Skid Row Seattle

By sunset, the down-and-outer was already settled into his usual spot under the antique iron pergola, his feet tucked into a drawstring plastic trash bag. Here, along Yesler Way--the nation's original "Skid Row"--it was the cocktail hour. The man on the bench drank his from a bottle in a paper sack; the well-heeled people strolling by would take theirs from handsome crystal in Pioneer Square's charmingly restored bistros a few dozen yards away.

By sunset, the down-and-outer was already settled into his usual spot under the antique iron pergola, his feet tucked into a drawstring plastic trash bag. Here, along Yesler Way--the nation's original "Skid Row"--it was the cocktail hour. The man on the bench drank his from a bottle in a paper sack; the well-heeled people strolling by would take theirs from handsome crystal in Pioneer Square's charmingly restored bistros a few dozen yards away.