What Are People Doing?

Mar 1, 2019 | Feature, Town Crier, What Are People Doing

Every week the Town Crier blog will look back at Seattle’s near forgotten Town Crier magazine to see what was happening then and talk about what’s happening now. One of the largest sections of the original Town Crier was “What People Are Doing,” highlighting things like, “Mr. Shephard French, who saw active service on a submarine chaser during the war, left Seattle for San Francisco,” and, “There will be a dansant in the tea room this afternoon.” In this new series we’re revisiting the old column and tying it to our community’s current happenings, asking: “what are people doing?”

Today’s entry…

“The most delightful social events of the week,” the Town Crier enthused in their March 1, 1919 issue, “were the afternoon parties given Monday and Tuesday by Mrs. Albert Charles Phillips at her home on Queen Anne Hill. It was like a breath of the days before the wary for the member of society to meet and have a joyful time together without any anxiety.” They mentioned short musical programs during the festivities. Also – “Bridge was played both afternoons, followed by tea.”

The game of bridge has been played since the 19th century, evolving as it has to the present game. Why is is called bridge? There are a couple of theories. 1) It’s Russian in origin, spun off of a game called Biritch (or Russian Whist). 2) It’s a game invented by the British who were serving in the Crimean War. The game got its name from the Galata Bridge, a span that connected Istanbul, that they crossed to go to coffee houses to play cards.

The game of bridge is still being played today. In fact, Seattle is quite active in contact bridge. ACBL Unit 446 is a non-profit organization run by a board of 12 directors. Serving the greater Seattle area, they are a part of the American Contact Bridge League (ACBL). The board manages over a dozen events and six sectionals annually. There are several clubs within Unit 446 including ones in Alki, UW, Des Moines, downtown, Mercer Island, and more.

The ACBL is the governing body for contact bridge in the US, Mexico, Bermuda, and Canada and is a member of the World Bridge Federation, the international bridge governing body. Their stated mission is “to promote, grow and sustain the game of bridge and serve the bridge-related interests of our members.” It has more than 165,000 members. Seattle’s hosted their North American Bridge Championships from time to time (the last time in 2011).

Interested in playing? Learn more here.

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dTown Hall Seattle is committed to accessibility for audiences and artists alike. From our ticketing policies to the capacities of our physical space, our goal is for Town Hall to be a place where everyone can take part, be inspired, and use their voice to shape our future.

Our Venue

In 2019, Town Hall Seattle completed a $35 million renovation, providing an even more accessible home for our city’s conversations and creativity. Core accessibility features of the renovation include:

  • At-grade entrances (8th Ave Entrance to The Lobby, and West Entrance facing Downtown Seattle)
  • Restrooms for all genders and bodies. Our building features 17 all-gender restrooms on our lobby level, as well as ADA-accessible restrooms on the lobby and Forum level
  • Church pew/bench seats with wheelchair and companion seating in The Great Hall, and variable/movable seating in The Wyncote NW Forum and The Mehdi Reading Room
  • A modern, spacious elevator serving all three levels of the building and a wheelchair lift for speaker access to the Forum green room
  • Wheelchair ramp leading to the Forum Stage and wheelchair access via the elevator to the Great Hall stage
  • Accessible backstage areas, restrooms, and green rooms serviced by an elevator
  • Speaker and presenter seating for all bodies and abilities
  • A Hearing Loop system in all three performance spaces. Using T-Coil (wireless receiver) technology, the hearing loop system projects voices and sounds directly from the microphone into an individual’s hearing aid.
  • Braille on permanent room signage throughout the building

A Note on Transportation and Parking

Town Hall Seattle does not have a designated parking lot. Our venue is served by frequent bus routes, is near access to light rail stations, and close to a number of parking options nearby – including discounted, ADA parking at LAZ Parking (6th Ave Coast Seattle Downtown Hotel Garage). Learn more about parking options and discounted parking nearby here.

Program Accessibility & Livestreaming

Town Hall strives to ensure that all audience members can participate fully in our programs. We make every effort to provide real-time captioning (CART), ASL interpretation, translation and transcription services, and seating accommodations upon request.

Town Hall currently provides livestreaming for select events. An event may be livestreamed under any of the following circumstances:

  • In-person tickets to the event are sold out or anticipated to sell out
  • Livestreaming is requested by a speaker or co-presenting partner
  • Livestreaming is requested by a ticket buyer
  • The event topic is relevant to disability or disability justice

Audio and/or video recordings of most Town Hall-produced programs are available to the public approximately 2 weeks after the initial event date. You can find Town Hall’s digital content by visiting the Audio & Video Archives, and by subscribing to our podcasts and YouTube channel.

We do our best to honor livestream requests, pending staffing and permission from speakers and publishers. Contact access@townhallseattle.org to request accessibility services, ask questions, or to let us know what other accommodation you need to participate fully. Please provide at least 2 weeks’ advance notice when requesting CART and Livestreaming, and at least 4 weeks’ notice when requesting ASL.

For more information about our entrances, accessibility requests, and more, check out our Plan Your Visit pages.

Economic Accessibility

Town Hall strives to ensure that the cost of admission is never a barrier to participation. Almost all Town Hall-produced events are available on a sliding scale starting at $10, and many events are free. To break down further barriers to access, our 22 & Under initiative launched in 2019 with support from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, making most Town Hall-produced programs free for everyone aged 22 & Under.

If the ticket price to a Town Hall-produced program poses a barrier for you, please contact patronservices@townhallseattle.org for economic accommodations.

Economic Access for Rental Partners: We operate our stages with the same deep commitment to economic accessibility; our performance spaces are the most affordable in the region among similarly sized venues. We underwrite rental rates and related services for other small and midsized nonprofits and mission-aligned producers to help level the cultural playing field and ensure that everyone can afford to take the stage.

Note: Town Hall does not set the ticket prices for Rental Partner events. Our sliding scale ticketing model and 22 & Under tickets do not extend to programs produced by Rental Partners. To identify rental events, look for the gray “Rental Partner” label on our website and printed calendar.

Town Hall values active collaboration with our community, and our commitment to accessibility is no different. We invite you to contact us with feedback and ideas.