Secret Seattle

An Illustrated Guide to the City's Offbeat and Overlooked History

Susanna Ryan

In this follow-up to her charming book Seattle Walk Report, illustrator and walking enthusiast Susanna Ryan unearths the quirky history of Seattle’s history, neighborhoods, and hidden gems.

In 2017, Ryan was a ‘lifelong indoor enthusiast’ working at the Seattle Public Library. One morning, she decided to take herself on a directionless walk. She immediately started to notice the city’s tiny stories unfolding all around her — and realized she could walk down the same street twice and have entirely different experiences.

Streets she thought she knew turned into opportunities for delightful discoveries: ‘There was an entire world hiding in plain sight.’

The first book Seattle Walk Report gets much of its whimsy from its sense of serendipity and random finds on the street. In this one, Ryan evolves her approach to deliberate exploration of her hometown. ‘I began to wonder,’ she writes, ‘how much I really knew about the things I passed by every day on Seattle’s streets.

Her curiosity compels her toward in-depth research that, in turn, leads to her trademark friendly illustrations, this time in service to longer stories about Seattle sights. There’s a chronology of the park at Green Lake, including stories about its theater, hydroplane races, ice skating, the historic bath house, and more. She takes a deep dive into coal chutes found throughout the city and the pedestrian-friendly bridges with great views. She also shares the best places to hunt for sea glass and recommendations for her favorite small parks with great views.

Her walking adventures will surely make you fall in love with Seattle. They’re also a fun reminder to take a ‘tourist’ walk in your own hometown, to get curious about the sights you see everyday, and to be happily surprised by the new discoveries you make.

I began to wonder how much I really knew about the things I passed by every day on Seattle’s streets, from light fixtures and utility covers to bricks and parks. The closer I looked at the parts of my environment I had glossed right over, the more questions I had. There was a heap of history hidden right under my nose, just waiting to be documented before becoming the next thing to meet its fate at the bottom of a nondescript dumpster on a Capitol Hill corner. On these pages, you’ll find the untold story of T.F. Clark and his coal chutes, along with other tales — of tress, trails, and terra-cotta. — Susanna Ryan

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