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Photography: Washington Part 4-The Last of Us

One of the major reasons we visited Seattle was my daughter’s obsession with the video game The Last of Us. The second game takes place largely in Seattle during the year 2039, a city abandoned and overrun with infected (think mushroom zombies). It’s a story of found family, hope, love, and revenge.

Using a list of locations by the blogger Sam, we traveled around the city replaying the game. A lot of places we looked at but didn’t photograph, those include Columbia Center, Seattle Municipal Tower, Pioneer Station, the Convention Center, and Lumen Field. I also took plenty of pictures of the Great Wheel, but I’ve already shared them in previous posts.

Let me know if you are a fan of the game or the HBO series. Be sure to make it down to the hotel photos where I share a bit about our stay in another famously haunted hotel.

Also, in case you’re wondering, I’m a huge fan of the game now too!

1. William Kenzo Nakamura US Courthouse on Fifth Avenue

“If I ever were to lose you, I’d surely lose myself.” —Joel

2. Central Public Library

“I’m just a girl. Not a threat.”—Ellie

3. Daniels Recital Hall

“Oh Ellie, I think they should be terrified of you.”—Dina

4. Capitol Hill Crosswalk

“My friends’ problems are my problems.”—Jesse

 5. KOMO Plaza

6.  Paramount Theatre

“If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment… I would do it all over again.”—Joel

7. Historic Hotel Sorrento, built in 1909

This gorgeous hotel was our home while in Seattle.

We didn’t know this until after booking the room, but The Hotel Sorrento is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the city. Supposedly the ghost of writer Alice B. Toklas haunts room 408 and many people stay there hoping to get a glimpse of her.

The elevator was broken at the time of our visit so nobody was allowed to stay past the third floor. We stayed in room 308, a spacious two-room suite with a gorgeous marble bathroom down a short private hallway. There was a nice little window nook I sat in each morning to drink my coffee.

On the second night of our stay, I woke up at 1 a.m. to someone walking very loudly in the room above ours. It seemed they were having a party. The walking and dancing went on for over an hour, waking up my mom and daughter as well. I finally said loudly, “I really need some sleep” and the sound stopped. I chalked it up to coincidence and went back to sleep.

The next morning when we were checking out I mentioned that our upstairs neighbors were quite rowdy and the lady gave me a startled look. “Nobody was in the room,” she said. It turned out we were staying directly below the famed haunted room of 408. Did Alice B. Toklas have a party? I’d like to think so.

My daughter was so excited because the details of the hotel matched the game perfectly, including this entryway rug.

“What is the downside to eating a clock? It’s time-consuming.”—Joel

8.  Seattle Aquarium

This was our favorite location to visit because so many pivotal scenes in the game take place here. My daughter even bought a stuffed shark exactly like the one Abby gave Lev.

My momma ❤️

Thank you so much for taking this adventure with us! And here’s a bonus for those who love Grey’s Anatomy, the building Seattle Grace Hospital was modeled after. Not the best shot, but it was fun to see!

  • All photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

20 thoughts on “Photography: Washington Part 4-The Last of Us”

  2. Wow, you guys are brave for staying in that room under room 408! I would have called the front desk which I have done before to hopefully hush them up. The architecture is a great mix of new and old, I love that.

    I love the brick work on Daniel’s Recital Hall, and that you can see the chandelier inside through the door. Great photos, Bridgette!

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    • Thanks, John! I suppose ghost stuff doesn’t really scare me. People scare me a lot more.

      The architecture really is so interesting in Seattle. Daniel’s Recital Hall was my favorite too, especially nestled beside those tall modern looking buildings. The door you can see the chandelier though sits a good seven feet off the ground with no stairs leading up to it. My guess is it used to have some and they’ve been removed for some reason. I didn’t see the chandelier when I took the shot so I was very surprised to see it when I was editing. That’s my favorite kind of thing with photography, when you see even more than you did in person. It’s sort of like magic.

      Thank you for always being so supportive!

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  5. Fun! I love the scenery; miss it. 😥

    I enjoyed the game and it’s great to see the real life photos you have there. Adds dimension to the time I spent playing. It does make me a little “homesick” though 🙂

    Glad to see you are enjoying yourselves.

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    • Sorry these photos make you homesick. I can totally see why you’d miss such an incredible city. I sure hope the second season of The Last of Us show does a good job with the story and showing Seattle, but I’m scared seeing the cast list. Fingers crossed they get it right.

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      • Well, it is only my home away from home (spiritual home? IDK), but I do miss parts of it. If I were to visit it again, I’d probably NOT try to do it on the cheap and crash on a cousin’s couch, but stay somewhere closer to Lower Queen Anne, Belltown or Capitol Hill so I didn’t have to spend so much time riding the rail to get where I wanted to be each day.

        I actually thought they stayed faithful to the game with the first season of the game, even though they didn’t mirror the game like some fans wanted. It ways, I appreciated the different perspective. I have a feeling they’ll do good with the second season — I won’t go into what I think their biggest pitfall to casting to avoid might be, but they seemed to avoid too much controversy in the first season. I suspect they have a good eye for who to fill the roles of the second season’s characters as a result.

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      • I really loved the first season of the show, but I’m really worried after seeing who they cast for Abby. However, I was skeptical about Pedro Pascal and he’s a very endearing Joel. She just better get really buff! I also loved the love-story they created for Bill and Frank. So maybe I’m mostly hopeful.

        I’d love to spend a year in Seattle I think. There’s so much to explore there and the city has a really chill feeling.

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  6. The great photography . Excellent all photos. Interesting you sharing your daughter daughter’s obsession with the video game. Nice you daughter pics. Beautiful your mother pic. I like all places.

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  8. The only video game I ever play is the sims. and not anymore. BUT I loved the show. I also love how with the light of the one of her coming down the steps she looks like part of a video game. I am terrified of octupi, so I have one least favorite picture, even though it was well done

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    • Lola was totally trying to be Ellie in that picture, Nicole, so I’m so glad it looks like it to you. 🙂 Sorry about the octopus photo, I’m fascinated by both them and jellyfish.

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