A Valentine to Seattle ...

P-I STAFF

Because so many people feel ambivalent about Valentine's Day, the P-I decided to turn away from the world of couples and instead looking outward toward the city. Herewith, some of the many reasons to love this place, even in the gloom of February.

Razor clams, Dungeness crab and black cod

Bonfires at Golden Gardens Park in Ballard

Power-tool racing in beautiful downtown Georgetown
Public staircases
Richard Hugo House when serious teenagers are reading serious poems
Top Pot doughnuts on Fifth Avenue as the Monorail glides by
The shocking red meeting room floor at Seattle Central Library
Madison Street's hilly traverse from Sound to lake
Outdoor movies
Running along Alki at sunset
Driving across state Route 520 with Mount Baker to the north and Mount Rainier to the south
Citywide panic when it snows
Panama Hotel for its ground floor tea room and respect for hidden histories
Awesome, ever-changing clouds
Hearing elephants trumpet when walking through Lower Woodland Park
The kiss of cold, wet wind
Uncontrolled intersections
Dogs on buses
Annual Space Needle passes
The community pot patch in Discovery Park
The Fun Forest (R.I.P.)
historylink.org
Whitecaps on Elliott Bay
Direct flights to London
Old grunge musicians all cleaned up
Vera Project
Kubota Gardens
Interlaken Avenue
The Ballard Locks
UW canoe rentals
Fantagraphics
Assisted-living facilities for drunks (hooray for harm reduction!)
The view from the Aurora Bridge
The views from all the hills, for that matter
The Space Needle as a sci-fi beacon of hope
Beer and garlic fries at a Mariners game
The vaguely sick-yet-victorious feeling often produced by attending a stadium event
Seeing the latest costumes on "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture in Fremont
Native writer Charles D'Ambrosio, who referred to the "Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture as "my nightmare"
The clouds part and Mount Rainier is revealed
Pro women's basketball team Seattle Storm, now owned by local women
The wild length of Burke Gilman Trail
Ezell's. In particular: Ezell's mashed potatoes drowned in gravy
Dick's Drive-In: in particular Dick's Deluxe at 1 a.m. after one cocktail too many
Amazon.com
Gates Foundation
Pike Place Market's flowers, cheeses, magazines and citizens who call it home
The view of Elliott Bay from the top of the Alaskan Way Viaduct
The dream of taking down the viaduct to open up the waterfront
Hot coffee and cookies at Magnolia Post Office at Christmas
Houseboats on Lake Union
Fantasizing about living on a houseboat on Lake Union
Lawrimore Project's pink-striped exterior
Safe and Sound Swimming's 90-degree pool
Northwest Film Forum
Seattle International Film Festival
The Cinerama
The Lusty Lady and its witty marquees (best recent example: "American Eye-Dolls")
The strippers who work for the Lusty Lady
The janitors who clean up at the Lusty Lady
The museum guards at SAM across the street
The new SAM
The spunky Henry Art Gallery
The revitalized Frye Museum
Live theater: infinitely varied
The jeweled skyline mirrored in the water as the ferry glides out of Colman Dock
Pioneer Square's pergola, the graceful 1910 landmark that even a sharp-cornering 18-wheeler couldn't kill
The autograph wall at All for Kids Books & Music
Yesler Way school-day mornings: all ethnicities await the yellow bus
All cars still stop for the school bus, in both directions
Urban wildlife: raptors, coyotes, sea mammals, great blue herons, raccoons (and the volunteers who look out for them)
"Open Door Day" at the mayor's office
75 to 80 degrees in the summer, at least until global warming kicks in
The Smith Tower: elegance in architecture
Walks at Shilshole Bay Marina
Fran's Chocolates: There are pretenders to the throne, but Fran is still the queen
Urban Rest Stop
Olympic Sculpture Park
Fremont Troll's ugly mug
The lumbering comedy of "Adjacent, Against, Upon" in Myrtle Edwards Park
The SLUT going nowhere
The Greenlake loop, full of people, dogs and ducks
The hot ladies who jog around Green Lake
The hot guys who jog around Green Lake
The cold misanthropes who walk around Green Lake, or decide not to
Seattle Central Library for its sweeping blue diamond grid
EMP for being a sculpture, not a building
St. James Cathedral for gravity, air and light
Jazz Alley: great musicians up close
Safeco Field's upper west concourse awash in afternoon sun
The enthusiasms and ingenuity of chef Tom Douglas
Beacon Hill with its shining industrial views
"Louie, Louie" during the seventh inning stretch at Safeco Field
Native son Jimi Hendrix, adopted son Kurt Cobain
The rise of local hip-hop
Emerald City Soul Nights
Home Alive and the refusal to forget murdered singer Mia Zapata
Fresh salmon
Uwajimaya food court
Uwajimaya bookstore and its multicolored, pricey notebooks
Downtown temps on lunch break, writing down their thoughts in overpriced notebooks
Rat City Rollergirls
23rd Avenue and Union Street on Sundays, when church is getting out
Meredith Matthews East Madison YMCA
The way walking up Queen Anne makes your legs strong
Seattle Symphony's Tiny Tots weekends
Jumping into Lake Washington in early May
Rainier Avenue South and its fleet of nail salons
Archie McPhee's: where you can buy princess gear and fake severed fingers in the same shopping trip