Lingua Franca

Seattle’s Historic Chinook Jargon Is Having a Moment

The Pacific Northwest’s very own trade language never went away.

04/21/2025 By Bess Lovejoy

History

The Story of Lake Washington's Floating Bridges

How one engineer’s bizarre idea made the Eastside.

11/05/2024 By Bess Lovejoy

Ghosted

The Haunted History of Washington’s Strangest Gravesite

And the story behind the spirit who lurks there.

10/17/2024 By Bess Lovejoy

Asked/Answered

What’s the Deal with Tolo Dances?

And why are we the only region with this particular school dance tradition?

09/16/2024 By Bess Lovejoy

First Person, Last Word

What a Virus Taught Me About Uncertainty

The five years I’ve lived with chronic illness have worked as a strange preparation for a pandemic.

08/04/2020 By Bess Lovejoy

Feature

The 10 Crimes That Shook Seattle

From D. B. Cooper to Ted Bundy to the Wah Mee Massacre, the crimes (and criminals) that impacted the city the most.

10/01/2014 By Bess Lovejoy

History

25 Objects That Changed Seattle

From fossils to software, artifacts tell the story of the Emerald City.

12/01/2013 By Bess Lovejoy

Article

50 Most Influential People in Seattle Right Now

Game-changing Seattleites thrust the city into its next phase—in politics, the arts, technology, food, sports, and more.

03/18/2013 By Kathryn Robinson, Matthew Halverson, James Ross Gardner, Laura Cassidy, Christopher Werner, Laura Dannen, Allison Williams, Allecia Vermillion, Amanda Zurita, Seth Sommerfeld, Erica C. Barnett, Bess Lovejoy, and Josh Feit

Article

The Arctic Club’s Most Famous Tenant

The downtown Seattle hotel is where men dreamed big—and where dreams died.

10/08/2012 By Bess Lovejoy

Article

The Inscape Building’s Dark History

Seattle’s Inscape arts center once held Chinese and Japanese prisoners.

09/19/2012 By Bess Lovejoy