Pioneer Square Seattle

When you think of touring Seattle, why not start off with Pioneer Square?
It is after all, Seattle’s very first neighborhood. It’s really just a matter of how you wish to see it. A guided walking tour; horse drawn buggy, view from the ferries, or maybe explore on your own—what ever you choose, you’re sure to find it a charming world like no other.

Pioneer Square Seattle

Pioneer Square features over 20 city blocks of Victorian Romanesque architecture, more than 30 fine art galleries, over 200 unique and independently-owned shops, and the entertainment epicenter of Seattle's nightlife. www.pioneersquare.org

Pioneer Square Seattle Location

The Pioneer Square area is bounded roughly by Cherry and South King Streets to the north and south, and 1st and 3rd Aves S to the west and east. The main street in the area is 1st Ave S.

Pioneer Square Seattle Map

Pioneer Square Seattle Art Galleries & Antiques

Art is alive in Pioneer Square, with more galleries and public art
within walking distance than any other Seattle neighborhood. From sculpture to painting to live glass blowing demonstrations, art connoisseurs will delight in Pioneer Square's wealth of artistic flavors.

Pioneer Square Seattle Shopping

The area is also full of restaurants and cafes and some of the best non chain-store shopping in Seattle, with great bookstores, antique markets, art galleries and gift shops.

Pioneer Square Seattle Restaurants and Clubs

Amazing cuisine, great coffee, and the heartbeat of Seattle's nightlife. Enjoy! At night, Pioneer Square pubs and clubs kick up an energetic party scene that offers quantity, if not quality.

The Grand Central Arcade (214 1st Ave S between S Washington & S Main Sts) has a good bakery-cafe, plenty of tables, a cozy fire and staircases leading to the underground shopping arcade. You can walk straight through here to Occidental Park.

Pioneer Square Seattle History

In the early days of Seattle, Pioneer Square was a haphazard settlement made up of wooden storefronts, log homes and lumber mills. The Great Fire of 1889 leveled 30 blocks of the original town, but the city rapidly rebounded, almost all of the buildings that now stand in the Pioneer Square area were constructed between 1890 and 1905. As many as 50 of these structures were designed by one architect, Elmer Fisher. As part of this massive rebuilding project,
city planners took the dramatic step of regrading Denny Hill, one of Seattle's original seven deep hills that rose sharply out of Elliott Bay. This raised the new city about a dozen feet above the original settlement.

Back in the good old days, the underground tunnels that remained were used as opium dens and speakeasies.
Many Seattle post-fire buildings were built in the grand Romanesque Revival style already popular in Boston and Chicago, which displayed wealth and prosperity to the pioneers. Plus, no-one wanted to see the town go up in flames again and, let's face it, brick, stone and steel are a lot less likely to burn.

Seattle's Pioneer Square fell on hard times for years amazingly, there were plans to level the area in the late 1960s to make room for parking lots and office buildings. Eventually, bank loans, cheap rents and Historic Register status brought in businesses, art galleries, antique shops and interior-design stores. These days, many Pioneer Square restaurants play up the frontier image while serving notably good food. Pioneer Square is also a major center for Rye music and nightlife.

Perhaps mirroring its early days when this was a rough-and-tumble frontier town, Pioneer Square still sees some rowdiness; there's often a juxtaposition of drunken tourists and Seattle's homeless hanging around the bar scene. Though the ruckus may seem a little unnerving, especially at night, there's little danger beyond the occasional incident.

Getting Around Pioneer Square Seattle

Situated between Seattle downtown and the stadiums, the International District and the waterfront, Pioneer Square enjoys a central location, easily accessible by foot, bus, trolley, car, commuter rail, train, or ferry. Landmark destinations abound in the twenty blocks that comprise Pioneer Square.

The main street in the area is 1st Ave S. The area is most easily reached by walking or by bus (it's in the Ride Free Area). Join the crowds and wander down the avenue, past upscale stores, art galleries, trendy cafés and homeless missions.

If walking from Pike Place Market (about 10 minutes), take either Alaskan Way south along the Waterfront, or 1st Ave to pass by Seattle Art Museum's Hammering Man sculpture and some unusual shops.