Seattle

Smith Tower, located in Pioneer Square, is the oldest skyscraper in Seattle, Washington, USA. Completed in 1914, the tower is named after its... builder, firearm and typewriter magnate Lyman Cornelius Smith. Containing 38 floors, it was the tallest office building west of the Mississippi River until the Kansas City Power & Light Building was built in 1931. It remained the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle overtook it in 1962. The building is a designated Seattle landmark. In 1909, Smith planned to build a 14-story building in Seattle. His son, Burns Lyman Smith, convinced him to build instead a much taller skyscraper to steal the crown from rival city Tacoma's National Real Estate Building as the tallest west of the Mississippi. Construction began in 1910. Although Smith did not live to see it, the building was completed in 1914 to a height of 143 m from curbside to the top of the pyramid, with a pinnacle height of 149 m . Its ribbon cutting was July 3, 1914. Ivar Haglund of Ivar's restaurant fame bought the tower for $1.8 million in 1976. The Samis Foundation acquired the tower in 1996.
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The Seattle Asian Art Museum is a museum of Asian art located inside Volunteer Park on Seattle, Washington USA's Capitol Hill. Part of the Seattle... Art Museum, SAAM occupies the 1933 Art Moderne building which was originally home to the Seattle Art Museum's main collection. In 1991 the main collection moved to a newly-constructed Seattle Art Museum building in downtown Seattle, at which time the Seattle Asian Art Museum was created. Admission is free on the first Thursday and the first Saturday of every month. The building is a designated Seattle landmark.
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The three-masted, fore-and-aft schooner Wawona sailed from 1897 to 1947 as a lumber carrier and fishing vessel based in Puget Sound. The schooner was... built in California's Humboldt Bay by Hans Ditlev Bendixsen , one of the most important West Coast shipbuilders of the late 19th century. From 1897 to 1913, she carried lumber from Grays Harbor and Puget Sound ports to California. One of her captains, Ralph E. "Matt" Peasley, inspired a series of popular novels. Wawona was 165 feet long with a 35-foot beam. Her masts, before being cut down, were 110 feet tall. She was berthed at South Lake Union Park in Seattle adjacent to the Center for Wooden Boats. She was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Washington State Heritage Register, and the vessel was an official city landmark. However, after efforts to restore the decaying ship failed, she was dismantled in March 2009. From 1914 until 1947, except during World War II, Wawona sailed to the Bering Sea with a crew of 36 to fish for cod. In 1935, her captain, Charles Foss, died at the wheel during a storm in the Aleutian Islands.
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The Arthur Foss, built in 1889, is one of the oldest wooden-hulled tugboats afloat in the United States. In 1898, in response to the Alaskan gold... rush, she transported barges full of gold seeking miners and supplies up the Inside Passage. There are no other Alaskan Gold Rush vessels still operating today. She was cast by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio to play in its 1933 production Tugboat Annie. In World War II, Arthur Foss journeyed south to join the war effort. Before the Battle of Wake Island began in late 1941, she was the last vessel to get away. After the war, she served the economy of the Northwest by working in the timber industry. The Arthur Foss has a six-cylinder, 700 horsepower diesel engine. Her top speed is 13 knots . The vessel is 120 feet long with a beam of 25 feet and a draft of 16 feet . When last operated the vessel was owned by Foss Launch and Tug who donated her to Northwest Seaport in 1970. Northwest Seaport renovated her in 2004. The vessel was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989 and is a city landmark as well. and a featured attraction at Seattle's new South Lake Union Park.
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The Zodiac is a two-masted schooner designed by William H. Hand, Jr. for the heirs to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals fortune. Hand... intended to epitomize the best features of the American fishing schooner. The 160-foot-long , 145-ton vessel competed in transatlantic races before being sold to the San Francisco Bar Pilots during the Great Depression. Renamed California, she served actively as a pilot boat before being retired in 1972. This makes her one of the last two sail-powered pilot vessels in the United States, along with the Boston-based schooner Roseway, which was retired sometime between 1971 and 1973.. Zodiac was sold in 1973 and, in the late 1970s, the private Vessel Zodiac Corporation was formed to operate and maintain her. She was professionally restored, and her rig, which had been altered during her time as a pilot boat, was returned to its original configuration. The Zodiac now operates for charter in Washington State's San Juan Islands and British Columbia's Gulf Islands.
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Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s... including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the 2000s including American Splendor, Sideways, Cinderella Man, John Adams and Cold Souls. Giamatti was born in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, Angelo Bartlett Giamatti, was a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and commissioner of Major League Baseball. His mother, Toni Marilyn , was a homemaker and English teacher who taught at Hopkins School and had also previously acted. Giamatti's mother was Irish American; his paternal grandfather, Valentine Giamatti, was an Italian American, of parentage from Telese, and his paternal grandmother, Mary Claybaugh Walton, was from a New England family. Giamatti is the youngest of three children. His brother, Marcus, is also an actor, and his sister, Elena, is a jewelry designer. He was educated at The Foote School and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1985.
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Mario Batali is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the... history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali was born in Yakima, Washington, the son of Marilyn and Armandino Batali, owner of Salumi in Seattle. His father was an engineer for Boeing for thirty years, but after retirement, opened a meat-curing shop in Seattle. He is of Italian ancestry on his father's side, and English and French Canadian ancestry on his mother's side. According to research done by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Harvard University, in 2010 for the PBS series Faces of America, his maternal great-great grandparents opened an Italian foods store in 1903. Batali family roots are found almost entirely in the Western United States. Mario’s great-great-grandfather left Italy in 1899, going to Butte, Montana to work in the coal mines, but later moved west to settle in Seattle. Mario moved to Spain with his family in 1975 and returned to the U.S. in 1978 to attend Rutgers University.
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John Joseph Corbett, Jr. is an American actor and country music singer. He is best-known for playing Chris Stevens on Northern Exposure from 1990 to... 1995 and Aidan, Carrie Bradshaw's boyfriend, on Sex and the City. He also played the leading male role opposite Nia Vardalos in Vardalos's hit film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding . He currently stars in United States of Tara. Corbett was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of John Joseph Corbett, Sr. He lived with his mother in an apartment block near the Ohio River, and attended Wheeling Central Catholic High School and Cerritos College in Norwalk, California. Corbett was raised Catholic but is now a born-again Christian. He has never been married, and has stated that he does not see himself getting married or having kids; he has been in a long-term relationship with actress Bo Derek since 2002. Corbett commented on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that many people perceive him to be dating a much older woman in Bo Derek. In reality, Derek is only 4.5 years older than Corbett.
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Penn Dayton Badgley is an American actor on film and television. He is best known for his role as Dan Humphrey on the CW television series Gossip... Girl. He has also starred in the movies John Tucker Must Die, The Stepfather and the upcoming Easy A. Badgley was born in Baltimore, Maryland and split his childhood years between Richmond, Virginia and Seattle, Washington. He attended Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington. Also Penn was involved with the Seattle Children's Theatre. He soon began doing voice-overs for children's radio stations. At age 11, Badgley relocated to Hollywood and began pursuing an acting career. Badgley also pursued a singing career during this time and recorded a pop single in 1998. At 17, after completing two years of credits at Santa Monica College, he was accepted as a Junior at the University of Southern California , where he deferred admission due to contractual obligations. Badgley's first credit was voice work for the video game Mario Golf 64 in 1999 although he claims to have never played it himself. He followed this in 2000 with voice work on Mario Tennis 64.
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Sonny Sixkiller is a former American football player and current sports commentator. Sixkiller's family was originally from Oklahoma, but he grew up... in Ashland, Oregon. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Sixkiller attended Ashland High School in Ashland, Oregon and was a good student and a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, he was an All-Southern Oregon Conference selection and a second team All-State selection. In basketball, he was an All-Conference selection. In baseball, he played pitcher and was an All-Conference selection. Sonny Sixkiller graduated from Ashland High School in 1969. Sixkiller was a starting quarterback for the University of Washington Huskies from 1970-1972. In 1970, he led the NCAA in passing. He had a tryout with the Los Angeles Rams and the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League. Sixkiller played with The Hawaiians of the World Football League. He was also a cast member in the original The Longest Yard. Sixkiller currently works as a color analyst for FSN Northwest.
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Todd Herzog is the $1,000,000 winner of the 15th season of Survivor, Survivor: China. He is also the second openly gay male contestant to win... Survivor, following Richard Hatch's win in Survivor: Borneo. On Survivor China, Herzog placed on the Fei Long Tribe. The tribe proved to be stronger than their opponent, Zhan Hu, winning immunity in episodes one and two. During those first few days, Herzog made an alliance with Amanda Kimmel and Aaron Reisberger. In episode three, the tribe faced tribal council, where Leslie Nease was voted out. Prior to her elimination, Nease had given Herzog a clue to the hidden immunity idol, which she had received from Jaime Dugan. Fei Long then enjoyed another immunity win in Episode Four. In the subsequent reward challenge, the two tribes learned that each would send two members to the other. Fei Long received Michael "Frosti" Zernow and Sherea Lloyd. However the swap deprived Herzog and Kimmel of their alliance member Reisberger and strong man James Clement. The Zhan Hu Tribe then threw the following immunity challenge, thus evicting Reisberger.
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Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written... by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks. Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as the vocalist performing the most songs to be nominated for and to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her biggest hits include two of these Billboard chart topping Oscar and Grammy winners - "Up Where We Belong" and " The Time of My Life" . Warnes was born in Seattle, Washington and raised in Anaheim, California. Her desire and ability to sing came early; at age seven she was offered her first recording contract, which her father turned down. She sang in church and local pageants, until age 17 when Warnes was offered an opera scholarship to Immaculate Heart College. She chose to sing folk music as it became popularized by Joan Baez in the mid-1960s.
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Ryan Lee Stiles is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, director, and voice actor whose work is often associated with improvisational comedy. He is... best known for his improv and co-production work on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the role of Lewis Kiniski on The Drew Carey Show. He currently plays Herb Melnick on the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men. Stiles was born in Seattle, Washington, the youngest of five children. His father, Sonny, was a fishing plant supervisor. His mother's name is Irene. When he was ten, his Canadian-born parents moved the family to Richmond, British Columbia. At the age of seventeen, he dropped out of his high school, Richmond Secondary, to pursue a career in comedy. He worked in his father's fish-processing plant to earn a living while doing stand-up at Punchlines Comedy Club in Vancouver, British Columbia and performing improv with Vancouver TheatreSports League. In 1986, Stiles successfully auditioned for a berth at Toronto's renowned Second City comedy ensemble. By 1989, Stiles had gained the attention of the producers of the British improvisational comedy show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
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Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social... activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado. As a child, Collins studied classical piano with Antonia Brico, making her public debut at age 13, performing Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos. Dr. Brico took a dim view, both then and later, of Collins' developing interest in folk music, which led her to the difficult decision to discontinue her piano lessons. Years later, when Collins had become internationally known through her music, she invited Dr. Brico to one of her concerts in Denver. When they met after the performance, Brico took both of Judy's hands in hers, looked wistfully at her fingers and said, "Little Judy -- you really could have gone places." Still later, Collins discovered that Brico herself had made a living when she was younger playing jazz and ragtime piano .
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Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer, famous for her striptease act. She was also an actress, author and playwright, whose 1957... memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy. Gypsy Rose Lee was born Rose Louise Hovick in Seattle, Washington in 1911, although her mother later shaved three years off both of her daughters' ages. She was initially known by her middle name, Louise. Her mother, Rose Hovick , was a teenaged bride fresh from a convent school when she married Norwegian-American John Olaf Hovick, who was a newspaper advertising salesman and a reporter at The Seattle Times. Louise's sister, Ellen Evangeline Hovick , was born in 1913. After their parents divorced, the girls supported the family by appearing in vaudeville where June's talent shone, while Louise remained in the background. At the age of 15 in December 1928, June eloped with Bobby Reed, a dancer in the act, much to her mother's displeasure, going on to a brief career in marathon dancing, which was more remunerative than tap dancing at the time.
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Chris Cornell is an American rock musician best known as the lead vocalist for Soundgarden. He is also known as the former lead vocalist for... Audioslave and for his numerous solo works and soundtrack contributions since 1998. He is known for his wide four-octave vocal range, and powerful vocal belting technique. He was the founder and frontman for Temple of the Dog, the one-off tribute band dedicated to his former roommate, Andrew Wood. He has released three solo studio albums, Euphoria Morning , Carry On , and Scream . Cornell was ranked 4th in the list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" by Hit Parader. He performed the theme song to the James Bond film Casino Royale , "You Know My Name". Cornell was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and attended Shorewood High School. His parents are Ed Boyle and Karen Cornell . He has five siblings: older brothers Peter and Patrick, and younger sisters Katy, Suzy, and Maggie. Peter, Katy and Suzy all performed in the band Inflatable Soule in the 1990s.
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Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer and actress. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.... Channing is best remembered for originating, on Broadway, the musical-comedy roles of bombshell Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and matchmaking widow Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!. Channing was born in Seattle, Washington, to George Channing and Adelaide née Glaser, and was their only child. Her father was a city editor at the Seattle Star, whose newspaper career took the family to San Francisco when Channing was only two weeks old. Her father George later became a very successful Christian Science practitioner, editor and teacher. She attended Aptos Middle School and Lowell High School in San Francisco. At Lowell, Channing was a member of its famed Lowell Forensic Society, the nation's oldest high school debate team.
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