Seattle Saturday Night Bar Scene

We spend a large portion of the day wandering around looking at the sights in the streets. I’m really fascinated by all the billboards. No one else seemed to care as they’re enraptured by the graffiti. After wandering around we headed back to Maya’s place and started drinking. Somewhere along the way we picked up a card board cut out cat that became known as “Splat the Cat” and became a source of much entertainment.

Tonight we did the round or bars in downtown Seattle. I’m quickly learning that there are a lot of bars and each one is famous for one reason or another. We started out at a pub which is past the funeral parlour and off Broadway. The reason I remember the funeral parlour is I remember remarking as we passed it that there were an awful lot of gates and alarm systems protecting the dead of Seattle. I was then told that this is necessary because of the incidences of “adrenal gland theft in the city”. Apparently there was a problem with people stealing adrenaline and injecting themselves with it to get the ultimate high. This is probably an urban myth though given what I’ve heard in the last few days I am beginning to think that anything is possible.

Next we went to the Crocodile Cafe, which is now one of my favourite places to drink in the world. The Crocodile Cafe is a new edition to the city and is a highly entertaining place to sit and have a drink. There is something to look at on every wall. To my left there was a mesh wall covered in bread ties, above us was a stuffed croc, on the far wall was pictures of the “Jim Rose Circus Sideshow” that played at Lollapalooza and also the Republic this year. There is art and novelties on every wall and occupying every corner. It is easy to just sit and stare.

On our way to the RKCNDY (RockCandy) we passed the Vogue but didn’t go in because it was fetish night and the line up to get in was impossible. The RKCNDY was equally as hard to get into because it was cross dressing night; we chatted with one particularly large purple “man/woman” who was pretending to be pregnant.

Instead of venturing to another bar we opted to wander the streets of Seattle. I wanted to see the “other side of Seattle” that everyone talks about. For most of the night we just sat on the street and watched people. At one point in the evening Johanna had an entire conversation with a schizophrenic homeless man.

We discovered that the city shuts down briefly for half an hour some time between 3 and 4 in the morning and as we sat at the bottom of the hill by Maya’s place traffic suddenly stopped, the noise stopped and the whole area became eerie quiet. Then out of nowhere a street kid came running down the hill, passed us and disappeared into the darkness. It was very odd. Shortly after this the traffic started again.