Thanks for taking our tour, and for your post. There isn't an "underground city" in Seattle...not now....not ever. And yet there are many articles and websites that use the term.
What often gets described as "basements" are the original ground floors of buildings that were built between 1880 and 1895 when Seattle was rebuilt after a catastrophic fire. Several years later the City raised the streets, but not the sidewalks, surrounding these new buildings. Eventually new sidewalks were constructed that connected the edges of the newly raised streets with the second floor of the existing buildings. The hollow space between the original sidewalk and the new sidewalk is referred to as "the underground" today. Because these original level sidewalks still faced the exterior of the buildings and ran the full length of the block, they remained in use for almost 20 years before being sealed off and abandoned in the early 1900's.
We can't change what your expectations were, but it sounds like we could have done a better job explaining what you were viewing and walking through.
If you let us know the date and time your took your tour, and the name under which it was booked, we'll issue a refund. You can send that info to
[email protected]. Thank you.