SkyCity (originally known as the Eye of the Needle) was a

revolving restaurant A revolving restaurant or rotating restaurant is a tower restaurant designed to rest atop a broad circular revolving wikt:platform, platform that operates as a large turntable. The building remains stationary and the diners are carried on the rev ...

and bar situated atop the

Space Needle The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a List of Seattle landmarks, Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen An ...

Seattle, Washington 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 Unit ...

, United States.

Description and history

The restaurant featured a carousel (or ring-shaped) dining floor on which sat patrons' tables, chairs, and dining booths. Its floor revolved on a track and wheel system weighing roughly 125 tons, moving at a rate of one revolution every 47 minutes. It was the oldest operating revolving restaurant in the world at the time of its closure. Due to the balance and precision of its design, the floor's rotation is accomplished using just a single 1½-horsepower motor. The restaurant was designed by

John Graham & Company John Graham & Company, or John Graham & Associates was the name of an architectural firm, founded in 1900 in Seattle, Washington, by English-born architect John Graham (1873–1955), and maintained by his son John Graham Jr. (1908–1991). The f ...

and styled after the La Ronde they had built atop the

Ala Moana Center The Ala Moana Center, commonly known simply as Ala Moana, is a large open-air shopping mall in the Ala Moana, Honolulu, Ala Moana neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. Owned by Brookfield Properties, Ala Moana is the List of largest shopping malls i ...

in 1963. SkyCity was a

fine dining Fine dining is a restaurant experience that is typically more sophisticated, special, and expensive than at a typical restaurant. The décor of such restaurants features higher-quality materials, with establishments having certain rules of din ...

restaurant with a

casual dress code Casual wear (or casual attire or clothing) is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the Western world following the counterculture of the 1960s. When emphasisin ...

and served

Pacific Northwest cuisine Pacific Northwest cuisine is a North American cuisine that is found in the Pacific Northwest, i.e. the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, as well as the province of British Columbia and the southern portion of the territory of Yuk ...

and

new American cuisine New American cuisine, also known as Modern American cuisine or Contemporary American cuisine, is the wave of modernized cooking predominantly served at upscale fine dining restaurants in the United States, originating in the 1980s. New America ...

, providing local seafood, steak, chicken and vegetarian items among others. The restaurant was closed in September 2017 for the $100 million "The Century Project" renovation at the Space Needle, with plans for the dining area to be outfitted with a clear glass floor. The glass floor would enable diners to view the city below them and also the mechanics that operate the revolving floor. When completed, SkyCity was to have the world's first revolving restaurant with a glass floor. It was replaced with the Loupe Lounge, a

cocktail lounge Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar *Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of ...

that opened in the restaurant's former space on April 9, 2021.

References

{{coord, 47, 37, 14, N, 122, 20, 57, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-WA 1962 establishments in Washington (state) 2017 disestablishments in Washington (state) Defunct restaurants in Seattle Defunct New American restaurants Defunct Pacific Northwest restaurants New American restaurants in Seattle Restaurants disestablished in 2017 Restaurants established in 1962 Seattle Center Towers with revolving restaurants Pacific Northwest restaurants in Washington (state)

Description and history

See also

References