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An Avenue of Stars Near Alki Beach

Find a guide to the night sky under your feet in West Seattle

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This article originally appeared in the March 2020 issue of Seattle magazine.

This article appears in print in the March 2020 issue. Click here to subscribe.

Walking down Beach Drive SW just south of Alki Point in West Seattle, you’ll likely keep your eyes fixed on the unobstructed panorama of Puget Sound before you. But look around and you’ll see the many artistic features of Constellation Park and Marine Reserve, including a tide pool sculpture and a wall of tiles illustrated with local algae and shellfish. Set your eyes on the sidewalk for a peek at the Avenue of Stars, a series of 27 bronze, in-ground artworks, each depicting a constellation that can be seen from the park on clear nights at about 10 p.m. Local artist Lezlie Jane designed and installed the constellations in 1999. Another star map appears under your feet every few paces as you walk from 64th Avenue SW to just before Benton Place SW. Beside each installation, a plaque notes the constellation’s name and the season in which it is most visible from this vantage point, serving as a nighttime guide to the stars or a daytime reminder of what exists beyond the far-off horizon. 

Rearview Mirror: Spinasse at Home, a New Spa Experience, and Seattle Mag’s Reader’s Choice Awards 

Rearview Mirror: Spinasse at Home, a New Spa Experience, and Seattle Mag’s Reader’s Choice Awards 

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

YOUR VOTE MATTERS Everyone has a favorite restaurant, coffee shop, or local boutique. Call me old-school, but I will die on the hill that Caffe Vita has the best coffee in town. Disagree with me? Now’s your moment to speak up. Each year, we survey Seattle magazine readers, asking them to weigh in on everything…

Studio Sessions: Ling Chun

Studio Sessions: Ling Chun

The Seattle-based artist brings playful color to ceramics and neon while exploring memory, transformation, and life between cultures.

For Ling Chun, creating begins with something sensed before it can be named. Working with clay, glass, light, and sometimes synthetic hair, the Hong Kong-born artist gives physical form to things that words cannot always hold. “For me, the magnitude of making goes far beyond the object that is eventually produced,” Chun says. “The object…

The Magic of PAX Is Stronger Than Ever

The Magic of PAX Is Stronger Than Ever

PAX West draws more than 100,000 people to Seattle each year. Co-founder Jerry Holkins reflects on what the gaming convention set out to change, how its community has grown and why gathering face to face still matters.

Access to game news as it was happening was difficult back in the day. Even with the advent of the internet, communication between game publishers and journalists was still a very elite affair.  I used to fake credentials—via fax machine!—to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo, mostly just known as E3. It was simultaneously as loud…

Your Guide to Bumbershoot 2026

Your Guide to Bumbershoot 2026

Navigate Seattle’s wildest end-of-summer weekend with 20 picks spanning Death Cab for Cutie, Blood Orange, wrestling, skateboarding and—obviously—movies made in 48 hours.

Four years after Bumbershoot returned with its quirkiness revivified, Seattleites broadly acknowledge the two-day multimedia extravaganza as a welcome finale to the summer festival season. Fests like Bumbershoot are designed around a choose-your-own-adventure model, but if you’re the kind of person who looked at this year’s sprawling lineup—featuring multiple bands, artists, and exhibits happening at…