A flat beach promenade of bungalows and waterfront apartments facing the Seattle skyline, where Sleepless in Seattle filmed a scene in 1993.
What Alki looks like
Alki Avenue SW runs along the water on a raised roadbed built up in a regrade between 1913 and 1916, with a paved promenade on the beach side of the street. Wood frame bungalows and mid rise waterfront apartment buildings line it. A one storey bathhouse with pink wood siding and a red tile roof stands partway along the avenue.
The beach is a narrow strip of sand and gravel below the seawall, with the promenade running along the top of it for about half a mile between Alki Point and . Wood pilings from an old amusement pier still stand in the shallows off Duwamish Head, where the avenue curves into Harbor Avenue SW.
At the south end, the lighthouse is a 37 foot octagonal brick tower with an attached one storey brick fog signal building, built in 1913. The tower is white with red and black trim, visible from the beach for most of the half mile stretch.
Partway along the promenade, a small bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty stands on a plaza facing the water, with benches and a lawn behind it. Concrete steps built into the seawall drop from the sidewalk to the sand at several points along the avenue.
Shot in Alki
Sleepless in Seattle used Alki Beach Park for the scene where Annie watches Sam play with his son. The production shot on the open beach at Alki Avenue SW and 58th Avenue SW, the same stretch of promenade and shoreline that is there today.
Sleepless in Seattle, 1993
Annie watches Sam play with his son on this stretch of beach, at the junction of Alki Avenue SW and 58th Avenue SW. The open sand and the seawall promenade look much the same today.
What Alki can double for
Sinatra Drive in Hoboken, New Jersey
The promenade along Sinatra Drive faces the Manhattan skyline across the Hudson the way Alki's promenade faces downtown Seattle across Elliott Bay, and the mid rise apartment buildings behind the walkway are a similar height to Alki's own waterfront blocks. Hoboken's buildings run taller and sit closer together a block or two back from the water than Alki's do, so keep the camera on the promenade and the skyline rather than pulling wide. Try searching waterfront promenade skyline now.
Gantry Plaza State Park in Queens, New York
Gantry Plaza's promenade runs along the East River with the Manhattan skyline directly across the water, the same low built promenade and skyline pairing Alki has across Elliott Bay. The park's lawns and picnic areas read close to Alki's own beach side green strip. The park's industrial gantries and high rises behind it are taller than anything at Alki, so a tighter frame on the water's edge holds the match better than a wide one. Try searching park skyline promenade now.
Bridgeway in Sausalito, California
The shoreline walk in Sausalito faces the San Francisco skyline across the bay at the same low, water level vantage Alki has on downtown Seattle, with cafes and low buildings right along the water. Hills rise steeply behind Sausalito, a real difference from Alki's flatter shoreline. Keep any wide shot low and along the water line, since Sausalito's hillside townscape above the shore gives it away in a higher angle. Try searching shoreline cafes skyline now.
