Quirky little places of inspiration in Seattle
February 17, 2011 5:33 PM Subscribe
Please point me towards quirky little places of inspiration in Seattle
Your opacity may be intentional, but could you maybe give a little more detail? Are you looking for locations, or events, or..? And inspiration like artistic inspiration, or inspiration like religious inspiration, or are you more looking for some "Eye of the Tiger" energy?
posted by verbyournouns at 5:57 PM on February 17, 2011
posted by verbyournouns at 5:57 PM on February 17, 2011
Rent a kayak on the north end of lake union and paddle your way over to the arboretum and have fun floating around underneath the freeway. One of my favorite pastimes in the world.
posted by palacewalls at 6:16 PM on February 17, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by palacewalls at 6:16 PM on February 17, 2011 [2 favorites]
Kubota Garden in south Seattle.
Bike days along Lake Washington Boulevard--Coleman Park to Seward without cars, baby!
Lunch at Maximiliens in the Market, drinking wine and watching the ferries go in and out.
posted by Sublimity at 6:45 PM on February 17, 2011
Bike days along Lake Washington Boulevard--Coleman Park to Seward without cars, baby!
Lunch at Maximiliens in the Market, drinking wine and watching the ferries go in and out.
posted by Sublimity at 6:45 PM on February 17, 2011
Take a nice long walk to Fremont, go over one bridge on the way in, the big one on the way out. Enjoy the beautiful homes, quirky building art, and neato shop finds tucked behind lush hanging trees. Bring large bottle of water. Hills. :)
posted by billypilgrim at 7:07 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by billypilgrim at 7:07 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I wasn't going to give away my secret location of inspiration, but now that I no longer live in Seattle, I figured it's OK. Quest Bookshop on Capitol Hill. It's a well-stocked spiritual bookshop in a hobbit-like building with its own garden and mini-library. The same helpful woman has been behind the counter since my first visit there as a wide-eyed thirteen-year-old buying my first deck of Tarot cards. It is magic.
posted by Atrahasis at 8:00 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Atrahasis at 8:00 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Waterfall Garden Park, on the northwest corner of 2nd and Main in Pioneer Square. Quite a surprise in the urban wilderness.
posted by lhauser at 8:01 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by lhauser at 8:01 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The sound garden in Magnusun park, although homeland security has vomited red tape all over it
The Suzzallo reading room
Myriad marvelous parks that are often overlooked: Louisa-Boren, Bhy Kracke, Ravenna, Frink, Carkeek, Ballard Locks, definitely Interlaken as mentioned by Craig, Alki beach
The gazebo in the arboretum, and the Japanese garden
Museum of Flight
Uwajimaya (That's right. I'm including a supermarket in this list.)
Monthly sea chantey sing-alongs at the Center for Wooden Boats (transport yourself to a different century)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:13 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Suzzallo reading room
Myriad marvelous parks that are often overlooked: Louisa-Boren, Bhy Kracke, Ravenna, Frink, Carkeek, Ballard Locks, definitely Interlaken as mentioned by Craig, Alki beach
The gazebo in the arboretum, and the Japanese garden
Museum of Flight
Uwajimaya (That's right. I'm including a supermarket in this list.)
Monthly sea chantey sing-alongs at the Center for Wooden Boats (transport yourself to a different century)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:13 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Rose Garden next to the zoo.
posted by bunji at 9:49 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by bunji at 9:49 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
- Crayon art on the walls at Beth's Cafe. ("We never close.")
- The book spiral and tenth-floor reading room at the Central Library.
- Riding manually-operated elevators in the Smith Tower.
- Red Square at night when it's all deserted. The immense underground parking garage below Red Square is also an interesting place to wander during the quiet hours.
- The statue of Sadako at Peace Park.
- St. James Cathedral.
- The analemmatic sundial on Kite Hill at Gasworks Park. Your own shadow tells the time (warning: requires sunshine).
- Georgetown Steam Plant.
- Museum of the Mysteries - I came across this while looking up the other links in this comment; now I'll have to go check it out!
posted by mbrubeck at 11:11 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I don't live in Seattle anymore, but I used to really like Bauhaus Coffee on Capitol Hill for sketching/writing/spacing out. Sitting upstairs gives you a very nice view of the city and the sunset (when you can see the sun, that is...ahem).
The Pike Place Market is kinda neat, of course, and I used to enjoy getting a cup of tea and a crumpet at The Crumpet Shop as a start to an interesting day of wandering around the city (if you go there, tell Rob that Kele says 'hi!').
The Trading Musician up on Ravenna and Roosevelt has long been one of my favorite places to browse musical instruments. The acoustic room is the absolute best. I miss that place so much :(
Nthing Beth's Cafe. I don't know if you can still smoke there, but scribbling a few pictures out through a blue-grey haze at 4 in the morning was always a simple pleasure for me.
Discovery Park is a nice place to wander around. There was a pretty large feral cat population there when I lived in Seattle, so trying to see and/or catch one was pretty diverting.
There is (was?) and artesian well just north of Lynnwood that you could go to and get as much free water as you liked. I found that to be a fun little trip. (go north on the 5, get off at 164th St. Take a left off the exit and go down the incline. Just before the street starts to incline again, look to your right. You should see a little dirt road and a sort of shack there - probably a few people out there helping themselves to the water, too. Delicious water there. I used to brew beer with it.)
The Ballard Locks were always popular with people I knew.
posted by Pecinpah at 11:58 AM on February 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Pike Place Market is kinda neat, of course, and I used to enjoy getting a cup of tea and a crumpet at The Crumpet Shop as a start to an interesting day of wandering around the city (if you go there, tell Rob that Kele says 'hi!').
The Trading Musician up on Ravenna and Roosevelt has long been one of my favorite places to browse musical instruments. The acoustic room is the absolute best. I miss that place so much :(
Nthing Beth's Cafe. I don't know if you can still smoke there, but scribbling a few pictures out through a blue-grey haze at 4 in the morning was always a simple pleasure for me.
Discovery Park is a nice place to wander around. There was a pretty large feral cat population there when I lived in Seattle, so trying to see and/or catch one was pretty diverting.
There is (was?) and artesian well just north of Lynnwood that you could go to and get as much free water as you liked. I found that to be a fun little trip. (go north on the 5, get off at 164th St. Take a left off the exit and go down the incline. Just before the street starts to incline again, look to your right. You should see a little dirt road and a sort of shack there - probably a few people out there helping themselves to the water, too. Delicious water there. I used to brew beer with it.)
The Ballard Locks were always popular with people I knew.
posted by Pecinpah at 11:58 AM on February 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
The overlook at Sunset Hill Park in Ballard.
Roaming around Hamlin Park, even better with a dog.
The sand dune hill at Discovery Park.
The pedestrian overpass over the train tracks at Carkeek Park.
The view of Lake Union from the huge Chinese restaurant (blanking on the name) on Eastlake.
The top of Kite Hill in Magnuson Park.
posted by Ellemeno at 12:56 PM on February 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Roaming around Hamlin Park, even better with a dog.
The sand dune hill at Discovery Park.
The pedestrian overpass over the train tracks at Carkeek Park.
The view of Lake Union from the huge Chinese restaurant (blanking on the name) on Eastlake.
The top of Kite Hill in Magnuson Park.
posted by Ellemeno at 12:56 PM on February 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you so much, everybody! These suggestions wonderful; many are surprising and delightful. I really appreciate it!
posted by palegirl at 3:07 PM on February 18, 2011
posted by palegirl at 3:07 PM on February 18, 2011
Carkeek has been mentioned a couple of times but specifically I'll add the apple orchard within it. When it warms up it's a great little spot to lay out a blanket.
posted by rouftop at 2:35 PM on February 28, 2011
posted by rouftop at 2:35 PM on February 28, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Cottages in Capitol Hill
St. Mark's Greenbelt
Volunteer Park Conservatory
Privately owned public spaces
I hope these are the kind of thing you're after. Happy exploring!
posted by Craig at 5:57 PM on February 17, 2011 [1 favorite]