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Seattle Underground Tour
The Seattle Underground is a network of underground passageways and basements in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. They were located at ground level when the city was built in the mid-19th century but fell into disuse after the streets were elevated. In recent decades, they have become a tourist attraction, with guided tours taking place around the area. History At approximately 2:20 p.m. on June 6, 1889, an overturned glue pot in a carpentry shop accidentally started the most destructive fire in the history of Seattle. After this Great Seattle Fire, new construction was required to be of masonry, and the town's streets were regraded one to two stories higher. Pioneer Square had originally been built mostly on filled-in tidelands and often flooded. The new street level also kept sewers draining into Elliott Bay from backing up at high tide. For the regrade, the streets were lined with concrete walls that formed narrow alleyways betwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seattle Underground Tour 03
Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of United States cities by population, 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the county seat of King County, Washington, King County, the List of counties in Washington, most populous county in Washington. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the List of metropolitan statistical areas, 15th-most populous in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and Lake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about south of the Canada–United States border, Canadian border. A gateway for trade with East ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaulted Sidewalk
Vaulted sidewalks, also called sidewalk vaults and areaways are sidewalks that are not placed directly on the ground. Rather, there is an empty space below them where the ground level used to be. This may happen where the street level has been raised over time, or where basements are extended, or as utility vaults. Sidewalk vaults may be protected as historical architecture, or filling them required for planning permission. Chicago The raising of Chicago started in 1855 as a response to the muddy conditions of the streets and because of epidemics of cholera. The raised streets needed new, raised sidewalks to match them. In the case of vaulted sidewalks, which might be 5 feet (1.5 m) or more over the original street level, a structure was built to hold a new sidewalk at the new street level, and an empty space was left between the original and the new sidewalks. This process gave building owners a choice: raise their buildings to the new street level, or relocate the main en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Vaults
The Edinburgh Vaults or South Bridge Vaults are a series of chambers formed in the nineteen arches of the South Bridge, Edinburgh, South Bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland. South Bridge was part of the South Bridge Act 1785 and was completed in 1788. For around 30 years, the vaults were used to house taverns, workshops for Cobbler (shoemaker), cobblers and other tradesmen, as well as storage space for said merchants. In later years, the vaults were a hotspot for the Homelessness, homeless and for criminal activity such as illegal gambling taverns, illegal whisky distilleries, distillery and, according to rumour, Body snatching, bodysnatchers stored corpses there overnight. There is however no proof that the serial killers Burke and Hare murders, Burke and Hare ever used the vaults. As the conditions in the vaults deteriorated, mainly because of damp and poor air quality, the businesses left in the 1820s and the very poorest of Edinburgh's citizens moved in, though by around 1860, eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catacombs Of Rome
The Catacombs of Rome () are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered since 1578, others even as late as the 1950s. There are more than fifty catacombs in the underground of Rome in which about 150 km of tunnels run. Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, Jews and also adherents of a variety of pagan Roman religions were buried in catacombs, beginning in the 2nd century AD,Toynbee: 39–40. occasioned by the ancient Roman ban on burials within a city, and also as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land. The most extensive and perhaps the best known is the Christian Catacomb of Callixtus located near the Park of the Caffarella, but there are other sites, both Christian and not, scattered around the city, some of which are now engulfed by modern urban sprawl. The Christian catacombs are extremely important for the history of Early Christian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catacombs Of Paris
The Catacombs of Paris (, ) are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people. Built to consolidate Paris's ancient stone quarries, they extend south from the ("Gate of Hell") former city gate. The ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the effects of the city's overflowing cemeteries. Preparation work began shortly after a 1774 series of basement wall collapses around the Holy Innocents' Cemetery added a sense of urgency to the cemetery-eliminating measure, and from 1788, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris's cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the . The ossuary remained largely forgotten until it became a novelty-place for concerts and other private events in the early 19th century; after further renovations and the construction of accesses around , it was opened to public visitation from 1874. Since 2013, the Catacombs have numbered among the fourteen City of Paris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Times Colonist
The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ..., Canada. It was formed by the September 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily Colonist''), established in 1858 by Amor De Cosmos who was later British Columbia's second Premier. The ''British Colonist'' was B.C.'s first paper "of any permanence". De Cosmos was the editor until 1866 when D.W. Higgins took over—he would remain in the role for the next twenty years. Local news receives the greatest prominence in the ''Times Colonist''. Stories and photographs about Greater Victoria are often featured on the front page. The newspaper also has national and inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pioneer Building (Seattle)
The Pioneer Building is a Richardsonian Romanesque stone, red brick, terra cotta, and cast iron building located on the northeast corner of First Avenue and James Street, in Seattle's Pioneer Square District. Completed in 1892, the Pioneer Building was designed by architect Elmer Fisher, who designed several of the historic district's new buildings following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. Location From Seattle's earliest days until the early 1880s, the corner of First and James was the site of Henry and Sarah Yesler's home and orchard, with his steam-powered sawmill located across the way. His home served as the center of social life and hospitality in early Seattle. As the city's business district began to grow rapidly in the early 1880s, Yesler moved to his new mansion, designed by architect William E. Boone, three blocks away at 4th and James in 1884. Rather than demolishing his old house and fully redeveloping his property, he moved the house to the back of the lot and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Speidel
William C Speidel (February 11, 1912 – May 3, 1988) was a columnist for ''The Seattle Times'' and a self-made historian who wrote the books ''Sons of the Profits'' and ''Doc Maynard, The Man Who Invented Seattle'' about the people who settled and built Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Speidel is also credited with being one of the leaders of the movement to preserve and restore Pioneer Square, Seattle, Pioneer Square, one of Seattle's oldest neighborhoods. By the 1960s, this area was run down and in disrepair, in danger of being demolished and rebuilt. In 1964, Speidel received and printed a letter from a reader asking about the underground areas of Pioneer Square. He replied via the paper that he did not know much about it, but that he would research it and get back to her. Once he did the research, he printed a response telling her to meet him at 3 p.m. the next Saturday in Pioneer Square, and he would take her on a tour of the underground and what he had found. The r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opium Den
An opium den was an establishment in which opium was sold and smoked. Opium dens were prevalent in many parts of the world in the 19th century, most notably China, Southeast Asia, North America, and France. Throughout the West, opium dens were frequented by and associated with the Chinese because the establishments were usually run by Chinese mobsters, who supplied the opium and prepared it for visiting non-Chinese smokers. Most opium dens kept a supply of opium paraphernalia such as the pipes and lamps that were necessary to smoke the drug. Patrons would recline to hold the long opium pipes over oil lamps that would heat the drug until it vaporized, allowing the smoker to inhale the vapors. Opium dens in China were frequented by all levels of society, and their opulence or simplicity reflected the financial means of the patrons. In urban areas of the United States, particularly on the West Coast, there were opium dens that mirrored the best to be found in China, with luxurious ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speakeasies
A speakeasy, also called a beer flat or blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. In the United States, speakeasy bars date back to at least the 1880s, but came into prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era (1920–1933, longer in some states). During that time, the sale, manufacture, and transportation ( bootlegging) of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the United States, due to the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Speakeasies largely disappeared after Prohibition ended in 1933. The speakeasy-style trend began in 2000 with the opening of the bar Milk & Honey. Etymology The phrase "speak softly shop", meaning a "smuggler's house", appeared in a British slang dictionary published in 1823. The similar phrase "speak easy shop", denoting a place where unlicensed liquor sales were made, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (game theory), strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elements to be present: consideration (an amount wagered), risk (chance), and a prize. The outcome of the wager is often immediate, such as a single roll of dice, a spin of a roulette wheel, or a horse crossing the finish line, but longer time frames are also common, allowing wagers on the outcome of a future sports contest or even an entire sports season. The term "gaming" in this context typically refers to instances in which the activity has been specifically permitted by law. The two words are not mutually exclusive; ''i.e.'', a "gaming" company offers (legal) "gambling" activities to the public and may be regulated by one of many gaming control boards, for example, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homeless
Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, living in boarding houses with no security of tenure, and Internally displaced person, people who leave their homes because of civil conflict and are refugees within their country. The legal status of homeless people varies from place to place. Homeless enumeration studies conducted by the Federal government of the United States, government of the United States also include people who sleep in a public or private place that is not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. Homelessness and poverty are interrelated. There is no standardized method for counting homeless individuals and identifying their needs; consequently, most cities only have estimated figures for their homeless populations. In 2025, approximatel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
