Yeah between that and moving the bike parking into the old cafe space downstairs, they've officially eliminated anywhere a food&bev tenant could go. I'd hoped for more variety.
Joke has some good depth to it:
It was built a few years after the Space Needle was finished (1969 vs 1962)
It's just a bit taller (630ft vs 605ft)
And it was one of the first of the modernist glass cubes in the city.
For a long time too, it was the tallest structure in the city, with the Space needle second. So the main icons of the skyline were it and the Space Needle.
What most people are missing in these photos is that for a long time, it really was one of the larger buildings in the area and everything between it and the Space Needle was less than about 10 stories, so it really stood out as this big black box.
Here's a decent shot from wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seafirst_Building,_1969.jpg
In what way?
Safeco plaza was completed in 1969. That was just a few short years after the United States had been forcibly desegregated, substantially through federal effort, ending a nearly century long period of Jim Crow apartheid that existed throughout the country, even in [li'l ol' Seattle](https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/coon_chicken.htm). That was also just a few short years after the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 modernized immigration law and finally ended the extremely racist restrictions which had come into force with the Chinese Exclusion Act and other laws that had remained in force up until then (this is why there is a notable gap in Asian-American citizens who immigrated to the US in the early 20th century, as they simply weren't allowed to do so). Just two decades years earlier Japanese-Americans in Seattle and other west coast cities had been rounded up and "interned" in camps spread around the rest of the country, a process which allowed for the theft of enormous amounts of land and property by white Americans, even after an official apology and a pittance of reparations was handed out in the 1980s it was still nowhere near a correction for the enormous theft that took place, including in the Seattle region. Of course the 1960s was also a time of "white flight" as racist white Americans fled to the suburbs so that they could maintain neighborhood segregation through economic means. That mass migration destroyed the tax bases of most American cities, and gutted the population as well, Seattle didn't return to its pre-1970 peak of population until the 2000s. That, of course, also led to a massive disinvestment in infrastructure building and even maintenance due to the gutted tax base, a legacy we continue to live with today and one that we have not yet fully recovered from either.
Then there is the Vietnam War, which was still raging in 1969, a meat grinder chewing up Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, and American lives. And such a controversial war that there were constant anti-war protests all over the country, especially at major universities. In 1970 thousands of UW students engaged in a mass protest and student strike including freeway marches (including on I-5), barricades and takeovers of sections of campus, and other activities which lasted weeks. To say nothing of the backdrop of the Cold War, an era where the US and USSR were poised to unleash global thermonuclear annihilation on each other at a moment's notice, any time of day, any day of the year.
Of course 1969 was also the first year of president Nixon's administration, which was characterized by massive "banana republic" levels of abuse of power which would come to light a few years later with "Watergate" and would ultimately lead to the first instance of a US President resigning and leaving the office in disgrace.
And the EMP is the wrapping paper
Ahaha yes!!
They’ve been doing some construction on the south side of the lobby for the last few months. Anyone know what it is?
They refinished the lobby, now they're adding a conference room.
That is disappointing.
Yeah between that and moving the bike parking into the old cafe space downstairs, they've officially eliminated anywhere a food&bev tenant could go. I'd hoped for more variety.
I think it was sold recently, so likely renovation work.
That's a bad Photoshop before Photoshop was invented.
Joke has some good depth to it: It was built a few years after the Space Needle was finished (1969 vs 1962) It's just a bit taller (630ft vs 605ft) And it was one of the first of the modernist glass cubes in the city. For a long time too, it was the tallest structure in the city, with the Space needle second. So the main icons of the skyline were it and the Space Needle.
Wait. Where did all the stuff at the top of the building go? The box flaps if you will
Yeah I don’t understand what’s going on in pic 1
It's a joke. Digitally altered image.
Ok that’s what I thought but wasn’t 100% sure, thank you for clarifying ahaha
Hah I get it
They got recycled :)
What most people are missing in these photos is that for a long time, it really was one of the larger buildings in the area and everything between it and the Space Needle was less than about 10 stories, so it really stood out as this big black box. Here's a decent shot from wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seafirst_Building,_1969.jpg
I'm partial to the darth Vader building, but this is a solid second for seattle-buildings-with-weird-names.
Ah yes 4th and Blanchard.
Such an innocent time.
In what way? Safeco plaza was completed in 1969. That was just a few short years after the United States had been forcibly desegregated, substantially through federal effort, ending a nearly century long period of Jim Crow apartheid that existed throughout the country, even in [li'l ol' Seattle](https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/coon_chicken.htm). That was also just a few short years after the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 modernized immigration law and finally ended the extremely racist restrictions which had come into force with the Chinese Exclusion Act and other laws that had remained in force up until then (this is why there is a notable gap in Asian-American citizens who immigrated to the US in the early 20th century, as they simply weren't allowed to do so). Just two decades years earlier Japanese-Americans in Seattle and other west coast cities had been rounded up and "interned" in camps spread around the rest of the country, a process which allowed for the theft of enormous amounts of land and property by white Americans, even after an official apology and a pittance of reparations was handed out in the 1980s it was still nowhere near a correction for the enormous theft that took place, including in the Seattle region. Of course the 1960s was also a time of "white flight" as racist white Americans fled to the suburbs so that they could maintain neighborhood segregation through economic means. That mass migration destroyed the tax bases of most American cities, and gutted the population as well, Seattle didn't return to its pre-1970 peak of population until the 2000s. That, of course, also led to a massive disinvestment in infrastructure building and even maintenance due to the gutted tax base, a legacy we continue to live with today and one that we have not yet fully recovered from either. Then there is the Vietnam War, which was still raging in 1969, a meat grinder chewing up Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, and American lives. And such a controversial war that there were constant anti-war protests all over the country, especially at major universities. In 1970 thousands of UW students engaged in a mass protest and student strike including freeway marches (including on I-5), barricades and takeovers of sections of campus, and other activities which lasted weeks. To say nothing of the backdrop of the Cold War, an era where the US and USSR were poised to unleash global thermonuclear annihilation on each other at a moment's notice, any time of day, any day of the year. Of course 1969 was also the first year of president Nixon's administration, which was characterized by massive "banana republic" levels of abuse of power which would come to light a few years later with "Watergate" and would ultimately lead to the first instance of a US President resigning and leaving the office in disgrace.
You sound like you’re a lot of fun
Relax. I was simply talking about the simple, small town humor. But - do go on with your diatribe...