Iconic Landmark - Space Needle

Travel Date:

Saturday, 15th August 2015

After we fueled ourselves from Jollibee at Tukwila, Washington, my family brought us to an internationally famed landmark, the Space Needle in Seattle. I used to notice this iconic tourist spot in movies like, "Sleepless in Seattle", "10 Things I Hate About You", "Practical Magic", "Say Anything...", "Firewall" and many more.  Finally, for the first time I've seen it live and no longer on screens.

Space Needle was designed on 1959 by an artist named Edward E. Carlson who was inspired by Stuttgart Tower in Germany. He was in a coffee house and started to sketch his design on a napkin. His vision was to create a noticeable structure with the theme 21st Century for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

Converting the sketches on a napkin to drawing board then to the real structure was never easy. There were difficulties encountered when trying to build this project such as location and land foundation. Lastly, the iconic structure was completed in December 1961 and it was opened to the public on April 21, 1962. One of the features of Space Needle is the revolving SkyCity restaurant placed at 500 feet.

Next to Space Needle base, is another noticeable building called EMP Museum. Afar the museum looks like a bent or crumpled tin can. But when take a closer look at it, it's actually a mixture of different textures and multiple colors. The facade is built in individually cut and shaped stainless steel and painted aluminum shingles, maybe thousands of it.

It was weekend when we got there and a bit crowded around the Space Needle and the EMP Museum. People were enjoying their day with food, different gimmicks from street acts and nice weather.

Enjoyed our quick glimpse of the place. Hopefully, to visit this again.