Old World: Seattle Underground Tour

Have you ever wondered about the many who stood where you stand today? The transitory nature of this world is likely something we simultaneously think about and want to ignore. It engulfs in itself the light of knowing that others have been in your shoes, and at the same time the darkness that the very same people who inhabited the walls of your home may have an unspeakable truths in their stories. It is the feeling one gets when walking within the thick ancient walls of a fort – the fascination of humans who lived there, and the sense that places where they are now buried are forgotten, only to be visited by the chance tourist.

Some time back, I took the Underground Tour of Seattle. It is the part of Seattle that we all forget lies underneath our feet since the fire of 1889. The tunnels showcase alcoves of downtown retail stores and bootleggers doors that were created within the walls of this old city. The concrete floor depressed in places and the burnt wooden pipes jutting out of walls create an old world charm, which is further augmented by the carelessly strewn old bed frames and rusting metallic bath tubs. The oldest mechanical Otis elevator of Seattle lies in shambles, and iron doors of bank vaults still have old, Victorian locks. The lost remnants of the city still leave us with a few reminders though – the purple glass squares on the sidewalks of downtown Seattle that were once meant to act as skylights to underground retail spaces that were the gift of the city raising the height of roads and sidewalks, the Bruce Lee movies that we all watch without knowing that he was the first Asian resident of Seattle, and the Nordstrom stores set up by John Nordstrom and his family after they made a fortune selling supplies to Seattle-ites that wandered to the Yukon in search of gold. So, next time you walk into a Nordstrom Rack, or wander over purple glass skylights, know that there is an entire old world beneath your feet.

PS: This Bill Speidel tour is pretty funny and definitely worth experiencing at least once.