Seattle Surprise

A late starter in the cruising stakes, Seattle is more than making up for it with a visitor-friendly persona and weekly cruises to Alaska and beyond. Words and pictures: Roderick Eime “Chop its head off!” “Cut out its guts!” and a lifeless carcass is hurled through the air. No, this is not some sadistic pirate ritual, nor some bizarre black magic chant, it’s the Pike Place Fish Market, one of Seattle’s most talked-about tourist experiences. The market came about in 1907 when consumers, up in arms at skyrocketing produce prices, turned directly to farmers to eliminate profiteering middlemen and created the Pike Place area as the meeting place. Over one hundred years, the market has grown beyond its original trading mandate, survived several demolition orders and become a tourist attraction in its own right. Customers order their fish from the ice tables in the front of the stall, the order is called out and the entire fish is tossed to the packer behind the counter who wraps i