proposed Seattle football stadiums never built

Check out the list below of our favorite potential football stadiums that didn't come to be and try to picture what it would be like if the Seahawks called Interbay, Seattle Center, or even Tukwila home right now.

Looking back on vintage Bumbershoot design from the 1970s to the 2010s

Here’s what Bumbershoot used to look like, from umbrellas and rainbows to this year’s undersea theme.

Fremont’s giant Vladimir Lenin statue carries a complicated history—locally and globally

For more than two decades, the Soviet leader’s likeness has been featured in this quirky neighborhood. And for just as long, the piece has been a source of controversy.

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The Seattle filming locations of '10 Things I Hate About You,' mapped

No, there are no sheep

Historic Capitol Hill cottage offers period opulence for $1M

Built as an offshoot of the Skinner Mansion, this home is a smaller slice of Millionaire’s Row.

King Street Station was Seattle’s long-awaited link to the rest of the nation

Thanks to an innovative Canadian impresario who built a pass through the mountains—and an opulent train station to go along with it

The ultimate guide to T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners

How to eat, drink, get around, and explore

The Great Seattle Fire: Photos of early Seattle, the fire, and its aftermath

Before 1889, what’s now Pioneer Square was a whole different neighborhood.

How the Fremont Troll became a symbol of creative resilience in a tech boomtown

30 years later, the under-bridge installation keeps close watch over its neighborhood’s identity (and a VW Beetle).

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Frank Lloyd Wright's 5 closest homes to Seattle, mapped

He doesn’t have a huge presence in the Pacific Northwest—but there are a few homes around.

Capitol Hill’s historic Gaslight Inn listed for $3.5 million

This incredibly ornate Seattle Box is a city landmark

The Space Needle is looking for time capsule submissions

Think you can do better than Pearl Jam?

The iconic Lake Union Steam Plant smokestacks are getting a new look

The historic Lake Union Steam Plant—recognizable from I-5 as the building with the Zymogenetics smoke stacks—is getting a new paint job.

Historic Lavilla Dairy building comes with vintage Craftsman for $1.8 million

It’s on a huge, remote-feeling plot of land just a block off the main drag

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15 Seattle places to take your mom this Mother’s Day

Don’t just get brunch. Here are 15 rain-or-shine ideas for things to do with your mom.

The death-defying Lusty Lady building keeps narrowly escaping obscurity

The former home of the iconic Lusty Lady peep show has been through more than a century of changes

Gas Works Park is a beautiful way to remember a toxic past

How a groundbreaking cleanup transformed a former gas plant—and created one of Seattle’s most beloved parks.

Elizabeth Ayer was a pioneer in 20th-century architecture

Washington State’s first registered female architect left her legacy all over the Puget Sound

In the U District, a century-old Spanish Revival treasure grew beyond Buicks

The Eldridge Buick building at the corner of 45th and Roosevelt, like many historic buildings in Seattle, originally sold cars

In the Central District, the Liberty Bank Building celebrates black heritage—and a resilient future

The community-led development provides 115 units of affordable housing in a neighborhood fraught with displacement.

The Broad Street Substation is now a city landmark

The concrete campus by the Seattle Center is still an active Seattle City Light facility

The Seattle Nordic Museum is now the National Nordic Museum

The Ballard museum got itself a national designation

In Capitol Hill, the AIDS Memorial Pathway will celebrate life and resilience

An art project woven through Cal Anderson Park and nearby apartment buildings seeks to honor community and dismantle stigma

You might not have heard of the Arabian Theater, but you probably pass by it all the time

It’s part of the long, winding history of Aurora Avenue

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11 Seattle works designed by black architects

From ECC to NAAM

The many hues of that triangular building on East Olive Way

Ivey Studio is known for hosting bars with bold paint jobs, but its history is much longer

The Turner-Koepf House—known as Beacon Hill Garden House—is up for landmark status

The nomination follows a community-led preservation effort

Roslyn Cafe, famous for the ‘Northern Exposure’ camel mural, is for sale

The mural grew from a love of camels and stuck around thanks to television fame.

Looking back on Seattle streetcars and trolleys

We’re building out a new line—the latest in a long history.