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Yep, that's the place. There has still been an issue of homelessness in the vicinity, despite the improvements and tourist draw.
When I moved there, in '68, it was far from gentrified, although galleries and such were setting up shop in the district. My grandfather, who had lived in the district for a few months when he was a kid (he was raised by his itinerant meat cutter "uncles," so he lived for short periods in many places), would hang out under the Pioneer Square pergola when he came out to Seattle for visits. He enjoyed "the bums," as he called them. I suspect that his affinity for our scruffier brethren had a lot to do with his knowing that if not for a good turn here and there along the way, he way well have been one of them.
As to the apparently homeless people still found there ...
There are shelters nearby (St. Martin de Porres, Union Gospel Mission, etc.), so that might account for some of it. And then, panhandling might be more lucrative where there are crowds of people with a bit of extra money in their pockets. Tens of thousands of people making their way to and from a sporting event would be a magnet, I would think.
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