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Two Roads Diverged · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings all,
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Seattle Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Every week I share my observations and adventures with the human and natural world
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  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode explores downtown Seattle road quirks and how they mess with the time-space continuum.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website, geologywriter.com.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: You will also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my previous three years of newsletters,
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: as well as images tied to this week's episode.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 4 of the Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Two Roads Diverged,
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: December 19,
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  SPEAKER_00: 2024.
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  SPEAKER_00: As a map and geography dork,
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  SPEAKER_00: one of my little pleasures is being a gnomon,
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  SPEAKER_00: the object that casts a shadow on a sundial.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is particularly true when my shadow is directly in front of me as I walk north on a city street.
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  SPEAKER_00: When that happens,
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  SPEAKER_00: I know it is celestial noon because most streets in most cities are laid out due north-south.
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  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I was confused when walking up Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: The reason for my confusion was that my shadow pointed directly up the street like
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  SPEAKER_00: a sundial at noon,
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  SPEAKER_00: which meant it should be noon,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it wasn't.
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  SPEAKER_00: I quickly realized my mistake,
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  SPEAKER_00: which I know resulted from a geographical quirk created by early city settlers
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  SPEAKER_00: Arthur Denny and Doc Maynard.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: In 1853, they were tasked with platting Seattle streets.
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  SPEAKER_00: Legend holds that Denny believed that Maynard was stimulated by liquor and that he
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  SPEAKER_00: had the gall to align his streets with the cardinal directions.
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  SPEAKER_00: In contrast, Denny, a notorious teetotaler, aligned his streets with the shoreline.
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  SPEAKER_00: Both were right in their actions.
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  SPEAKER_00: Most urban and rural settings operate on a cardinal plan,
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  SPEAKER_00: basically a Cartesian grid aligned north-south and east-west.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thus,
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  SPEAKER_00: Maynard was simply following historical protocol when he created his street grid
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  SPEAKER_00: south of what is now Yesler Way.
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  SPEAKER_00: Denny's idea was also logical.
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  SPEAKER_00: An alignment tied to the waterfront would make it easier to navigate to, from, and along the shoreline.
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  SPEAKER_00: In a city whose economic life centered on maritime trade, access was certainly a key issue.
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  SPEAKER_00: The two couldn't compromise.
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  SPEAKER_00: Denny believed that,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: Maynard had taken enough to make him feel that he was not only monarch of all he surveyed,
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  SPEAKER_00: but what I surveyed as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: wrote historian Murray Morgan in his book Skid Road.
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  SPEAKER_00: Ironically,
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  SPEAKER_00: Denny had been a surveyor,
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  SPEAKER_00: so should have known and accepted Maynard's logic of alignment with the cardinal directions.
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  SPEAKER_00: The conflict between the two fellows is what led to my confusion.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because my shadow was oriented with Denny's waterfront roads,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: it altered my normal time-space continuum of noon shadows and north-south roads.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can easily imagine that many of you are now wondering,
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  SPEAKER_00: does Seattle have other big downtown road quirks that mess with David?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, listeners, look carefully at a Seattle map.
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  SPEAKER_00: You will see that 2nd Avenue South Extension is the only street west of I-5 that
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  SPEAKER_00: cuts straight across the Maynard-Denny line of contention.
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  SPEAKER_00: All others follow the link created by the original Platts.
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  SPEAKER_00: Builders of the new road hoped that a direct connection from the more prosperous
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  SPEAKER_00: northern part of downtown would drive better money and business to the area known
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  SPEAKER_00: variously as Black Chapel,
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  SPEAKER_00: White Chapel,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Lava Beds,
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  SPEAKER_00: Tenderloin,
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  SPEAKER_00: and perhaps most famously,
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  SPEAKER_00: Skid Road.
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  SPEAKER_00: The straight line extension would also help alleviate congestion,
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  SPEAKER_00: which was becoming more problematic with the growing popularity of automobiles.
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  SPEAKER_00: To the north lies the other notable road idiosyncrasy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like the 2nd Avenue extension,
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  SPEAKER_00: Westlake Avenue cuts through the established road grid,
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  SPEAKER_00: this time at yet another angle not aligned north-south.
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  SPEAKER_00: Built partially with Phil from Denny Hill between 1905 and 1907,
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  SPEAKER_00: the road ran in what some called the Great Westlake Valley.
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  SPEAKER_00: In 1856, surveyors reported six feet wide western red cedars along a creek in the valley.
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  SPEAKER_00: Westlake Boulevard,
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  SPEAKER_00: as it was originally known,
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  SPEAKER_00: would be the new arterial highway,
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  SPEAKER_00: bringing prosperity for property owners and businesses along it and to the north.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is, unless the city condemned and appropriated your property.
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh well, you can't please everyone.
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  SPEAKER_00: The story of Seattle's downtown street grid is the typical one of a thriving and
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  SPEAKER_00: ambitious city,
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  SPEAKER_00: particularly one obsessed with becoming a world-class city.
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  SPEAKER_00: Initially, the layout follows the topography, often tracking Old Foot Pass.
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  SPEAKER_00: These, in turn, might follow routes utilized by the native inhabitants or perhaps even animals.
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  SPEAKER_00: As the city grows,
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  SPEAKER_00: roads get more formalized through official plaiting and less tied to topography via regrading.
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  SPEAKER_00: Eventually,
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  SPEAKER_00: enough change occurs,
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  SPEAKER_00: such as the arrival of new modes of transportation or development of more outlying areas,
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  SPEAKER_00: to force planters to slice across the grid.
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  SPEAKER_00: I get their point that following that ancient observation,
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  SPEAKER_00: the shortest distance between two points is a straight line,
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  SPEAKER_00: is a good idea,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it really messes with my ability to tell time.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of streets,
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  SPEAKER_00: today's as good a time as any to announce the imminent publication of the second
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  SPEAKER_00: edition of my book,
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  SPEAKER_00: Seattle Walks.
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  SPEAKER_00: I've updated the walks, fixing mistakes and addressing changes in the urban infrastructure.
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  SPEAKER_00: I also added three new walks in Georgetown,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Central District,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Cascade South Lake Union neighborhoods,
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  SPEAKER_00: and dropped two walks,
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  SPEAKER_00: Magnuson Park and Where Are You At?
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  SPEAKER_00: Seattle Walks won't be out until February 2025,
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  SPEAKER_00: but you can pre-order it through the University of Washington Press and get a 40%
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  SPEAKER_00: discount until January 3rd.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's a link in my newsletter.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
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  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of the Street Smart Naturalist,
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind,
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  SPEAKER_00: a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and natural world around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about my books,
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: walks and talks,
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
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  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to slow down, pay attention, and enjoy the world around you.