In August of 1970, Seattle magazine ran a story that, by today’s standards, was gloriously unhinged. It asked, tongue fully in cheek, whether the legendary Sasquatch might be real and lamenting its own demise. Did the recent Patterson-Gimlin film, depicting an unidentified, ape-like biped walking out of the woods in Northern California, show the long-lost missing link? A prank? Or just another reminder that on the West Coast, we like our mysteries a little weird and au naturel?

What I love about that issue, aside from its peak-1970s Seattle aesthetic, is the way it captured the city’s character. We were a town not yet known for global tech giants or fancy coffee, but for rain, wonder, and curiosity. To even ask the question “What if Bigfoot is real?” said something about us. We were curious enough to look for magic in our own backyard.

Fast forward 55 years, and here we are with our annual “Best of Seattle” issue. Our staff has fanned out across the city to find the coziest bars, the best places to flirt, and even the most Instagrammable spot for your socials. We are still searching, and in a way, our hunt for the “best” isn’t so different from the hunt for Bigfoot. Both require belief that something extraordinary is out there, waiting to be discovered. And that’s what makes Seattle what it is. We celebrate both the fancy, tangible things and the mysterious and mythical. The result is a city that’s a little bit elusive  and a little bit raw, and, if you happen to catch it at the right moment, completely epic.

Who knows…maybe the next time you’re out in the Cascades, you’ll catch a glimpse of something tall, furry, and camera-shy. If you do, be sure to tell him he made the list.

Our publisher Jonathan Sposato is neither furry nor camera-shy, yet an AI-generated image suggests he could pass as Sasquatch.

Image edited by Vivian Lai