[NorthMancBeds]

So, I did say day 6 was going to be the last. I didn't count on a last hit before getting off to the airport. Back home and my bodyclock is all over the place. It's 3.24am.

Visited the Publix Hotel (1928) in Seattle's International District (Chinatown). http://www.seattlepi.com/frontpage/s...x220030719.pdf Closed in 2003, the hotel was effectively living accommodation for migrant Chinese workers who arrived by train. The station was attached to the hotel by a tunnel and the workers would work as labourers underground and such was the racial prejudice that they rarely surfaced or left the confines of the hotel. Each tiny room had a sink, all other facilities were shared. The press were rallying round the needs of the homeless and temporary residents that the hotel catered for, but according to our guide, the tenants were getting ripped off as the standard of room even in 2003 had not vastly altered and wasn't particularly cheap.

The street level of downtown Seattle was at one point raised entirely by one storey. The private owners of property who would not contribute to the municipal endeavour, designed to stop the streets flooding, were forced to use ladders on each street corner to access their original ground floor. Eventually the pavements found their natural datum and the streets below were forgotten. There is an Underground Tour, http://www.undergroundtour.com/ but it is apparently quite lowbrow, so we didn't go (plus my brother had done it already and didn't want to shell out). Plenty of shots on Fllickr http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=seat...derground+tour

This building however is not part of the tour, is privately owned and in the middle of a row about its preservation or demolition. Once again, access was typical of how pleasant Seattle has been. Went to the local developmet information office and was directed to the offices of a local family who owned it. It was 1.00pm. Met a top guy who was doubtful that he could help us before 3.00pm when I had to go for the plane. We left a mobile number just in case he could arrange anything and figured our luck had run out (see earlier posts). Anyway, 2.00pm the phone rings and we are told to meet Ron outside at 2.30pm and he'll show us round!


exterior


foyer


safe


stair to first floor


corridor


bedroom

Now, at this point, we had half an hour and I was about to head up, but Ron said all the floors up were the same and it was downstairs that was interesting...


escape stairs to street


oil tank


window to old street level

And then, there was the basement below the basement, down some rickety timber steps.


door to tunnel that connects with station


old theatre seats and rear of metal stud drywall to station!


further section of sub-basement

What a top end to a top break in the US.

peace
NMB