Lifestyle
Artifacts: Ink Queen
Known as Seattle’s First Lady of Tattoo, Vyvyn Lazonga paved the way for women in the industry—both as artists and clients.
Upon my arrival at Madame Lazonga’s Tattoo parlor, I can’t help but notice that one of the windows is boarded up. After welcoming me inside the corner space on Western Avenue, just across the street from Pike Place Market, owner Vyvyn Lazonga informs me about a recent burglary. The thieves spared most things of monetary…
Your Land, Your Legacy: A New Way to Build at Suncadia
For those who believe that where you live should reflect how you live and how you’ll be remembered Suncadia invites a deeper kind of ownership. It’s an opportunity to create a home that is entirely your own, on some of the most desirable homesites in the Cascades, while benefiting from the ease, support, and long-term…
Winter Isn’t Over Yet
Why now might be the best time to take your kids skiing.
For many avid skiers in the Pacific Northwest, this winter has been a bust. Drier-than-normal conditions and a lack of snow have put a real damper on powder days, lift operations, and access to the mountains. As an avid backcountry skier, I’ve noticed the lean conditions and have not made it a priority to get…
Umbrella Policy
Northwest threads.
Nine years after meeting at Bumbershoot, Cam Russ and Marcus McFall launched a clothing company with Northwesterners on their minds. Called It’s Always Wet in Seattle, the line of sweats and beanies is available in colors reflecting the locale—Orca Black, Lake Union Blue, and Cascade White. Fun details include upside-down umbrella zipper pulls (a wink…
The Coach: Sonia Raman
The history-making coach leading the Seattle Storm into the future.
In the early 2000s, Sonia Raman was on the traditional track to a successful career in law, but coaching basketball kept bouncing back to her. A lifelong fan of the sport, Raman—who played at Tufts University and coached throughout her collegiate and post-grad career—eventually heeded the call, making a pivot that would change her life….
The Civic Spacemaker: Tommy Gregory
A next-gen curator improving your airport experience.
“I love the saying, ‘sleep when you are dead.’” Few embody it like Tommy Gregory—tireless artist, curator, and connector who seems to be everywhere at once, installing work, throwing receptions, or plotting the next show. Gregory joined the Port of Seattle as senior project manager in 2019, just as airport art collections were gaining global…
The Piano Teacher: Payam Khastkhodaei
The instructor rethinking the approach to music lessons.
When Payam Khastkhodaei began teaching piano to a family friend’s daughter in his Bothell home at 16, he relied on the same method he had been taught as a kid—classical songbooks, rigid practice, and pieces he never connected with. It didn’t take long to see she was losing interest. “I had learned from the Alfred…
The Neighborhood Gym Effect
Inside Seattle Strength and Performance’s small-group training model and welcoming approach to fitness.
On a regular Seattle Wednesday morning, a little wet and dreary, I walk into a small gym feeling unsure of what I’ve gotten myself into. It’s late January, a time when many New Year’s resolutions are failing and motivation to keep exercising may be going out the window. I work out consistently—lifting weights, going to…
The Scientist: Dr. Mary E. Brunkow
The Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist is a UW alum.
When the Nobel Assembly called Dr. Mary E. Brunkow around 1 a.m. on October 6 to deliver the news that she had been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, she did not answer the phone call. When they called immediately a second time she set her phone to “Do Not Disturb” and…
The System Smashers: Seth and Zach Pacleb
The brothers taking risks to disrupt capitalist restaurant models.
For brothers Seth and Zach Pacleb, all you need to know about their new eatery is in the name: Pidgin Cooperative. The employee-owned, pan-Asian restaurant and bottle shop that opened last fall in Fishermen’s Terminal represents a level playing field where people come together to fulfill a collective culinary vision. Fittingly, it’s inspired by the…
The Councilmember: Alexis Mercedes Rinck
Seattle’s youngest councilmember leads with a boots-on-the-ground approach.
Crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Standing on Medgar Evers’ driveway. Looking over the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. At 16, Alexis Mercedes Rinck had heard stories of these Civil Rights Movement landmarks from her politically engaged grandmother, who was raising her, but in 2012, Rinck was there. And she was meeting the people—sung and unsung—of…
The Literary Leader: Christopher Frizzelle
The former Stranger editor launching a community-funded publishing company that puts its authors first.
The path to FrizzLit Editions began in the fraught days of March 2020. Christopher Frizzelle, then an editor at the Stranger, was searching for new ways to reach readers in a city that had all but shut down. “My brilliant idea is, we’ll do a book club,” he remembers. That first book club—a quarantine edition…
Settling In, Not Just Moving In: How Seattle Newcomers Find Their Footing
Photos courtesy of Royalty Moving & Storage Seattle. Explore: Seattle Relocation Resources Moving to Seattle is rarely just about transporting belongings from one address to another. For many newcomers, it marks the beginning of learning a city that operates on its own terms, shaped by distinct neighborhoods, changing weather, and an unspoken culture that locals…
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