Seattle's Map, Explained

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

Go to ground.news/danielsteiner to become a smarter news consumer and better understand the world. Subscribe through my link for 40% off unlimited access this month.

[@sashakasprzyk5683]

This video is filled with nonsense.

[@EmpressOfExile206]

The ground news example showed "7 articles from left, 3 from right, and 5 from center" Yet right above it says "25 news sources"... So where were these 10 other _mystery sources_ from⁉️ 🤔 Who would trust a "reporting" app that either doesn't know how to count or has hidden articles (i.e. 💩 transparency) while being supposedly "unbiased" lmao 💀

[@st3pp3nw0lf86]

What do you expect from a guy who thinks reporting on the first private spacewalk deserves requires political commentary?

[@HOLLYHOUSE11]

Glenn Greenwald is an authentic source for news, unbiased defender of free speech. Fair and honest.

[@erberIsSillyhawk]

i downvoted a few minutes in. you seem a triggered little Liberal. All land is won thru war or agreement. My relatives who complain are just sore about the past and had nothing to do with the treaties.

[@jisezer]

As a resident of Seattle, rarely do you find truthful tellings of the history of our city. Thank you!

[@jimkindred8958]

I lost faith and quit watching when he called the Puget Sound a harbor.

[@BorisBoris-sl1sf]

@@jimkindred8958 Bless your heart.

[@jimkindred8958]

@@BorisBoris-sl1sf Ahhh, what a clever insult! You must be a lot of fun at parties with such a sharp wit as that.

[@jisezer]

@@jimkindred8958 he called it a sea and called Elliot Bay a harbor...

[@JJ-ls8ep]

@@jisezerbut the story of the rowing to the flat beach area pioneer square. I think we should honor this space with a memorial to the Native people who were displaced and disgraced . Imagine the gold rush to come. Unbelievable the growth and destruction.

[@jibburz3030]

I drive all around seattle, all day, because of my job. I've always been curious about small stuff like street name origins, why sodo was so flat, or why the cities grid layout was curved. This video answered a million questions I never bothered to look up and it's very well made.

[@kimmurphy2119]

Before cell phone maps & GPS, this was how to know where you were between Pioneer Square and the Pike Place Market: "Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Pressure!" You start at Jefferson Street, then you head north to James ("Jesus"), Cherry and Columbia street ("Christ"). From there it goes Marion, Madison ("Made"), Spring, Seneca ("Seattle"), University, Union ("Under"), Pike and Pine Street ("Pressure").

[@pcs322]

I've lived here so long and never realized the north south lines are completely flat

[@stevedavenport1202]

What do you do?

[@tombirkland]

I always loved the stories behind Seattle's street names. I was going to write a book about them, but, alas, my career and real life intervened. There are some fascinating stories in the street names.

[@chezman7414]

@@kimmurphy2119 I'd always heard it as "Jesus Christ made Seattle under protest"... same vibe though

[@saqibahmad4135]

Dude, i was born and raised in seattle and have been here 31 years, you've blown my mind. I was pausing almost every 10 seconds to inspect every inch of an old map or newspaper article. Thank you for showing Seattle some love!

[@SamClaney]

I was a kid when I went on my first underground tour and I've NEVER been able to visually understand how the underground was made, and this video finally made it make sense. Thanks for helping me understand my city a little better!

[@kindlin]

I've also gone through the underground tour a couple times, and never came out of it with a good understanding of what I was walking thru. Somehow it was never explained properly, or I think it was just a random tour guide telling misc things about this and that. Never got a good explanation of why. This video was awesome.

[@MeanBeanComedy]

I've realised you can learn the answer to pretty much any question you had as a kid now that you're grownup and smarter and can learn more now. It's fantastic!

[@nathanmark7035]

Same, thank yo so much!

[@AB-these-handles-are-stupid]

Same it’s awesome. My friends father created the Denny regrade area in the 50’s. The company he owned anyhow. Was a huge change to the city

[@sethflower2067]

Seattle doesn't get enough love and recognition. It is one of the coolest places on earth. And, more than that, it is so mis-hated and misunderstood. This video was incredibly cool to watch as someone from Seattle.

[@submechanophobia768]

You don't need the love and recognition. it just ends up attracting the worlds population to drive home prices up and generate congestion, homelessness and despair. Vancouver North is a great example. Were loosing our cherished skyline and everything is being monetized. We have cultures and foreign investors that have driven up our real estate prices, its in another world. The suburban areas are now being ruined by endless growth and development. Word of advice. Do not tell people that you live in a wonderful place or they will stampede into it and you will loose the life style you enjoyed. It is unfortunate that people cant keep their mouths shut.

[@-_-----]

Seattle gets love from its own people, and that's what matters. But we don't want this city to get more "recognition" -> with every wave of "recognition" comes an influx of desperate Californian refugees, who sterilize and reset our culture 🤢Happened in the 70s, 90s, and 2010s.

[@stevedavenport1202]

Disagree...many TV shows and movies set here. Seattle is on the radar and perceived as cool.

[@sethflower2067]

@@stevedavenport1202 I can only really ever think of 4 things set in Seattle, 2 TV Shows, 1 video game and 1 movie. Both TV shows (ICarly and Greys anatomy) aren’t really actually filmed in Seattle, with a bunch of flyover shots and “hey by the way this takes place in Seattle”. the movie chronicle, which is a good movie, and then the video game the last of us 2 which is a video game

[@sethflower2067]

@@stevedavenport1202 nearly every Washingtonian I’ve met here absolutely hates Seattle and constantly sh*ts on it and completely shuts it down, preaching how terrible of a place it is

[@confusedpufferfish2607]

Seattle is so beautiful with Mount Rainier embracing the mighty emerald metropolis, with orcas in Elliot Bay’s waters brimming with wildlife and the Pacific Northwest’s biggest port, and with conifer trees at every vista spreading their branches through the misty morning sky at heights the cathedrals of the old continent struggle to match.

[@EpicAdventure21]

We have beautiful Evergreen trees too 🌲

[@ajinkyakamat7053]

Yes truly. I had to privilege to walk to work at UW's CSE department and on truly wonderful days see Rainer peeking from behind Drumheller Fountain on Campus.

[@Lens_lores]

I have lived all over usa and seattle has my heart forever. No place like it. The beauty is unmatched

[@MeanBeanComedy]

That's sweet. It sounds lovely, and it sounds like your home. That's how I speak about Appalachia. It's breathtaking, but more importantly, it's home. You can smell home and hear it and see it in the flora and fauna and feel it in the weather, and no matter how beautiful someplace is, it'll never feel the same as home. I'm glad you love your home, and I'd like to visit just based on your delightful endorsement! 😉👍🏻

[@Lens_lores]

@@MeanBeanComedy wow, what do you love about Appalachia? I always feel warm when someone describes the place they love so much.

[@TheDuckmissile]

An interesting thing you missed is that after they raised the streets but before they covered up the underground with a new raised sidewalk, they literally just had ladders going from the high sidewalk down to the 1st floor. So if you had to walk across the street, you had to climb this tall ladder up to the road, walk across, and then take it down again.

[@0NoFreeWill0]

Apparently a fair amount of drunks/unfortunate people died by falling into the newly created trenches.

[@dawnchesbro4189]

Fun fact about the Denny Regrade: In parts of the city some original houses are raised up from the level of the sidewalk - sometimes a few feet, sometimes an entire story. Some sort of a retaining wall or large rocks holding the earth in. Not every house on the block will be raised, so it's not entire neighborhoods. The reason they are raised is because the Denny family gave incentives to new construction if they hauled away some of the extra fill produced from the regrading process. Many settlers - but not all because hauling fill is a back breaking job - took Denny up on the offer and used the extra rubble, dirt, stones to elevate their houses! So if you drive past an elevated seattle house with large boulders holding the earth in, those boulders are from the hill that Denny razed to the ground!

[@telche5720]

as a canadian living in Vancouver BC i love visiting seattle as it’s like a bigger sibling city to vancouver. please do a video covering Vancouver!

[@clark214]

I agree we need a video on Vancouver :)

[@JusNoBS420]

Seattle is the big brother to Portland and Vancouver, BC. And we make up the mighty PNW!!!

[@shantiescovedo4361]

I live near Seattle now and I lived in Seattle for fifteen years. I always feel that Vancouver is the more cosmopolitan city.

[@kevinmsft]

Seattle is bigger and also crappier. If I have a chance I would pick Vancouver any day.

[@Dizzy206]

It might be a bigger sibling, but i have to say, i love the architecture more in Vancouver.

[@mattchambers5259]

One correction towards the end of the video. The Embarcadero Fwy in SF did not collapse, the Cypress Freeway (Cypress Structure) in Oakland came down in the 89 Quake, killing 42 motorists. The Embarcadero Fwy was heavily damaged, hated by just a few more people than wanted it rebuilt and so it was taken down years later. 24:10

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

Ooh! Good catch. Thanks for adding this 🙏🏻

[@timgerk3262]

​@DanielsimsSteiner that fella's quote did more to raise beef with San Francisco than any quips about hills. Do Oakland next? Maybe you can find some "there" there, 😊!

[@casonator]

Yeah the 99 highway was a carbon copy of the cypress, destined to pancake. The tunnel was mostly chosen because it opened up the waterfront, which is still being transformed today!

[@Dragantraces]

It's Highway 99, not the 99 highway.

[@Yowzoe]

You are correct except for one point: it is indisputable that the vast, vast majority of San Franciscans (excepting North Beach and Chinatown business interests) vehemently *hated* the Embarcadero Freeway, and rejoiced when it finally was demolished.

[@bethanyholt8813]

So happy you’ve made one of these video about Seattle, I’m visiting later this month and love that I’ll know all about the city’s history as I walk around!

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

oh PERFECT timing!

[@JusNoBS420]

Take the underground tour if you can. They literally take you underneath the existing buildings when they built on top of the old burned out city

[@ZennyZ645]

TIP! Do not walk on 3rd and Pine. You’ll hear that a lot. Westlake Station is fine and all, but be sure to just walk straight to the Pikes Place. The street of 3rd and Pine is where all the crackheads are that’s why.

[@richardlionheart9371]

Enjoy our city. The new addition Of the aquarium just opened on the waterfront. If you have the chance, catch a quick water taxi and visit Alki beach for a wonderful stroll and views

[@CraftyCoug]

I hope you love it! If you can, go check out the neighborhoods. They are all fun and have their own personality. And catch a ferry for a cheap and great view from the water - the trip to Bainbridge is only about 15 minutes each way. The tour boats are good, too, if you want a history lesson on the way, but you can get a lot of that from this video 😉

[@Armondahad]

As a Seattleite who went on the Bill Speidel underground tour several years ago, I absolutely loved this video!! Really well done oratory and graphics, even the hand-drawn explanation of the re-build ;)

[@tomato1656]

You tend to find the most enthusiastic guides and experts,who luckily are warmest and friendlist of people.

[@tsibdatixpayac9594]

A few misconceptions: Seattle was one of only three so-called head Chiefs selected by Governor Stevens at the time of the treaty. These selections were arbitrary and did not reflect the indigenous political Arrangement at the time. Second, while no reservation specifically located in Seattle was ever established, the duwamish were assigned to the Suquamish and later Muckleshoot reservations which leads to the split between the successor tribes of the Duwamish today. Despite Maynard's quote unquote love for the indigenous population he and other settlers lobbied to the Bia against the creation of a reservation in the core duwamish area. Furthermore despite his so-called friendship with Chief Seattle, he nor any other settlers visited Seattle's funeral at the time of his death other than one who lived on the port Madison reservation where Seattle would later live.

[@Toksyuryel]

He also left out that Chief Seattle specifically requested that the city not be named after him. Though to be fair we only named it after him after we figured out what the name they gave it meant.

[@jenn1ferschonberger]

The question as to why certain white male citizens could put their name on a plot of land is a somewhat uncomfortable one. 4:28

[@PendragonDaGreat]

2:20 Someone else that noticed that! It's also why a small amount of snow (which midwesterners would call a Tuesday in February) can cripple the city for a day or two. The ridges make it basically impossible to go east-west because the hills are steep enough that even with chains you start slipping on the ice.

[@DerpyPenguin4747]

Yup, an inch or two in seattle with a sheet of ice is a death trap on those hills.

[@Vinemaple]

And nobody remembers this, from one year to the next.

[@nathanmark7035]

@@Vinemaple So True!

[@stiffjalopy4189]

True, and I used to think we were bad in the snow until I took the kids to PDX for midwinter break in 2023. I’ve never seen a city more crippled by a little snow. I think they only had two snowplows and they just went back and forth along Naito, high fiving each other because that street was clean as a whistle while the whole rest of downtown was frozen. Even the trains didn’t run. Nobody shoveled their walks. The whole town shut down except for the arcade at that one mall, and now my kids think that you have to go to Portland to play video games. So we’re not so bad!

[@ReploidArmada]

Yeah, any amount of snow is a Bad Day in Seattle. There's too many hills, especially downtown; It's almost always wet snow, not dry, which then melts into slush and freezes into ice, making the hills worse; And, no one ever remembers how to drive on snow here, nor do they treat snowy roads in the city with the respect and fear that they rightfully deserve.

[@kuma-chan1761]

I'm From Monterey CA and lived in Seattle for almost 10 years. I called San Fran and Seattle Sister cities since the first time there when I was 10y/o. It's the best way to describe it to people who haven't been there. My family and I loved it there. The beauty of the sound and the weather as well as Mt. Rainer you could just not beat the natural beauty of the PNW. I'm OR born, CA raised, and settled my heart in Seattle.

[@MJG206]

Its true. My first thought when i got to SF was ... this feels like home.

[@markpreston6930]

People from CA don't call San Francisco 'San Fran'.

[@Tony-so1zl]

@@markpreston6930you’d be surprised

[@markpreston6930]

@@kuma-chan1761 If you call anything ‘San Fran’ no one will take you seriously.

[@Constantino619]

@@markpreston6930I call it Frisco lol

[@west5500]

Daniel, I enjoyed this video (and all your videos) so much! I moved from the Bay Area to Seattle in 1984 and lived there till 2017. Married there, kids born and educated there, taught Washington State history for a few years to junior high students there, got degrees from Seattle U and UW... career, etc. You get the idea. I moved back to the Bay Area and love it here, but always find Seattle more interesting than any other city on earth, with the possible exception of London. Your videos are terrific. Thank you for this one!

[@ironman4do]

I live in Seattle, have been on the underground tour a couple of times, and have also just done a bunch of personal research on the history of the city. Seattle really does have a storied history that has resulted in some VERY strange quirks that make no sense from a modern perspective, but make much more sense through the lens of history. This video explained the unusual circumstances of the "underground city", the reasons for it, the method of changing it, etc. VERY clearly and concisely. Well done, and 👍for you sir!

[@SagaciousSilence]

Seattle is gorgeous and has breathtaking views everywhere within the city because of all the hills.

[@Moftheworld-lp6ii]

I hope you stopped at Metsker Maps in Pike Place Market it would be right up your alley and is one of the last specifically map stores in North America!

[@LanNetwork]

That’s my favorite store of all time!

[@21katieus71]

was looking for a comment about this!

[@henrg]

they sell flags too!

[@jenn1ferschonberger]

I'm really interested in the maps which show the natural terrain and the street names overlaid. Specifically the one which showed a stream (approximately 23 degrees offset from north south. James, Cherry, 3rd, 4th, 5th Avenues environs.) In the past ten years a new court house has an immense water sculpture cascading near the stairs. Now I want to know if the architect incorporated flowing water there for that reason. Keep up the good work!

[@flmang]

I didn’t realize how much of a nerd I am for this stuff. Thank you for the video. I grew up in Seattle - still live here - and I’ll just say they didn’t teach all the stuff about how Doc Maynard was a drunk and the only settler who was cool with the natives in my first grade class 😅

[@eviefrench2313]

Something about your videos not only re-sparked my desire to learn that I haven’t felt in years, but it sparked my need for being curious. To be curious about the world around me and how things became the way they are. Even the most niche things have a history or a science behind them. I stumbled across this channel in a time where I was slaving away at a 9-5 and didn’t have time to gain a complete new interest and learn about said interest. Hearing your curiosity and your passion behind something as “boring” as the history of mapping a city, completely revolutionized the way I see the world around me. You do a fantastic job. Keep up the amazing work.

[@PinkPixie019]

AHHH So happy you did Seattle!!!! I commented a few weeks ago when I found your channel. We have such a oddity of a City and our history is so complex for how relatively young Seattle as a city really is. When you compare it to some of the East Coast cities.

[@treekangaroo.7691]

It would have been interesting to cover the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which was originally built to put a navy base on Lake Washington. It took so long to choose a suitable location they moved it across Puget Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula, but they still had a Naval Air Station for quite a while in what is now known as Magnuson Park. They also drained part of Lake Washington so that they could build the canal with fewer locks.

[@esoteridactyl]

He really focused on just Pioneer Square area, there's so much more he could've explored. Maybe time for a part 2?

[@HikingPNW]

I heard one of the reasons why it wasn't chosen was that while it would have been great to have a naval base on a fresh water lake there would be a huge danger that a large ship that got sunk in the canal or at the locks there could strand the entire naval force.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

@@esoteridactyl It's been a few years but I recall MOHAI at South Lake Union has some good displays and explanations of all the town's canal developments.

[@jdeckape]

The story around the current boundary of Greenlake is also interesting. The lake used to drain out of Ravenna Creek. They buried Ravenna creek and Ravenna Blvd generally follows that path today. They lowered the lake to create the park and that's why Seattle has to pump out the lake when it rains. I think the creek technically still exists underground under Ravenna Blvd and those pipes carry the water down to the UW campus where the creek reemerges.

[@kimmurphy2119]

I always tell visitors, Seattle is a city of Neighborhoods. I lived in Montlake for 10+ years, right by the Montlake Bridge, which will turn 100 years old next June. Another great book: "Montlake, An Urban Eden" by Eugene Smith, available at SPL.

[@Bearded_Mortician]

I moved here 8 months ago, and this helps me understand everything! Thank you!

[@kimmurphy2119]

This guy is a must! Nick Zentner, Seattle Geology... kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIm9dWOEd7uFaMU

[@CJO_o]

One of my favorite memories from elementary school (in the 80's) is a field trip to the Seattle Underground tour. I hope the schools still do this.

[@jordanballard8059]

Daniel, this video is amazing. I have lived here in Seattle for nearly 40 years and am a history nerd. You pieced this all together with a level of mastery that I have not seen.....ever on the many tours and such. The contributors were great too, but nothing I have ever seen has broken it down so well and also included info on the Yesler, Maynard and Denny and settling. Just awesome....Subscribing!

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

Wow thank you so much! That’s incredibly kind 🙏🏻

[@Drake844221]

East-West in Seattle can be really rough. Last month, I found a new place to try out just past the main Seattle convention center, heading inland. My office is on 3rd Avenue, and I... figured "Oh, it's only half a mile uphill from 3rd, I'll just walk." I can report that it was a poor decision. In the half-mile between 3rd Avenue and Boren Avenue, there is a 70 foot elevation change, making it a very intense hike up the hill. Thankfully, I learned that there IS a bus that you can catch just East of 3rd on Pike, which takes you just up past Boren. It is a significantly more manageable way of getting there, which leaves you far less dehydrated before you even get your drinks. Still, in a more general capacity... living here, you do kind of learn what streets are better to go East or West on, and which ones... are less wise for that.

[@daveweiss5647]

As a Seattle Native and history nerd... this is an excellent... even one of the best short videos on early Seattle history I have seen, very well done! You got most of the important points in a short concise way! Very impressive! I would maybe have liked to see something quick on the Battle of Seattle and a little more on Chief Seattle but otherwise it was basicly perfect! I have already sent it to many family memebers... absolutely excellent!

[@akurtti]

These city map explained videos are so interesting. There's always more history behind the cities than I would ever think! Would love to see you cover Minneapolis/St. Paul!

[@VanillaMacaron551]

To raise the streets, effectively they built a "waffle" grid of 12-18ft high, 3ft or more thick, bluestone walls. They are so solid that no quake has ever put a crack in them. I learnt this on the Beneath the Streets tour. Starts on Cherry St and I highly recommend. Saw the other tour company while we were out and about and ours was much smaller and more intimate. So many ppl on the other tour that they must have struggled to hear the guide. Our tour had a lot of info about the architecture of Pioneer Square, which was much appreciated.

[@babymonster206]

Amazing video man, born and raised Seattleite and I absolutely love hearing about its history and what makes it so special and has people from all over the world wanted to visit and move

[@finnpatenaude3536]

KZbinS BEST SERIES RIGHT HERE

[@DocSteiner]

I am biased but I concur

[@kimmurphy2119]

Best series on Washington Geology: Nick Zentner - kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIm9dWOEd7uFaMU

[@carlosrodgers2560]

@@kimmurphy2119 Yes! This series and Nick's channel is so good

[@peppapig9987]

I have lived in seattle my entire life (16), and this video was really interesting in explaining a lot of the history of why our city looks the way it does. Thank you!

[@71lizgoeshardt]

I've been to Seattle twice to visit family but never really spent time to see it as a tourist. This video makes me want to go back and really pay attention.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

Ballard is a cute and trendy enclave. It has the Ballard Locks for a look around, and just near there is a fairly new Nordic Museum in a new building. It gives an interesting look at the Nordic influence on the PNW. Lots of Nordics emigrated there in early days; their skills in timber cutting and fishing suited the area well.

[@andruhew]

Super impressed with the quality of this video!! From your delivery of the history mixed in with the interviews to the pacing - super cool!

[@neilokeefe9647]

High quality work. Really loving your channel my dude.

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

Thank you!

[@travypnw]

Great video. As a Seattle resident I knew a lot of this stuff but still a couple things that were new to me. Thanks for coming to our town!

[@cfhollister8766]

We Washingtonians know our mountains. You can't just throw in Baker (and probably Bellingham) at 3:42 and pretend it's Rainier and Seattle without us noticing ;) Also, great video.

[@AB-these-handles-are-stupid]

lol, surprised they didn’t use Adams.

[@benjaminsteele13]

I appreciate bringing the maps up to present day. I've seen a lot of these old photos (in part just flipping through the copy of Too High and Too Steep I got as I was moving here), but this finally made things click on what I was looking at.

[@paraskep5080]

I've actually done the Seattle Underground tour on my first trip to Seattle. it was cool seeing technically the first floor well underground.

[@nugylicious9872]

I met Daniel, he is an absolute pleasure to be around and talk too. I love your videos bro! ❤

[@user-ei7ed6zy9k]

Visited Seattle from the UK, never seen a mountain in my life. Stared at the mountainous horizon for about an hour at one point.

[@20022562]

If you think the street layout of Seattle is confusing try making sense of Washington's northern most city, Bellingham. Four original settlements each with different street orientations consolidated into one city.

[@curiousfirely]

I LOVE the connection the geologist made between glacial activity and easy bike routes! 😂🎉

[@artysanmobile]

I LOVE Seattle. Every visit has impressed me more. And the most special thing about it is its people. Living with South Florida’s oppressive heat and unbelievably rude people, it is like a visit to a different country. My random encounters in and around Seattle are unforgettable.

[@harpernalley4783]

At the end it was stated that "this was done in a time when this was possible" and I kind of want to push back on that. We can still do a lot. We can still revolutionize our cities, we can make construction costs cheaper, we can still solve problems, we just need to believe these things are possible. Link Light Rail has completely changed the city and will double in length by 2026 and double again by 2041 to 120 miles of track; the largest rail rapid transit expansion in the nation. We have added about 5,000-10,000 units of housing to the city each year for decades preventing us from falling the way of San Francisco, NYC, or Vancouver BC as a city too expensive for those working minimum wage to live in. We have added hundreds of miles of bike lanes and trails to aid in getting people out of cars. We can do more if the people of Seattle believe we can have a better future and push for that future

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

I think that’s a super good take! From what I understood he was referencing that the technology had developed to enable the settlers to rapidly change the landscape in a way no one had been able to before that time.

[@JusNoBS420]

I love your positivity on the City I grew up in and still call home. Dad worked for Boeing and mom over at Microsoft. LIFE LONG Seahawks and Mariners fans So it's in our DNA.

[@fedweezy4976]

I love your posotivity but there are some issues i have with your framing. Light rail is much too slow, ots not a problem when traveling within the city, but traveling from angle lake to westlake takes about 45 minutes, and this os a problem thats only gonna get more noticable as thw rail gets longer. My second issue is that we have definitely gone the way of SF and other such cities whem it comes to housing. You cannot live pff a minimum wage job in this city, the cost of living is just too high. Hopefully that'll get better soon and we might have done a bit better of a job than other coties, but seattle is expensive as hell. I dont mean to be rude, just pointing out a problem i have with your framing.

[@youtubecensors5419]

Seattle is in a nosedive and slush fund projects that go 500% + in budget size (intentionally, of course) and years over schedule to basically bring no revenue and require constant maintenance (which is never properly done) just to distribute vagrants to new neighborhoods isn't the answer. Maybe in 1890, sure. The light rail no one pays to use is handy to get to Sea Tac, and occasionally sporting events. Just wait until they need to install 500,000 ev chargers over hills, in valleys, down every street and avenue by 2035, while beefing up our grid fivefold! Oh wait, they put out 13 chargers and within hours the copper was stolen from them, we just reduced our hydroelectric output by 20%, and we're getting a state income tax by the end of the decade. Get your popcorn ready!

[@kindlin]

@@fedweezy4976 Seattle is _almost_ as expensive as SF with _almost_ as bad a homeless problem, but we've avoided the worst -- barely. I think we stand a good chance of coming out on top of the drug and homeless problem, but gentrification just seems to be how things progress, and if you ever played Simcity you know that's kind of how growth happens, which is the main driver of much of the US's attitude towards expansion.

[@breckhensley]

its always so cool to see the old topography overlayed with the new topography

[@kimmurphy2119]

This guy is a must! Nick Zentner, Seattle Geology... kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIm9dWOEd7uFaMU

[@svenliden4088]

@DanielsimsSteiner, you should do another one on the Montlake cut, the connection of Lake Washington to the sea, and all the land created and lost when that happened. I’ve seen a lot of this info before, but this was such a well done video, I’ve shared it with a number of long-time Seattlites. Thank you!

[@comrontiana2257]

East coast kid here.. Im going to Seattle this weekend the first time I'm hitting the west coast too. Pretty stoked and this video is pretty dope to watch before.

[@BenjaminKChan]

Oh no, do spill the beans about Seattle’s weather! It’s rains all the time!! 😉😉 So glad you finally get to Seattle! Love your map explained series!

[@seattleraf]

I grew up in Maryland and went to college in Cleveland and have lived in Seattle since 2013! So it was cool seeing that 2 of the 3 “founders” as it were had connections to those places. Cool video. I always like seeing historical photos and stories about Seattle.

[@zackshoemaker9001]

Can't wait to watch this on my ferry over to Seattle this afternoon!!!

[@hotrox2112]

Taking the Ferry is like Rolling Dice these days...will it actually be running today? "Thanks Jay"

[@Goodall10]

As a Seattle native, I've never seen the fire/rebuild/underground explained so well. Kudos!

[@museumofflight]

Don't forget that just south of downtown, the geography shaped the world's aviation industry, and the aviation industry shaped the map. The Duwamish River was rerouted by European settlers to straighten it out, because they believed the natural, winding layout didn't serve commerce. This and other changes around the river greatly impacted the indigenous people, who relied on the water and its fish for food and as part of their cultural institutions (while they may not fish it today due to pollution, the waterway still plays a major role in the modern indigenous culture). The straightening of the river made space for an airport to grow on the south edge of the city, and it also became home to a shipbuilder. When that shipbuilder went out of business, the shipyard was purchased by Bill Boeing, who was wealthy by birth and grew his fortune by selling Pacific Northwest timber. He set the craftspeople in the yard to making airplanes instead of boats, and the airport served as the testing ground for designs. The airport is still used to test Boeing aircraft today, and the company and the many businesses which supported it grew along the straightened Duwamish for the past century. The damage they and other industrial facilities along the waterway caused to the rivers' ecology has resulted in the area being designated a Superfund site. The airport itself has also been around for more than a century in one form or other, and many of the most famous aircraft in history were designed in the buildings along its border.

[@pandadorable82]

yes! the river that made seattle by BJ Cummings is a great book on this

[@museumofflight]

@@pandadorable82 Yes, it's a great book.

[@minteeslime7507]

I Was in Boston 2 days ago and watched your Boston video when i was there and i was thinking you should do Seattle and then i see this today! Im so happy you did one about Seattle, i grew up here and my mom use to work downtown near pioneer square and the Seattle underground has always fascinated me! This really helped me understand how it works!! (Also this is by far the best series on KZbin)

[@cheef825]

dope vid. my hometown of Port Townsend was once Seattle's rival boomtown, complete with a good deep water port, loads of timber, and ambitious city founders. Many of the first consulates in Washington were established there. However, Seattle's regrading plan and proximity to Tacoma was the decider in where the railroads decided to build. The Klondike gold rush happened, and the rest is history. That level of ambition registers in weird ways in my hometown. a massive street grid was laid, with its own strange systems (we have both alphabet lettered streets and numbered streets). The roads take up a tiny amount of the right of way in some places to account for more commuters than they ever got. THe most fascinating imo is the city trail system- built into unused and unclaimed parts of the street grid, then preserved as a park.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

I visited Port Townsend for the first time on an Olympic Peninsula whistlestop tour last year. Suddenly decided I wanted to live there. Typical holiday dream probably but I just saw myself up on that headland, looking out to Canada over the water.

[@TerpSlurper0710]

Been in Seattle for 2 1/2 months now, this video is a wonderful breakdown of why this city is built the way it is. Hats off to you!

[@kimmurphy2119]

Before cell phone maps & GPS, this was how to know where you were between Pioneer Square and the Pike Place Market: "Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Pressure!" You start at Jefferson Street, then you head north to James ("Jesus"), Cherry and Columbia street ("Christ"). From there it goes Marion, Madison ("Made"), Spring, Seneca ("Seattle"), University, Union ("Under"), Pike and Pine Street ("Pressure").

[@rigor_ii-i]

As a native Washingtonian. It’s great to see this video. Seattle is a beautiful city hate it or love it’s a special place to go. It’s informative and very well thought out video.

[@ZiggyBoon]

Seattle becoming one of America’s premier beer cities is the funny irony of Denny being one of the city’s “founding fathers”.

[@youtubecensors5419]

We're more of a fentanyl town now.

[@kindlin]

@@youtubecensors5419 What town isn't? It's a hellova drug, sneaking its way into everything.

[@hydrolifetech7911]

​@@youtubecensors5419bruh! All your visible comments are negative! You've let the far-right 'be afraid of big bad cities' scaremongering infect your brain. Get out of that bubble before it's too late buddy

[@GaveMeGrace1]

This year seems very much like a classic western Washington weather kind of season.

[@h1fox874]

Im from Kazan, Russia and I glad to see this videos about cities history over the ocean, that's really interesting and I love thw way you doing this videos, as always, great work❤

[@ballardtrip]

Great video! I've lived in Seattle for 40 years and learned some things. You could do an interesting follow up about the ship canal and the Hiram M Chittenden Locks. For folks who want to read more: Seattle From the Margins by Megan Asaka.

[@halenlindberg]

Wow Daniel such incredible production quality, voiceover and interviews. I'm so glad this was recommended to me and I can't wait to binge your whole channel while we eagerly await your next great video. I can't wait to see where this series takes you and what other fun and insigtful ideas you come up with. Keep up the great work!

[@MarshallSteeves]

would love to see you do Portland, OR too! so so so much neat history here that rarely gets covered on youtube

[@djchristensen1]

As someone who's lived in the Seattle area for over 30 years, this was informative and entertaining. I like the way you put this story together, I'm subbed and onto watching new maps explained. ♥️

[@Kabilibobers]

You should do a video on Anchorage, Alaska, one of the other "most northwestern cities in the United State".

[@Steve-ku8wk]

As a bit of a maps and geography nerd was thrilled to discover your channel. And the fact that i lived in Seattle for seven years was a bonus. You really got the essence of the history of seattles geography perfectly

[@Smollusk76]

omg I love this! I live here and I look a geology class where we learned about how the glaciers affected the landscape, but this is kinda adding another dimention to my understanding of it by bringing the aspect of how that shaped seattle! Thank you for this video, its super cool!

[@kimmurphy2119]

This series starts with the geology of Seattle, and goes up I-90 to the east, explaining so much! Nick is a great teacher at EWU! He's starting a series on the Cascade Volcanoes this fall. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIm9dWOEd7uFaMVh

[@tangyorange6509]

Crazy timing. Just got off the train here from Chicago and I’ll be staying for the next month-what a fun video!

[@museumofflight]

Enjoy your visit!

[@CharlieCon]

So cool to learn new things about the city I’ve lived in my whole life. I’d never noticed the odd angle of all the piers along the waterfront!

[@WyattBeazer]

I worked on an office/residential building in pioneer square. The owner showed us a passage in the basement garage that led into the underground and then into an old speakeasy. It had the bar, dumbwaiter, tables and chairs. I’d never seen so much dust.

[@jeffreitman]

So happy you touched on the native people. The city residents are a lot more conscious of it now but still have a ways to go, great research job as always

[@zFL3KS]

Except he got it wrong, the Duamish are actually known as Muckleshoot now…

[@alialassadi5576]

If I was a Seattle resident I wouldn’t care too much about those people, since they had millenniums to build something closer to 1% of the modern city and they couldn’t, and then Americans came and built it less than a 150 years ago

[@chuckrussell-coons5866]

@@alialassadi5576 The fact that the Duwamish lived here for thousands of years meant the city they built DID work for them. They weren't profit oriented so didn't need to "develop" the land. That's not a shortcoming.

[@chuckrussell-coons5866]

@@zFL3KS Depends who you ask. There are political reasons for one tribe to say another no longer exists. Personally, I think the world works best when we allow people to be called what they call themselves.

[@mmavoid]

All we do here is take the natives into account for everything. Im native and I believe at a certain point we need to give the “white man” credit for actually progressing our world and not always “cultivating it and tearing the natives down”. The European settlers made amazing progress and tributes to this world.

[@adityakalele3556]

Very well made video! Anyone visiting Seattle should do the underground tour. It’s an amazing cocktail of history and humor.

[@finnsmucker2146]

thanks for coming to town

[@browniesteve1611]

Am born and raised in Seattle and still live here and am so grateful for you to share the Origen of our Emerald city thanks

[@bartleby_bones3105]

As someone from the San francisco bay area, I had the same thought about Seattle. Very similar topography, weather, and vibes.

[@Wsttp400]

a lot more connections also, a lot of the lumber used to build parts of the Bay came from this region in Seattle. Seattle also used to have cablecars just like SF.

[@d.b.4671]

If you flip a map of the Bay Area upside down and rotate it 90 degrees, you more or less get the Puget Sound. It's kind of funny.

[@schmushenmush]

Just moved to Seattle and this is a great video to orient myself!

[@kimmurphy2119]

This guy is a must! Nick Zentner, Seattle Geology... HISTORY! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIm9dWOEd7uFaMU

[@deferencetodusk]

64° in august is NOT normal btw, normally we're in humid 85-95° weather currently. Ive lived here all my life and the colonization of the Seattle area is SO recent compared to the East coast, glad you addressed it early in this video

[@MJG206]

yeah it feels kinda bad to be a history buff and live in one of the newest parts of the world, civilization wise.

[@rileyconklin145]

⁠@@MJG206Except there have been Salish peoples living here for thousands of years. The ecosystem was so rich that it supported sedentary hunter gatherers with complex, hierarchical societies and traditions. So to say that it's one of the newest places "civilization wise" is incorrect.

[@jameswilliamson5307]

Just Google it... average August high is in the low 80s. 95 is very rare.

[@eugeniebreida]

@deference . . . you’re a very meaningful 10-12 degrees high as to our August ‘high’ temps, but WAY off as to how ARID July/Aug/Sept usually are. As a 65+ gardener, who’s out ‘in it’ most of those days - and who hails from D.C. and Djakarta humidity, as well as Colorado aridity, I can promise any of you thinking of joining our very habitable climate, that the ‘humidity’ begins mid-October, and typ lasts through June, when the intensity of our LONG days of endless solar input can dry soils (and air) out pert quick. Yes, with ‘weirding weather’ we did experience a string of mildly humid Summer days in 2024, but heh … Seattle’s has gorgeous ! bone-dry Summers, great for jumping in our many lakes and Puget Sound.

[@Chad_H]

I'm gonna need you to keep the Seattle weather on the DL. Need people to keep thinking it's rainy and cold here all year 😂

[@etiennesharp]

That underground bit baffled me until I remembered that American second storey = first floor in the rest of the world.

[@MJG206]

what do they call the first? Ground floor?

[@svenpb1996]

@danielsteiner I'm here right now first time on a big black boat near the cruise terminal. Youre right the weather is perfect!

[@wafflesnfalafel1]

Thanks for the vid sir. I think many folks really are surprised, given the city's liberal/greenie reputation that it was built on land actively taken from local native communities and then completely terraformed destroying the vast majority of the original landscape. And you are absolutely correct, Doc Maynard was a super interesting, complex guy.

[@EricaGamet]

I'm not sure anyone would be surprised by the actions of our colonizing/land grabbing forefathers... regardless of how a city identifies in modern day.

[@EmpressLizard81]

There's always a Yesler behind stuff like this. I think if someone described me as half the person Yesler was, I'd remove myself from the history books.

[@eugeniebreida]

The liberal/greenie reputation was mostly unearned, the Emerald portion of our fair city was obviously most verdant as white europeans first laid eyes on this evergreen covered region. And few land grabbing types are of a truly ‘liberal’ persuasion. However we earned our stripes as decades wore on, until the US’ ever more corporate-rule insidiously has taken hold throughout all states of the union. WA state, however, taking the prize of having the Most business friendly/citizen-regressive income tax structure in the nation..

[@ohheyitsguy]

I've been living in Seattle for about a year and a half now, and I had no idea about any of this history! What amazing tidbits I'll be able to pull out now!

[@kimmurphy2119]

This guy is a must! Nick Zentner, Seattle Geology... LONG HISTORY! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIm9dWOEd7uFaMU

[@reilandeubank]

Perfect timing for this video right after I visited Seattle for the first time ; )

[@anizuniga3763]

As someone who lives in Seattle this was a fascinating video!

[@wrektangles]

I hope you can cover some Canadian cities like Vancouver

[@add3rtv370]

so happy i found this channel, one of my most watched youtubers was Tom Scott and the way you explain, research, and actually have passion makes it an easy/interesting watch.

[@josephripepi6933]

New Daniel Steiner video about a city I’m going to in a week let’s goooooooo

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

🎉🎉 LETS GOO

[@jg-bordfronco2925]

Hands down the coolest history video on Seattle

[@DCole-eo9it]

Loved visiting Seattle! So glad they moved the freeway underground, the view is so much better without it

[@EricaGamet]

And the waterfront overlook thing on top of the new part of the aquarium is going to be amazing (think it opens next month).

[@travypnw]

@@EricaGamet it opened last week

[@EricaGamet]

@@travypnw The aquarium did but the overlook isn’t opened yet.

[@Dragantraces]

No part of "the freeway", (which is Interstate 5, or I-5, not "the 5" as the non-Seatlites erroneously call it). The road that has been only very partially undergrounded is Highway 99, which is never referred to as a freeway.

[@eugeniebreida]

@@Dragantraces Good points - ‘I-5’ (the freeway) and “I-99” (highway) are the most used names for these high-speed corridors. Never have heard anyone use ‘the five’ - thank heavens - but definitely ‘99’ is enough said to set most folks straight … Main confusion for visitors is I-99 (our Major E-W interstate highway) vs the more loca N-S I-99 . . .

[@josiahlindsey8846]

youtube recmonded me this & im so glad they did, you never see videos like this about Seattle & its all I really want, thank you Dainel

[@googi577]

Never expected to see my hometown. LFG!!

[@DanielsimsSteiner]

Let's gooooo

[@vedhanthrathod6576]

@@DanielsimsSteinerBro, can you do history of New Delhi?

[@awiyuh]

I love watching your videos while I work, sometimes I forget to work cause it's just so interesting. I never thought about Seattle much (as a non-American) but after finding out about the underground areas, it's now on my bucket list!

[@SarahJo-Obsidian]

Yay! Come visit us 🙌🏽🫶🏽

[@colpul2103]

Everybody,,, "The bluest skies you've seen are in Seattle. The hills the greenest green in Seattle. Like a beautiful child growing up free and wild, in Seattle"

[@2slo4u]

Thank you for this great video Daniel. Born and raised in Seattle so it was amazing to get these historic details about my city. I didn't want the video to end! Keep up the great work

[@KawausoKuso]

Based on the weather I can tell which week you were here lol. You really lucked out! Its been so hot before and after that one week you were here😂

[@EricaGamet]

Next week is looking like the sweet spot!

[@DavidGasperino]

Excellent video, been living in Seattle for a while and this pulled a lot of things together for me. Your storytelling style is top-notch, I feel like you could do an engaging video like this for each major American city.

[@lyfandeth]

That's a much shortened and sanitized (ahem) discussion of underground Seattle, but it is a fascinating city with an extreme passion for fresh seafood and great dining.