There are many activities and things to do in Seattle, Washington. Though it may not be a city that is immediately associated with tourism, visitors will not find themselves bored or at a loss as to how to spend their time. Whatever time of year you plan on heading to Seattle, rest assured that you will have a great experience.

Street performers, professional sports, ethnic food, art, and site-seeing are just a selection of the things the city has to offer to visitors. No matter what your interests, there is a good chance that you can indulge in your passions. What’s more, if you were to choose to base yourself in a downtown hotel, most of the tourist sites are accessible on foot.

The Space Needle is perhaps the most famous attraction in the city. Constructed in the sixties for the World Fair, it has become an iconic symbol of Seattle. In fact, it is suggested to be one of the most recognizable buildings in all the US. The views from the rotating restaurant are too great to miss out on. It is the perfect place to get your perspective and understand how the city is laid out.

Pike Place is an area that is full of street entertainers and quaint restaurants. More than a hundred years old, Pike Market is the place to go if you love to browse small family run stalls. Vendors offer a diverse range of products from antiques and clothes, to fruit and fish. It is suggested that Pike Place offers a great introduction to the energy of the city.

The Ballard Locks are an engineering marvel, they allow ships to pass from Puget Sound to Lake Washington. Their rising and lowering water levels are a fascinating sight to take in. At the right time of the year you can also watch salmon swimming upriver into Lake Washington. Surrounding the locks are well maintained grounds, a perfect place to have a picnic in the summer.

The Pacific Science Center is another fascinating attraction. The center offers multiple entertainment options under one roof. There is an IMAX theater, a planetarium, and a tropical butterfly house. It also hosts traveling exhibitions which are interesting for people of every age and background. If you are traveling with kids, or if the weather turns bad, the Pacific Science Center is a great place to visit.

Pioneer Square is also a location to add to your itinerary. The historical significance of this neighborhood goes back more than a century. Today, it has become the city’s premier cultural location. Here is where you will find the most bars, nightclubs, bookstores, internet cafes, galleries, and coffee shops.

There are many things to do in Seattle. Whether you are staying for just a couple of days or planning to base yourself in the city for a week or so, rest assured you will not be left wondering how to spend your time. To add to the city’s appeal, many of the best attractions are free to explore.

The Paramount Theatre in Seattle is one of Washington State’s oldest and largest entertainment venues. Many great concerts, musicals, comedians, and shows have passed through this well known landmark. Listed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places, it is larger than the equally famous Fifth Avenue Theatre.

The Paramount was first opened to the paying public in 1928. As the name suggests, it was part of a chain built by Paramount Studios. During the twenties and thirties, silent films and vaudeville shows were the big draw. Due to the slight disadvantage of being located a few blocks away from the main entertainment area, the venue made up for its unfavorable position by being the most opulent and biggest theater in the city.

From the forties onwards, the venue was a dedicated movie house, primarily showing first-runs. It was in the early seventies that Paramount was bought by the Clise Corporation whose intent was to bring live shows back to the venue. Its excellent acoustics made it a big draw. Performances by Kiss and Alice Cooper were amongst some of the most notable concerts of the period.

Since the seventies and eighties, the venue has undergone many repairs and changes to bring it up to the standard seen today. During these two decades the theater struggled with debt, specifically as the cost of maintaining such an old building was not cheap. It was thanks to Ida Cole, a Microsoft vice-president that funds were made available for essential renovations and upkeep.

Today, Paramount is owned and operated by the Seattle Theatre Group. It regularly hosts a broad selection of performances and has become an integral component of the city’s culture. Not only is the venue an obvious landmark, it is also a building which has helped to forge the careers of many of today’s stars.

Each season the theatre has a diverse selection of shows and performances. The team running the venue place importance in offering a mix of concerts and events from local acts as well as established musicians and comedians. It continues to be a venue that is known for its excellent ambiance and dedication to quality.

The venue’s fame has been added to as a result of a number of performances that were recorded and released. For example, there is a famous Grateful Dead concert that became a live album, a Heart DVD entitled “Alive in Seattle”, and a Soundgarden Video. Many famous Seattle bands have graced the Paramount’s stage, as well as international stars.

There are many interesting things to do around the surrounding area. The city’s main shopping area is just a ten minute walk away. There are also a number of delightful cafes and restaurants within a two block radius, perfect for a meal before or after watching a show or performance.

The Paramount Theatre in Seattle deserves its long standing reputation. There are very few venues on the West Coast which can compare to its illustrious history. It is for good reason that today it still attracts top artists and large crowds. A evening spent here is one that is rarely regretted. If you are planning a vacation in the area, it is certainly worth spending a few hours at this illustrious theatre.  Check out all the Seattle Events

The Seattle Seahawks are a football team based in Seattle, Washington, and are part of the National Football League. Although they play in the National Football Conference (NFC), they are the only team in the league to have played in both NFC and American Football Conference (AFC) championships. They joined the NFL in 1976, along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as an expansion team.

They have made the playoffs eleven times, the first being in 1983 and most recently in 2010. They also have seven division championships; two were in the AFC West division, in 1988 and 1999, and the other five were in the NFC West division. They also won the title in four consecutive years in the NFC West, from 2004 to 2007, adding another in 2010. They also won their only conference championship, of the NFC, in 2005.

Their only Super Bowl appearance was at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan, on February 5, 2006. They lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 21-10. After entering the second quarter behind 3-0, the Steelers scored a touchdown each consecutive quarter to come out with the victory.

The Seahawks have played thirty-six seasons since joining the NFL in 1976. As of 2011, they have a record of 250 wins and 266 losses for a winning percentage of . 484. Including playoff games, they have a record of 257-276, for a winning percentage of . 482.

In 2010, they became the first team in the history of the NFL to make the playoffs despite having a losing record. With a season record of 7-9 for a . 438 winning percentage, they defeated the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round. They then became the first NFL team to ever win a playoff game with a losing season record.

Pete Carroll is the current head coach of the Seahawks, accepting the job on January 8, 2010. The team’s owner and chairman is Paul Allen, who was also the co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates. The general manager is John Schneider, who was hired to work in the organization just days after Pete Carroll.

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Seattle Mariners is a name to reckon with when it comes to baseball. It is a professional team that is based in Seattle and was enfranchised in the year 1977. Their current home park is Safeco Field but before they moved to the new park they were situated at Kingdome.

Knowing the origin of such a unique name is important. The city is well known for its prominence of marine culture hence the name of the team. This means that they identify with the culture of the city and are proud of who they are. It is such pride and love for such a city that has put them on the map for the rest of the world to see.

A little background on their games shows constant improvement over the years. It is actually a team that one gladly becomes a fanatic of. It was until 1991 that they did have a win for their first time. However, this was not to be the case until the year 1995 when they won a first division championship in the division series.

They have since set world records such as having the highest number of wins in a single season. This took place in the year 2001 where they won a total of 116 games during the season. This record is yet to be broken. Such are the tremendous events that have led to more glory every season.

Despite such success, they have not managed to gain a berth in any world series. This is a dream for every player which has not yet become a reality. Seattle Mariners team is owned by a corporation known as Nintendo of America. In fact it is among the three teams that are owned and managed by corporations. The team continues to soar in its greats with its star ever shining.

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The original Starbucks in Seattle, Washington was opened in 1971 by Zev Siegl, Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker. It was originally located at the Pike Place Market district, a historic area in downtown Seattle. Because the district is protected by historic area design guidelines, that store retains its mandated look which is unrelated to the branding and design of the chain’s other coffee shops.

The name is drawn from the first mate of the ship Pequod in the novel Moby Dick. The founders had intended to use the name of the ship but this was rejected.

The first store was located in Western Avenue between the years 1971 and 1976 after which it was relocated to Pike Place where it still remains in operation today. The founders were inspired by Alfred Peet who sold quality green coffee beans, roasting machines and coffee making equipment. In their first year they bought green coffee beans from Peet’s after which they sourced their own from producers. In 1984 the founders purchased Peet’s and one of the original founders still works there.

In 1988 the founders sold the store and name to the Il Giornale company which rebranded their own coffee shops to the brand and began an expansion phase for the franchise. Starting in Vancouver in Canada and moving to British Columbia and Chicago in that same year they opened multiple stores and by 1992, the year that the company was floated on the stock exchange, it had grown to 165 outlets.

Today Starbucks Corporation is an international coffeehouse chain that is still based in Seattle, Washington. It has become the largest coffee company in the world, with more than 17,000 stores. The original Starbucks in Seattle remains a testament to the founders’ vision and a reminder that a good idea that is well implemented still has the power to take over the world.

Travel and Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler, two of the worlds’ most recognized travel magazines, recently voted Seattle one of their top ten cities to visit. Seattle is a dynamic and creative city known for its’ art, heritage and culture all in a setting of natural beauty. Amongst the best things about Seattle are the wonderful mountain and water views. Seattle is proud of its arts and cultural institutions.

Downtown Seattle is easy to explore and the heart of the city is easily walkable. Restaurants, shopping, arts and various visitor attractions are all within walking distance of the citys hotels and inns. The city is surrounded by pristine waterways, two mountain ranges and three national parks. To the west lies the only temperate rain forest in the continental U.S. and to the  east is a world class wine region. In 1962 Seattle sponsored a full-fledged world’s fair, the futuristic Century 21 Exposition. The fair left the city a permanent legacy in the Seattle Center and its complex of performance, sports, and entertainment halls, as well as the Pacific Science Center, the Monorail, and the Space Needle.

Starbucks opened its first store in 1971 in the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.  Because the Market is a historic district with design guidelines, the store retains its original look. Seattle is also home to the legendary pioneer of Microsoft. Seattle is also home to Boeing. When Boeing successfully introduced the 707 commercial jet airliner in the late 1950s, it heralded another burst of municipal optimism.  

There are plenty of things to do in Seattle. If you are a sports enthusiast, The Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Mariners, and Seattle Sounders always provide some competitive entertainment in their respective sport.

Seattle plays host to some of the top shows and concerts around the country. One of Seattle’s more famous venues is the Paramount Theater. For 77 years, Washington residents and visitors have been entertained at Seattle’s magnificent Paramount Theatre. Millions have delighted in The Theatre’s architectural majesty, viewed countless films, and enjoyed thousands of performers from all corners of the globe. Yet the story of The Theatre itself offers drama as compelling as any presented on its stage or screen.

All in all Seattle is a place people love to come back to and if you haven’t visited Seattle, you should add it to your list of places to see. The city is beautiful and there are a large variety of shows, concerts, theater events, art and museums.

One of the numerous towers that fill the skyline of Washington is The Space Needle in Seattle. This tower is one of the foremost landmarks and could be considered the symbol of this cosmopolitan city. In the year nineteen sixty two the World Fair was held and this was the reason for the construction of the tower.

This tower is one hundred and thirty eight feet wide, six hundred and five feet high and when completed, it became the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River at the time. Its total weight was calculated at nine thousand, five hundred and fifty tons. The engineers built it in such a way that it could withstand major earthquakes and wind speeds.

One of the most interesting visual phenomenons is that although The Space Needle in Seattle is not the tallest structure of the city, many photographs show it tower above all the other skyscrapers. This is because this sixty story building is built over a kilometer northwest of the other buildings of the downtown area.

It houses restaurants and an observation desk which makes it one of the most visited buildings in the city. Visitors take elevators from ground level to the top which takes just over forty seconds. People often stand in lengthy queues to get the opportunity to stand at the top of this magnificent structure. In the year two thousand and seven, management recorded the forty fifth million visitor mark.

The Space Needle in Seattle has been seen in a number of movies and television shows. Base jumpers also favor this tower for their life daring stunts. Only five base jumps have been allowed since its opening and the tower is monitored closely for any illegal attempts at base jumping. Furthermore, the building is featured as one of the world famous building block toys collections. A fifty seven piece Lego construction set has been available as part of the architectural series.