Doc & Kolchak

Pioneer Square Area

Here’s a view of Safeco Field in Seattle that I took myself in 2005 out of the open cockpit of a biplane I was riding in .  Below, is a street map of the area; The Pioneer Square Area.  My favorite square in all the world.  Herald Square?  Pffft, forget it.  Times Square?  Pulease.  Trafalgar Square?  It’s a zoo.  Give me Doc Maynard’s Saloon and the Underground tour and the totem pole and the Pioneer building and the vintage iron rain shelter…what do they call them?  Cupola?  Ahh, senior moment.  Anyway, Pioneer Square is it and that’s notwithstanding the fact that Carl Kolchak did his most important story (never printed of course) right there.

[For those of you who don't know, Pioneer Square itself is bounded by First, Cherry and Yesler.  First Ave is really the heart of the area though.  Did you know?  That in the bad old days, circa 1900, no persons of Chinese descent were legally allowed to go East of Occidental St. and "Occidental" means "Western", so that makes sense linguistically; in reality it is total insanity.  They were the gold rush times.  Life was harsh.  We have it good now.]

So anyway, Last year I had done a post on Camden Yards and the fact that a developer is building a hotel that will BLOCK the view of the Bromo-Seltzer Tower FROM Camden Yards.  I am normally very pro-business, but around a ballpark that is an icon of a city, you want to be careful, you know?  So I wrote my thoughts and here, a year after that was published, a law firm sends me a comment that they would like to use the photo of the Bromo Tower in their case re Seattle and the ballpark and what not.  Now I have no idea exactly what the rub is, I think I can back into it.  What if someone is looking to build big high rises between Safeco and Yesler, just behind Occidental Park?  Then Safeco’s gorgeous view of the downtown of Seattle is blocked.

And while I’d like to see that area a little more juiced up, I wouldn’t want it to change into Manhattan in the 50′s either.  I think that there should be a statue in Pioneer Square of Carl Kolchak–straw hat and blue Seersucker suit and all.  In fact, I told my wife that if called to testify in this case, I WOULD fly out to Seattle in a blue Seersucker suit, no question.  Life is strange sometimes.  Kolchak would be proud of me.

Dear Mr. Mirentz:

Re the blogpost: “Hello, I was hoping to get permission to reuse the first photo in your blog that shows the Bromo Seltzer building. Our law firm, K&L Gates, is helping the Washington State Major League Baseball Facility District submit comments to Seattle City Council opposing zoning changes near Safeco Field that will block views.”

Yes, you may have my permission to use any of the top 3 photos on the blog post: http://mcgonnigle.wordpress.com/2007/07/30/oriole-park-at-camden-yards-bromo-tower-baltimore/#comment-16887

Those photos I took myself—the others came from other sources.

I’d love to know a bit more about the specifics. The Pioneer Square area and the underground should be treated as historical places that need to be preserved, reasonably. Take the example of losing the flat iron building on Yesler to a pie-shaped concrete parking garage—total abomination. Views of the city from Safeco are also special and while quite intangible, are part and parcel of the signature of Safeco, a focal point of Seattle civic pride.

While you’d love to see the Pioneer Square area spruced up along the lines of “The Gaslight District” in San Diego, you’d prefer not to do it with high rises that hem in Safeco either. Surely, there must be some reasonable middle ground there? And I’m assuming that’s what this is about but I don’t know.

Thanks;