Seattle's Pike Place Market (de)

33 Pages·2003·0.6 MB·English

Seattle’s Pike Place Market (de)constructed
An analysis of tourist narratives about a public space
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Introduction
Photography, writing and storytelling are three different ways in which narratives can be
created and relayed to others. Each of these is a technology and thus also “enframes” what it
represents in its own terms and within its own limits. In other words, technology is not a neutral
means of representation, because it functions within a set of social, historical and cultural
constraints. Technology is informed by and informs, at the same time, a certain understanding of
the world. For this reason, each of the aforementioned means of representation only reveals
particular portions of a certain world, while inevitably excluding others (Heidegger: 1955/1977).
How does the nature of representation affect the way in which narratives of public space
and personal experiences are constructed? Is there a power relationship between institutional and
individual ways of seeing, writing and telling one’s experiences in a public space such as
Seattle’s Pike Place Market? The Pike Place Market is a significant landmark in Seattle’s urban
space. Overlooking the waterfront and the Olympic Mountains, Pike Place Market is multi-level
and mostly open air. Its origin and architecture give the market an ambiance of historical
authenticity. Local farmers, who wanted to sell their produce directly to the public, eliminating
the middleman, established the public market in 1907. Its now iconic red neon clock and letters
that read “Public Market” was one of the first outdoor neon signs on the West coast. Much of
Seattle’s identity comes from images of the market. It is considered one of the city’s main
attractions as will be discussed further in this paper. As a result much imagery and narrative
exists about the market.
We will focus on tourist narrative, using both institutional and amateur texts in the form
of photographs, travel guides and tourist accounts because we believe that it is emblematic of
how the public space of the market is communicated to the majority of people as well as of how
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most people use mediated forms of communication to construct narratives of themselves and
their experiences in public space.
Bourdieu (1965) described photography as a “middle-brow” practice in that it is an
accessible form of representation. It is neither artistically elitist nor financially out of reach for
most people. “Tourist photography includes two broad categories of photographic images: (1)
photographs taken by tourists and (2) photographs produced for tourists by members of a host
community” (Chalfen, 1979, p. 437). We argue that tourist photography fills a twofold social
function; first it represents and constructs institutional narratives and identities of public space
through postcards, travel guides, brochures, etc. Second it represents and constructs personal
narratives and memories of people in public space.
Furthermore, travel guides are important texts in tourist experience. They are the most
common source of information for the tourist. Being a text, tourist literature can act as a greater
authority about a place than the locals themselves. Once again, the authority of the text
constructs a reality for the tourist that becomes more "real" than the place itself (Said, 1979, p.
93). The institutional presentation of knowledge represents an authority (Foucault, 1966/1970).
The critical analysis of these texts will allow us to examine the discursive production in a fashion
that Foucault calls archaeology of knowledge. Guidebooks often use texts that are borrowed
from other guidebooks creating a sort of a collage of narrative that is mirrored throughout the
travel literature (Hutnyk, 1996).
In addition to institutional texts, personal accounts of tourists’ experience at the market in
relation to their image production will be analyzed. These accounts will provide insights on how
tourists construct their own narrative around the images that they take. This is particularly
interesting because as Baudrillard (1970) writes “leisure is not the availability of time, it is its
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display [sic]” (p. 158). Photography is arguably the most common and powerful device of this
display.
In our study we would like to explore narrative constructions in the tourist texts about
Pike Place Market. How do institutional and personal narratives of the market inform one
another? For example, an argument is made that mass produced tourist photographs “not only
formulate and institutionalize what tourists see and how they see it, but also how they know and
understand what they see” (Albers and James, 1988, p. 136). The construction of a narrative via
the means of technology can be political in the way that it is produced and in the way it is
consumed. We will look for narrative themes present in the texts to see how they affect
perceptions and uses of public space. The goal of this research is to examine the narrative
construction of the Pike Place Market as a public space.
We will make an attempt to answer our research question by conducting two small
separate studies. While author 2 of this paper will analyze the narratives underlying relevant
institutional tourist literature, author 1 will examine photographs taken by tourists and explained
by their personal accounts. In this way, we will triangulate our findings to achieve a deeper
understanding of our research topic.
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1. Travel guides and narratives about the market (Author 2)
In this section, I will look at how travel literature constructs the narrative of the Pike
Place Market in Seattle, Washington. Traditionally, markets have served the role of the public
sphere, not only as the place of commerce, but also a place where citizens come in contact with
one another. The Pike Place Market is a place of local business, but also a tourist attraction
where people come to see and be seen. I will examine how the market’s image is sold and what
expectations are created for the tourist.
In this analysis, text is treated in the sociological tradition as a window into human
experience. Principles of Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) were used to approach the
data collected. As data was gathered and analyzed, further data collection methods became more
apparent. This allowed for the development, refinement and interrelation of concepts to emerge
as I moved along (Charmaz, 2000).
Because this research is self-perpetuating, it may seem that it can go on endlessly. For
this reason the point of saturation served as a boundary for the research. When new data began to
fit into the categories that I defined, a “saturation” point was achieved and the research
completed. As the research is revisited and rearranged, new gaps may be discovered and new
ideas further examined (Charmaz, 2000). This study is an explorative attempt to discover what
factors influence and create a particular setting.
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A variety of guides were reviewed and the
following were chosen as representative of
different genres catering to various classes, age
groups and travel agendas. Access caters to the
fast paced traveler, for a weekend trip, it gives
concise, no-nonsense information. Best Places
addresses a more leisurely traveler. The title itself
implies that “the best” will be represented here.
The audience might be someone with resources
and leisure time available, looking for “the best”
attractions, traditional “high quality.” The look of
its cover is generically inoffensive. Lonely
Planet’s audience is generally a young liberal
tourist who might be traveling for longer periods
of time and on a lower budget. These books were
Figure 1. Access cover
chosen after a review of a number of travel
guides, they appeared to be some of the most recognizable and popular.
The first analysis focused on the exterior appeal of the texts. The Access guide cover
features the infamous neon coffee cup overlapping the Public Market letters and the City Fish
Market sign below. These images, lit up at sunset signify the Pike Place Market as an icon of
Seattle. Access subtitle claims that the guide “makes the world your neighborhood.” The tourist
is invited to be the insider, part of the neighborhood. As noted above, Access’main appeal is to
someone using the guide for efficiency, the information is minimal, the facts brisk and maps are
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easy to find. Focused on efficacy, Access advertises 39 detailed maps, advises the tourist to
“pack lightly and carry the best travel guides” and promises that it “will help you immediately
locate” the area of your interest (inside back cover). Access promises access to local life, and it
offers this access in an efficient manner.
Although targeting a slightly different audience, Best Places has basically the same
narrative. The self-description of Best Places appeals to the traveler’s trust and promises insider
information. The guide claims to present the “true strengths and foibles.” The introduction of the
book validates this claim by asserting the reader that the travel guide is “written by and for locals
and therefore coveted by travelers” (Smith, 1999, p. ix). There are two major themes that surface
in this claim. One is that there is a “real” or more “true” information that exists, second is that
there is a “real” or an authentic authority. The locals are better producers of knowledge about a
place and they are also more savvy consumers of it. The book also implies that the real
consumers of the travel book are the locals, making the book into a “real” guide, only
accidentally discovered by a tourist, and therefore more authentic. It is presented as just another
local artifact that the tourist can consume. Of course this implication is illogical because there are
not many locals that read travel guidebooks to find out about their city. It can be argued that
most locals gain their knowledge about a place by living their daily lives there, not through
tourist guidebooks that claim to reveal the “best places in Seattle.”
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Best Places frames itself as a local
authority on the subject of Seattle to appeal to the
tourist. They claim to be made by and used by
locals. As this study will show, the narrative sold
to the tourist is one of authenticity, discovery and
uniqueness. The tourist’s identity is framed as one
of a voyeur, a spectator who becomes an instant
insider into a local life through the aid of a tourist
guide.
The front cover on Best Places also
features an iconic image of Seattle. It is so famous
that one need not see the sign in its entirety to
Figure 2. Best Places cover
know what it is. A cover photograph cropped to
show the neon red letters LIC hanging over a cut off letter T beside a quarter of a clock showing
the numbers 9, 10, 11 and 12. This is all that is needed to recognize the famous sign of the Pike
Place Market that reads PUBLIC MARKET next
to a neon red clock. The simple design of this
neon sign has been an iconic image of the market,
anostalgic emblem of the past that can be found
in old history books about Seattle. Aside from
maps, this is the only photograph in the Best
Places guidebook.
Figure 3. 1940s Postcard
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The same appeal of locality surfaces in the
Lonely Planet’s Seattle travel guide. While this
guide caters to the younger, backpacking crowd,
Lonely Planet also claims its source of
information to have come from local knowledge.
Debra Miller, the guide’s writer describes
gathering wisdom from the locals over beer, fish
burgers and coffee – all typical Seattle market
attractions.
The cover image on the guidebook
represents an old rusty hull of a boat, with
numbers painted over it counting down 10, 9, 8.
The artistic image of this large vessel is framed in
Figure 4. Lonely Planet Cover
such a way that represents the beauty of
something well used, historical and utilitarian. The ship represented does not give off an image
of a cruise ship or a passenger ferry, but one of a commercial ship run by burly fishermen. This
ship does not cater to tourists, but represents the local daily routines of the place. Once again, the
appeal of the local is used as a selling point of the travel books. As further themes emerge about
the Pike Place Market, it will be evident that this is not a coincidence.
The guidebooks describe the market from a very similar narrative perspective. The depth
and length varies according to each book, but the themes are recurring and much of the phrasing
is repeated in all of the texts. Each book rates the market as Seattle’s top attraction, for example
Best Places rates it as the number one of the 25 top attractions and the Lonely Planet features the
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market as the first attraction on its list. In an almost identical similarity, all three guides claim
that the market is an energetic representation of the soul of the city. Best Places begins its
chapter on the market, “If cities have souls, then Pike Place Market is Seattle’s” (Smith, 1999,
p.172). Access calls it a “kinetic profusion,” (Waters, 1997, p. 48) describing the people, the
energy and the individual enterprise as the main draw of the market. Lonely Planet’s introduction
to the market reads, “Seattle’s most popular tourist attraction, noted as much for its exuberant
theatricality…” (Miller, p. 85, 2001). The market is thus set up as “the soul of the city,” “a
kinetic profusion” and an “exuberant” theater, promising the boisterous vibrant experience of
public space. The market is sold as a soul that can be experienced by the tourist from the inside,
its energy consumed as a spectacle.
The texts go on to describe the market and recount its history. The general themes of
spectacle,abundance,authenticity,and resistance repeat persistently throughout the narratives.
The guides lure the reader by the theatricality of the market. In fact, Access authors observe that
it isn’t necessarily what you can buy, but the people who make the most enticing attraction of the
market. The guides provide impressively high statistics of how many people visit the market
regularly, (according to Access,the number is 40,000 people/day). People and theatricalities are
listed to create an image of a vibrant public space where people enjoy the opportunity to be in a
crowd, experience unpredictable interactions and be publicly anonymous. Vendors are described
in traditional terms as fishmongers, hawkers, loud, friendly, local and ethnic. In all of the books,
the buskers are an integral part of the show and, as described in Best Places,their street routines
turn street corners into stages (Smith, 1999). People are part of the show that engages the
spectator tourist, competing for attention through what Lonely Planet describes as a “tourist
tickling showiness”(Miller, 2001, p. 85). In what one might imagine a traditional bazaar of the