Originally Posted by
djp98374
In downtown Seattle you have to many tall buildings in the way.
the needle is on the north side of downtown, so you can get better views from the north side of the city from the park mentioned above and other spots.
you coukd always go out on one of the ferries or other boats into the water.
Downtown Seattle actually does have really great/close views of the Space Needle, but access is limited based on who you know.
Some of the Downtown/Belltown residential towers have phenomenal views from their rooftop observation decks (The Emerald, Helios, Insignia, come to mind).
The view from a few different office towers is pretty good as well (e.g. top floor Russell Investments, the Macy's Building, a few of the Amazon buildings in Denny Triangle, etc.).
+1 for Bainbridge/Bremerton Ferries, tho it's not exactly "over the shoulder" if I'm interpreting OP's post correctly.