Catch Seattle’s waterfront attractions while you can

Better get your curios fix soon.

The Ye Olde Curiosity Shop is among the popular Seattle waterfront businesses closing Oct. 1 for nine months for the Elliott Bay Seawall Project.

Fish lovers, you’re going to have to “clam down and carry on.”

Ivar’s, Elliott’s Oyster House, the Crab Pot and the Salmon Cooker also will be closed during the construction phase along the central Seattle waterfront.

The repair project, just south of Madison Street to Pike Street, closes Piers 54, 55, 56 and much of Pier 57 until the end of June 2015.

So stock up now to get those Bigfoot items and swashbuckler getups at Pirate’s Plunder Gift Shop on Pier 57. Start your holiday shopping for that hard-to-please person at the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, the part-museum, part-novelty shop with two-headed animals, mummies, skeletons and paintings on the heads of pins.

Don’t panic. There’s still lots to do on the waterfront after the Oct. 1. construction begins.

At Pier 57, you can ride the Seattle Great Wheel and see wooden sculptures of fishermen, gangsters and movie stars made by Whidbey Island chain saw artist Pat McVay.

The fish shows go on as usual at the Seattle Aquarium.

Hop a ride aboard an Argosy Cruises vessel for a trip around the harbor or sunset excursion. Or take a Washington State Ferry, the “poor man’s cruise ship,” to Bremerton.

Walking along the waterfront is a stroll down memory lane. Listen closely and with a little imagination you can hear the Village People sing “YMCA” inside The Edgewater hotel where many rock stars have stayed. Or maybe that’s the sound of The Beatles fishing out the window of their room after a hard day’s night entertaining thousands of screaming fans in Seattle.

At the opposite end of the waterfront is that Olympic Sculpture Park, where you can ogle a giant careening typewriter eraser and a naked silver man in the fountain.

Too far to walk? There are bicycle rickshaws ready to roll.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.

What’s staying open

Seattle Aquarium
Seattle Great Wheel and some businesses on the west end of Pier 57
Argosy Cruises: Ticket booth relocated to Waterfront Park. Ships will operate at Pier 57 near Seattle Great Wheel.
Washington State Ferries at Colman Dock
Businesses all along the eastside of Alaskan Way
Pier 69 and Victoria Clipper is outside of the Seawall Project area, and operations are not affected by construction.

What’s closing (October-June)