Downtown Seattle's Street Fountains This Week

Dear Diary,

After three afternoons and evenings of returning to downtown parks, I've re-visited three-quarters of my list.  But it's going to take me a bunch of work to write the pages most of those places need, and I wanted to get something written before then.

So I'm singling out one category of place.  Or maybe two.

To start with, twelve drinking water fountains that Seattle Public Utilities maintains on the streets of downtown Seattle.  Their pseudo-map of these fountains was updated after I last discussed it in July 2021, and now includes most fountains known to me.  Specifically, what I refer to as a "street fountain" is two related things:  a drinking water fountain on a city street, but also a specific style of drinking water fountain that in Seattle, in my experience, is usually used on streets but not in parks.  All twelve of these fountains are recognisably that style.

Five other water fountains downtown that SPU doesn't list are also in the same style.  Four of those latter five are on sidewalks adjacent to parks owned by the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation; the fifth is actually inside such a park.  The parks are Westlake Park, Prefontaine Place, Pioneer Square with two fountains, and Hing Hay Park where the fountain is inside the park.  However, SPU isn't really consistent about this.  It lists a fountain in Occidental Square, and in North Seattle one (out of two) on the Burke-Gilman Trail.  Faced with such inconsistency, this page includes the five park-proximate ones too.

I haven't, in my hikes around downtown this week, been specifically looking for more street fountains; nor, for that matter, was I when I hiked around downtown last fall.  On the other hand, I did add a bunch of places to my initial lists last fall, and did add two so far this week; I'm not being completely unobservant.  But the fact is, SPU's initial June 2021 map showed fewer fountains than the current one shows.  So possibly there are downtown street fountains I haven't found and SPU still doesn't list.  Anyway, this page lists those known to me, in the order used by SPU, with the park-proximate fountains merged where I thought best.

Here's a map.  The SPU ones are black; the one in Occidental Square that's both SPU and parks is gray-green; and the ones that are only parks are green.

The pseudo-map presents the twelve as street addresses, and it can't be magnified to show downtown clearly.  So I name them both by the street addresses and by whatever else I think appropriate.  However, first:  I'm aware that my tagging system (well, Blogspot calls 'em labels, but they're tags) - anyway, I haven't tried to adapt it to downtown in any detail, let alone to specific street fountains there.  On top of which, the "labels" aren't even shown to readers reading on their phones.  So here are links to previous pages in which I've discussed downtown street fountains, and I'll cite those pages under each individual fountain as relevant.

1 - "Water Fountains:  Things We've Lost, Part II", 5/1/2020.

2 - "Ways to Fight Water Addiction", 6/18/2020.

3 - "Water Fountains - an Interim Report, Part III", 10/3/2020.

4 - "Credit Where It's Due:  Downtown Street Fountains", 7/5/2021.  This page includes two photos for each fountain covered, one to show where the fountain is, the other to show whether it provided water.  Page 2 did the same for the only fountain it covers; below, for fountains not covered by either page 2 or page 4, I provide location shots as well as water shots.  Page 4 also identifies three models of street fountains, differing at their bases.

5 - "Foolish Mortal Tackles Street Fountains Again", 7/6/2021.  This page includes no new visits to fountains, but mentions a few and maps both downtown and North Seattle street fountains.

6 - "Today's Hike: Many water fountains turned on in areas around the University", 7/10/2021.

Summary of this week's results:

• Running strongly - 7 (6 SPU, 1 park)
• Running other than strongly - 3 (1 SPU, 2 parks)
• Stripped to their bases - 4 (2 SPU, 2 parks)
  
• Completely missing - 3 (3 SPU, 0 parks)

Here they are:

A. 501 Olive Way

At the intersection of 5th Ave, Olive Way, and Westlake Ave.  Specifically, southeast of Olive and northeast of 5th.  Previously 1 (photo, damaged beyond use), 3 (photo, same condition), 4 (photos, damaged but useable).  Several of the northernmost ones downtown, in particular this one, now have a different bowl from the models shown in previous pages, in particular the three models shown in 4.

Yesterday evening, running strongly:

B. Westlake Park

This one is on the northeast side of 4th Ave, adjacent to the park.  If SPU gave it an address, that might be 1520 4th Ave.   Previously, 1 (photo, not running), 3 (photo, not running), 4 (photos, running strongly), 5 (only mentioned).

This afternoon, running unpredictably, but this photo is from yesterday afternoon:

C. 1529 3rd Avenue

On the southwest side of 3rd Ave, southeast of Pine St.  I haven't previously mentioned this specific one to you, dear Diary.

Yesterday afternoon, completely missing:

And a location shot taken this afternoon:

D. 1520 Pike Place

Near the northern corner of Post Alley and Pike Place.  I haven't previously mentioned it to you, dear Diary.

Yesterday evening, running strongly:

And a location shot taken this afternoon, which I obviously couldn't keep as clear of people as I prefer:

E. 100 Pike St

At the north corner of 1st Ave and Pike St.  Previously, 2 (photos, 1- location and 2 - damaged beyond use), 3 (photo, same condition), 4 (no photo, running).

Yesterday evening, running weakly:

F. 1000 2nd Ave

At the north corner of 2nd Ave and Madison St.  Previously 4 (photos, running), 5 (only mentioned), 6 (no photo, running, I didn't like the taste).

Yesterday afternoon, running strongly:

G. 1398 3rd Ave

At the east corner of 3rd Ave and Union St.  Previously, 1 (photo, not running), 3 (photo, not running), 4 (photos, running strongly), 6 (no photo, running, I didn't like the taste).

Yesterday afternoon, running strongly:

H. 898 3rd Ave

At the east corner of 3rd Ave and Marion St.  Previously, 6 (photo, not running).

Yesterday afternoon, stripped to its base:

This afternoon, a location shot:

Sorry it isn't clear, dear Diary.  You can see part of the fountain base there at the bottom.  I had trouble taking this picture because someone was standing just outside the frame; I think he was a messenger waiting for another delivery order, and he showed no sign of moving until he got one.  So I settled for this.

I. 200 Columbia St

Somewhere near 2nd Ave and Columbia St, presumably on the north corner.  Previously, 6 (couldn't find it).

I couldn't find it yesterday afternoon, either.  So this afternoon I came back and walked from Cherry to Marion streets and from 1st to 3rd avenues on both sides of the street, eight blocks of walking in all, just to see whether I could find any trace of this fountain.  And I couldn't.  My two leading hypotheses are:  1) Subsequent work on the sidewalks has erased the telltale signs of a completely removed fountain; or 2) This is SPU's little joke on anyone who relies on the map.

While SPU's addresses aren't all that reliable, they aren't nearly as bad as the parks department's.  So I looked particularly hard at the north corner, and took three photos to show that the pavement on that corner and for quite a way beyond it in each direction looks quite undisturbed.

J. 298 James St

At the west corner of 3rd Ave and James St.  Previously, 6 (no photo, damaged but useable).

This afternoon, stripped to its base: 

Also this afternoon, a location shot:

Another constrained shot.  Really, downtown is a lot more crowded than it was a year ago.

K. Prefontaine Place

This one is on 3rd Ave just north of Yesler Way.  If SPU gave it an address, that might be 501 3rd Ave.  I don't think I've previously mentioned this one to you, dear Diary.

Tuesday afternoon, stripped to its base:

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And this afternoon, a location shot:

Pioneer Square

L. East

This one is on the north side of Yesler Way just west of James St.  If SPU gave it an address, that might be 120 Yesler Way.  Previously, 4 (photo, running, no location shot) and 5 (only mentioned).

Tuesday afternoon,stripped to its base:

And, you guessed it, dear Diary!  This afternoon, a location shot:

M. West

This one is at the northeast corner of 1st Ave and Yesler Way.  If SPU gave it an address, that might be 100 Yesler Way, or 600 1st Ave.  Previously, 4 (photos, running strongly), 5 (only mentioned).

Tuesday afternoon, and this afternoon, running strongly as a spray, which isn't to say it's the light, gentle kind of spray, but the kind you want for washing an inanimate object, say, or maybe watering a garden:

N. 201 Occidental Ave (Occidental Square)

At what would have been the southwest corner of Occidental Ave S and S Washington St if the park weren't there instead.  Previously, 4 (photos, running strongly; this is the one wrongly identified there as at the north end of "Occidental Park").

Tuesday afternoon, running strongly:

O. 201 S Main St

At the northeast corner of 2nd Ave and Main St.  (That address is wrong, implying the southeast corner.)  I haven't previously mentioned this one to you, dear Diary.

Tuesday evening, running strongly:

And one last location shot taken this afternoon:

P. 398 Occidental Ave S

At the northeast corner of Occidental Ave S and S Jackson St, a block south of Occidental Square.  Previously, 4 (photos, running strongly; this is the one doubly wrongly identified there as at the south end of "Occidental Park").

Yesterday afternoon, completely missing:

Q. Hing Hay Park

Well within the park, but near Maynard Ave S, the northwest corner of Maynard and S King St.  I accidentally included what amounts to a location shot in the page that introduced Hing Hay Park a year ago.

Tuesday evening, running strongly:

And here, as a reward for anyone who's actually read all the way through this page, is a revised map.  Bright blue for running, bright red for not running.

 

And that's all for tonight, dear Diary.  Once my bus pass runs out, I hope this weekend to finish "Library Hours Six Months Later" with the last of the private libraries, and then use what appears to be a lot of dry weather coming to hike the North Seattle parks before settling down to the academic libraries perforce left over from "Six Months Later", and then a much less ambitious series "Library Hours One Year Later".  There should also be much more coming about downtown, but first, I still have about 25 places to visit there tomorrow.  (Mainly Seattle Center and Westlake Ave.)  And I don't yet know how fast I can write all these many pages up, because I don't yet know whether I'll find work quite soon, or instead become homeless again quite soon.  So happy nights and days until we meet again, dear Diary.