Henry Yesler's mill, opened in 1853, was host to amateur acting companies, traveling minstrel shows, and Shakespearean plays in an era when Early Seattle was a small logging town and later a supply stop en route to the Yukon Gold Rush. Seattle had a sizable workforce of 'seamstresses' - the official tax-record's polite designation for prostitutes - accounting for a major portion of the town's economy. In the heyday of Vaudeville (from the turn of the century through the Roaring 20's) Seattle was home to three entrepreneurs who controlled the majority of Vaudeville theaters in the country - indeed Seattle's Palomar theater, which closed in the 1950's, was the nation's last full-time Vaudeville theater.
Today, Seattle is home to world-class symphony, opera, and ballet companies, and is known not only for its largely 'tech sector' economy, jet airplanes, international seaport, Space Needle, historic Pike Place Market, espresso, and microbreweries, but as a vital center for artists, musicians, and other 'creative types' who call the city home. Yet Seattle hasn't forgotten its early Vaudeville and bohemian-era roots, and today, a variety of alternative-oriented circus, fire performance, Vaudeville revival, and burlesque troupes harken to a bygone era, while adding their own uniquely modern touches. Some, like Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, and Circus Contraption, have grown from local acts to widespread renown.
The Seattle metropolitan area includes the city of Seattle, King County, Snohomish County, and several surrounding cities in the Puget Sound area. According to the United States 2000 Census, the Combined Statistical Area has a population of 3,604,165, making it the 12th largest United States metropolitan area. While far from the largest metropolitan city in the country, Seattle has a thriving and active goth/industrial scene, and is currently blessed with multiple goth/industrial-friendly club nights to choose from seven days a week. Seattle also boasts an online Gothic community with hundreds of regular and semi-regular participants. In fact, that same board is the progeny of the original message board created for C6! |
