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Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This small, tranquil park features a 22-foot high waterfall cascading over granite boulders. The park occupies the site where two 19-year olds, James Casey and Claude Ryan, began a messenger service in 1907 in the basement of a tavern, which eventually grew up to become United Parcel Service (UPS). The Annie E. Casey Foundation, started by James Casey and his siblings in honor of their mother, created the park and maintains it "in honor of the men and women of United Parcel Service."
Waterfall Garden Park, also called UPS Park and UPS Waterfall Park, is a private 60-by-80-foot pocket park in Seattle, Washington, created in 1978 at the original United Parcel Service building in Pioneer Square. It is open to the public during the day and closed at night. The park was designed by Masao Kinoshita with Sasaki Associates and funded by Annie E. Casey Foundation to commemorate UPS's founder, James Casey. The park is named for a manmade 22-foot (6.7 m) tall waterfall over which is pumped 5,000 US gallons (19,000 L) of water per minute. It is described as "one of the most expensive parks per square foot ever built in the United States". Roger Sale says in the guidebook Seeing Seattle that the park is locked at night to keep out the sizeable Pioneer Square homeless population.
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This urban park is best known for its four totem poles carved by local artist Duane Pasco. It also has bocce courts, ping pong and foosball tables.
A key attraction in the Pioneer Square area, this is the Seattle branch of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the remainder of which is in Alaska. The site highlights the city's key role as the "Gateway to the Gold Fields" for most of the Klondike stampeders of 1897-1898. National Park Service Rangers and volunteers staff the museum and can provide information and perspective not only on the gold rush but also on Seattle's past. The museum contains many artifacts and historical photographs related to the Gold Rush, and movies about the gold rush and Seattle's history are shown upon request (except in summer, when they're shown on a regular schedule). Rangers also conduct free walking tours of the Pioneer Square area in the summer and demonstrate gold panning to school groups.
Built in 1914, the Smith Tower was Seattle's first skyscraper, and the tallest building on the West Coast for nearly half a century before being overtaken by the Space Needle. Uniformed attendants operate the old copper and brass elevators from which you can peer into the different floors and offices as you ascend, an experience most people today have probably only witnessed in old movies. The outdoor Observatory on the 35th floor wraps completely around the four sides of the tower, providing panoramic views of the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, including Mt. Rainier, as well as of Elliott Bay, Downtown Seattle, and Pioneer Square. The interior of the 35th floor contains a speakeasy-themed bar, formerly known as the Chinese Room for its ornately carved ceiling and a number of decorative flourishes imported from China in the early 20th century. There is an excellent 45 minute guided tour with a very knowledgeable and entertaining tour guide (separate admission fee) about Seattle's history from the 1920s and beyond that is available. Also, there is an excellent independent coffee shop (Caffe Vita) in the Smith Tower (hours M–F: 7AM-5PM, Sa–Su: 8AM–3PM). Washington state residents can get admission for only $18 (with Washington state ID) and after 4pm Monday to Thursday admission is available to all for only $18 to the observation deck and bar only (museum not included for this price).
Pioneer Square proper is just a small corner park that's often occupied by homeless folks, but generally safe during the day.
The original Underground tour. Tours last 75 minutes, including a 15 minute introduction.
Search for ghosts and other paranormal activity at night. Tours last 90 minutes; arrive 15 minutes early to borrow and get trained on paranormal detection equipment.