The drawing to the right is a fitting image to open this year’s Best of Seattle issue. It recreates a view I entertain at the end of every workday as I leave the Seattle Weekly offices.

I sometimes look to the left and consider the century-old Smith Tower, a once-impressive testament to urban progress. Bright and possessing a certain optimism, it has won my unbridled affection. Then I look to the right at Columbia Center: The continuation of that progress, its greatness overshadows that of its forebear. My feelings toward that monolith are less clear. The building stands as a testament to civic confidence, its 1985 rise aligning with the beginning of a boom that lasted two decades.

But what does it say about that era that the building is so impenetrable, so dark, so serious? I wonder. Progress is complicated, but it goes on nonetheless. As Seattle wakes from its recession-era nap, the city is beginning to bloom again, with cranes above, tunnels below, and businesses and artists everywhere offering creative ways to do the same old things better. To help make sense of all this progress, we offer this year’s Best of Seattle with the theme “Rebirth of the City,” committing ourselves to selecting the most impressive people, things, and ideas currently shaping our burg. Of course, we also honor some past innovations that, like old Smith Tower, have stood the test of time and continue to wow us. But we have weighed our coverage heavily toward the exemplary aspects of our city that point to the best kind of future—one that’s bright and possessing a certain optimism. Onward!

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People and Places

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Sports and Adventure

… and check out the people, places and businesses that Seattle Weekly readers chose as their Best of Seattle in our Readers’ Poll.