Cal Anderson Park — Attraction in Seattle

When I moved here before COVID, I was always warned not to walk across this park at night. A young woman was a victim of random violence (stabbed by an “houseless”/“undomiciled”/“homeless”/etc. person). I still spent time here during the day with friends and enjoyed it! The restroom facilities have left more to be desired as long as I’ve lived in Seattle, but it was a central location and offered a lot of activity options.

Next, there was a lot of drama after it became CHAZ/CHOP. Encampments were really quite violent — minors were victims of homicide here and some of my hospital patients came from this area. People were getting seriously injured here and frequently. I avoided it for a long time.

Nowadays, things have really winded down for this park. It has new modern art installments and the Sunday farmers market is adjacent to it. The new apartments built near the Cap Hill station make this park a lot more shady/gloomy in the evenings. It doesn’t have a ton of trees, except along the perimeter.

It feels so gentrified, cold, and unrecognizable. This is a good park for peoplewatching but the enjoyment is so much less under the shadow of the new buildings and, even moreso, the shadow of its...

It's nice to have a park in the middle of the city, no doubt. For that I'm grateful. If only the place were a bit more.. interesting. There are a couple of austere fountain-pond-things, bordered by a series of rigidly perpendicular benches. It feels altogether awkward, like a city bureaucrat and not an architect designed the place. The stepping stones and pyramid on the fountain provide a little visual interest, but they're not compelling. The nearby light rail construction, and the ravine dividing the park from Broadway, don't help the mood.

The place is tolerable by Seattle's haphazard standards, but when we're comparing with the great cities of the world - or even many quiet towns - this place feels artificial.

In the winter this place is downright unpleasant - weirdly empty and even deader than usual. Summer is more tolerable, with more activity, green grass, and organized events like parties and protests and concerts and all manner of revelry.

If we're being honest, this is the place you go to make out with someone when you're on a date but you're tired from walking around all day. The benches have you covered. For that alone I am thankful to Cal Anderson,...

I think that anyone who has lived in Seattle for more than a week knows that Cal Anderson is so much more than a park. It has in its history been simultaneously and sporadically a playfield, a campground, a sovereign and self-sustaining community, a stage for impromptu dance parties, a dodgeball arena, a duck habitat, an activist and riot rendezvous spot, a headquarters for a small militia, a clothing-optional exhibition space, a graffiti exhibition space, a student chill spot, a homeless chill spot, a playground for children, a place to walk your dog if you are looking to hook up, a place to put on your dog mask and be walked by your master, a scene for all manner and scale of crime, the closest thing we have to a safe injection site, a concert venue, a theater venue, a place to take your visiting relatives, and a place to sit and observe any and all of the above. Sometimes it's a great place to find parking, and come nightfall on the weekend it's a great place if you want to have your windows busted and car cleaned out quicker than the Pink Elephant crew could manage... It's just a park when you are trying to find it...