Kingdome History Month: We Won't Forget

The month of March has drawn to a close. But here at The Dome of Kings, every month is Kingdome History Month. We will continue to bring you articles and essays from sporting, civic, and architectural perspectives, with the hope of keeping the memory of the Kingdome alive on into the future.

Kingdome History Month: Heroes and Villains

The Dome of Kings editorial staff salutes the great Seattle sportsmen who gave the city something to cheer about. Thank you for all you did.

And no thanks to the forces that worked to bring down the Dome that brought joy to so many:

Billionaire Paul Allen is seen above destroying a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture of a guitar in June 2000, three months after he destroyed the Kingdome.

Kingdome History Month: Happy 30th Birthday

"We were talking in the clubhouse," Jim Lefebvre, Oakland coach and former Mariner manager, is saying. "Of all the ballparks and all the years, we've never seen such energy as there's been in this place." -- Seattle Times, September 25, 1995.

Kingdome History Month: Who did it?

Jack Christiansen, the chief structural engineer of the Kingdome, is a crowned member in the court of the Dome of Kings. The architects, however, definitely are not. What was up with the AC units on the exterior of the building? C'mon. Six years ago this month, as the city prepared to say goodbye to its beloved multi-purpose stadium, the architects deflected responsibility. The architects of record, NBBJ, pointed fingers at LMN, whose principals were the lead designers at NBBJ in the early 70's before breaking off to start their own firm. LMN shied away from taking credit. In more recent years, LMN has brought Seattle plenty of wanna-be-world-class neo-conservative architecture, most notably the Convention Center arch over Pike St. and, AND! -- Seahawks Stadium. For shame.

The image above from the DoK archives is a rendering of the newly completed Kingdome in 1976, signed by the design team, including the partners of LMN, and at the bottom, engineer Jack Christiansen.

Kingdome History Month: Rebuild, pt. 2

It is time that the city and the state take the Kingdome Rebuild option seriously. The current structure, Qwest Field, is not viable in the long term. How many more major events (monster truck and motocross rallies, boat shows, religious conventions, rock concerts, NBA playoffs, etc., etc.) will pass Seattle by before we wake up to the fact that a single-use facility designed in the 1990s is no longer suitable? It now stands as a relic of late-20th century wasteful design. The clock is ticking.

Some people, because of a nostalgic attachment to Qwest Field, have come up with many creative ways to defend an open-air stadium in a rainy city for an autumn/winter sport. A giant venue that sits empty except for about ten days a year. But these proponents of the Do-Nothing option let sentimentalism cloud their judgement. The question we must ask ourselves as a community is, would we build the same structure in 2006 that we built in 2000? The answer is a firm "no."

It is time to open up the city to more impressive views of a domed facility, give SODO back to the people, and get rid of the "Big Ugly" (as Qwest Field is colloquially known). For both aesthetic and financial reasons, the sooner Qwest Field is torn down, the better. We have a golden opportunity in Seattle to reassess our values and needs as a growing city. Enough stalling! Rebuild the Kingdome on its original foundations, and return the graceful white swales to the skyline once again.

Kingdome History Month: Shame

Six years ago today, billionaire Paul Allen's destructive dream came true.

Shame on you, Mr. Allen, for leveling a functional and historic structure.

Shame on you, people of Seattle, for cheering as a mass of rebar and concrete -- once fused together in an engineering marvel -- came tumbling down.

Shame on us, the editors of The Dome of Kings, for not doing more to prevent this tragedy.

Shame.

Kingdome History Month: March Madness

With NCAA basketball on everyone's mind, The Dome of Kings would like to remind readers that the ever-versatile Kingdome was the host facility for the Final Four on three occasions: 1984, 1989, and 1995.

Kingdome History Month: Rebuild!

This week, during a seemingly routine architecture critique of a design for a branch library in Wallingford, the effort to rebuild the Kingdome was inconspicuously launched. A panel of UW professors and practicing architects enthusiatically reviewed the design, the entire design, and thus committed their support for rebuilding the Dome. Dok thanks these powerful community leaders and hopes others will follow their lead.

AWV: "Congestion is our friend"

The viaduct thing is really heating up. Here are the facts: Nickels doesn't have the money to build a tunnel. He's short $1billion. And they've cut it back so much that it's now a tunnel from Jackson to Pike, rising up out of the ground with 8 roaring lanes below beautiful Victor Steinbreuck Park. The rebuild option would be 50% bigger and with opaque side walls obscuring the view.

Now-looky--here, I don't think the tunnel is a bad idea, but seeing how they've already cut it back and they still don't have the money, it's got "Big Dig" disaster written all over it. Remember how Seattle excels in screwing up billion dollar projects. Ahem, Monorail.

I heard an interesting thing on the radio recently. An urban planner from Vancouver was being interviewed on NPR about the miracle of that city's achievement. He was asked why Vancouver doesn't have a freeway running through it, to which he responded, "congestion is our friend." Vancouver made a conscious decision to NOT build freeways because, and they've known this since the 1960's, increasing car capacity INCREASES CONGESTION because it facilitates SPRAWL. Instead of concentrating their congestion along freeways they have distributed traffic more evenly across their street grid.

Seattle has a great opportunity to do this as Alaskan Way, 1st, 2nd, Elliot, and Dexter have plenty of unused capacity. As well, an Alaskan Way Boulevard would still provide the SAME access into and out of downtown, and a through trip would take just a few minutes more.

Vancouver is the best city on the West Coast. We have much to learn from them. Let's build a boulevard for $200 million and move on to building mass transit.

Aisle or Window on NWA?

Northwest Airlines is now charging $15 for aisle and exit row seats. If you're 6'7" it's probably worth the money, but if you're under 6'6" and you're flying into Seattle, and you pay good money to NOT have a window seat - you're sick in the head - cuz man, what a view.

Kingdome History Month: First Pitch Memories

Today, reader Zach Jones shares his moment of glory in the Kingdome:

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Everyone has special moments in their lives. Along with my wedding, one that belongs in my top three is receiving the honor of throwing out the first pitch in the mighty Kingdome as a 7th grader.

On Friday, May 10, 1991, I attended the pregame rally for the Student Pennant Race, a program where good students got free tickets to see the struggling Mariners. (Might I add that I haven't heard of any such programs at Safeco Field.) Kids and their parents were given free backpacks full of souveniers, treated to free hot dogs and entertainment, and listened to various speakers. Also included in the festivities were several give-aways that ranged from hats to tickets to upcoming games. The grand prize was a new Mariners Starter Jacket and the chance to throw out the "sponsor" first pitch that night. After reading the name of a kid who must've left early, they pulled another name out of the hat. That name was Zach Jones.

I was quickly escorted to the Dome of Kings with my dad, and I warmed up outside the M's locker room, where free popcorn and soda were in abundance. Right before the game, an M's representative walked me out to the mound, and I then threw the pitch from in front of the mound. Any true baseball fan knows that it is "bush league" to toe the rubber before game. It would have been classless to scuff the beautifully manicured centrex. Also doing the classy thing, I elected not to throw it as hard and potentially M-barrass myself with a wild pitch. Instead, I lobbed it in. The picture above shows that I threw a circle-change, right over the outside corner to a waiting Harold Reynolds.

After getting autographs from Reynolds and Ken Griffey Jr., I noticed that the national anthem would be sung that night by A Different World beauty Jasmine Guy. Griffey and Reynolds understandably left me in the dust to flirt with her. I then took my seat on the first base side and watched the M's lose to Baltimore 11-5.

The only sad part of this story is that I will never be able to take my kids to the mighty Kingdome to see a baseball/football/basketball game, concert, monster truck rally, religious gathering, home or boat show. Damn you Paul Allen.

Kingdome History Month: No He Didn't!

Today in Kingdome History we remember back to Sunday, September 21, 1997, when a Dome employee was caught having placed a video camera in the ceiling of the Seagals dressing room. Two days later the Times reported the incident in this news brief. The article describes how the camera was found and that a suspect was in police custody by the end of the football game, but provides few other details.

Today, in a DoK exclusive, we bring you the rest of the story via our source, a high-ranking former Kingdome employee. When the Seagals reported the camera to Dome officials, it was quickly retrieved from the ceiling, and its VHS tape analyzed for evidence. The video voyeur gave himself away by pointing the recording camera at his own face to test it during set up. The officials recognized the familiar employee and immediately turned him into police.

Idiot.

Seahawks beat the Chargers, 26-22.

Kingdome History Month: 11 years of payments left

The Dome was reduced to dust six years ago this month, but as Danny Westneat points out in today's Times, we'll be paying off bonds for over a decade. What a waste!

His piece, which is mainly about the current Sonics stadium demands, brings to mind just what a good value the Kingdome was. At its peak, all three local professional teams played inside the Kingdome, that elegant stadium from a more civilized age.

Kingdome History Month: Forward Thrust

Construction of the Kingdome was funded as part of Forward Thrust civic improvement package approved by voters in 1968. On this first day of Kingdome History Month, readers might want to take a look at this article over at Historylink, which summarizes the elements of Forward Thrust that passed and failed.

Thanks to Historylink.org for the image.