Requested by Robert:
Okay, you’ve lived in Seattle for a few years yet, so why not tell us what your favorite store at The Pike is and giving us a description of it?
This was actually relatively tough. While I do live close to the Pike Place Market and go wandering through it fairly frequently, I don’t do a whole lot of shopping there, nor do I really spend a ton of time there. Generally when I head down that way I’m just on a general people-watching and/or photography jaunt, so the stores get less attention than the crowds wandering through.
There are a few places that I’m more likely to stop by while I’m in the area, though, so this afternoon I grabbed my camera and headed down to the market to try to figure out just what my favorite spots were. Here’s what I came up with…
Lark in the Morning is a musical instrument shop unlike any other I’ve been in. They’ve got an absolutely incredible selection of instruments for sale, from all over the world and of all eras. Most of their instruments are able to be played too, as long as you’re careful. While it wasn’t there this weekend, they do occasionally have a hurdy gurdy up on one of the walls, and one of these days I may get up the nerve to ask if I can take a closer look at it.
The Great Windup specializes in silly little toys and knickknacks, especially any type of wind-up toy. They’ve got all sorts, from more modern plastic toys to old turn-of-the-century style tin soldiers. Right in the center of the store is a large table with a good selection of toys set out, ready and waiting to be picked up, wound up, and sent walking, skittering, or rolling across the table. Always good for a few minutes of fun.
Much of the market I enjoy simply because it’s such a wonderful place to go people-watching. Lots of locals stop by to check out the produce or the locally made goods, and of course there’s almost always a good number of tourists wandering through. Next to Broadway up in Capitol Hill, the market is one of my favorite spots to go and spend time just watching people pass by.
Down in the Market’s Underground section is the Magic Shop. Card tricks, magic rings, even gag gifts like whoopee cushions and hand buzzers are likely to be found in the bins here. Outside the front entrance is an old fortune telling vending machine, ready and waiting to give her next prediction for a mere fifty cents.
Years ago, I’m not exactly sure when — possibly right after my freshman or sophomore years in high school — I went to Missoula, Montana as part of my church’s delegation to that year’s Episcopal Youth Event. To get there, we flew down to Seattle and then drove over to Montana, and while in Seattle, we spent some time at the Pike Place Market. The only part of that expedition I remember was going through this comic store, because at the time we went through, they had a real Star Trek prop phaser! It even still “worked” — that is, the trigger activated the little light in the tip so that the special effects artists knew when to draw the phaser beams! They don’t have the phaser anymore, but it’s still full of all sorts of fun little goodies.
This one’s a favorite of both Prairie and I: The Women’s Hall of Fame. Lots of pro-women’s rights/lib/feminism memorabilia and goodies. There are two bags hanging on the ceiling with wonderful quotes: “Well-behaved women seldom make history. — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich” and “I have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat. — Rebecca West, 1913”.
Outside the main market and in the vendor stalls is Cinnamon Works. Prairie and I make a point of stopping by here nearly every time we hit the market, for one simple reason: they have cookies as big as your HEAD! Really good cookies, too.
And that’s what I came up with. There’s a few more photos in the Flickr photoset that goes with this entry, too. Hopefully this was close enough to the original request!
