Seattle’s Pike Market Place

Best Practices - Photography, Canon 60D, Canon 70-200 mm 2.8 IS L Series Lens, Canon Camera, Canon Lens, Canon Live View, Light Intensity, Photography & Conceptualizing Beauty, Project 365 - Photo-a-day, Spring, Still Life, Sunrise

One feature of our Seattle trip was we were active throughout each day walking, travelling and walking some more. Being active helped us maintain body rhythms and daily routine. We were usually up at seven and on our way somewhere by eight. Breakfast, most mornings, was at the Andaluca Restaurant, a restaurant attached to Seattle’s Mayflower Park Hotel. These morning meals were sumptuous – Brioche French Toast, Hazelnut Waffles, Steel Cut Scottish Oats and Banana Pancakes; a side of pepper bacon was added twice. Coffee was made as coffee should be and our orange juice was fresh. From this restaurant we’d head out to Seattle, its sights and attractions.

And, we always seemed to return to the Pike Place Market at day’s end, from up above, street side or from down below from the harbor. We seemed to arrive each day within the market’s last hour of hustle and bustle as vendors went about closing up shop – a flurry of activity, enthusiasm, good-natured banter with customers and the mingling and flow of people in movement into their evening. The photos presented here capture the Pike Place Market at day’s beginning and at its day’s end.

Notable among the attractions in the Corner Market (across from the Pike Place Market) is the original Starbuck’s (established in 1971) named after Starbuck in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. In terms of the novel’s whaling adventures, this setting for a coffeehouse Starbuck would frequent is appropriate.  The coffeehouse is a short twenty-minute climb up from the harbor piers of Elliot Bay to its location above the harbor, looking out onto the bay. This original Starbucks is the point from which the Starbucks’ empire has grown and it’s a company that has grown equally by way of its service provided as well as by the quality of its coffee. In It’s Not About the Coffee, Howard Behar (former Starbucks vice president) writes about the act of growing Starbucks by way of good leadership that emphasizes the relationship sustained between coffee consumer and service provider (Starbucks’ worker) – the human side of business.

Not only has good leadership and good business grown from this location, but, right across the street the Pike Place Fish Market has become a model for ‘cultural transformation and self-generative learning for organizations of all kinds.’  Their model for transforming an organization from within focuses on empowerment, transforming vision into reality and the conception that any organization has as one of its primary purposes that of making a difference in the world.

And, the business of the day continues, each day … in this very rich starting point … for many good things.

10 Principles of Personal Leadership (from Howard Behar in It’s Not About the Coffee – Leadership Principles from Life at Starbucks)

  1. Know Who You Are: Wear One Hat
  2. Know Why You’re Here: Do It Because It’s Right, Not Because It’s Right for Your Resume
  3. Think Independently: The Person Who Sweeps the Floor Should Choose the Broom
  4. Build Trust: Care, like You Really Mean It
  5. Listen for the Truth: The Walls Talk
  6. Be Accountable: Only the Truth Sounds like the Truth
  7. Take Action: Think Like a Person of Action, and Act like a Person of Thought
  8. Face Challenge: We Are Human Beings First
  9. Practice Leadership: The Big Noise and the Still, Small Voice
  10. Dare to Dream: Say “Yes,” the Most Powerful Word in the World

Quotes to Inspire – (1) “To photograph is to confer importance.” – Susan Sontag (2) “To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.” – Ansel Adams

Listening to – Counting Crows Omaha and Ghost Train; also listening to David Gray’s Shine.

19 thoughts on “Seattle’s Pike Market Place”

    1. Hey there, Angeline:

      There’s another coffeehouse that precedes Starbucks over in Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island – Murchies; it’s right next door to Alice Munroe’s bookstore. The coffee is made as well or better when compared with Starbucks.

      Take care, 🙂

      1. Most of the time when I’ve been there it’s been on business with a day or two of play afterwards. My first trip, though, was back in 87. On that trip… a lot. Went to a Mariners Game; toured the Rainier Brewery; of course Pike Place; the Aquarium; ate tons of seafood (of course); Chittenden Locks; the the loop around the Olympic Peninsula; Hoh Rain Forest; Ruby Beach; Dungeness Spit – although was getting dark so didn’t see much of it; hiked Mt St Helens to the summit (this was the first year it was opened up after the eruption) – was awesome, saw the smoldering lava dome; went up to Vancouver BC to the market there and the wooden suspension bridge (can’t recall the name); drove through Rainer Nat’l Park, but was cloudy that day, so no reflection in Mirror Lake; oh crap, whatever that big pass is there by the park; went to Oregon and saw Multnomah Falls and Mt Hood and the big lodge there; Columbia River Gorge, Crater Lake, oh sheesh… I’m sure a bunch of other stuff, too. That trip, summer 1987, was my first trip west of the Mississippi River. Drove out with the guy I was dating who had lived in Seattle and Portland before, so he knew both areas.

        It was a long trip as we were helping move his sister and her family to Spokane. Then were free after we dropped the moving truck off. It was probably one of the best trips of my life. Seeing the Rocky Mtns for the first time in Montana was magnificent! On the return drive (I was still in Indiana then), we went through Yosemite – but it was during the really bad fires, so most of the park was closed. Didn’t see ol’ Faithful or the Lodge. Did see the mud pots and some wildlife, but most had moved up above the treeline out of the fire range. Saw Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custers Last Stand, Mitchell SD Corn Palace, and other misc stuff. Oh, we made it in time back to Chicago to see the 2nd night game Cubs at Wrigley Field. Then home to Purdue territory.

        Then I didn’t return until 2010 on business. Was there for about 2 wks. Co-worker with me. When the work was done, we had 3 days to play. So drove the Olympic Peninsula again. Katrina had never been to the Pacific ocean, so I got to see the look on her face that Jed saw on mine the first time I went out there. Did a LOT of Pike Place and downtown stuff as Katrina is younger and liked the nightlife. And I enjoy people-watching so she drank, I watched and took photos and drove, and laughed at her when she was drunk. She was a good, funny drunk. Possibly good blogging material that night. Ate a TON of king crab – which is my absolute favorite seafood – of not favorite of all foods.

        Then went back last summer, 2011, twice on business by myself (which I actually prefer traveling alone). Pike Place, of course. King crab (Crab Pot is my favorite). Gas Works Park. Oh, that hill that overlooks the city – good photo spot. But was before I bought my Canon Rebel t2i so pix are “okay.” But best off all…. I finally made it up to the San Juans to go whale watching. One of the most incredible experiences. LOL… actually, I’ve had so many. I really am lucky to have experienced so much all within out country. But here is the video I made from this last summer (hope you don’t mind that I embed it here. Even though I say so myself, it’s a pretty good video – even with the boat going up and down all the time, I shot enough footage that I could get a few seconds here and there that was stable enough to see the whales):

        That was an absolutely MAGICAL trip. All the sea life… breathtaking. This was still before I had my Rebel camera, but I did have my new Canon Camcorder, so the footage I took from the trip all came out pretty good. I have several more vids of that trip. I’ll share after I leave this comment cuz if I include them here, then Akismet will spam it.

        Hope you don’t mind the story I just wrote here. I do so truly love Seattle and would love to move up there. It’s such a diverse, eclectic place, and the outdoor world is beyond my definition of heaven. Even with all the rain, I love it. I think the rain just adds to it up there… the mountains, the pine, rivers, waterfalls, bays, etc.

        (sigh)

      2. Hey there, Michelle:

        Thanks for including the videos. I’m testing it out … in the sense that I’ve approved it in comments. What’s interesting (disappointing) is that the video doesn’t embed into the comment section. It does show up in my side of comments once I’m logged in. Would you know how I can embed the video? Is it a separate task? Or do I need to enable something?

        Thank you for sharing experience …. 🙂

      3. Hmmm… odd. I can see it and play it from my view. And you don’t have to approve it and show it anyway. I just wanted you to see the videos more than anything. But I’m seeing the one you approved just as it is.

        You won’t see it embedded in the admin view from the panel. Only from the front view – the readers’ view.

      5. Okay, another one (sorry, I hope you don’t mind – it won’t offend me at all if you don’t want to publish these and would rather delete). Here is the famous fish market, and of course, to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Can’t make a video without including this band/song in it.

      6. Okay, what the heck… I’ve gone this far…. Here is a video of flying out of ABQ into Seattle and my first night. Here is where you get to witness me having food ecstacy over king crab at the Crab Pot…

      8. Hey. So sorry and hope you don’t mind. I posted 5 comments all which include a video. If you don’t want to approve them, that’s fine. I understand. But they’re awaiting moderation, so they may have been thrown into your spam folder. So if they’re not in your pending approval, check your spam. I am pretty sure you’ll like these vid’s I made of my trip last summer to Seattle and the San Juan Islands. But this is your photo blog, so I understand if you don’t want this post all cluttered with videos.

      9. Hey there, Michelle:

        Thank you for posting these videos … I’m seeing more of what was possible to take in while in Seattle; the last video shows what I think must be the gum wall in Post Alley. Also, I’m liking the medium – video to gather and reveal information about location. And, then, there’s the opportunity to add the emotional element with music – there’s been Simon and Garfunkel, Nirvana and the Doors. The faces at the Pike Place Fish Market workers are revealing as is the content of their day. The buskers also catch my attention; the guy who stands out, though he is sitting down, is the street piano player – his melodies are curiously uplifting in their mix of cycles or trills … something energizing. When I watched him, I wondered where he stored his busker piano (on wheels). Your videos coax me towards clustering images into the musical and visual presentation of an Animoto, something that’s good for school-based photos recapping different events for parent and staff meetings, a little work but something that yields good connection within the school community as we share what our school year is about.

        Here, though, a definite thank you, to you, Michelle; I’m seeing more of what Seattle is in these videos. 🙂

      10. No problem. I love Seattle so much. Every day on my two trips this past summer, as soon as I was done with business for the day, I was downtown or somewhere. I was only at the hotel to sleep.

        The piano man was extraordinaire! Not sure about where he stored it, but I hope he didn’t have to roll it up and down that hill. Pretty steep right there. I hope he made a deal with a local shop to store it there when he wasn’t performing.

        I love the buskers. They’re great to watch!

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