Shoreline Alley

Shoreline Alley interprets the city’s native landscape, reconnecting Seattleites to their waterfront. We collaborated with landscape architects MIG, Valerie Segrest of Tahoma Peak Solutions, and artist Paige Pettibon to create an integrated storytelling experience within the renovated streets leading to the water’s edge.

Over many decades, the construction of piers, infill, and sea walls expanded Seattle further into the bay. In studying the original shoreline, the team discovered that it once ran along what is now a modern-day alley. This finding inspired the name “Shoreline Alley,” as well as “Flounder Lagoon,” referencing a lagoon that once occupied what is now historic Occidental Square.

Custom paving patterns trace the path of the shoreline that once meandered through the neighborhood. New landscape beds feature native plantings bordered by wooden kick rails. On these, we integrated etched text and illustrations to celebrate Indigenous plant technologies—how native plants were used as tools for harvesting and fishing:
“Vine maple branch, with cattail cord, makes clam basket”
“The long branches of vine maple trees are perfect for basket weaving”
“Oceanspray, with nettle cord, makes flounder spear”
“Oceanspray branches heated over fire become strong as iron”
“Cedar bark, with cedar poles makes duck hunting nets”
“Soaked and dried cedar bark makes ideal cordage for hunting nets”

Interpretive panels at the alley openings tie the storytelling together, describing the original landscape—a swampy, tidal lagoon—and illustrating traditional methods of hunting, fishing, and harvesting. Artist Paige Pettibon intentionally depicted people in neutral rather than historical clothing, emphasizing that these practices are not relics of the past, but living traditions. They continue today in the cleaner waters east of the city.