Seattle was built on a tidal mud flat that flooded with high tide twice a day. That, combined with horses and carts churning up the dirt roads, led to "chuckholes" in the streets so wide and so deep that a child once drowned.
To fix the problem, they built up the roads so you'd come out of a shop, climb a ladder to get up to the street from the sidewalk, cross the street, and climb down a ladder to the other sidewalk.
Eventually, they built a new sidewalk connecting what was then the 2nd floor of the buildings to the street, leaving the original sidewalk buried. So the "underground" is actually at ground level and what people think is the first floor is actually one floor up.
This is a shot looking up at a skylight. People above us walking past the skylight thought they were walking at ground level and seeing pieces of glass embedded in the sidewalk. Here's the view from above.
Shot by kneeling and bracing myself against the wall. Shot at 10mm, then cropped a bit. Someone else's image shows how narrow the space is.
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Hey, just saw this, Jeff. Funny, I have been in Seattle for 21+ years and have not been to the underground. My wife really wants to go. I am wondering how much (non-flash) photo ops there are on the tour?
Great image, btw. Reminds me of Beneath the Planet of the Apes. But then most things remind me of a PotA movie. ;-)
Odd location, and it could be used in a story about the cities underground, quite a flavour of the month in television atm. I just feel that an urban explorer replete with mining helmet, a rope and a torch ala Indiana Jones needs to be in this image. i.e. The human subject of the article should be in this image to complete it, make it more engaging.
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