You\’re Not In Kansas Anymore, You\’re In Seattle
December 28, 2009 by Myer Thompson
Filed under Vacation
Behold the Emerald City. No, you won\’t find any flying monkeys or a yellow brick road, but if Seattle needed another catchy gimmick, it could lay claim to the rights to some of the flavors of THE WIZARD OF OZ. The city is poised to become the next big thing, the new West Coast phenomenon. Well, kind of.
Seattle is, among other things, the crucible for grunge music, our modern coffee fixation, and corporate protests. It gave us Nirvana, Starbucks, and the WTO riots of 1990. Not a bad amalgam of the energies, tensions, and delights of the Emerald City. While is has fostered a voice for rebellion, it is also home to some of the most powerful corporations in the world.
This tension breeds incredible creative innovations and horrendous bursts of violence and ambivalence. You could argue Grunge could only come from Seattle as it was positioned in such a way that it could offer a sounding board for rebellion and angst. You\’d be hard-pressed to find a sub-0culture of angst and rebellion in, say Kansas City. But stack the city with billion-dollar corporations and then see what happens. You often need the diametric force to fuel a given movement or expression.
Would Cubism have flourished in any other place than Paris? Could it have flourished in early 20th century London? Madrid? Berlin? Movements and expressions come from specific places because those places offer something to the movement or expression. Places either try to suppress, and in doing so nurture, or they support, in which case they can neuter new and exciting possibilities. How and why this happens is still something of a mystery.
You have to come stay. The only way you can really appreciate what a city has to offer is to stay in it. Not a mere weekend sojourn, mind you. Find an extended stay hotel — like the Bellvue or Marriott — and bring a journal. You can only know a city by immersing yourself in it. When in Rome, you stay in Rome — then you do as the Romans do. Dorothy could never have imagined a city as complex and dynamic, filled with so much creative tension and capitalistic savoir faire, than this Emerald City, Seattle.
If you fancy crashing in a cozy extended-stay hotel, you can\’t go wrong with any and all of the Bellevue Hotels.
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