Is Seattle considered particularly snooty? (Frasier question)

[ftg]

@teela_brown

We visited Seattle last year, and spent a lot of time trying to figure out where Frasier’s fictional apartment building might be. Despite being called “Elliott Bay Towers”, it seems to be placed somewhere around maybe Belltown / Queen Anne, judging by the view you see from his windows.

The shot outside the balcony is a classic view taken from Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill. Several shows shot in Seattle also have used that background including some episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. Meredith Grey’s old house is two blocks away, making her and Frasier Crane neighbors.

There didn’t use to be any high-ish apartment buildings around the park but they’ve recently put some in. Really horrible of course. But still not actual high rises.

Speaking of bad Seattle image and Grey’s: Lots of stuff. The worst pronunciation error was Izzie pronouncing her home town Chehalis with a “ch” instead of a “sh”. Christina asking a stranger how to get to the Space Needle from downtown despite the hospital she’s worked at for years being located at the North edge of downtown in the shadow of the Space Needle. (It was the KOMO building for helicopter shots. Complete with the billboard of Ichiro on the side.) They also used to run stock aerial shots with the Kingdome visible. It was razed before the show started.

I don’t think that Grey’s represents Seattle as being snooty. The main vibe I think is that it has a lot of goofy people. Chainsaw pumpkin carvers, kamikaze bicycle racers, etc.

[standingwave]

@teela_brown

We visited Seattle last year, and spent a lot of time trying to figure out where Frasier’s fictional apartment building might be. Despite being called “Elliott Bay Towers”, it seems to be placed somewhere around maybe Belltown / Queen Anne, judging by the view you see from his windows.

In one episode Frasier said, “I live at Elliot Bay Towers on the Counterbalance.” Again, pinning the location to Queen Anne Hill. Note, for non-Washingtonians: The Counterbalance got its name because it was literally the location of the counterweights for the electric trolleys back in the day.

[Blackberry]

@ftg

Speaking of bad Seattle image and Grey’s: Lots of stuff. The worst pronunciation error was Izzie pronouncing her home town Chehalis with a “ch” instead of a “sh”. Christina asking a stranger how to get to the Space Needle from downtown despite the hospital she’s worked at for years being located at the North edge of downtown in the shadow of the Space Needle. (It was the KOMO building for helicopter shots. Complete with the billboard of Ichiro on the side.) They also used to run stock aerial shots with the Kingdome visible. It was razed before the show started.

I don’t think that Grey’s represents Seattle as being snooty. The main vibe I think is that it has a lot of goofy people. Chainsaw pumpkin carvers, kamikaze bicycle racers, etc.

Grey’s would lead one to believe that everyone in Seattle is fucking annoying as hell.

Also, two problems with their treatment of ferries. First that anyone loves ferries (someone on there does…Derek I think) and second that people call them “ferry boats”.

[teela_brown]

@ftg

The shot outside the balcony is a classic view taken from Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill.

::Googling and looking at images::

Yup, that’s it all right. That’s a view I’d live in a high rise for.

Never did see a view from Niles’s building The Montana.

[ftg]

@Blackberry

Also, two problems with their treatment of ferries. First that anyone loves ferries (someone on there does…Derek I think) and second that people call them “ferry boats”.

Yeah, it’s Derek that loves ferries and “corrects” anyone who doesn’t call them “ferry boats”. He would be viewed as a douche by the locals. A New Yorker correcting the natives? Right.

Another issue with the show and ferries is the multiple times they have someone riding a ferry into work in the morning across Puget Sound, with the Sun behind them. Um, that’s west. The Sun doesn’t rise in the west folks.

Downtown Seattle looks best when lit from the west, but still …

[Jervoise]

@Claverhouse

Alan Clark, an engaging British politician of the Thatcher era, delighted in dismissing nouveau riche with that phrase. Which seemed odd to some since his father may have been Sir Kenneth Clark the art historian who bought the family castle, but the wealth came from making cotton reels.

In his Diaries, Alan Clark was actually quoting Michael Jopling (“The trouble with Michael [Heseltine] is that he had to buy all his furniture”).

[rogerbox]

Chehalis with a “ch” instead of a “sh” is definitely a mistake no Washingtonian would ever make. Also I’ve never once heard anyone call a Ferry a “Ferry boat”, always just Ferry. The thought of someone working downtown asking how to get to the space needle is high-larious!

[standingwave]

@ftg

Downtown Seattle looks best when lit from the west, but still …

Or at night…