Rub elbows with Seattle’s biggest (bronze) celebrities

Pose for a selfie with some of these famous statues around town

Seattle is chock-full of homegrown talent (Bill Gates? Jeff Bezos? Heard of these guys?) but you know you’ve really made it when you get commemorated with a bronze statue. Start with the 48-foot-tall Hammering Man who holds court at the Seattle Art Museum’s south entrance. The kinetic sculpture hammers away every day (except Labor Day, obvs).

The city is practically synonymous with grunge and flannel and angst, nevermind that there isn’t a monument to the late, great Kurt Cobain. But you’ll see live-size versions of musical legends Jimi Hendrix and Chris Cornell frozen mid-air guitar on the city’s streets. That psychedelic mushed-up-looking building behind Cornell is definitely worth a stop too — MoPop’s got an incredible collection of music memorabilia.

The city’s denizens are politely distant (ugh, that Seattle Freeze), but not without a good dose of weird. Like the 16-foot-tall Lenin statue in Fremont. Why a Communist revolutionary? This is, after all, the neighborhood that holds a naked bike ride every year on the summer solstice. A few blocks west, fairy tales come to life with the colossal Fremont Troll stalking traffic under the Aurora Bridge. Trip trap your way over for the ultimate Seattle photo op!