Location: Central Seattle
Address: 305 Harrison St.
Acreage: 74
It’s funny that our city’s greatest public space is not really an official park. But, since Seattle Center is such an important part of our city and it feels like our Central Park with 40 acres of open space, I knew I wanted to include it. And there’s no better time to talk about Seattle Center than during the 50th anniversary celebration of the World’s Fair, which kicked off last month.
A true urban hub, Seattle Center was built as the fairgrounds for the World’s Fair in 1962. The Space Needle and Monorail were the two major attractions, and they’ve defined the Seattle skyline ever since.
Today, you’ll find so many attractions and events, it’s impossible to cover them all. Here are some of the things worth checking out:
– International Fountain with kids on a hot day
– Experience Music Project or EMP for the music fans
– Pacific Science Center and IMAX Theatre for all ages
– A new skate park
– McCaw Hall for opera, ballet and hundreds of other music and performance events
– Bumbershoot, PrideFest and Bite of Seattle, among many others for those who love a crowded festival scene
– An alternate high school
– Vera Project for teens and young adults
– Our champion women’s basketball team
– Our local public TV station
– A zip-line that opened this month
The Center House, cleverly named for its geographic location at the center of the park, was previously an armory and has been recently renovated to bring it back to its roots. The updated building is free to enter and also has new food vendors coming soon.
You can take a self-tour and check out many, many more attractions with this guide.
#342 (Visited 4/21/12)