Time Out London, July 2003
Feature: Seattle and Vancouver
Pacific Northwest
Everyone knows that Seattle is where Frasier walks around his apartment being witty; Tom Hanks cured his insomnia there. Yet the real Seattle is much more interesting than its virtual comedy-romance counterparts. Vancouver is a faster-paced cosmopolitan metro up in British Columbia, Canada, whose major streets often resemble the European district of an Asian city. Together, the two cities epitomise the zeitgeist of the zeroes – restless, extrovert but nostalgic for cultural roots.
Only 200 miles separate Vancouver and Seattle. With a sophisticated travel infrastrucure, cool cross-currency prices and arts events at their peak this is the summer to head for the Pacific Northwest.
London to Seattle
British Airways (0845 773 3377, www.ba.com) has the only direct flights
from London (Heathrow) to Seattle; fares from £488. Flying time: nine
hours.
Intercity travel
GreyhoundBus is the cheapest option, yet for only a few more dollars, train or plane travel is a better choice. Amtrak will take you from Seattle to Vancouver for $40. You can fly from Vancouver to Seattle via Horizon for $150.
Seattle
Orientation & city tour
Starting at 6th Avenue and Pine, meandering down through the streets that make up the main shopping area, will bring you to the colourful waterfront area; its piers front on to Elliott Bay. Seattle street culture is concentrated on Broadway in the Capitol Hill precinct. For an eccentric land-water tour join Ride the Ducks. A converted WWII amphibious landing craft drives you around key streets, then morphs into a water cruise. The narrated boat trips organised by Argosy Cruises leave from Pier 55, arcing around the bay.
What to see
Evolved from the 1962 World’s Fair, the Seattle Center includes two of the most popular high-profile attractions. The three-level Experience Music Project (www.emplive.com) is the ultimate story of American rock, instantly visualised by the 600 guitars fused into a 35-foot sculpture. The 605-feet-tall Space Needle gives a 360-degree city-harbour panorama; at its apex is a (slowly) revolving restaurant. Pike Market Place has been used in several big movies. It’s a traditional early-morning mart, complete with stalls heaving with fish, fruit and vegetables. The historical genesis of Seattle is Pioneer Square, where totem poles modelled on originals hark back to late 19th-century Indian connections.
Nightlife & arts
The surge of musical innovation that helped launch grunge may have levelled out, but angst lives in the many bands active around Seattle. Even a cursory look through the weekly Stranger and Friday’s Seattle Times’ entertainment pullout will reveal how much is out there. Major concerts take place at Showbox (1426 First Avenue, www.showboxonline.com). Young local bands play the Crocodile Café (2200 2nd Ave/Blanchard,). At 915 East Pike, Platinum Records is a fast news source for venues like The Baltic Room (1207 Pine Street), a slinky hard soul DJ place and the atmospheric Contour (807 1st Ave), open from 2 to 8am weekends). Dimitrou’s Jazz Alley (2033 Sixth Ave) runs strong jazz-rock fusions acts nightly. Benaroya Hall (200 University Street), a three-tiered, 2500-seat auditorium, is the plush home to the world-respected Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Hotels
The elegant Mayflower Park Hotel (405 Olive Way, 206 623 8700, Doubles $149- $210.) is located in downtown shopping area; its piano bar leads into the Westlake Center mall, from where the five-minute monorail runs to the Seattle Center. Not far from the city centre either is the Camlin Hotel (1619 9th Avenue, 206 682 0100, from $130), a long-established dependable that retains its 1920s façade. The Travelodge by the Space Needle (200 6th Avenue North, 205 441 7415) has rooms from $119.
Restaurants, bars & cafés
The Athenian Inn (1517 Pike Place Market) is not just a great breakfast diner, it’s also where Rob Reiner brings Tom Hanks up to speed on 1990s dating protocol in Sleepless in Seattle. The legendary Ivar’s Acre of Clams on Pier 54 (it starred in The Fabulous Baker Boys) serves viciously good seafood for a few dollars. Café Hue (312 2nd Avenue), a plain but genuine Vietnamese restaurant, lies on the edge of the international area. Pike Pub and Brewery (1415 1st Ave), a split-level bar with sofas, makes for a great social meeting place; adjoining shops sell great gifts. Have a few beers with talkative, down-to-earth firefighters at their local, McCoys Firehouse Bar & Grill, (2nd Ave/Washington). A pleasant drinks/coffee stop is the Library Bistro (92 Madison/1st Ave), which has a menu of cocktails. The Caffé Vita Coffee Roasting Company (1005 E Pike) is a likeable two-floor coffee-house frequented by arts folk.
Shopping
Stores are situated all along First, Second and Third Avenues. The 60-store Westlake Center Mall (440 Pine Street) has an excellent top-floor restaurants court. You can also find good stores out at the Bay Pavilion on Pier 57. The giant Uwajimaya market (6th Ave South) contains the largest selection of Asian groceries and gifts in the northwest. For hard-to-find CDs, try Wall of Sound (2237 3rd Ave) or Holy Cow Records (1501 Pike Place). Whatever you buy at The Seattle Chocolate Company (8620 16th Avenue) you might as well eat at the hotel: it will only melt on the plane…
Out of town
In Tacoma, 30 miles south of Seattle, the Tacoma Art Museum is partly devoted to the work of glass artist Dale Chihuly, whose amazing, huge installations form a major section of the outdoors space. In Tacoma too, the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium represents something especially northwestern, with killer whales, cougars and bears among the species. Featured in Twin Peaks, the mighty Snoqualmie Falls, 30 miles east, has a cascade 100 feet longer than Niagra.
City transport
Buses are free in most of the downtown area (schedule maps explain where pay zones start). The Monorail cuts out a lot of walking and will take you in five minutes to the Seattle Center attractions. Gray Line operates efficient shuttle buses from $10 one-way from/to the airport; these pick up from hotels. An airport taxi costs $30 one-way.
Tourist office
Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau
520 Pike Street, Suite 1300
Seattle, WA 98101
206 461 5840
For information in London, call the Seattle & Washington State Tourism Office: 020 7978 5233
Vancouver
Orientation & city tour
The city of Vancouver forms the middle part of a long peninsula. The best way to follow its complex situation and layout is by taking the $25 Trolley Tour, which begins downtown and loops around key areas (you can for no extra cost get off/on at any point). Or, walk down Burrard Street to Canada Place at the waterfront. From here you’ll see the the majestic Coast Mountains range across the bay and the high bend of the skyline.
What to see
An hour or so in Chinatown, a bus ride to the northeast side, will be enough to see its food stores around Main and Pender. It and neighbouring Gastown, constitute the oldtown. The 1000-acres Stanley Park is its own world, with three beaches and a network of pathways (five buslines operate to it).Vancouver Aquarium, in the park, keeps beluga whales, dolphins, piranhas and thousands of other species. Granville Island is really a different peninsula (a #50 bus will take you there; an aquabus (water-taxi) crosses back to the city. As well as the colourful daily indoor market, Granville has the Backstage Lounge (qv below), a rock venue on the marina. The Kitsilano area, south of the city, is synonymous with summer fun. The " Kits " beach mood resembles Venice, CA; $1m residences complete the parallel. Across English Bay is Vanier Park, where the Bard on the Beach season focuses on Shakespeare.
Nightlife & arts
A sequence of clubs on Granville Street allows you to plan ahead while out for a drink or dinner. Respectively, the Yale Hotel (1300) and Roxy (932) appeal to live-music people and clubbers. The Commodore (868), a bigger, concert centre, puts on high-profile touring acts. The Backstage Lounge has a relaxing waterside settings, with bands from all over Canada appearing. The weekly Georgia Straights what’s-on and Thursday’s A and E section of the Vancouver Sun have listings. The cool spaciousness of Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby St) shows the works of British Columbian artists and is a relaxing means of interrupting shopping.
Hotels
Right in the heart of main-street Robson, the Listel Vancouver (1300 Robson Street, 604 684 8461, $140-350) has big comfortable rooms that feature subtly chosen local art. Its O’ Doul’s Bar has jazz and cajun food. The Opus hotel (322 Davie Street, 604 642 6787, $200-450) is well situated too, in Yaletown. The array of in-room tech amenities will bemuse you, though the heated-floor and walk-in shower are nice to have. The positive exchange rate means that with both these you’re getting luxury hotels for mid-range prices. At the characterful Granville Island Hotel (1253 Johnston Street, 604 683 7373, $220-230), you’re a 10-minute watertaxi away from town yet cocooned from after-dark noise.
Restaurants, bars & cafés
Vancouver’s range of Canadian-specific, experimental and ethnic eateries can leave you boggled for choice. The Blue Water Café (1095 Hamilton St) is an open-plan seafood and sushi place; sophisticated northwestern dishes and extravagant martinis will not cost you the earth here. Try Bin 942 (1521 West Broadway) if you enjoy wine and tapas. A hybrid bar-restaurant defying classification, you can eat " tapatisers ’’ here until 2am. In Kitsilano, Sophie’s Cosmic Café (2095 W 4th) has become near-legendary for its authentic hippy ambience and delicious food.
Local celebrities often blend in with the crowd at the lively Cambie Bar (300 Cambie Street) in south downtown, a boho-cum-media saloon good for an afternoon-break session. Beer fans can sample BC microbrews at The Shark Club Bar & Grill (180 W Georgia). It has a west coast feel, though with none of California’s precious struttiness.
Shopping
Robson is the main avenue of retail activity. Closeby, at Robson-Pender, the Pacific Shopping Center goes on forever and has most types of outlets. For a combined trip and browse, try a few hours over at Lonsdale Quay (seabus from the waterfront), where there’s a mall and market beside each other. It’s worth remembering that you can pick up brand-new " discount ’’ goods – a full-price $Can23 CD translates into £10. You can especially exploit that value anomaly in the designer stores dotted along Alberni Street.
Out of town
Just a ferry or floatplane trip away, Vancouver Island has a distinct British-Canadian identity. Its main city, Victoria, is also the BC state capital. Thronged in the summer, the city has become popular as a starting point for a tour of the island’s varied sights. The 50-acres Butchart Gardens are a mecca for visitors from overseas; evenings see them lit up, their flower displays enhanced by live music. By contrast, the Victoria Bug Zoo focuses on crawlies, from dinky spiders to big life-threatening scorpions. It’s probably cheaper to ski at Whistler (76 miles north of Vancouver) than in Switzerland; organised for beginners as well as zig-zaggers.
City transport
The Discover Vancouver on Transit handout outlines your land-water options, which include Skytrain, buses, boats, seaplanes and trains. For easy-to-locate taxis, call Black Top Cabs (604 671 1111); fares average $12 for a cross-town trip. To hire 1990s American cars contact Rent-A-Wreck (1349 Hornby Street, 604 688 0001); mid-sized four-doors are a reasonable $350/week.
Tourist Office
Visitor Information Center
200 Burrard Street
Waterfront Center
Vancouver, BC
V6C 3L6