Seattle's Inside Staircase -- How To Move Uphill Downtown Without The Huffing And Puffing

THOSE WHO KNOW IT CALL it the "Inside Staircase," the maze of high-rise buildings, concourses and shopping arcades that knit together the steep sidewalks of downtown Seattle.

We already know you can traverse downtown through the underground bus tunnel, but that does nothing to ease the hike, say, between First and Third avenues on Marion Street. Or Third and Fifth on Columbia. Or that steep climb from Western Avenue to the Pike Place Market.

It is possible to go from the state ferry terminal to the Convention Center, or the Seattle Aquarium to City Hall, without climbing a hill - or even getting very wet on a typical Seattle workday.

Here are the stories of three people - typical downtown denizens - who traveled these hidden stairways one blustery, rainy spring day. Neither their stories nor names are real, but they could be.

Two main caveats: These are workday routes - most buildings are closed on weekends. And don't pack a weapon: Security guards will screen you at the Federal Building and King County Courthouse.

Start with the Monorail

Miss O'Hara still has fond memories of the 42 years she spent selling hats at Frederick & Nelson, and she'll use any excuse to go downtown. When Mrs. Black called and asked her to lunch at the Sheraton for her 81st birthday, Miss O'Hara didn't hesitate. She would walk from her apartment on lower Queen Anne to Seattle Center and, as she has done for many years, ride the Monorail to the city. Although Mrs. Black offered to pick her up, Miss O'Hara demurred. She had a few errands to run before lunch, and a friend would pick her up after her afternoon job volunteering at the Seattle Aquarium. Miss O'Hara tied up her Reeboks and grabbed her purse, unfortunately leaving her umbrella behind.

10:45 a.m. She catches the Monorail to Westlake Center (1).

11 a.m. She takes an escalator down two floors to Crabtree and Evelyn, where she buys soap-on-a-rope for her sweetheart, Col. Poupon, the eccentric inventor who lives above her. It's an anniversary gift noting their first date, though she's certain he's forgotten that day he took her dancing at Seattle Center. Next, she continues down the escalator to the bottom level, where she makes a U-turn and follows signs to the bus-tunnel entrance.

11:15 a.m. Upon entering the bus-tunnel terminal, she turns left and finds an entrance to Nordstrom (2). Passing through a hallway and housewares to men's sportswear, she takes stairs to the main level and buys a pair of boots. Her feet were getting cold from all that dripping water at the Aquarium.

11:50 a.m. She exits Nordstrom, by men's ties, to Fifth Avenue. She crosses Pike and Fifth, entering City Centre on the corner. She takes an escalator up one level, passing a Dale Chihuly display on the way to FAO Schwarz and entering the store on the upper level. She takes an escalator down to the store's lower level, exiting to Sixth Avenue. She then crosses Sixth to the Sheraton (3), where Mrs. Black - beating the lunchtime crowd - already has snagged a prime table. The two sit and and talk until 12:30, when Mrs. Partridge, Mrs. Black's daughter, arrives.

1:30 p.m. The three leave the Sheraton and cross Union Street to Two Union Square (4), entering by the bento stand. They take an escalator to the mezzanine. Mrs. Partridge heads toward the Convention Center, while Miss O'Hara and Mrs. Black turn right, following signs to One Union Square and Rainier Square.

1:45 p.m. Miss O'Hara and Mrs. Black take the escalator down to Rainier Square and the Fifth Avenue Theater, following the sound of music to the atrium. They exit through U.S. Bank to Fourth Avenue (5). Next, they cross University Street and Fourth Avenue, heading down University one block and crossing Third to the Washington Mutual Tower. They enter by the clock (6), pass through the bank lobby. They take an escalator down to Mel's Market, where they make a U-turn to a second escalator, which leads down to The Brooklyn restaurant and Second Avenue.

2 p.m. After crossing Second and University, they walk a half a block up Second (north) to the Museum Plaza Building (7), entering next to SBC. They take the elevator down one level and turn left to the First Avenue exit, walking by several small galleries. Some days the pair make a small detour to spend time at the museum, but today they don't have time.

2:10 p.m. Mrs. Black heads to her car and Miss O'Hara crosses Union and First to The Pike Pub & Brewery neon sign on the corner. There she enters 1401 First Ave., an arcade (8) that takes her to the Pike Place Market (9).

2:30 p.m. After picking up a couple of apples for an afternoon snack, she takes the market elevator, located past Chicken Valley next to the garbage chute, down six levels to Western Avenue. She crosses Western to the Market Garage (10), following signs to the elevator. She takes it down six levels and exits under the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Finally she crosses Alaskan Way to the Aquarium (11), arriving 15 minutes early for her 3 p.m. shift.

Moving Down Downtown

Mr. Emerald is a transportation engineer from Minnesota in town to meet with city and Metro officials about installing restrooms on Metro buses. It was the brainstorm of City Councilman Charlie Chong, fresh from his snowplow victory, who figured bathrooms on buses would help the city meet its goal under the Commute Trip Reduction Law. Those long commutes, after downing a pot of wake-up coffee, were enough to deter anyone from taking the bus, figured Chong. And if the buses were plumbed for privies, he suggested, why not put in espresso carts?

While Mr. Emerald had his doubts about the potties and onboard baristas, he was looking for an excuse to visit Seattle. A passionate outdoorsman and sometime farmer, he had long wanted to move to the state and open a llama dude ranch.

7:30 a.m. Wide awake at the Madison Renaissance Hotel (1) because of the time change, he takes the Madison Street exit and walks downhill a block to Fifth Avenue. He cuts through the Union Bank of California Center Building and takes an elevator next to the stairs down to Fourth Avenue (2). Next, he crosses Madison and Fourth to the 1001 Fourth Avenue Building (the old Seafirst Building), home of the Henry Moore vertebrae sculpture, and takes the escalator past the cafe down four flights to Third Avenue (3). Crossing Third and Madison, he walks through the First Interstate Center building (at the tulip sculpture) to hitch a ride to Second Avenue on the outside escalators. (4). Crossing Second, he stops at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building (5), first passing through a metal detector, and picks up a passport application for a llama research trip he hopes to take to Nepal. He takes an elevator down to First Avenue.

8:30 a.m. He crosses First and Madison and walks half a block down Madison to The Painted Table restaurant in the Alexis Hotel (6). There he has breakfast with Col. Poupon, a retired Army officer and erstwhile inventor who's offered to create a potty prototype.

9:30 a.m. He pops across First Avenue to Warshals to buy a Swiss army knife for his son's birthday, then crosses Madison and walks a block down First to the Exchange Building (7) for a meeting with Metro officials. Afterward, he takes the elevator to the Second Avenue exit.

11:30 a.m. He turns right and walks a block, crossing Second and Columbia to the Dexter Horton Building (8). He takes the elevator (button 3A) to Third Avenue. Turning right, he walks a block and a half, crossing James and Third to the King County Courthouse (9). After clearing his new knife through courthouse security, he follows the courthouse tunnel under Fourth Avenue to the King County Administration Building (10). Here he stops to pick up an application for a business license, just in case his llama dream ever comes true. He finds a pay phone and calls Professor Prune, an old college classmate who is interested in investing in the llama ranch. But Mr. Emerald is nervous; he knows the professor's quick temper and that the investment could well go sour.

12:30 p.m. Taking the elevator up to the Fifth Avenue exit, he leaves the the King County Administration Building, turns left and crosses James Street to the Seattle Municipal Building (City Hall) (11). He waits in the 11th-floor lobby for half an hour until 1 p.m., when a special meeting with the council's Transportation Committee is scheduled. The committee is considering ways to encourage employees to ride Metro and meet the city's commuter reduction goals. He takes the elevator down to the first floor and exits on Fourth Avenue.

2 p.m. He turns right and walks across Cherry Street to the Columbia Seafirst Center (12), where he has a cup of coffee at the Atrium food court with Councilman Chong, who is not a member of the Transportation Committee. He doesn't give Chong much encouragement; Col. Poupon seems a bit flaky and Metro's interest in the onboard potties is lukewarm, at best.

2:45 p.m. He takes the escalator up one floor, turns right and walks through the Seafirst Concourse (with the waving lights and soft music) to the Seafirst Fifth Avenue Plaza. He takes the elevator to the first floor, goes right and up some steps and exits the 800 Fifth Avenue Building (13). He walks a block up Fifth Avenue to Madison and turns right to the Madison Hotel.

3:20 p.m. He catches the Airport Express back to Sea-Tac Airport.

Uphill, No Sweat

Mrs. Partridge is a harried person. Her whole life, she believes, is being run on a treadmill. A supervisor with the IRS, she'd finally flipped her calendar to May and hadn't feel the least bit guilty asking for the afternoon off to have lunch with her mother and attend a show at the Convention Center. That would give her plenty of time to catch the 5:25 ferry back home to Bainbridge and still see the final innings of her daughter's baseball game. It also would give her a chance to run a few errands: dropping off a mortgage payment at SeaFirst, buying those candlesticks she'd long admired at Eddie Bauer, and paying that nagging $87 fine at the Seattle Public Library for the bag of anger-management books her new husband, Professor Prune, had pitched overboard one windy morning when the ferry was running late. If she had to listen to Perfect Paul, that library computer voice, one more time she thought she'd scream.

7:10 a.m. She catches a ferry from Bainbridge Island.

7:45 a.m. She walks across Alaskan Way on the footbridge, crosses First Avenue and Marion Street and enters the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building (1), where she works, first passing through the security check.

11:55 a.m. She takes the elevator to the fourth floor, exiting on Second Avenue, then crosses Second to the First Interstate Building. She takes the outside escalator (2) to the bank lobby, exiting to Third Avenue. She crosses Third and Madison and enters the 1001 Fourth Avenue Building (3), next to Mel's Market. She rides an escalator to the fourth floor, where she drops off a mortgage payment. She exits from the fifth floor to Fourth Avenue and walks across Fourth to the Seattle Public Library (4), where - very embarrassed and angry at her husband - she pays the library fine.

12:15 p.m. She walks a block and a half up Fourth (north), crossing Spring and Seneca to the Four Seasons Hotel, which she enters under the Fourth Avenue arcade awning. She walks through the arcade, past shops, and exits on University Street (5).

12:30 p.m. Mrs. Partridge crosses midblock, in front of the hotel, to Rainier Square (6) and walks down the steps and through the concourse. She stops at Beks Bookstore to buy J.A. Jance's latest potboiler for Miss O'Hara's birthday. Next she turns right and heads to Eddie Bauer to buy a pair of glass candlesticks for a big dinner party she's hosting next week. Back on the concourse, she takes the escalator and some steps to the fireplace lobby of Two Union Square (7). She makes a U-turn to the right, exiting on Sixth Avenue, and walks downhill (north) to the Sheraton (8) for lunch with her mother and Miss O'Hara.

1:30 p.m. The three leave the Sheraton and walk back to Two Union Square, taking an escalator (9) to the lobby. While Mrs. Black and Miss O'Hara head toward Rainier Square, Mrs. Partridge turns the other direction, following the escalators to the Convention Center (10).

Susan Gilmore is a Pacific Magazine writer. James McFarlane and Paul Schmid are Seattle Times news artists.