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Top tier place to arrest traffic; would blithely stand in the street again

We have street markets at home!

B R

B R

— 3 min read

Readers of this blog will know I spent an inordinate amount of time praising the wonderful street markets of Santiago, Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul.

“But what of your fair Seattle?” you might ask, “do you not have the World Famous Pike Place Market?“

Don’t let the “STREET CLOSED” sign fool you.

Truth be told, I had not visited Pike Place Market in almost half a decade, despite living maybe ten minutes away by bike. But I’m here to tell you: it’s alright.

A relatively chill Tuesday afternoon.

There are a number of distinguishing features for Pike Place compared to the street markets I had visited above - the biggest one is the ratio of tourists to locals. Pike Place market, after the morning hours, is principally a tourist attraction and is priced as such; a little more than you would pay at a higher end grocery store like Metropolitan Market or Whole Foods.

But there are other differences from Chile, Japan, etc:

  • The places to eat are bigger, fewer in number, and recognizably restaurants rather than inexpensive street food stands selling like 1-4 things
Okay yes Post Alley is technically off market but no one cares they are the same thing.
  • At least when it isn’t crowded, there is actual (limited) seating outside venues
This was in kind of an odd spot but wasn’t tied to any particular venue that I could see.
  • It’s disgusting, intentionally
The wall needs to be routinely cleaned off as the sugars eat through the masonry. The gum returns rapidly.

  • Cars. Somehow you can still drive through this place. It might be the dumbest thing in the city1

Listen, if we didn’t allow cars here how would we be able to watch the 700 year old drivers of the monstrous SUV on the left try to drive into the pedestrian-crowded mezzanine section on the right?

  • A Starbucks that is functionally identical to every other one, but tourists think it is the original2 so they form a long line.

Again, this is a Tuesday at like 3pm and the line is half a block. There are a lot of places to buy mediocre coffee, consider not buying it from a company that is constantly facing legal trouble for union busting violations from the National Labor Relations Board.
  • Finally, it has a view:
More seating without expectation of paying for the privilege. This is cool more of this please.

I had always assumed the produce was more expensive than at any grocery store or the various farmers markets that pop up every week around the city, but that doesn’t appear to be true. I think if we were sticking around, I would consider going here more often when I go grocery shopping early in the morning (never).

  1. And really consider how strong the field is ↩

  2. It isn’t. They moved here from a few blocks away in the 70s. ↩

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