Page 603 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

INTRODUCING THE P A CIFIC NOR THWEST  601

from the decline that 3,000 software and e­commerce businesses
took place after Euro­ operate in the Seattle area alone. Jeff Bezos,
pean settle ment. another Seattle­based entrepre neur, set up
Many of the tribes Amazon.com, the world’s largest online
continue to live in retailer. Among the other major companies
traditional communi­ with interests here are computer industry
ties, and the advent giants Intel, Adobe, and Hewlett­Packard,
of dozens of tribal the aerospace leader Boeing, which
casinos has brought operates several plants in western Wash­
Snowboarding at Mount an income source. ington, and the sportswear chain Nike.
Hood, Oregon Portland and Seattle Starbucks, the coffeehouse that first opened
are among the in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the 1970s,
continent’s fastest­growing cities. Though now has coffee bars all over the world.
both tend to be liberal in their politics, other Amid this economic trans formation,
areas in the Pacific Northwest region remain one industry has done consistently well.
conservative. Even so, a unique political Increasingly, tourists are spend ing healthy
climate has emerged. Oregonians are the sums to enjoy what the locals
first in the US to have approved have long con sid ered their
assisted suicide for the greatest resource – the Pacific
terminally ill, while Wash­ Northwest’s natural beauty. The
ingtonians had the region not only offers great
distinction of electing the Neon sign at Seattle’s Pike oppor tunities for some of the
country’s first Asian­American Place Market world’s finest adventure sports,
governor. The two states also such as white­water rafting,
happen to be the first in the nation to kayaking, hiking, skiing, and rock climbing,
legalize marijuana. Culturally, the region has but for those who prefer more placid
cultivated a rich tradition of excellence in pastimes the oppor tunities for sitting next
the arts, sciences, public services, and to a mountain stream, or strolling along a
creative entrepreneur ship. Some of the remote beach, are seemingly endless.
region’s best creative talents include Dale
Chihuly (b. 1941), one of the world’s leading
glass sculpturists, rock legend Jimi Hendrix
(1942–70), Matt Groening (b. 1954), creator
of the popular TV show The Simpsons,
author Ken Kesey, musician Quincy Jones,
and Linus Pauling (1901–94), winner of two
Nobel Prizes, for chemistry in 1954 and
peace in 1962.
Economy & Industry
In recent years, the region’s economy has
undergone great changes. While traditional
industries such as fishing, mining, and logging
struggle for survival, those based on services
and technology flourish. Since the 1980s,
when Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the founders
of Microsoft, the world’s foremost computer
software company, established their head­
quarters in Redmond, there has been a The original Seattle store in the Starbucks chain of coffeehouses,
proliferation of high­tech companies. Some now available in more than 60 countries

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