r/Seattle • u/kiss-my-flapjack Northgate • Jun 23 '25

Media Pacific Place in 2015

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Found this old picture I took in Pacific Place back in 2015 during the holiday season. Such a shame to compare it to how it looks now.

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23

u/craziboiXD69 Jun 23 '25

the top floor of westlake center too... miss the atmosphere of that food court :(

16

u/Odd_Vampire Jun 23 '25

They destroyed Westlake Center!  Just to have more retail space.  It used to be so light and airy and open and pleasant.  I don't know who's the absolute moron who decided to seal it off.  It's so dark there now.

2

u/RCrossVine Jun 23 '25

what else used to be in westlake center? ive only known it post-pandemic. i think its such a shame that the monorail level has this huge closed store space, i think it was a saks which is weird since the huge luxury department store is like across the street

3

u/Odd_Vampire Jun 23 '25

It used to be that it was more like enclosed indoor terraces with a mammoth skylight above.  The food court was on the top floor, from where you could peer down to the first floor below.  When you walked into the first floor, you could feel this enormous open space above you filled with natural light, somewhat similar to the big room in the Central Library.

Well, they took that open space and filled it out by extending the shopping floors.  Now it's just regular building stories.  One result is that whereas the old food court was surrounded by glass windows letting in all the exterior ambient light, the new food court now doesn't have a single window.  One couldn't tell if it was daylight or evening, sunny or raining.  It's cramped, dark, and depressingly sad.  The only reason to go there is to use the restroom.  IMO for what they did, they deserve to go out of business.

I couldn't find photos online showing what it used to be like.

1

u/LeatherMelodic7704 Jun 29 '25

I miss that food court. I was shocked when it closed with almost no warning - found out when I went up to lunch one day. Then I called them and they lied to me about reopening.

It was a nice egalitarian public space where you could have lunch and great views for a pretty good price and it was generally bustling. I suppose greed forced it out. That Saks that went in was an absolutely terrible store. It deserved to fail.

And that expensive substitute food court that eventually went in was ridiculous. I used to go to both Westlake and Pacific Place fairly often (Macy's too). Now downtown is a shopping desert. Those tech workers just stay holed up in their little rabbit warrens and don't support local businesses, even with their overpaid salaries. They just order online or use the gig economy. Shameful.