Bill Speidel's Underground Tour takes place under the sidewalks of a district known as Pioneer Square. The tour lasts between 1 1/2 - 2 hours but the time seems to go by quickly. Making reservations and buying tickets ahead of time are recommended, but we went on a Sunday afternoon and managed to buy our tickets just before our tour began. However, we did have to squeeze onto a bench with others in the crowded Doc Maynard's where the tour began. After a 15 minute tongue-in-cheek lecture, the crowd was split into groups and our group was comprised of about 25 people.

Our guide, Jo, led us across the street and opened a door numbered 115 and we descended down under the sidewalks. The 15 foot ceilings and ample space and light kept us from feeling claustrophic. The tour encompasses 3 of the 12 blocks currently accessible underground. There used to be 33 accessible blocks underground but now stores are using some of them for retail space. This underground world came about after a fire started when a pot of glue overboiled on June 6, 1889 and the city needed to be rebuilt higher.

Jo did a good job of keeping our attention and making us laugh and occasionally even blinking in astonishment at her stories. In one room where light shown in from the grates in the sidewalk above, she told us to yell loudly, to see if anyone above ground would notice us down below. Several of the underground areas have signs on the walls indicating buildings that used to be there. The bank even had signs for where the tellers cage and vault used to be located. You'll know you're at the end of the tour when you come to a room with a pole full of the numbered stickers worn by visitors on the tour. After this room is a room with photos and short biographies about historical figures of that time and of course, the exit is through the gift shop. Tour times vary by month, so check Underground Tour for scheduled tours.

The Underground Tour is an essential for anybody visiting, or moving to, the city. Extremely knowledgeable guides will take you and your group of about 25 through the undergrounds of Pionner Square - the location of the first settlement - all the time explaining how the city was founded and how it developed through the influence of the lumber industry and the railroad.

The tour takes you through the basements of bars, speakeasies, brothels and Starbucks, a perfect cross section of how Seattle developed, accompanied at each stage by historical photographs showing the way the city looked a hundred years ago.

Walking around Pioneer Square will never feel the same again.

The 90 minute tour, guided by stand up comics is one of those absolutely MUST DO things in Seattle. It is hysterical and very informative about the Pioneer era. Located in the Historic Pioneer Square District at 608 First Avenue, Bill Speidel's Underground Tour started as a one time deal for a newspaper story. People loved it so much it is in its 25th year or something like that. The Underground Tour actually goes beneath street level and introduces you to Seattle's frontier town history. It grew as an outpost to gather supplies as prospectors headed out to the Klondike Gold Rush. The governmet was so concerned about these folks they specified all the things the prospector must have before heading out. Original Seattle was much lower, so they just built a city right on top of the old one. On the tour, you will see the remnants of Old Seattle, some in remarkably good condition for their age - like old brothels, dry goods stores, taverns - all below current ground level. On the sidewalk, there are blocks of prism glass. These were installed at the time to let light into the then underground neighborhood. Eventually the storefronts all moved upstairs. Apparently the invention of the modern toilet plays big in Seattle's history - then they used gravity for plumbing and it got pretty stinky. We also learned that the term Skid Road was coined in the Pioneer Square neighborhood. The street was greased up and logs were skidded down to be loaded onto barges in the harbor. You will find not only tourists, but Seattle dwellers on the tour. It starts in a little museum/gift shop that includes a hall of shame where you will read about some of the city's founders.