Welcome to Seattle, Washington: Where the Amazonians go to work

This photo essay is the first of a new series, in which we take a look at campuses of leading tech companies and show you what we see. In this essay, we visit the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington where Amazon is busy building its company and campus.

The fact of change couldn’t be more evident than it is here, a precinct between the south edge of busy Lake Union (full of float planes, yacht marinas, wooden boats, and houseboats) and the retail district of Seattle’s downtown. South Lake Union neighborhood used to be a modest sector of photography labs, equipment retailers, printing plants, trophy stores, storage facilities, and other unglamorous but necessary enterprises. Now most of that old, low-rise business is gone. Towers are going up, and Amazon workers walk, ride their bikes or the bus or the trolley, or struggle to drive and park their cars, into a stylish new quarter of the city.

Amazonians share the neighborhood with University of Washington medical researchers, Group Health Hospital clinicians, dentists, the Seattle Opera, restaurants, bars, and food truck operators, as well as the best camera store in the city and some other old-neighborhood holdouts. Lots of construction workers spend their days here, too.

These photos begin about 7 a.m. of an August workday and continue through an evening, 12 or 13 hours later. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Let us know what other places you’d like us to visit. Or share your own workplace tours with us. We’ll be happy to see them.