OK, on to the just plan seedy part …
Seattle very likely had the first Skid Row – it had started as Skid Road.Historylink:In the mid-1800s, the term Skid Road was commonly applied to logging camps throughout the region. The area around Yesler's Mill may have acquired this nickname by such association. The phrase was not popularized until the early 20th century, when crusading local prohibitionist Rev. Mark Matthews (1867-1940) invoked Skid Road to condemn the saloons and brothels clustered in an all-but-official vice district south of Yesler Way. In later usage, Skid Road morphed into &quot;Skid Row&quot; to denote any derelict urban neighborhood -- and Pioneer Square definitely qualified between the Great Depression and its restoration in the 1970s.
Wikimedia Commons Photos: The original &quot;Skid Road&quot; (Mill Street, now Yesler Way) in Seattle. The top image: View looking west to Yesler's Mill at the end of the street (see smokestack) and nearby cookhouse. The tall pole in the road on the right is where the Pioneer Square pergola stands today. The bottom image: Yesler's Mill, stores, and taverns on Skid Road.