Page 154 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Pacific Northwest

152  SEA T TLE

7 KeyArena re-creation of a Pacific Northwest
forest, complete with a bat-
305 Harrison St. Map 1 B4. Tel (206)
684-7200. Event tickets: Tel (800) 745- inhabited cave, a waterfall, and
3000.  Seattle Center. @ 1, 2, 13, flowing lava. Interactive elements
14, 15, 18. 7 See Shopping in Seattle include sliding down a glacier.
p164. ∑ keyarena.com Pulleys, pipes, mazes, and
levers challenge hand-eye
In its first life, KeyArena coordination in Cog City. Kids
was the Washington State can experience the laws of
Coliseum, offering Seattle physics firsthand by directing
World’s Fair visitors a glimpse balls through a busy cityscape.
into the 21st century. Hailed The museum also has an
as an architectural masterpiece interactive exhibit designed
in 1962 for its shape (a hyper- especially with toddlers in
bolic paraboloid) and lack of mind. Discovery Bay’s aquarium
interior roof supports, this contains kelp and a touch pool.
structure at the western end Seattle’s Children’s Museum, popular for Three to four changing
of the Seattle Center was interactive exhibits exhibitions throughout the year
designed by Paul Thiry (1904– guarantee that there is always
93), main architect of Seattle’s 8 The Children’s something new to see. The
second World’s Fair (see p149), Museum museum also features an artist-
to last well into the 21st in-residence and a drop-in arts
century as a sports and 305 Harrison St. Map 1 B4. Tel (206) studio for kids – the first of its
convention facility. Fairgoers 441-1768.  Seattle Center. @ 1, 2, kind in the region.
fondly recall the coliseum’s 3, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18. Open 10am–
giant glass Bubbleator, which 5pm Mon–Fri, 10am–6pm Sat & Sun.
Closed Jan 1, Labor Day weekend,
transported 150 passengers Thanksgiving, Dec 24, Dec 25. 7 =
at one time high up into the ∑ thechildrensmuseum.org
World of Tomorrow exhibit.
After the fair, the futuristic While most of Seattle Center is
building was converted into a delight for kids, the Children’s
a sports arena. In 1964, it hosted Museum, founded in 1979 by
the Beatles’ first Seattle concert parents and educators, is
and, since then, has become especially popular with
one of the top big-ticket youngsters. Located on the
concert venues on the first level of the Seattle Center’s
country’s West Coast. Center House, the nonprofit
In 1995, architectural firm interactive museum features
NBBJ led a $74 million eight permanent galleries, one
renovation in which the temporary gallery, and three
interior was completely studio spaces. Brick façade of the Austin A. Bell Building,
remodeled – the plastic, wood, Permanent exhibits include with its Gothic features
steel, copper, and concrete Global Village, where young
from the gutted interior either visitors are introduced to the 9 Austin A. Bell
recycled in the renovation or cultures and lifestyles of their Building
sold. Renamed, the 17,000- contemporaries around the 2326 1st Ave. Map 1 C5.
seat KeyArena is now home to sworld. Children can visit a tailor @ 15, 18, 21, 22, 56.
Seattle’s women’s professional shop in Ghana and taste sushi Closed to the public.
basketball team the Storm, in Japan. In the Mountain Forest
and it is also a favored exhibit, kids learn about The Austin A. Bell Building
venue for a variety of enter- Washington’s natural environ- was designed by Elmer Fisher,
tainment acts. ment as they hike through a Seattle’s foremost commercial
architect at the end of the
19th century and designer
of more than 50 buildings
in the years surrounding
the Great Fire of 1889 (see p128).
While most were in Pioneer
Square, including the still-
standing Pioneer Building (see
p128), a few Fisher-designed
structures graced the Belltown
(then Denny Hill) area, chief
The unique geometric roof of KeyArena at the Seattle Center among them this building.
For hotels and restaurants see p288 and pp298–300

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