The Station Bistro was a groovy concept – cool old auto shop building brought back to life as a meeting place with chalkboard tables, a short menu of interesting small plates and servers happy to serve. They were going for an extended family type of vibe that ended up feeling cliquish and snobby, perhaps. I tried it once or twice, the food tasty but expensive, the vibe a bit hectic for a small place. The patio was pleasant though surrounded by parked cars. Maybe it needs to come back as something funkier – fried onion sandwiches $1! Places doing this right are the ones who aren’t trying too hard to be ‘urban’ – like the Stepping Stone.

Unassuming little sandwich shop – baked their own bread and would happily make you a tasty sandwich with classic 90s sensibilities. Turkey and sprouts – fer sure! Just enough counter-culture informed the chalkboard menu without baking potchuli oil into the bread. Gone for an expansion of Ken’s Grocery. It is tough to find a decent sandwich in this town that isn’t some $12 monstrosity. A word to the wise – try Candles.

Tubs was the indulgent American version of an Onsen – private suites with hot-tubs and showers, with colorful tile and stereos replacing the more sober wood and stone of a traditional bathhouse. I have to admit, I had fun the one time I went there with friends.

Rumor has it the notorious dk pan lived there for a time – after the Bridge Motel and before Free Sheep Foundation. Clever idea, his, finding spaces lost to the future and living there before the end.

Former Trollyman Pub

Way back in the mid 90s they actually brewed large quantities of beer in this Fremont brick classic. The Trollyman was the attached Pub, a place with fresh craft beers pouring and a small stage that occasionally hosted some decent acts along the semi-hippie vibe line. Red Hook sold to Budwieser for someone’s fortune and they closed up this little operation, opting instead for more modern digs up in Woodinville. Now that Budweiser is owned by InBev – Red Hook is European! In a sense.

Now the building houses the theologically intense (remember the mushroom messiah full-page ads in the Stranger ?) Theo Chocolate and the fantastically insane Circus Contraption band of merry freaks. Change is good, sometimes. Red Hook never was my favorite beer. Always seemed a bit clinical.

A perfect cup of coffee crafted by a friendly Scandinavian blonde accompanied by your choice of toast – enough room for two or three seats and that’s about it. Nervous Nellie’s has been reborn in one of the many brand-new massive mixed-use buildings towering over Ballard – and with all that room to sit it has lost much of its charm. This little alley-facing storefront then became home to Sweet Posie – a worthy successor which offered tasty baked goods and decent ready-made sandwiches. I have no idea we will find next in this tiny space.

Have you ever been to a funeral where everyone eulogized so beautifully you had to wonder why these sweet sentiments weren’t expressed when the deceased was still living? Well, one of Seattle’s newest and most congenial art spaces will be closing for good (well, really for bad) on Friday, October 31 2008. Rather than wait and merely lament its loss post facto, I’m hijacking this forum and breaking all the rules to urge you to go to McLeod Residence while it’s still serving up the art, booze, and good times. A sadder, more solemn remembrance will follow. Thursday night (10/30) will be especially good, with performances by Jeppa Hall, Kate Widdows, and Hisham Mayet; the departure of the latter from Seattle on November 1 will give the alternative music community here ample additional reason to mourn.

Monkeyhut, April 21 2002

Monkeyhut was not a commercial establishment, and that was one of its strengths. The rented home of sculptor Steve Anderson was the heart and soul of “funky” Fremont’s last gasp. It served as a combination community center, halfway house, and art studio. Everyone was welcome. It was the place to be for Solstice Parade launch and after-party. Five days after 9/11, it served as the hub of North America’s first carfree day observance. Towards the end, a fully functional metal foundry was operating on a concrete slab out back. Despite being in an industrial zone, neighbors complained to the landlord about the noise and human traffic. In 2002, Steve was evicted, the building was torn down, and today it remains a vacant lot. Steve’s dog Nigel’s ashes were scattered at the site on January 7, 2007.

(After a brief hiatus and period of regeneration, Steve is once more building a community around creating art. I hope his new project at 4710 Ballard Avenue will never grace the pages of this blog.)

Self-serve coffee, students with piles of papers spread across mismatched wooden tables, hearty soups and homemade baked goods, sandwiches with sprouts on them. All in a well-lit airy room. A great place to read your alternative comix and try to flirt with the recently post-college crowd.

Now it has become a restaurant so sterile and anonymous that it’s named after the numbered street it sits on. All the tables match and the food is expensive frenchy stuff, and no one hangs out there anymore.

Sunset bowl, sold for somewhere above $10 million to a condominium developer. Now you must travel to West Seattle if you wish to rent a lane, and West Seattle isn’t really Seattle, is it?