Being in Seattle is like visiting someone’s home you admire: it’s in the perfect setting (perched on a beautiful Sound). There’s heirloom stuff in it, new stuff in it and stuff in-between. You know it wasn’t put together all at once, nor may it look exactly the same the next time you see it. But, at the moment in time you’re there, it works, with everything looking and feeling so…comfortable. Interesting. Fresh. Organic. Real. Like it belongs.

That’s why the kitsch stands up with the Koolhaas: this city embraces, and is not embarrassed by its Wild Northwest past. In fact, its legacy seems to include a No Era Left Behind clause. The timeless, beloved Pike Place Market is a dynamic, everyday working market, not a Disneyland of edible delicacies.  (Lush, the soap store, has attempted to capture the feeling of the former.)      

  The Space Needle has become an icon, not a relic of the 1962 World’s Fair. Many loft buildings and one-of-a-kind shops on 1^st Avenue still show signs of 19^th century lettering on their facades. Gentrifying neighborhoods like Capitol Hill are more about restoring than tearing down. And on the waterfront, next to giant cranes and container ships, are auto ferries that carry residents to their island homes, and restaurants that have changed little since the 1930’s.

Seattle is not pretending to be a city it’s not. It’s up and it’s down, a seaport and a high-tech haven, designer showcase and artisan studio; modern, contemporary and progressive, but not too slick. What’s not to like about that?