Sights in Pacific Northwest
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Times Square Building
This terra-cotta and granite structure, guarded by eagles perched on the roof, was designed by the Paris-trained architect Carl Gould (who also did the Seattle Asian Art Museum and the UW’s Suzzallo Library). It housed the Seattle Times from 1916 to 1931.
reviewed
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Portland Building
A great example of the decorative brickwork that graces many of the buildings along Ballard Ave, the Portland Building has housed all kinds of businesses since its construction, including taverns and dry-goods stores. It was renovated in 1985.
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Alton Baker Park
Heaven for cyclists and joggers is this popular, 400-acre riverside park, which provides access to the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail System, a 12-mile bikeway that flanks both sides of the Willamette. There's good downtown access via the DeFazio Bike Bridge.
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Lane County Historical Museum
Old logging tools are prominent among the collection of historic artifacts preserved at this local museum. There's also a transportation collection that includes Oregon's oldest, best-preserved running gear (undercarriage) for a covered wagon.
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Thomas Condon Paleontology Center
Visit the excellent Thomas Condon Paleontology Center 2 miles north of US 26 at the Sheep Rock Unit. Displays include a three-toed horse and petrified dung-beetle balls, along with many other fossils and geologic history exhibits.
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Velveteria
Truly unique is the Velveteria, a treasure trove full of stunning velvet paintings that will make you appreciate the art form; don't miss the 'nudes' room. It's run by a wacky couple who have been combing thrift stores and estate sales for years.
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Center On Contemporary Art
This gallery has been a force in Seattle’s contemporary art scene for two decades. After moving around a lot, it has opened a new branch in Belltown as well as this primary space in the Shilshole Bay Beach Club.
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Owens Memorial Rose Garden
Follow the path around the north side of Skinner Butte to the Owens Memorial Rose Garden, a lovely park with carefully trained climbing roses (best in June) and the country's oldest Black Tartarian cherry tree, supposedly planted in 1847.
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Louisa Boren Lookout
Outside the Volunteer Park boundaries, the Louisa Boren Lookout provides one of the best views over the university and Union Bay. The small park is named after the longest-surviving member of the party that founded Seattle in 1851.
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Cors & Wegener Building
Once the offices of the early local broadsheet, Ballard News, this is still one of the most impressive in the area. One of the first in the area to be revitalized, it’s now mostly shops, apartments and office space.
reviewed
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Columbia Center
Formerly the Columbia Seafirst Center, then the Bank of America Tower, this striking structure is also known as the ‘Darth Vader’ building. Catch a breathtaking view from the observation deck on the 73rd of its 76 floors.
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Seattle Rose Garden
The 2.5-acre Seattle Rose Garden, near the entrance road to the zoo off N 50th St, was started in 1924 and contains 5000 plants, including heirloom roses and a test garden for All-America Rose selections.
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Portland Art Museum
Just across the park, the art museum's excellent exhibits include Native American carvings, Asian and American art, and English silver. The museum also houses the Whitsell Auditorium, a first-rate theater that frequently screens rare or international films.
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University of Oregon Museum of Natural History
Housed in a replica of a Native American longhouse, the University of Oregon Museum of Natural History contains the state's best display of fossils, Native American artifacts and geologic curiosities.
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Volunteer Park Conservatory
The conservatory is a classic Victorian greenhouse built in 1912. Filled with palms, cacti and tropical plants, it features five galleries representing different world environments. Check out the creepy corpse flower.
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Mount Zion Baptist Church
One of the cornerstones of this neighborhood is Mount Zion Baptist Church, a 2000-member congregation with a choir that has reached national acclaim through its gospel recordings. The church is over a century old.
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Science Factory
Families with young kids can visit this children's museum, located in Alton Baker Park. Hands-on exhibits and a live iguana are among the highlights; weekend planetarium shows cost extra. Expansive lawns outside.
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Alki Point Lighthouse
The US Coast Guard maintains this lighthouse. It has limited public hours and you can’t just walk up to it, but tours are available by appointment. Call for a current schedule and more information.
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Hau Hau Market
Hau Hau is a modern and bustling Chinese and Vietnamese food market where you can get cheap produce, specialty meats such as pork ears and chicken feet, fireworks, and Asian gifts and knickknacks.
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Shilshole Bay Marina
The Shilshole Bay Marina, about 2 miles northwest of the locks along Seaview Ave, offers nice views across Puget Sound and, as Seattle’s primary sailboat moorage, a glittery collection of boats. Inside the marina, you can rent sailboats or take classes at Windworks.
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South Arcade
If you continue past DeLaurenti’s, you’ll come into the South Arcade, the market’s newest wing, home to upscale shops and the lively Pike Pub & Brewery.
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5th Street Public Market
At E 5th Ave and Pearl St is the 5th St Public Market, an old mill that now anchors several dozen restaurants, cafés and boutique stores around a pretty central courtyard. Musicians and other performers occasionally entertain here.
For great fun and a quintessential introduction to Eugene's peculiar vitality, don't miss theSaturday Market, held each Saturday from April through mid- November at E 8th Ave and Oak St. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas it's renamed the Holiday Market and moves indoors to the Lane Events Center at 13th Ave and Jefferson St.
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Ballard Building
Ballard’s only major terra-cotta structure, this was built in the 1920s by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. It once held a community hospital and now houses the Ballard News-Tribune.
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Lawrimore Project
A no-holds-barred modern art space, the Lawrimore Project is a big, pliable warehouse-like gallery that consistently has some of the most inventive exhibitions you’ll see in Seattle.
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Water Tower Observation Deck
Keen seekers of views can climb 107 steep steps to the top of Volunteer Park’s 75ft water tower. Built in 1907, it provides wonderful vistas of the Space Needle and over Elliott Bay.
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