Olympic Sculpture Park

A zigzag of crushed gravel paths cuts across the grass, leading toward a giant, bright red steel sculpture by Alexander Calder that stands against the backdrop of the water. This nine-acre park occupies land that formerly held a fuel storage facility for the Unocal Corporation. For decades, the soil remained so heavily contaminated that the shoreline was inaccessible. Workers spent years remediating the site, capping the earth, and building a continuous, sweeping land bridge that links the city directly to the Elliott Bay waterfront.