In the early 1960s, the State Highway Department proposed a plan for 15 freeways across Seattle, the densest system of highways in the world. After witnessing the consequences of constructing the 1-5, Seattleites decided that enough was enough, and a grassroots, citywide coalition known as the Seattle Freeway Revolt was created. After years of organizing, the activists succeeded. Seattle residents voted in 1972 to block the RH Thomson Expressway and the Bay Freeway and to significantly scale back the I-90 bridge—saving thousands of homes, small businesses, and parks.

*Extend your walk through the I-90 tunnel to views of Lake Washington with Seward Park to the south. Areas around Lake Washington, including the area now known as Seward Park, once served as prime hunting and fishing grounds for the Duwamish people. Their name for the peninsula area is skEba’kst, or “nose,” describing the rocky points that once existed along the north and south sides. However, the construction of the ship canal in 1911 caused changes in Lake Washington’s water level, now obscuring the rocky points. Their name for the isthmus is cla’lapsEb, or “neck.”

Seward Park has also been a gathering place for the Filipino community, including places like Pinoy Hill and the Pista sa Nayon summer festival. It’s likewise a hub of Jewish life, home to 17% of the region’s Jewish households and five Orthodox synagogues. Housing discrimination in Seattle targeted Jewish people, leading Jewish community leaders and members to join in interracial efforts to establish open housing in Seattle.