Christmas in Seattle
It’s Christmas in Seattle! Last week Kevin and I went and toured the holiday decor in downtown Seattle. I was a little disappointed in the lack luster year. I remember when I was a kid we would come to the city to see the over the top holiday decorations. Nowadays it seems with the rise of Amazon and the slowing down of retail, holiday displays will become a thing of the past. What are your thoughts?
Please enjoy the photos of the holiday lights and displays I found on our adventure thru a wet Seattle evening.
Space Needle:
The Space Needle is always classic and even better with the invention of LED lights!
Pacific Place:
The Pacific Place mall is under complete renovation while they build a new grand northern entrance, to draw the South Lake Union Amazon crowd. With the renovation the classic nightly indoor snow and all the holiday cheer was not on display. A simple lighted “JOY” was all I could find.
Sheraton Grand Seattle Hotel:
The Sheraton Hotel for years has hosted the annual Gingerbread displays. This year it was a Whoville theme, even the one simple Christmas tree in the lobby was part of the theme. I was disappointed that the lobby wasn’t decorated more, I guess more cost cutting measures.
The Gingerbread displays were over the top, lots of sugar and lots of frosting!
Grand Hyatt:
The Grand Hyatt has been in Seattle since the early 2000’s. Kevin and I use to dine or drink at the 727 Restaurant often when I worked downtown, now the elegant 727 is a Ruth Chris Steakhouse. We stayed at this hotel when we had our flooring redone way back when. The holiday decor was traditional and elegant, the lobby felt like Christmas.
Hyatt Regency Seattle:
Hyatt Regency Seattle is Seattle’s newest hotel opening just this month, December 2018. The 45-story hotel has 1,260 rooms! The Grand entrance which is at least 2 stories tall featured a lighted Caribou from the Enchanted Christmas at Safeco Field. This sculpture was very impressive and cool to see in person. The Christmas tree in the lobby was elegant and modern with silver and purple decorations. The decorations here were elegant but very cold which didn’t help on a cold wet evening.
Hotel Max:
We quickly walked into the Hotel Max and were greeted with a simple tree and bike. The tree looked as if part of the lights were out.
The Westin Seattle:
The Westin is one of Seattles classic hotels, I mean Presidents stay here. So when we walked into the lobby I kept looking for red, green, silver, and gold. I never found a tree, no decor just these stick displays with cold white light. We quickly kept on our search for holiday cheer, it wasn’t at the Westin.
At least the outside had some color, even if one tower was all about football.
Mayflower Park Hotel:
Celebrating 91 years the Mayflower Park Hotel is a beautiful small elegant and classic hotel. The hotel is right behind Westlake Center and so it’s in the heart of downtown. The holiday decorations were elegant, traditional and warm. I loved the simple holiday decor on the mantle. They also had a great Gingerbread display of a more traditional variety.
Bon Marché (aka Macys):
The northeast window display is a classic model train display. Kids can put their hands on a special place on the window to make the train activate. You can watch a clip of the train in action from a few years back here.
Of course Christmas in Seattle would not be complete without the Bon Marché Star. Thankfully after all these years of Macys ownership the star is still on display since 1957. Here is a great article about the star and Seattle Departments stores past.
Westlake Center:
Westlake Center may not be the hub of Seattle shopping any longer but the Westlake Center park is where Seattles official Christmas tree is located. It is a far cry from say Rockefeller Christmas tree, and it’s fake! Seattle being located in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by trees, mountains and water could get a beautiful tree if it really wanted.
Fairmont Olympic Hotel:
I think the Fairmont formerly the Olympic Four Seasons had the most beautiful display this year.
Merry Christmas to you and yours from Kevin and I, I hope you made it onto Santa’s Nice List!
