Posted on by Benjamin Lukoff

Seattle Storm Way

This pedestrianized stretch of 2nd Avenue N on the Seattle Center campus was renamed in 2018 after the Seattle Storm WNBA team, themselves so named “because of the weather here and what the team plans to do in the league.” Founded in 2000, their home court is Climate Pledge Arena, located between Seattle Storm Way and 1st Avenue N along Lenny Wilkens Way (formerly the 100 block of Thomas Street)

Before the 1962 Century 21 Exposition that brought Seattle the Space Needle and Monorail, 2nd Avenue N (earlier Poplar Avenue) continued north to Mercer Street and up Queen Anne Hill. The stretch between Thomas and Mercer Streets would remain a public right-of-way after its pedestrianization for nearly 30 years until it was vacated in 1991 at the request of Seattle Center “for the purpose of security and event control.”

Seattle Storm Way begins at Lenny Wilkens Way and goes a block north to the old Harrison Street right-of-way; the walkway between there and Mercer Street remains unnamed.

Seattle Storm logo
Seattle Storm logo
Posted on by Benjamin Lukoff

Stadium Place S

This private street begins at 2nd Avenue S and S King Street and goes 300 feet south to the north parking lot of Lumen Field. It was created in 2011 as part of the Stadium Place development, after which it was named. The development, in turn, was so named for its proximity to Lumen Field, known as Seahawks Stadium from 2002 to 2004, Qwest Field from 2004 to 2011, and CenturyLink Field from 2011 to 2020.

“The Wave” — the west tower of the Stadium Place complex — as seen from the parking lot of Lumen Field in August 2017
“The Wave” — the west tower of the Stadium Place complex — as seen from the parking lot of Lumen Field in August 2017. Stadium Place S is the street to the north of the parking lot, where the white van is parked behind the orange bollards. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Joe Mabel, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
Posted on by Benjamin Lukoff

Par Place NE

This street was created in 1928 as part of the Golfcrest addition, named for the adjacent Jackson Park golf course that had opened earlier that year. Other named streets in the subdivision included Golfcrest Drive, Fairway Place, Bogey Place, and Tee Place. None of these streets exist any longer — Lakeside School moved to the neighborhood in 1930 and had the north portion of the plat vacated for its new campus, and the construction of Interstate 5 took out Golfcrest Drive in the mid 1960s.

Lakeside School campus and Jackson Park
This northeast-looking aerial photo shows, from left to right (west to east), the Lakeside School campus (north portion of Golfcrest addition); Interstate 5; 5th Avenue NE; and the Jackson Park golf course. The overpass crossing I-5 is NE 145th Street (Washington State Route 523), which forms the boundary between Seattle to the south and Shoreline to the north. The Shoreline South/148th light rail station can be seen under construction just north of the overpass. Par Place itself is out of frame, to the south. Photograph by Flickr user Atomic Taco, September 26, 2021, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.

Par Place NE begins at NE 139th Street and goes ⅕ of a mile north to NE 140th Street, at the south end of the Lakeside campus.

Posted on by Benjamin Lukoff

S Royal Brougham Way

This street begins at Colorado Avenue S in the west, at an onramp to the northbound lanes of the State Route 99 tunnel, and goes ⅔ of a mile east to Airport Way S. Originally S Connecticut Street, it was renamed in 1979 in honor of sportswriter Royal Brougham (1894–1978), who worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper from 1910 until his death. Such a name change was formally proposed by city councilman George Benson following a suggestion by P-I columnist Emmett Watson. Originally it was to be Occidental Avenue S whose name was to be changed, then the 2nd Avenue S Extension when objections were raised. Finally S Connecticut Street was settled upon; it was thought to be particularly appropriate because he “worked so hard to see the Kingdome built… and eventually spent his last day on earth there.”

Lumen Field, built on the former Kingdome site, is on the north side of Royal Brougham between 1st Avenue S and 4th Avenue S; and T-Mobile Park is on the south side between 1st Avenue S and 3rd Avenue S.

Royal Brougham's ID card for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, 1925
Royal Brougham’s Seattle P-I staff ID card, 1925