Top 10 Seattle

It seems that I have long abandoned the travel section in my blog, and the armies of my fans have flooded me with angry letters and emails.

Or rather, as we in San Francisco are watching another summerless year go by, I am feeling a little nostalgic and reminiscing over Seattle – my other West Coast favourite city, where I once spent a very enjoyable 2 months during the summertime.

During such a short time, I cannot say I have quite become a native, but Seattle so quickly embraced me, that even though I stayed in a very average hotel for the first 3 weeks I was there, I had no time to feel lost or lonely in the Emerald City. Thanks to the friendliness of both my temporary colleagues and random people I met in Seattle, I was lucky to get to explore the city with the insiders. Unfortunately, names of many places now escape my memory, but nevertheless, while are whole neighbourhoods full of great dining and nightlife, it is not any particular place that stood aside. Rather, it is the unique spirit of this very maritime and very Northwestern city that made it absolutely enchanting.

1. Waterfront and Pike’s Place Market

Yes, it is touristy, and full of tacky shops, but it is still the essence of Seattle. The smell of Puget Sound comes in many varieties, most of which some would find offensive. I personally love the smell of fish as it is thrown by the market boys to each other in an apparent ritual before the customer forks out the cash. Then there is the odour of the old piers covered in sea growth, and, of course, the scent of dozens of flower and artisan soap shops if you are into that sort of thing. Best thing to do is to just loaf around, preferably on a weekday, avoiding the chubby tourists and strollers, ogle fish boys and have a clam chowder at one of the upstairs cafes with the view of the Sound. If you are lucky with the weather, you will also see the snowcapped Olympic mountains in the distance.

If you walk outside on the Pike Place bustling street, you will be entertained by the obligatory street musicians (most so good they must be licensed to play there!), and visit the first ever Starbucks shop if you are a fan that is. If you don’t let your friends drink Starbucks, then well, you can walk in, accidentally break one of their big porcelain cups for sale, cut your finger and sue them for damages. Just an idea.

Among many other shops in Pike Place, one seems to stand aside. It’s the“Piroshki Piroshki” shop, selling the pseudo-Russian filled pastries. While they are OK-tasting, I do not buy their Russian authenticity or the in-your-face old-school Russian-ness of the shops ESTONIAN-born owners. I would recommend one of the many sushi places nearby instead. More about the sushi later.

2. Queen Anne Hill

Ever wondered where those great poster pictures of Seattle’s skyline, Space Needle and Mount Rainier in the horizon taken from? Right here, in the cozy Queen Anne’s hill neighbourhood. Kerry park is the exact location. It’s tricky to locate on many narrow one-way streets, but you know you are there once you see small crowds of photographers and just people with cameras standing there.

Queen Anne is not just about the views though – its lower part is an eclectic neighbourhood of bars, restaurants, record, book and, naturally, coffee shops just north of downtown Seattle.

3. Space Needle and club Element

I deliberately specify the Space Needle and not “Seattle Center”, where it is located. I would generally avoid such tacky tourist flytraps, but the Needle is worth the steep entrance cost and being herded like cattle to the lifts and back. Go twice – on a sunny day and at dusk, when you can see the city change to blue as it gets illuminated by lights.

Get out of there once you are done. Unless you are with the kids and they want to see the Science Center, which is actually quite interesting, if you (as myself) know an employee and can get in for free.

Club Element is the place to be if you are into house music. Located in Seattle Center, it is a very well designed and decorated club, with a good dance floor, polite staff, good drinks and fun atmosphere.

4. Belltown

Go on, be the tourist that you are. You know you want to ride the Monorail, so do it. It will take you to the heart of downtown. As great as it is for shopping, the downtown will quickly bore you. Take a short stroll towards the Pike Place market into the Belltown neighbourhood of swanky restaurants, boutiques, bars and – coffee shops. That is the neighbourhood I lived for over a month, and more convenient to everywhere it couldn’t be. Don’t be alarmed when you see the lights of passing cars through metal grids below you in some places on sidewalks – there’s a
freeway that goes underneath.

Belltown is where the “trendy” bars and lounges are located. For both the rich boys and the wannabe-with-rich girls, this is the place to see and be seen at night. There are a few tasteful options. For dining, try Wasabe Bistro. Great sushi, excellent drinks and atmosphere.

Of the many bars I visited in Belltown, I can’t really remember any names. Basically, avoid any place where you (or your boy) would have to pay a cover. There are too many great choices for free. A few places have a seating area outside, which is only of value in summer. There is a Hawaiian-themed place on the 1^st avenue which is OK, but overall, it takes a few hits a misses to find the right bar.

5. Downtown and Chinatown

Seattle has an impressive skyline for a relatively medium-size city. It's nowhere near Vancouver's or Manhattan's, but it's quite comparable to San Francisco's or LA's. I did not like spending too much time there, but there are plenty of shopping opporunities, most notably, the original flagship Nordstrom's store, or its better bargain little brother, Nordstrom's Rack.

Also located downtown, Seattle Art Museum is quite excellent. I particularly liked the Native American art of the Northwest exhibit. I am fascinated by the nations of the American Northwest (and British Columbia), as they are probably the most advanced of all North American cultures. Unfortunately, this exhibit is over now, as far as I know, but there are many more and more to come.

Seattle’s Chinatown is tiny and somewhat seedy at night, but it does have a couple of interesting bars and restaurants. There is also a fantastic yet inexpensive sushi restaurant there, I believe called Takohachi. Even though it’s called Chinatown, there’s actually a great deal of Japanese places there. Being a Pacific city, Seattle had its share of many waves of Asian immigrants, and there are quite a few Japanese living in the city with names like Tom Nakamura or John Mizaki.

6.Alki Beach

You’ll have to drive there, but it’s worth it. A beautiful residential neighbourhood with a real beach, overlooking Puget Sound and killer views of Seattle’s skyline. Plus, there are many good seafood restaurants and – indeed – coffee shops.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Seattle is perhaps the best place in the country to have seafood. Whether you like sushi or old-fashioned grilled fish, you just can’t go wrong with just about any place. I have not had bad seafood in Seattle, and I tried it at many, many restaurants. And at some time in June, there is the short season for sockeye salmon from Alaska, which the gourmands recommend as the best.

7. Lake Union

Lake Union is practically in the middle of Seattle. It’s right in-between the Puget Sound and the much larger Lake Washington, and many boats pass through or are docked at the lake. If you like staring at million-dollar yachts, you are in the right place.

South shore of Lake Union is surrounded by warehouses and yacht shops, but there is also a park and a pier area with several popular restaurants, among which there is another sushi place, unoriginally called I Love Sushi but pretty good nevertheless.

North shore features the very interesting Gasworks park. I guess the city decided to incapacitate and preserve old gas reservoirs and pipes in this pretty waterfront piece of land, and now this is the place to be if you are in Seattle for the 4^th of July or any other big firework day. Also at the North Lake is Ivar’s Salmon house seafood restaurant, which I thought was very good if a little too family-oriented, being part of a chain.

8. Fremont

Located north-west of Lake Union, Fremont is another bustling neighbourhoods, where country-like wooden houses heighbour popular bars along the Fremont Avenue. Definitely more Bohemian and hipster than Belltown, I enjoyed coming here for 2 reasons: pub quiz at George and Dragon English pub, and the huge Lenin monument that always reminded me of home. Apparently, it was brought here from Slovakia when they were getting rid of their "communist past" and somehow it ended up next to Taco del Mar on Fremont Avenue in Seattle, his head pointing towards the dive bar across the street rather than bright tomorrow.

9. University District

Personally, I felt a little out of place in this neighborhood full of youngsters and student girls. Well, that was probably the best part. This is where University of Washington is located, and being a big urban school, it is bound to have cheap but funky nightlife nearby. And that’s about it, really. Oh, and my favourite Indian restaurant in Seattle is also here, called, I believe, Spice Rack.

10. Capitol Hill

Seattle is no San Francisco when it comes to hills, but it’s not that far off. Capitol Hill’s perhaps the steepest. Again, just like most other neighbourhoods, it is dotted with shops, restaurants and coffeehouses, but I haven’t spent enough time in this district to really tell you much about it. My main reason to go there was to find Bruce Lee’s grave at the Lake View Cemetery. After searching for a while, I finally found it. A very modest grave of both Bruce and his son Brandon buried next to him. I was hoping there would be more mystery about the place, or perhaps a stray ghost or two. But it was raining when I was there, and they were probably hiding down below.