If you’re planning a trip to Seattle, there are a few sights you won’t want to miss. Of course, you’ll want to visit the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and Seattle Center, but Seattle offers other, odder attractions as well. Whether your interests lie in mummies, subterranean passageways, massive amounts of kitsch or naked people with body paint riding bikes in a long line, Seattle will not disappoint.
No visit to the Seattle waterfront would be complete without a stop at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. The store has been operating since 1899; its original incarnation was a museum featuring indigenous artifacts. Though the shop now sells gifts, souvenirs and Pacific Northwest art, customers can still visit the museum, which features a full-size mummy, conjoined-twin calves, a walrus skull with three tusks and a huge collection of shrunken heads.
Ye Olde Curiosity Shop
1001 Alaskan Way
Seattle, WA 98104
206-682-5844
yeoldecuriosityshop.com
Every year on or as close to June 21 as possible, the Fremont area rings in summer with grand style. For two days, the Fremont Fair transforms the already-funky neighborhood into a crowded, seething mass of over 100,000 celebrants. Browse eclectic arts and crafts booths, listen to local musicians, sample many choices from food vendors, watch the flamboyantly-decorated cars drive past, gawk at the many Fremont residents who are apparently still enjoying the late 1960s and especially don’t miss the Saturday-morning naked bike parade. Slathered in decorative paint that--almost--covers everything, the parade of nude cyclists is a Fremont solstice tradition.
Fremont Fair
P.O. Box 31139
Seattle WA 98103
206-632-1500
fremontfair.org
While you’re in Fremont, check out the Fremont Troll. The scary beast has been lurking under the Aurora Bridge since 1989, when the Fremont Arts Council held a contest to beautify the unused space. The troll won out, and was created from rebar, wire and concrete.
Fremont Troll
N. 36th St.
Seattle, WA 98103
fremont.com
You’d never know by looking, but underneath the Pioneer Square neighborhood lies a whole labyrinth of passages, rooms and old storefronts. A fire destroyed much of downtown in 1889, and the city was rebuilt on top of the ruins. Bill Speidel’s Underground Tours offers guided walking tours of Seattle’s original downtown district, complete with historic displays and stories about old Seattle. If you like your history to be a bit spicier, try the Underworld Tour. Just for adults, this tour focuses on Seattle’s historic red-light district and opium trade, and includes a cocktail.
Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour
608 First Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
206-682-4646
undergroundtour.com
The next time you run out of little plastic ninjas, inflatable cupcakes, panties for your pet squirrels or bacon-flavored toothpicks, just make a run to Archie McPhee’s. This Wallingford institution has been selling weird stuff for almost 30 years. Perhaps the craziest thing about Archie McPhee's is that the minute you enter the door, you’ll wonder just how you ever got by without a tin of Cthulu-flavored mints or that avenging narwhal play set.
Archie McPhee
1300 North 45th St.
Seattle, WA 98103
206-297-0240
archiemcpheeseattle.com
