articles
David Schmader’s Funny New Solo Play
The Seattle writer and performer examines what it really means to live today like it's your last.
Best known as associate editor of The Stranger, David Schmader debuts a funny new solo play, A Short-Term Solution to a Long-Term Problem, about the pros and cons of living every day as if it were your last, and “narcotic distractions” such as cat videos and child beauty pageants. Brangien Davis: What does the title…
Fashion + Style: Inside Liberte’s spa, a big sale at Velouria, and the scoop on Nordstrom’s loyalty program
Happy Friday all! It’s chilly outside and the snow chatter has started already, so in fitting fashion, I have three warm and toasty places for you to hang out this weekend: One of my favorite hidden treasures in Ballard, Liberte Skin Wellness, is perhaps not so hidden anymore: aesthetician Liberte Liberte (her real name)…
Entry to Washington State Parks Free This Weekend
Hikers (snow hikers?) take note: The state is waiving the day-use fee to use state parks for all three days this long MLK Day weekend. If you scamper off to Mount Si, Little Si, Twin Falls, West Tiger or Rattlesnake—or any other DNR trail—you won’t need a Discover Pass ($10/day). So it’s a great weekend…
Downtown’s Hot New Design House
Marta Kappl's combined clothing boutique and designer incubator is giving local fashion a place to g
Couture designer and recent Bay Area transplant Marta Kappl has enjoyed her share of success in the fashion world, tallying up clients such as Keanu Reeves and Carlos Santana over her more than 20-year independent career. Now, the German native is leading others down the path to success at her new House of Fashion (Downtown,…
Moth and Crow’s Supple New Handbags
We might cry over spilled milk, but we shed happy tears of joy over spilled paint, thanks to Moth and Crow’s new Marsupial Fold-Over Shopper handbag. Crafted by Capitol Hillster Dawn Smithson, the supple bag has welt pockets (à la its mammalian namesake) and, thanks to detachable straps, can be sported in four different ways,…
North Bend
Nestled in the foothills 30 minutes east of Seattle, this charming town is adding to its downtown di
Cruising along Interstate 90, many travelers never bother to search beyond North Bend’s massive outlet mall and fast-food corridor. But those who do go deeper have long enjoyed iconic outdoor destinations such as Mount Si, arguably the most popular day hike in the state, and locally beloved diners such as Twede’s Café (137 W North…
Cruise Ship Control
Disney Cruise Line pulls into the port on the Seattle waterfront this spring. Do these behemoth boat
They pour into Seattle by the hundreds of thousands: cruise ship passengers from all over the world, clamoring to board floating cities for slo-mo luxury tours of Puget Sound and points beyond. Seattle has become a major launching spot for cruise ships setting sail to southeast Alaska, with its cavorting whales, calving glaciers and staggeringly…
Locals’ Seattle Center Memories
Our city’s civic gathering place has played host to many memorable and poignant moments. Here are a
Marie McCaffrey Executive director, HistoryLink.org I was 11 in 1962 and went to the fair at least twice. You can see the proof in these pictures (above). One is in the world’s fair photo booth. I clearly remember the smell and the taste of the Belgian waffle, which made such an indelible impression on everyone….
Cool Souvenirs from the World’s Fair
Sure, they’re kitschy now, but back in 1962, these items were hot property.
1. Champagne glasses (with Space Needle stems) used on opening night of the fair 2. A ticket book, with individual tickets for fair exhibits 3. An official Space Needle beanie, whose top shakes like a maraca 4. A commemorative egg timer on a piece of wood (of course!) 5. Porcelain salt and pepper shakers 6….
Vintage World’s Fair Cocktails to Make at Home
Cocktail expert A.J. Rathbun offers recipes for three retro drinks once served atop the Space Needle
In 1962, stylish guests dined and drank at The Eye of the Needle (now called SkyCity), while slowly revolving 500 feet above Seattle. While the days of a $6.75 three-course dinner are long gone, you don’t need a time machine to sample the drinks from the Needle’s menu. Seattle magazine’s cocktail expert A.J. Rathbun offers…
Seattle Center by the Numbers
A few fun (and somewhat random) statistics related our city's core cultural campus.
1,000,000: number of dollars the City of Fife offered Seattle to move the Space Needle to its downtown 600,000: number of dollars the City of Seattle paid for the monorail in 1965 500,000: total number of Belgian waffles sold during the six months of the fair. Stacked, they would have been higher than 70 Space…
Back to the Future: Why Seattle’s World’s Fair Mattered
Our own Knute Berger—who is the official writer of the Space Needle—looks back on the 1962 Seattle W
In the winter of 1962, my Cub Scout den had taken a field trip to the top of the Smith Tower, then one of the tallest buildings west of the Mississippi. We went to the observation deck, where we had an unobstructed view across downtown to a strange spire that was rising near Queen Anne…
The History of the Seattle Center: A Timeline
The events that shaped Seattle's 1962 World's Fair and, eventually, the Seattle Center as we know it
June 1–October 16, 1909: Seattle’s first world’s fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, takes place (see photo above). 1954: City Council member Al Rochester proposes the idea that Seattle host a world’s fair to mark the 50th anniversary of the A-Y-P. February 19, 1957: The World’s Fair Commission receives authorization from Washington Governor Albert Rosellini to hold…
The Must List, featuring Elvis Impersonators, MLK Day and Zoe Muth
MUST HEARZoe Muth and the Lost High RollersYou might guess this sweet country crooner hails from Nashville, but Zoe Muth is a Seattle girl, through and through. Backed by her Lost High Rollers, Muth has been compared to Kitty Wells, Emmylou Harris and Iris DeMent. The high praise keeps tumbling in for her most recent…
An Art Collection Emphasizing Emerging Artists
Kicking off our new series about local art collectors, Seattle mag's arts editor Brangien Davis shar
“I don’t dream big.” Having grown up with art-loving parents on teachers’ budgets, Davis takes a practical approach to buying art, seeking out emerging artists who aren’t yet represented by particular galleries. She often buys work directly from artists at open studio tours and art walks. On a couple of rare occasions she has spent…
Tini Bigs Celebrates 15 Years of Really Big Martinis
Long before the Canons and the Bathtub Gins, the Liberty Bars and the Oliver’s Twists, Seattle had Tini Bigs. Back when we were a town of beer snobs but not cocktail snobs, it opened on a Lower Queen Anne corner in 1996. Those were blissfully ignorant times when you could go right ahead and slap…
Recommended Reading on Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair
In case your inner Seattle Center nerd still isn't satisfied, go here for more history and memorabil
BOOKS The as-yet-unnamed Knute Berger history of the Space Needleby Knute BergerTo be released in spring of 2012 Seattle magazine’s own editor-at-large is also the writer in residence at the Space Needle. He penned this history of the Needle in his office on the Observation Deck. The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair And…
Space Needle Trivia!
Five things you didn’t know about Seattle’s Space Age icon.
The Space Needle Is Well Rooted (see above photo) The Space Needle has a 30-foot-deep foundation made with 2,800 yards of concrete and 250 tons of reinforcing steel. The above-ground portion of the Needle weighs an impressive 3,700 tons, but the foundation is even mightier, weighing in at 5,850 tons. Thanks to this massive hidden…
Commemorative Space Needle Toppers
Even better than a billboard, the Space Needle is a prominent way to get a message across.
Since its construction, we’ve been decorating the Space Needle to commemorate special occasions. A crustacean ascended the Space Needle in October, 1985 as a publicity stunt for Fish and Seafood Month. In July, 2008, the Sub Pop flag was flown in honor of the local record label’s 20th anniversary. Squatch helped paint a Sonics mural…
Gauguin’s Favorite Things
SAM’s new Gauguin show emphasizes the master painter's influences.
Paul Gauguin is known the world over for the vibrant paintings he produced while living on Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. But the “primitive” objects that inspired him, which he sometimes referenced visually, are often glossed over in discussions of his work. Not so with Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise, the new show at…
Join The Must List
Don't miss a thing.
Get Seattle's best events,handpicked
and delivered to your inbox weekly.