Seattle's historical heart

Noteworthy for: When Seattle was a fledgling lumber town in the 1800s, logs skidded down the streets of Pioneer Square to harborside sawmills.

Talk of the town: Local not-for-profit organization The International Sustainability Institute has been leading an effort to revitalize Pioneer Square by hosting everything from art installations to acrobatic acts in its alleys.

Located on the southern fringe of the downtown business core, Pioneer Square features some 20 square blocks of Victorian Romanesque architecture, museums, art galleries, restaurants and nightlife. But Seattle's former business district wasn't always so pretty.

Upon its founding in 1851, Old Seattle was built on tidal flats prone to flooding. When the Great Fire virtually razed the area in 1889, the town was rebuilt over the rubble and Seattle boomed again as a staging area for the Klondike Gold Rush, when more than 70,000 prospectors passed through town on their way to Alaska in the 1890s.

Post-Depression, Pioneer Square was in a terrible state of disrepair. Thanks to the innovative efforts of one Bill Speidel, whose family still run Seattle's famous Underground Tour here, its history was preserved. The Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park provides insight into Seattle's critical role in the gold rush, and there's plenty of antique hunting, gallery and bar hopping to be done in the area.