Help me meet people in Seattle

June 7, 2009 8:17 PM

Where to meet people in Seattle before i start work?

I just moved to Seattle. I am right on the boarder of capital hill / first hill. So far i have only met people that are involved in couchsurfing which i am part of. I dont start work until the 22nd so i have a lot of time to kill. Also, I am only looking for platonic friends here, so no speed dating type suggestions.

I already volunteered for a time slot during the seattle international beer festival, but that is a month away...

I dont see a seattle mefi meet up soon so that rules that out.

I love indie music /concerts, but that is not the easiest way to meet people considering people go with friends and its loud and dark.


On that note if anyone has suggestions for things i should see or do while still a "tourist" that would be cool too.

posted by Black_Umbrella to human relations (5 comments total)

I dont see a seattle mefi meet up soon so that rules that out.

Why don't you organize one?

There are many interesting looking groups on meetup.com. Personally I've considered Sierra Club and Cascade Bicycle Club events. There's always the Craigslist platonic section as well. Disclaimer: I have not tried any of these things.

If you're interested in politics, you probably have a neighborhood political group that would welcome you.

Any other specific interests besides indie music? You could volunteer for Bumbershoot too.
posted by grouse at 10:33 PM on June 7

Pub trivia is a good way to meet people--most places, if you show up solo and ask whoever's running the show if there's a team with an open spot, they'll find one for you.

Like chocolate? Take the Theo Chocolate factory tour. This counts towards both tourism and people-meeting.

In the same vein as volunteering for the beer festival, there's volunteering at Bumbershoot, but that's a few months out too.

Know how to do something that other people might find interesting? Teach a class for the Seattle Free School.
posted by hades at 10:39 PM on June 7

Good previous thread on the subject:

http://ask.metafilter.com/77894/Looking-for-a-good-place-or-a-grouporganization-to-meet-people-in-Seattle

Hard to give more specific suggestions without knowing your interests (often the best ways to meet people in the city are around common interests). Another suggestion is through alumni connections... some colleges have alumni groups in the area that throw meet-up events.

Anyway if you give some more info about interests I might be able to give some more specific tips. It can be a difficult city to meet people, but once you break in it's a lot of fun. Feel free to PM me if you have more specific questions.
posted by stilly at 10:09 AM on June 8

2nd to meetup.com, very active here, easy to find something you are interested in.
Mountaineers is also a cool group that has a variety of functions (such as drop-in volleyball on thursdays).
some people say there is a seattle 'freeze', but i moved here in '97 and never found that to be the case. I have soccer friends, movie friends (siff is going on right now btw), pub friends, hiking friends, sounders fc friends, shakespearean friends, all in circles that sometimes overlap but most times don't. get out, it's summer early here this year! enjoy.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:40 PM on June 10

I moved to Seattle in February, you probably live within a couple blocks of me :)

Bit hard to give specific tips, but going on a skim of your profile (engineer, travelled a bit, into beer/food)...

You might like to check out the local Aus/Kiwi pub, the Kiwi and Kangaroo, which runs trivia on Wednesday nights: packed with people, and IME easy to start a random conversation with most of them. Can also buy Timtams/lollies/have a real meat pie there.

Just near you is Clever Dunne's which holds trivia on Tuesday nights. Teams are mostly groups of people who know each other, but there is usually a team of randoms at the bar as well.

I went on a scavenger hunt in Pike Place Market with this meetup group and had a great time.

If you play sport (at any level of competence) you can hit up Arena Sports and join one of their house teams (although it's the end of the season now so might have to wait a few weeks).

I haven't yet been to one, but I have heard that Seattle Barnights are fun and contain lots of recently and not-so-recently arrived young people, with a high quotient of happy-to-meet-people.

And last but not least, try BEAN, a social/professional/volunteer/networking group of young people. All the ones I've met are really nice.
posted by jacalata at 12:39 AM on June 11