Pike Place Market in Seattle

Here are some photos from the environs of the Pike Place Market in Seattle, where my eyes were drawn to typefaces, and senses drawn to the bustle of early morning, with coffee and croissant at Le Panier. We're back home now, but the memory of that perfect coffee lingers.

I like the Piroshky sign for the art and the unusual use of punctuation. The Starbucks logo is from the original store, back when the mermaid was a bit more...complicated. There's a nice version of the mermaid on an umbrella at a more recent Starbucks. It's an example of how to use a logo as art, but you have to have a really good logo.

Left Bank Books – a classic bookshop, of a dying breed, going the way of the typewriter. But wait: it is collectively owned by its workers, and does have a website (and there are other, unrelated, Left Bank Books stores in other parts of the country).

The Sanitary Public Market was interesting, too, right across from a Showgirls porn shop. That's an observant mannequin on one of the balconies, checking out the patrons of Showgirls.

I like the simple Lois Lenski-style font on the Farmers Market sign, which Jack captured at night. The Meet the Producer sign is also wonderful, referring not to the Market Theater (the sign at the entrance to the subway) but to the theater of produce coming out of those early morning trucks.

Edgewater Hotel in Seattle

And a few more photos of the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle, including its signature logo. I really enjoyed the houseboat effect of the hotel, sitting on stilts in the water.

At one point after sundown we looked out the window and saw the gargantuan Princess Sapphire Cruise Ship, sailing off to Alaska. There was a flurry of photo flashes exchanged between patrons of the hotel and the hundreds of people out on the deck of the gigantic ship-passing-in-the-night. Kind of a sweet display of photo fireworks.

Seattle Signs

Cool retro logos abound in Seattle – and here are two shots of Ivar's, sent out to Lyle. (The blue-on-white of that pier front building is so nice.) The coffee worship sign recognizes a popular local beverage.

We've had a couple of great meals out: at Black Bottle (a tapas "gastro-tavern") and Wild Ginger (a very popular – and crowded – large Asian restaurant with excellent service.)

I've learned how to Twitter, and gave it a try, but that's not why this post is so brief. I'm off for a last look at the Pike Place Market, before we head home to the Midwest. A great time in Seattle with friends, colleagues, and Jack.

Morning Trip to Bainbridge Island

Jack and I are in Seattle for a few days, staying at the Edgewater Hotel, where the Beatles stayed on their 1964 trip to the United States. On our first day here we took the ferry across to Bainbridge Island and ate breakfast at the Streamliner Diner, where I ate about 18 years ago on my last trip to the Northwest. It hasn't changed, and is a classic fantastic diner.

It was great to be on a ferry in the early morning, looking at the city, and the island, as they came in to view. This is the Edgewater, also a fantastic place, looking like a big houseboat from the outside.

A funny detail, after yesterday's post about Bathtub IV – yesterday, out the window, in the water, there was a helicopter rescue effort (a practice drill) in real time.