Pioneer Square

🎁 28 Seattle-made gifts to wrap up your holiday shopping, just in time for Shop Small Saturday

“Thanks to our sponsor, Civic Commons, for making the 2021 Evergrey Gift Guide happen. Learn how to engage with your community all year long by connecting with the local org that’s driving big change in the Emerald City, from Shoreline to Sea-Tac.” Seattle is jam-packed with talented and ambitious creatives whose wares are prime for […]

/ November 23, 2021

Neighborhood spotlight on Pioneer Square

As Seattle’s first downtown, Pioneer Square has played a number of roles over the years: historic epicenter, skid row, gayborhood, and sports-fan playground, to name a few. Our latest neighborhood spotlight series dove into Pioneer Square’s past and highlighted the people and places who are shaping its future: from the elevator operator at Smith Tower to the merchant who’s […]

/ June 20, 2019

Money, politics, and earthquake safety: Why haven’t we retrofitted Pioneer Square’s brick buildings?

(📷: Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons) We’ve all been there: You’re sitting in a gorgeous old building somewhere near downtown Seattle, looking up to admire the exposed beams and bricks, when you remember: “Oh yeah, earthquakes.” And then, the inevitable follow-up: “I wonder if this place has been retrofitted?” Evergrey reader Beth Anderson went through a similar […]

/ June 20, 2019

Long live the local corner store

Ever seen a prize-winning radish? Back in 1915, a trip to the Cone & Steiner general store in Seattle would have scored you some prodigious produce. Fast forward a hundred years or so, and Dani Cone has revived her great-grandfather’s corner store. These days you probably won’t find many radishes, but Dani has stocked her […]

/ June 20, 2019

Take a ride in Seattle’s time-traveling elevator

Want to go for a ride in one of the oldest vehicles in Seattle? You don’t need a license, but you should probably be okay with heights. It’s true that Smith Tower’s elevators were recently modernized and automated, but the cabs are the same brass cages that carried curious locals to the top of the […]

/ June 4, 2019

Seattle’s first boom

Thousands of new workers moving to town. A big influx of money. A small startup that would grow to become a major player in retail. Nope, this isn’t the Amazon boom. We’re talking about Seattle in 1897. We stopped by the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Pioneer Square to learn how a gold […]

/ June 4, 2019

Artists at work in Pioneer Square

The building at the corner of First Avenue and Cherry Street contains secrets. From the outside, it looks like your average Pioneer Square haunt — there’s a coffee shop, a bar, and a clothing store on the ground floor. But step inside, climb the stairs, and you’ll find more than a dozen artists hard at […]

/ June 4, 2019

Pioneer Square: A neighborhood to gather in downtown Seattle

Just another day in the Pioneer Square neighborhood. (📸: Element Creative) From singing Sounders FC fight songs in Occidental Square Park before every match to enjoying the longest established art fair in the nation (since the early 1960s), or joining friends for an impromptu happy hour, Pioneer Square is where we gather as a community. […]

/ May 31, 2019

Vote for your favorite question about Pioneer Square

What do you want to know about Pioneer Square — past, present, or future? (📷: Seattle Municipal Archive) We wanted to know what questions you had about Pioneer Square, Seattle’s oldest neighborhood and a place that’s been reinventing itself for more than 100 years. We received several intriguing questions, and now we’re ready to take […]

/ May 9, 2019