The Seattle Metro resulted from urban planning after the Great Seattle Fire. It was initially dangerous due to illegal activities, but parts have been restored and are now popular for tours. The tour covers three blocks and includes artifacts and portraits of notable Seattle residents. Pre-booking is necessary.
The Seattle Metro is a tourist attraction in Seattle, Washington that resulted from urban planning after the destruction of a large number of downtown buildings during the Great Seattle Fire in the late 19th century. If you visited Seattle before 19th, the buildings and shops were built on a lower level. This created problems for residents and businesses, as areas in the commercial section of the city flooded.
After the fire, creative planners set out to address these issues by upgrading most of the buildings. Some buildings that survived the fire still had lower entrances, which meant walking down or up a few flights of stairs to get where you needed to go. Eventually, the buildings were remodeled to allow access from the street.
Unfortunately, the Seattle Metro has become the site of unsavory activity. Illegal liquor establishments during Prohibition flourished in Metro Seattle. In fact, most people avoided the Seattle subway out of fear of crime and potentially contagious diseases. Most of the old basements of the surviving buildings were condemned, but interest in them flourished in the 1960s.
Much of Seattle’s subway is downright dangerous, but parts of it, located below Pioneer Square, have been restored and made safe for touring. This restoration was greatly influenced by Seattle resident Bill Speidel, who decided to begin offering tours in the less dangerous parts of Metro Seattle in 1965. Because of the older architecture and history associated with the Seattle Metro, these tours have become increasingly popular.
You can tour the Seattle Metro with Bill Speidel’s company and you might be surprised at some of the things available to do there. For example, some couples have gotten married in the Seattle subway. The tour covers about three blocks under the city, but much of it is on uneven ground and the weather can be cold. Speidel’s team recommends bringing a warm jacket and good walking shoes for the trip.
You can even dine at the Seattle Underground Café, definitely a place with lots of dim lights. One of the striking aspects of the tour is a series of mostly local artist portraits of notable Seattle residents. There are also several places to stop and notice artifacts from Seattle’s past. On a tour, you’ll get plenty of insight into early Seattle and the seedy side of the subway during its doomed years. Pre-booking a tour of the Seattle Metro is necessary: Speidel’s company recommends booking your tour at least two weeks in advance of your planned visit.
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