The City Beneath

Opened late August 2010 as part of Storefronts Seattle, a program pairing empty storefronts with artists to revitalize neighborhoods. Selected as one of ten ventures to launch in Chinatown-International District. Over 50 meticulously maintained machines arranged chronologically—oldest is Texan from 1960. Manufacturers include Jersey Jack, Stern, Williams, Bally, Midway, Data East, Game Plan. One admission, unlimited free play. The collection rotates. Two blocks from Chinatown-International District light rail. Most people walk right past it.

Seattle is built on steep hills, and the city has over 650 public stairways — many hidden in residential neighborhoods, cutting through forested ravines, or connecting streets that would otherwise require miles of detour. Some have been nicknamed: the "Counterbalance" stairs on Queen Anne, the "Ravenna" stairs descending into the park, the "Blaine" stairs with their garden terraces.

Behind the Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park, partially hidden in the landscaping, are the remains of a 1912 conservatory foundation. The conservatory was demolished in 1969, but its basement level remains — vine-covered brick walls, empty window frames, and the ghosts of Seattle's Gilded Age.

Built 1906-1907 by Seattle Electric Company on 18 acres along the Duwamish River. Three Curtis turbines manufactured by General Electric between 1906 and 1917—the machines that "marked the beginning of the end of the reciprocating steam engine" for large-scale electricity generation. Designated National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1980, National Historic Landmark in 1984. Still owned by Seattle City Light. Last electrical generation: October 15, 1952. Open for tours second Sunday of each month. Most Seattleites have never heard of it. The turbines are intact and occasionally demonstrated.

Fujitaro Kubota emigrated from Shikoku, Japan in 1907. Started a gardening company in 1923. In 1927, bought 5 acres of Rainier Beach swampland through a friend—Japanese immigrants couldn't purchase land directly. He spent decades building a display garden merging Japanese design with Pacific Northwest materials. Then came WWII. Kubota and his family were interned at Camp Minidoka in Idaho. He built a rock garden there too. Returned in 1945. Restored his garden. Died in 1973. The city declared it a landmark in 1981, purchased it in 1987. Now it's 20 acres, free to the public, and most Seattle residents still don't know it exists. Spring azaleas. Fall maples. Year-round proof that beauty survives displacement.

In 1953, businessman Buford Seals hired commercial artist Lewis Nasmyth to design a gas station for his planned Frontier Village shopping center on Highway 99. Nasmyth sketched it in 15 minutes: office under a 44-foot cowboy hat, bathrooms inside 22-foot boots. Premium Tex opened in 1954 (named for Texaco gas and free "premiums" with fill-ups). It became Washington's busiest gas station. Seals ran out of money. Frontier Village never happened. The station closed in 1988. Georgetown Community Council bought the structures for $1 in 2002, moved them to Oxbow Park in 2003. Boots restored 2005. Hat finished 2010. You can climb inside a boot. Nasmyth got a U.S. patent for the design on March 20, 1956.

Mark Pahlow opened the first retail outlet in Fremont in July 1983, named after a North Dakotan adventurer and practical joker who brought jazz to Asia in 1924 (Pahlow's great-nephew-in-law). Moved to Ballard in 1999. Downsized to Wallingford in 2009. Rubber chickens. Yodeling pickles (David Wahl's invention, now iconic). Bacon bandages. An entire Rubber Chicken Museum opened inside the store in 2018. Party supplies, miniatures, costumes, and an astounding array of things you didn't know existed and now desperately need. Four decades of curated absurdity.