I took this picture of Seattle's iconic Smith Tower from the balcony of my sons' condo on Friday night.
When it was completed in 1914, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi, and remained so until the Kansas Power & Light building was completed in 1931. Even so, Smith Tower remained the tallest structure on the west coast until the erection in 1962 of that other Seattle icon, the Space Needle.
Its namesake, Lyman Cornelius Smith, made his first fortune manufacturing hammerless shotguns, though he is not related to the Smiths of Smith & Wesson firearms fame. He is, however, the Smith in the Smith-Corona Typewriter Company, which still exists today as a manufacturer of thermal printing and labelling products.
What looks like a gray wall across the bottom of my picture is actually the top of the Seattle Fire Dept Emergency Communications Center across the street from my sons' building.
Very nice, Bret. Is this condo a recent acquisition?
The condo belongs to my sister. She bought it in 2006 or 2007, IIRC. After she left Amazon and moved to California in 2014, she rented it to a series of Amazon developers. My #2 son graduated college in 2024 and he and #1 son were looking for a place to room together when the latest batch of Amazon devs ended their lease. So my sons leased it from her, and are exploring life in the big city.
Very cool.
Something we were commenting on in Baltimore...cities coming back with lots of young people. Helps to drive the restaurant and bar scene followed by trendy retail. Very good to see.
Well, SURE it drives the restaurant and bar scene. Because every time I take the missus to visit her ducks, I'm on the hook for dinner. And every time I go to see one of their gigs, I'm buying a round for the band.
Friday night it was Il Bistro. Il Bistro is located at the Pike Place Market, and as Italian bistros go it's...above average. Good service, good wine list, food's good but not necessarily exceptional, except for one thing - they do a killer lasagne. They warn you up front that it takes extra time, about 20 minutes. I'm not sure what they put in it, other than veal and pork and house-made Ricotta. Maybe they sprinkle it with cocaine or ecstasy. I dunno. But it kills. And the 2018 Montepulciano didn't hurt it a bit. But it was a $370 tab when all was said and done.
It's an investment!
Doing my part to keep the economy moving.
Much appreciated! I did my share this weekend.
If Paige was happy, it was worth it. I'd do anything for my girls. My boys can go scratch. 
Paige and Lauren did this all themselves. Didn't ask for any money, but of course I was happy to help them out. It was a beautiful evening, everyone enjoyed themselves and they were very happy with the weekend. Christophers event coming up in September is going to be a whole different story. i'm just staying out of the way on that one and hoping for the best.
