Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE ORIGINAL SKID ROW
Recognized as a byword for decrepit down-at-heel urban neighborhoods every-
where, the term 'skid row' originated in Seattle in the 1860s when greased logs
were skidded down First Hill to a timber mill on the shores of Elliott Bay owned by
a local lumber entrepreneur named Henry Yesler. The mill road - known officially
as Yesler Way but colloquially as Skid Row - was punctuated by a strip of bawdy
bars that grew up to support a rambunctious population of itinerant mill workers.
Famed for its drunken revelry and occasional fistfights, the area quickly acquired
an unsavory reputation, causing Seattle's affluent classes to migrate north to the
newer, more salubrious streets of what is now the downtown core. Meanwhile,
'Skid Row' was left to slip into a long and inglorious decline, and an infamous
nickname was born.
After decades of poverty, Yesler Way finally came out of its coma in the 1970s
after a vociferous community campaign saved the Pioneer Square Historic Dis-
trict from the demolition ball. Sandwiched amid the handsome redbrick edifices
of Seattle's original downtown, it's a gritty but innocuous place these days where
the only log you'll see is the lofty Native American totem pole that towers over
nearby Pioneer Square Park.
