im from seatown! all depends on what you’re looking for, but as someone said earlier it’s a city that’s got a lot of charm vis a vis it’s independent shops/bars/etc. i’d suggest just walking around Cap Hill, Fremont, or Ballard to get a feel for some different neighborhoods
nightlife is imo pretty sad compared to any other city in the US…bUt! the brewery scene is unmatched in the country. there are a ton of breweries across the whole city, but id recommend Fremont Brewing if you want a slightly busier place, or any of the ones over in the Ballard Brewery District - you can basically walk between a handful of them and grab some streetfood in between beers.
for just regular bars, La Dive on Cap Hill and Bar Miriam on QA are also great spots - both are a little on the upscale side. Otherworld Wine is a new-ish place on Cap Hill and they usually have a killer DJ on weekends
also if you can - get out into nature! whether it’s Puget Sound or the Cascades, Seattles got it all. WA has the greatest range of different types of nature within the country so it’s worth getting out of the city if you can
Apr 3, 2024
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food:
- un bien in ballard, make caribbean sandwiches (#1 sandwich in washington, #2 in the states) if you do nothing else eat here
- teriyaki, spots are a dime a dozen and are all pretty similar but it started here and is pretty delicious. j kenji lopez alt has been running around seattle eating at all of them recording shorts
- bangrak market, sit-down thai in belltown. good eats good ambience good music
(honorable mentions: pink door near pike place market if you like italian / seafood, dick’s drive in if you’re sloshed and need something to soak up booze for cheap - dick’s is a seattle institution)
parks: weather’s already nice as hell so going to a park with a joint is a go to if you don’t wanna spend any money but wanna kill some time. my top two:
- gasworks. retired gas plant turned into public art display on lake union. best park in seattle imo
- cal anderson. it’s on the hill so it’s usually active, has a skate park if you wanna watch people do tricks, lot of people bring their dogs off leash, sometimes there’s volleyball or live music, just a real happening spot where a lot of people congregate in when it’s warm
(honorable mentions: green lake park, kerry park, volunteer park, jefferson park)
clubs: seattle nightlife is a toss-up sometimes (i tend to prefer events to venues personally) but kremwerk is reliable. i don’t drink so i don’t have a lot for you by way of bars but i’ve heard great things about comet tavern, still liquor largely depends on the night but can be cool, six arms is inoffensive, and sugar hill has a second floor bar where they spin a lot of music from the bay area
indie: by far seattle’s bread and butter is just cool small businesses. a lot of ’em close earlier but my personal favorites:
- bookstores: left bank books in pike place, elliot bay books on the hill
- record stores: al’s records and games, neptune records in the udistrict. jive time in fremont, empire records in columbia city
- vintage: late night market on the hill, fremont vintage mall in fremont (for volume; prices are gonna be out the ass bc both places are curators. still fun to pop in and look around)
- coffee: station on beacon hill, coffeeholic in columbia city, espresso vivace, overcast coffee on the hill, armistice in roosevelt
- barcades: jupiter bar in belltown, raygun lounge on the hill. a lot grungier / hometown feeling than say, a dave and busters or something comparable
(a lot of these recs are in / accessible from the city center so they’re predominantly white neighborhoods - if you’ve got time to venture farther out i feel like columbia city is def worth the trip - show some love to geraldine’s, island soul, emma’s bbq.)
(also, do tourist-y stuff - skip the space needle and go to columbia center instead, it’s cheaper and taller. pike place is dope and has a lot of really old businesses like holy cow records, golden age collectibles which was the first comic book store in the states, and the gum wall)
Apr 2, 2024
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Vegan food - Plum Bistro & Life on Mars are both in Capitol Hill near good thrifting. Cafe Flora is in Madison Valley which is more of a sleepy neighborhood but Kamp across the street is cute for drinks too. Near the arboretum. These are all kind of bougie - going out to eat in Seattle is $$$ p much no matter where you go sadly!!
Thrifting - we have the biggest Goodwill in the nation (on dearborn) but tbh I’d skip it. Lifelong Thrift & Out of the Closet are the BEST thrift stores.
Parks - The arboretum is free and really beautiful. Volunteer park has a lot of flowers rn and a water tower with skyline views. Seward park is an old growth forest that can give you a lil taste of the PNW woods in the city. Kubota Japanese Garden is free and gorgeous. Volunteer Park Gas Works is made of an old power plant and has views of the lake. Cal Anderson is in the middle of Capitol Hill and isn’t as pretty as the other parks but there’s always a lot of people and dogs around to watch.
Things to do - Kremwerk complex is good for dancing, there’s a lot of good independent movie theaters in Seattle like the Beacon, Northwest Film Forum, and Grand Illusion that play interesting stuff. Itsumono in the international district is my favorite bar, one of the few bars in the city where strangers will actually talk to each other.
Hope you enjoy your time here!!
Jun 4, 2024
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If you’re into touristy stuff:
• Pike‘s Place Market
• Seattle Aquarium
• The gum wall (There’s a good anarchist book store nearby called Leftbank Books)
If you’re into parks/the outdoors:
• UW Botanic Gardens and Arboretum - very impressive botanical collection
• Discovery Park - great hikes
• Gasworks Park - amazing view of the Seattle Skyline
• Alki beach - I haven’t actually been here but everyone has good things to say
If you’re into museums:
• National Nordic Museum in Ballard
• Frye Art Museum
• Seattle Art Museum
Food/drinks:
• JarrBar (downtown) - good cocktails and tinned fish
• Chop Suey (capitol hill area) - fun late night spot with dive bar vibes
• Bar Sabine (Ballard) - best brunch place I’ve ever been to probably
• Cafe Flora (central district) - very yummy vegetarian spot
• Pho Bac - delicious pho spot, I think there’s two locations
Mar 8, 2025
Top Recs from @nacordick
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i love going places with my friends, but sometimes you just gotta do it by yourself. make new friends. read a book. live a little! you wont know until you try
Jan 27, 2024
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a lot of people like the 501s, but they are sneaky wide and look silly on longer legs. the 505s are more tapered - i wear ‘em to the office every day. they’re also dirt cheap!
Mar 14, 2024
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i went to school in maine! a lot of the coastal towns (rockland, camden specifically) are really cute and fun to drive through during the off-season. much more peaceful…
portland is also great - was recently there and went to the Washington St Baths (like a spa with pools at different temperatures) which was a divine experience. also much better coffee in portland than anywhere else in the NE (including Boston)
Mar 15, 2024