Sterile Pacific Place

 

5/21/25 Pacific Place, downtown Seattle

Although it wasn’t necessarily a favorite, Pacific Place retail center used to be a reliable wintertime location for sketching. USk Seattle met there once or twice, and I especially enjoyed sketching Santa there for several years.

That was long before the pandemic. Then sometime during the pandemic years, Pacific Place underwent a major renovation, raising eyebrows among local business writers and other critics. With retail business down all over the country, and downtown Seattle trending downward even before 2020, was putting a ton of money into Pacific Place really a good idea?

I don’t know the answer, but I realized that I had not yet been inside the retail center post-pandemic. Roy and I decided to check it out to see whether its sketching potential had changed with the renovation.

Probably some sketchers would enjoy sketching
this restaurant mascot, but it's not placed in an
ideal location for sketching it.

You already know that I have a high tolerance for “nothing” views and tend to believe that, with the right attitude, anything is sketchable. Roy has as similar attitude, and we both typically sketch a lot of “nothing.” Although we had fun anyway, we concurred that Pacific Place wouldn’t have much appeal for most sketchers. The term that kept coming to mind was sterile – everything looked tidy, fresh and colorful but also had no life. We nearly had the place to ourselves. The mall still has lots of empty spaces waiting for stores to move in – if they ever do.

On the upside, plenty of public seating (with uncomfortable chairs) was available on most floors, but somehow, it didn’t feel inviting. As I said, we both enjoyed sketching “nothing,” but I don’t need to go there again (though I may give it one more chance during the holiday season to see what the Santa situation is). It’s a pity because USk Seattle is always looking for good indoor locations for the long winter months.

The highlight of our outing was lunch at nearby Urban Sushi Kitchen. As usual during meals, my sketch was hasty due to hunger, but I couldn’t resist scribbling the multiple compartments of colorful food in my bento box.

5/21/25 Urban Sushi Kitchen