The Brief
- World Cup crowds: FIFA World Cup watch parties in Occidental Square are drawing thousands of visitors, helping locals rediscover Seattle’s oldest neighborhood.
- Historic roots: The pedestrian plaza is named after the grand Occidental Hotel, which once stood where the “Sinking Ship” parking garage is today.
- Preservation spark: Alliance for Pioneer Square Executive Director Lisa Howard said the hotel’s 1961 demolition galvanized preservationists to save the historic district.
SEATTLE – Occidental Square has been packed with soccer fans throughout the FIFA World Cup, drawing thousands of visitors to one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods. But long before watch parties and fan festivals, the name “Occidental” belonged to a grand hotel that helped define early Seattle.
The Occidental Hotel once stood where the now-infamous Sinking Ship parking garage sits today, a landmark whose rise, destruction and eventual replacement helped shape the future of Pioneer Square.
FIFA World Cup 2026 brings new appreciation for Pioneer Square
Lisa Howard, executive director of the Alliance for Pioneer Square, said the World Cup has introduced a new generation of visitors to the historic neighborhood.
She believes the tournament has also challenged perceptions of the neighborhood.
“I think people have had a chance to rediscover it in a way that they haven’t,” said Howard, adding that some people who may have avoided Pioneer Square after seeing negative headlines finally had a reason to spend time there.
A hotel gave Occidental Square its name
Today, visitors walking through Occidental Square pass planters, café tables and brick-paved streets. But Howard said the neighborhood nearly met a very different fate.
“There was a plan in the ’60s and ’70s to knock everything down and build parking lots,” she said.…