I hope you’ll put up with a bit of self-indulgence and promotion. I am excited to announce that the new, updated edition of Seattle Walks is now available in bookstores. Here’s the skinny on it.
In the fall of 2023, Nicole Mitchell, the director of the University of Washington Press, contacted me about updating the original Seattle Walks. We had been talking about it on and off for several years—and going on walks together—so I knew I wanted to do it. Part of my impetus was that since the press published the first edition of Seattle Walks in 2017, the world has changed significantly.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were forced to stay home, or close to home, which led to many people discovering or rediscovering their own neighborhoods. People began to meet neighbors and the plants and animals that had coexisted with them. Many also began to seek out the human stories and to develop new connections with those who came before, not just previous denizens of recent decades but also those whose stories stretched back thousands of years, the Native inhabitants.
I was one of those people who spent far more time exploring Seattle than previously and who began to strengthen the connections I had made to place. Those many walks also increased my appreciation for the amazing cultural and natural history stories of Seattle. They crop up in so many places—from hidden gems, like the laundries of South Lake Union or synagogues converted to churches in the Central District, to ones I had long thought about but had not truly understood, such as the historic path of the Duwamish River.
With Nicole’s support and encouragement, I began to update Seattle Walks. I knew that I wanted to go to neighborhoods that hadn’t been included in the original, which motivated me to go out and explore, dive into the research, and ask friends to test the walks. All of this was fun and enlightening.
Not only have I incorporated new information in the walks but I have incorporated new ways of seeing the world and trying to focus more on diversity, equity, and inclusion. I ultimately added three new walks—in Georgetown, the Central District, and Cascade/South Lake Union—and removed two of the original seventeen. I decided to cut “Magnuson Park,” primarily because the redevelopment of the park has led so many people to discover it on their own, and “Where You At,” because it overlapped several other downtown walks. These walks will remain available on my website as PDFs.
I hope that all eighteen walks in my book will enable you to see Seattle in a new light and acquire a new appreciation for how the city has changed through time, how the past influences the present, and how nature is all around us, even in the urban landscape, which many people consider the least wild place around. And I trust that you will make many discoveries on your own.
Plus, walking is an act of defiance and resistance. By getting out in your neighborhood and new ones, you get to meet other people, find essential stories of place, get healthier, move at your own pace, consider how others (human and more than human) live, be part of your community, and enjoy this amazing city of Seattle. And, it’s a great opportunity to get away from the chaos of world news and revel in being present in the moment.
Walking continues to be central to my life and a way to develop deeper connections to my home city, the place where I intend to reside for the rest of my life. I sincerely hope this new edition of Seattle Walks will bring you the same joy, sense of discovery, and deeper awareness of the complex history of the city as it has brought me.
I have a favor to ask. Since I am trying to spread the word about the new edition of Seattle Walks, I was hoping that you might be willing to share this newsletter with family, friends, and others. Thanks kindly.
If you to know more about the book, or simply want to see a picture of me or hear my mellifluous voice, here are two links.
Recently I was interviewed by Libby Denkman and Alec Cowan for KUOW’s Soundside program. We strolled through the Central District and talked about history, geology, architecture, redlining, and walking. I actually sound somewhat intelligent.
I also had the pleasure to go out in the field with Clay Eals for a story for the Now and Then section of the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest magazine. If you scroll through the three photos at the top of the article you can see me photobombing the old Georgetown Town Hall.
For a deeper Now and Then dive you can go to their website.
On March 22, I will be leading a walk based on the book for Third Place Books. We’ll be in Georgetown. Here’s more info and how to sign up.
And, if you want to buy the book directly from me, here’s a link. My autograph is free!
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