The worst thing ever* is photos of Seattle taken from Kerry Park. (*Yes. Worse than Hitler.) In pretty much every city there is a place from which Photos Of The Town are taken. In Sydney, it’s Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, because you can get both the Bridge and the Opera House in the shot. The Sydney photos aren’t as bad as the ones from Kerry Park, but they’re still pretty dumb, because the thing about a photo of the Bridge and the Opera House is that the city itself is missing from it. Photos from Kerry Park, aka The View From Frasier’s Apartment, have the opposite problem. At Kerry Park, the Space Needle takes center stage, even though in real life it’s in the out of the way part of the city that is the no man’s land between Belltown and Queen Anne. From Kerry Park, the Space Needle looks like its jammed up right against the skyscrapers of downtown, even though in actual fact there’s about fifteen blocks of low to medium rise buildings separating the two. You get Mount Rainier in the shot, which is neat, but it removes the mountain from context, turning it into an accessory for the city, when, really, being in Seattle is having the mountains and the Sound and the lakes everywhere around, encroaching right in upon the built spaces people have made in just the past century and a half. Shots from Kerry Park are so ordered. I like Kerry Park. If you ever find yourself in Seattle, go there. (Walk up the hill, after first visiting Easy Street Records in Queen Anne.) Take some photos. But don’t use those photos as a simulacrum of Seattle, because there is no Seattle in them. Photos from Alki are OK, and recommended. An underrated spot from which to take photos of Seattle is on Pine Street just east of I-5. I feel very strongly about this. EDIT: Photos from Gas Works Park are acceptable also.

The worst thing ever* is photos of Seattle taken from Kerry Park.

(*Yes. Worse than Hitler.)

In pretty much every city there is a place from which Photos Of The Town are taken. In Sydney, it’s Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, because you can get both the Bridge and the Opera House in the shot. The Sydney photos aren’t as bad as the ones from Kerry Park, but they’re still pretty dumb, because the thing about a photo of the Bridge and the Opera House is that the city itself is missing from it.

Photos from Kerry Park, aka The View From Frasier’s Apartment, have the opposite problem. At Kerry Park, the Space Needle takes center stage, even though in real life it’s in the out of the way part of the city that is the no man’s land between Belltown and Queen Anne. From Kerry Park, the Space Needle looks like its jammed up right against the skyscrapers of downtown, even though in actual fact there’s about fifteen blocks of low to medium rise buildings separating the two. You get Mount Rainier in the shot, which is neat, but it removes the mountain from context, turning it into an accessory for the city, when, really, being in Seattle is having the mountains and the Sound and the lakes everywhere around, encroaching right in upon the built spaces people have made in just the past century and a half. Shots from Kerry Park are so ordered.

I like Kerry Park. If you ever find yourself in Seattle, go there. (Walk up the hill, after first visiting Easy Street Records in Queen Anne.) Take some photos. But don’t use those photos as a simulacrum of Seattle, because there is no Seattle in them.

Photos from Alki are OK, and recommended. An underrated spot from which to take photos of Seattle is on Pine Street just east of I-5.

I feel very strongly about this.

EDIT: Photos from Gas Works Park are acceptable also.