6. Side Trip West on S Washington Street

A side trip west on S Washington Street will take you past the former St. Charles Hotel (1889) and the Washington Park Building (1890). Washington Street was once the terminus of a West Seattle streetcar line that snaked across the mouth of the Duwamish on a trestle. Alaskan Way was created in the 1930s to replace the wooden-planked Railroad Avenue that once ran the length of the waterfront. The Alaskan Way Viaduct was completed in 1954 and remains a controversial addition to the waterfront, especially since recent earthquakes. The Waterfront Streetcar was added in 1982.

Washington Street terminates at a boat landing. The iron shelter was designed by D.R. Huntington and built in 1920 to house the Seattle Harbor Master. A private philanthropy, the all-women Committee of 33, funded its restoration in the mid-1970s.

Courtesy MOHAI

Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives