Pike Place Market

The Market is a nine-acre National Historic District, and home to more than 100 farmers, 150 craftspeople, 300 commercial businesses, 500 residents — and 50 street performers.

The world's first Starbucks opened in the Market in 1971, and is still brewing up beans at the site. The rest, you might say, is history.

Want to learn some of the Market's secrets? For a customized tour emphasizing Market heritage and culture, contact the Pike Place Merchants Association or Market Heritage Tours. You can tour Wednesday through Sunday (11am and 2pm) or Sunday (noon and 2pm). Wear comfortable shoes!

For the ultimate foodie tour, followed by a luncheon using found ingredients, contact Chef Tim Kelley at The Painted Table Restaurant.

Pike Place Fish Co. and its fish-flinging fishmongers are the new stars of "Fish!" a motivational video used by the likes of Nordstrom, The Boeing Company, McDonald's — and many more.

 Visit www.pikeplacemarket.org  for more information.

Shop the Market from 9-6 Mon-Sat and 11-5 Sun. On summer Saturdays the Market opens at 7 a.m. — and don't forget Organic Wednesdays and Sundays.

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The nation's oldest continually working farmer's market (since 1907), Pike Place is a tribute to the Seattleites who saved it from corporate takeover in the early '70s. With customary pluck, they established guiding principles that remain true to the market's agrarian roots and maintain its integrity. The result is a jubilant, open-air celebration of fresh regional fruits and vegetables, seasonal flowers, herbs, seafood, spices, cheeses, hand-crafted work by artisans, eclectic shops, and fine restaurants and eateries--many with views of ferry and freighter traffic on Elliott Bay. Here in this revered nine-acre community with its cracked walkways and uneven cobblestone streets, the scent of sweet peas mingles with Dungeness crabs and spicy teas, street musicians compete with "free sample!" vendors, and weird things make their appearance: bottom-dwelling monkfish and rubber-necked geoducks. A piscatorial highlight: Pike Place Fish, where world-famous fishmongers have elevated salmon-slinging to new heights.