Paul Daugherty: Weird and wonderful Seattle

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Weird and wonderful Seattle

Back in the Lost Decade, when any Bengals win was a surprise, all that really mattered was the road trips. Any year that included Seattle, San Fran, San Diego or Miami was a bonus. Now that the Men are winning about half, the games have become compelling, and the trips are still great. Which brings me to Seattle.

Love Seattle.

Some cities affect a weirdness, to make themselves known. I think LA is that way, some. Also, Asheville, NC, one of my favorite places on earth, tries to sell you on how different/strange it is. Seattle is the real deal.

My favorite spot in Seattle when I dont have a car is Queen Anne Hill. It's an $8 cab ride from downtown. It's an area of big, old and not tacky-rich homes, many of which have incredible city views of the sort Frasier Crane enjoyed in the TV show. It's also an area of tiny, quarter-acre green spaces with benches for sitting and admiring the panorama. Anyway, I'm up there yesterday, at one such park, reading a book. On one side of this park is a wedding party in full wedding regalia, getting pictures taken. Formal, beautiful. Not 20 feet from them, behind the photographer, a bum (er, homeless person) is sleeping it off. Great Seattle metaphor.

Then this morning: Back up to Queen Anne for a 6 am walk and then breakfast at this earth biscuit, latte joint. I'm walking down the hill. On the other side of the street, a 30-something washout is singing and dancing to himself, while walking. Dude's wearing a red jester's hat. Coming the other way is a 60-something woman, with a pacifier in her mouth. They walk right past each other, neither acknowledging the other. Go ahead: Find that in Hyde Park.

The great thing about traveling to other cities is discovering their Queen Anne Hills. The depressing thing is realizing Cincinnati is so far behind many cities, when it comes to fun and interesting places to see. Seattle is weird, but vibrant. Cincinnati will never be weird (at least not permanently) but it won't be vibrant, either.

Long rant, sorry. If you ever visit Seattle, check out Queen Anne Hill. And the ferry to the San Juan Islands and the town of Snoqualmie, where they filmed Twin Peaks, and the Eliott Bay Book Company and Mt. Rainier and...

32 Comments:

at 1:17 PM

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great place...wish I was there to explore with you.

at 6:06 PM

Anonymous said...

Nice gig. The enquirer pays for you to travel out to Seattle, only to tell us that Cincinnati sucks.

at 6:38 PM

Anonymous said...

Wished the Bengals had pulled it out, but nevertheless, I also love Seattle and the Northwest, including Portland. Seattle is big but easily walkable west of I-5 from the Space Needle thru downtown to the Pike St. Market and on south to the Qwest and Safeco Field. Seattle has a vibrancy and youthfullness that is unique, in spite of the often rainy weather outside of summer.

at 7:02 PM

Anonymous said...

If Cincinnati is so blah... then feel free to take your bitter butt somewhere else.

at 9:47 PM

Unknown said...

Hadn't been to Seattle until June, been there twice since and I love it there. What a great town.

at 9:52 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul, as soon as you would move to Seattle you would write about how much much you miss Cincy. Be thankful for what you have. You are the type of guy who complains about dry turkey on Thanksgiving.

at 10:03 PM

Anonymous said...

Doc, leave white upper middle class suburbia and spend time in Clifton, Northside, OTR, Newport (off the levee), Mariemont, Mt Adams, Walnut Hills, Wyoming, Glendale, Covington, Camp Washington, Mt Auburn, Pendleton, and other places that are unique and a bit "left of the dial", to quote the great Paul Westerberg.
Unless Seattle Times needs a commentator/sportswriter, the Midwest will have to do !

Plenty of my friends and colleagues are joining me to add to the vibrancy of the "local color."

Seattle is a great city. Pacific Northwest is truly cultural benchmark. Too bad our local billionaire CEOS aren't Microsoft or Nike cool. Guess us "ordinary types" will need to make due.

at 3:36 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul explain to me the 2 pt conversion decision please? Marvin should thank Glenn Holt. If he doesn't fumble. Palmer maybe takes team down for tying FG. Bengals maybe lose in OT. However if they kick extra pt. The tying FG would have been winning FG. Explain the logic there. I know you talk about knee jerk reactions. But I tell you now Paul. Marvin needs to go NOW! ASAP. He is a lousy head coach and his staff is weak. The undiscipline. I mean unbelievable how bad special teams are. Marvin doesn't sit at press conference and say "we will fix these problems." Instead he gets defensive. Think what you want. Bengals end season below .500. I say Marvin is gone. There are unemployed coaches crawl on there kness to coach a Carson Palmer lead offense.

at 5:33 AM

Anonymous said...

This weirdness must have rubbed off on Marvin Lewis: How else can you explain two point try?

at 5:55 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul,

Sitting at a dockside restaurant at Lake Union (five minutes from downtown) while sea planes fly over to land on water nearby. The Pike place market "fish toss". Experience Music Project (EMP)is a blast for music lover's. There are hundreds of unique places in Seattle, I can't wait to go back again. To bad about the Bengal's though, got Seahawk doo-doo on their helmets.

at 6:44 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul,
HOW DARE YOU point out any positives in any city other than Cincinnati! Don't you know you aren't allowed to do that?

at 9:36 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul:

Got to love that 26th ranked Bengal defense!--I know, the secondary gets the bulk of the blame for this loss, but check out the run defense after last weeks awful performance against the Browns--they still allowed 4.1 yards/carry--that just isn't going to cut it in the NFL.(BTW--their rush defense is DEAD LAST in the NFL in yds/carry).

Why are Bengal linebackers dropping like flies? Is something wrong with the way we coach these guys? Beshnahan says "put it on me" again, but I'd rather know why we don't feel the need to get some real push on the D-Line--no consistent pressure, no penetration= more losses.

The offense will be fine when Henry comes back, but the defensive line needs LOTS of work.

Marvin Lewis was supposed to be a defensive genius when he came here from Baltimore where he built a world champion defense....what the heck happened when he came to Cincinnati?

Later!--

at 11:12 AM

Dustin Dow said...

Speaking of Lake Union, I heard over the weekend that South Lake Union got a new streetcar service. So the local leaders decided to call it the South Lake Union Transit. Put those initials together and see what it spells. Unfortunately, they quickly changed the name to something less scandalous. Otherwise it might have been fun to pay to ride the South Lake Union Transit.

As for Seattle, I love it. Pike Place Market is one of the coolest places in the country. Of course, so is Findlay Market...and OTR...and Clifton.

at 11:29 AM

Anonymous said...

Guess you really didn't know anything about the Bearcats either.

at 11:46 AM

Anonymous said...

any comments on the safety M. Williams for the Bengals. Should he be renamed TOAST II, in honor of the other Bengal cornerback (and he also played for Tampa) who had the honor of being nicknamed TOAST? Your thoughts please

Seems like MW is easily beat on most deep patterns.

at 12:31 PM

Anonymous said...

I lived in Seattle for 2 years and it sucked. Unless you like not being able to enjoy misty miserable weather. This "Great city" has 226 average days a year that is an all day drizzle.

at 4:22 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul,

I used to live in Washington DC when I was younger, no children, and two incomes. It was great. Nightlife, places to go, things to see.

Then you turn on the news at night and hear about the rapes, murders, armed robberies.

Then you want to buy a house, that would cost you 300 - 400 grand, well, unless you want to commute 1.5 hours each way. Lots of people did this every day, day after day, all year long.

Cincinnati has caught up a little in crime, but you can still buy a decent house at a decent price and the commute isn't all bad for most.

Cincinnati isn't that exciting and never will compete on this level with the big cities in this country - it will never happen. I'd like to move away but my kids love their grandparents, whose health isn't getting any better. So I stay and make the most of what this city has to offer.

And I try not to complain about it because my kids couldn't care less about good nightlife, eccentric neighbors, and interesting places to see.

at 6:29 PM

Anonymous said...

I can conceive of virtually no circumstance in which Mike/Katy Brown would fire Marvin Lewis. Disappointed, however, that Marvin doesn't use his tenure to complain more about not having the financial resources to compete effectively in NFL, especially for the free agents that make teams like NE Super Bowl contenders year after year.

I don't think Marvin really has the tenacity to compete at the highest levels of the NFL. Satisfied just to have landed a head coaching position. Doesnt really care about getting the Super Bowl ring.

at 7:51 PM

Anonymous said...

Great blog, like the one on good Cincinnati places (bashers >> didn't you see that one?! Lots of good ideas of places to see there. Heard all positive about Seattle except the rain - that might get me down after 6 months!
Agree with Asheville, NC >> hope to retire thereabouts before long but let's keep it a secret.

at 7:58 PM

Anonymous said...

Doc - Long time, no talk...funny how some bitter and angst ridden hand wringing locals take offense to the fact that you could find anyplace interesting. I too love Seattle and traveling to see the interesting people/sites everywhere (the famous "Bushman" of SF Fishermans wharf). To me, your blogs (& columns) represent a touchstone to home. I love your thoughts on the local teams, but your musings about other random flotsam & jetsom are also interesting. I continue to read your work daily. Keep up the good work! (by the way, I'm getting serious mileage by the fact that UC is one up on Nebraska in the AP poll! kudos to Kelly!

Your "faithful" Nebraska reader

at 9:54 PM

Anonymous said...

Bengal experts _ why don'tcha go to Bengal blog - this blog from Paul is about Seattle - please read it before ranting.

at 12:13 AM

Anonymous said...

A Day in the Life of Joe Republican

(As Kneepad Liberals see it)

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications is paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, then walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It's noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal (FDR) stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, quiche-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of himself, just like I have."

This item was sent to us by one of liberal subscribers, claiming he had written it. We don't know where he stole it, but thanks to Google, we did find the same story on dozens of different web sites.

at 6:32 AM

Anonymous said...

OOOOOKay--I'm call for pacifier day in Eden park to increase our vibrancy.....come on Paul.

at 6:40 AM

EMC said...

Actually, we could use some rain right about now.

at 10:11 AM

Anonymous said...

12:13 AM Anonymous is proof that Cincinnati is weird. Actually it's very weird. In inverse proportion to interesting.

at 11:48 AM

Mark Price said...

I moved to Seattle from Cincy a decade ago, and have never regretted it.

Paul, next time you're in town, may I suggest the great neighborhood of Ballard for a good stroll? You can have the best pint of Guinness of your life at Conor Byrne (or at the several dozen restaurants in a five-block radius), and then walk down to the locks to see overworked dockhands yell at rich yacht owners who can't tie their boats down. Good stuff.

at 6:58 PM

Anonymous said...

For the left of the dial people, you need to have babies, and get married first. You can talk about all of your cool places to hang but you do not hold up when it comes to making babies. As well Cincy is every bit as cool as Seattle. How can you maintain a population if you are too selfish and don't make babies?

at 7:18 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul - Excellent post that brings back memories. I lived for a bit in Seattle about 15 years ago. Lived in "lower" Queen Anne Hill - Lower being the lower rent district.

In the summer, my buddies from work and I would meet at the top of the hill to play some pick up basketball at this most excellent outdoor schoolyard court. After bball we would disperse and since all I had to do to get home was walk down the hill, I'd stop on one of those benches, and watch the evening fade over Elliott Bay. Such an unforgettable vista, and it was so readily available. And if Rainier was "out", well it was something that much more special.

Not sure why people here get on your case for posting something positive about another city. I guess some don't get away too much. Their loss I'd say.

at 9:05 PM

Anonymous said...

here's some typical cincinnati fare:

I sat on Fountain Square with my guitar and empty, opened guitar case next to me...started playing tunes at lunch hour last Thurs...no request for people to throw dough in (though I didn't mind)...they could stand and listen and enjoy without giving a dime, and some did, and that's very cool...no sign asking for money...purely given by those who wanted to give cause they liked the tunes coming out of my yamaha acoustic...police guy walked up and told me i needed a permit...i said why, afterall, i wasn't panhandling...i was playing tunes...he said I was making money, and i told him by the good graces and generosity of folks who liked the music, not by my asking...he told me to fold up or jail...people booed, but i did as i was told...got nothing against police--we need em and they're mostly hard working...but i thought it just defined Cincy...go to cool cities, and folks are singing and playing and painting and chalking amazing drawings on the sidewalks, and people get that it's needed culture, it's pure art, and it makes the city richer and better...come to Cincy, and yo artsy ass better have a permit....

at 1:39 AM

Anonymous said...

Hey 6:58

You represent the ugly Cincinnati "stereotype" Doc bemoans when he rhaphsodizes about Seattle and her citizens. I was the poster who referenced Paul W and the 'Mats with my "left of the dial" post.
FTR, our 10 year old son and 7 year old daughter are part of the "vibrancy" I described. From Madcap Puppets to Lollipop concerts to the Earth Day concert where my son discovered GBV (God bless Bob Pollard !), this community has plenty to offer those willing to open their hearts and minds to something beyond what they've been told to expect.
Barnes and Noble at Newport on the Levee every bit as cool as one on Fisherman's Wharf in SF. Blue Manatee, Joseph Beth, equally fine.
Tall Stacks, Oktoberfest, Zoo, Pops, sports, it's all good !
And I bet Seattle doesn't have a Skyline or Gold Star on every corner !!

at 11:08 AM

Anonymous said...

After living in the NW for over 12 years, I jump on any chance I get to go out to Seattle. When Rainier is out and towering over the city, your realize just how insignificant the things are around you. As far as the rain, the city embraces it with a slogan of smile at the rain. And even though there is a drizzle the majority of the time, the people stay positive.

at 2:34 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul,

Moved to Seattle 4 years ago but still love the Bengals and Bearcats. I enjoyed your thoughts, however "Twin Peaks" was filmed in North Bend (Near Snoqualmie), and you can still get the Twin Peaks Cherry Pie at the same Diner in the show. The opening shots were from the Snoqualmie Falls, however. What I like about Seattle is what I miss least: the rampant lawlessness downtown. I was chased and harrassed numerous times downtown and had my car window broken two times on mainstreet. And reading about UC students robbed at gunpoint? I'll stick with Mt Rainier. When I visit now we just go to Mt Adams and Clifton. And next Seattle visit, take a trip across the sound to Alki Beach.

On last point: Marvin Lewis is the best the Bengals can do with the invisible hand of Mike Brown behind the curtain. Why would Mike Brown get rid of a coach who has given him 5 years of protection from criticism?

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Sunday, September 23, 2007

Weird and wonderful Seattle

32 Comments: