We talk a lot about innovation here in Washington State. But you can’t beat it when someone else sings your praises, especially since it was supposed to be a travel piece.
Innovation is our secret sauce. For more than a century, it has set us apart from the rest of the nation. Our unique history has created a perfect storm for coming up with ideas that shake up markets and, sometimes, the world.
From the historic Pike Place Market, where Starbucks started, to the Museum of History and Industry, which has an astounding collection of artifacts – including the first wireless phone introduced by a Seattle inventor in 1909 – innovation is in our blood.
But we need not say more. CNN did all the writing for us using – wait for it – a real-life reporter. No ChatGPT here, though our techno-centric economy would have thought that was pretty cool if it were.
“Seattle’s a boom and bust town – it’s been gold boom and bust, tech boom and bust,” says Ryan Reese, co-owner of Pike Place Fish Market, known for its “fish throwers.”
While the story is mainly about Seattle, people who live here will tell you the story is virtually the same across the state.
Residents seem to have a Midas touch. While not everything turns to gold, when one does, it tends to take the world by storm. Remember when ordering coffee was as simple as saying, “I’d like it black?” Thank us for the 25-words you need to string together to place your order today. Dig the sounds of Indie artist Brandi Carlisle? She’s from here, as are other groundbreaking acts, from Hendrix and Heart to Macklemore.
Perhaps it’s fitting that The Space Needle continues to be the shining symbol of our continual look to the future. A last-minute addition to the Century 21 Exhibition in 1962, the 50-year-old landmark still looks like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie.
“We don’t necessarily invent things – we make things better,” says Leonard Garfield, executive director of Seattle’s MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry).
“I think this area is a fertile ground for ideas, for innovation, and for considering what’s possible,” adds Dani Cone, owner of Cone & Steiner. “There’s just something in the DNA of this place.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.