#909 - Vertigo Pub, Portland - 9/26/2009

4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97214 - 5033.234.2423
yelp - mercury - insiderpages - citysearch - barfly

#908 - Sapphire Hotel, Portland - 9/26/2009

Fine cocktails, good food, and a nice, candlelit ambiance. A great little place that serves as the elegant, eastern endpoint of the fine stretch of places along Hawthorne and Belmont.

5008 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97215 - (503) 232-6333
thesapphirehotel.com - yelp - insider pages - barfly

#907 - Mt Tabor Theater & Pub, Portland - 09/25/2009

4811 SE Hawthorne, Portland, OR 97201
taborpdx.com - yelp - culturemob

#906 - Hawthorne Hideaway, Portland- 9/25/2009

Yet another of Portland's many likeable neighborhood pubs.

2221 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Portland, OR 97214 - Phone: (503) 445.4600
marysue - mercury - yelp - barfly

#905 - Imbibe, Portland - 9/25/2009

2229 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97214 - (503) 239-4002‎
mercury - yelp - barfly - citysearch

#904 - 4th Ave. Ale House, Olympia, WA - 9/25/2009

The VIP section?

210 4th Ave E., Olympia, WA 98501-1105 - (360) 786-1444
Previous bars at this location: Rudy's, Pizza Pete Tavern, Wimpy's Tavern
the4thave.com/ - weekly volcano - yelp - beermapping

#903 - Spar Cafe, Olympia, WA - 9/25/2009

Built in 1935 and run by the McWain family since 1945, this is now a McMenamins. People in the Seattle and Portland areas will know what that means -- a historic building with a pretty fine remodeling job, modest art, a good selection of beers they brew themselves, and reliably good food. Some of the decorating can get to look a little formulaic, but I'll take it to preserve all these great old spaces.

The drunken longshoremen at the Spar have been replaced by polite company and pols, but the orginal art moderne sign is still looking great out front, and the bar, the wood, the photos, and paintings of the crew all speak of good faith to the history of the place.

114 4th Ave E., Olympia, WA 98501 - (360) 357-6444
web site - history - yelp

#902 - Post, Seattle - 9/23/2009

1914 Post Alley
Seattle, WA
(206) 443-2150

post1914.com
yelp
the stranger

#901 - Lockspot Cafe, Seattle (Ballard) - 9/22/2009

Lockspot Cafe, Ballard, Seattle, WA

Lockspot Cafe, Ballard, Seattle, WA

Lockspot Cafe, Ballard, Seattle, WA

3005 NW 54th St. Seattle, WA 98107 (206) 789-4865
yelp - seattle weekly - the stranger - nw source

#900 - Gossips Club, London (Soho) - May 1990

When I first started this project with a list of every bar I could clearly remember having a drink in, my poor memory confined the list to those in areas with which I am familiar. I couldn't recall the name of any bar I'd been to in Rome or Florence, nor any pub in London, cafe in Paris, or cantina in Mexico. But I finally realized that I could track down at least one club, because we went there for a special reason.

The Batcave, once frequented by the likes of Robert Smith, Nick Cave, and Siouxsie Sioux, is widely recognized as the birthplace of what we now call the "goth" scene. It was hard to find and what we didn't realize until we found it was that the Batcave was actually not the club itself, but an event that once ran Tuesday nights at Gossips Club. The night we went to Gossips was some kind of gay theme, and though a few people in the line made it clear they didn't welcome a clearly hetero couple, we did at least get to see the club (which apparently closed just this year).

69 Dean St., Soho, London, W1D 3SG (corner of Meard and Dean)
urban75 - batcave wikipedia - batcave reunion @ club antichrist - Specimen live @ Batcave (video)

#899 - Montlake Ale House, Seattle - 9/17/2009

Update: Montlake Ale House closed in December 2013
     

2307 24th Avenue E., Seattle, WA 98112 - (206) 726-5968
Est. 2004 - Closed Dec 2013
Previous bars at this address: Grady's Pub, Jilly's East, Bleachers
montlakealehouse.net - seattle pi - yelp

#898 - Dirty Dan Harris', Bellingham, WA - 9/14/2009

1211 11th St., Bellingham, WA 98225 - (360) 676-1011
dirtydanharris.com - dan-harris.info - yelp

#897 - The Greedy Pig, Vancouver, BC - 9/14/2009

307 Cordova Street West, Vancouver, BC V6B 1E5, Canada - (604) 669-4991

thegreedypig.ca - vancouver slop - martini boys - yelp

#896 - The Red Room, Vancouver, BC 9/13/2009

398 Richards Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4Y2, Canada - (604) 687-5007
redroomonrichards.com - descent - descent facebook - clubzone - yelp

#895 - The Space Lounge, Vancouver, BC - 9/13/2009

1149 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 1M1, Canada
(604) 568-7842

spacelounge.ca
martini boys
yelp
clubzone

#894 - Pulse, Vancouver, BC - 9/13/2009

1138 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E1N1 - (604) 669-2013
pulsenightclubvancouver.com - yelp

#893 - Club 23 West, Vancouver, BC - 9/12/2009

23 West Cordova Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 1C8 - 604-662-3277
club23.ca - sin city myspace - sin city facebook - gothic bc photos
clubzone - yelp - flickr

#892 - Moxie's Classic Grill on Davie, Vancouver BC - 9/11/2009

1160 Davie St., Vancouver, BC V6E 1N1, Canada - (604) 678-8043
moxies.ca

#891 - Bin941, Vancouver, BC - 9/11/2009

941 Davie St.
Vancouver, BC
(604) 683-1246

bin941.com
martiniboys
urbanspoon

#890 - Archer Ale House, Bellingham, WA - 9/11/2009

1212 10th St., Bellingham, WA 98225 - (360) 647-7002
yelp - kulshan.com - citysearch - pubcrawler

#889 - Spur Gastropub, Seattle (downtown) - 9/10/2009

Update: Spur closed on April 14, 2016

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Spur is a fairly average looking bar with no really outstanding physical personality. But what makes it one of my highest recommendations is that every frickin' cocktail and every damn food item I've ever tried there has been fantastic. It's neither super pricey nor cheap, but if you go at Happy Hour (5-7pm Sun-Thurs, 11pm-1:30am Mon-Sat) you can get a couple dishes of some of the better food you've ever had and two or three really interesting and tasty cocktails for around $40. You won't know how great a deal that is until you actually taste it.

113 Blanchard, Seattle, WA 98121 - (206) 728-6706
Est. 2008 - Closed April 14, 2016 - Building constructed 1927
spurseattle.com - blog - facebook
seattle times - seattle weekly - yelp - maureen clancy - starchefs - the stranger

#888 - Kate's Pub, Seattle - 9/6/2009

309 NE 45th St. Seattle, WA 98127 - (206) 547-6832
myspace - seattle weekly - yelp - the stranger

#887 - Al's Tavern, Seattle - 9/6/2009

Okay, I'm knocking off two bars that I was 95% sure I'd been to before a few times, but wasn't certain until I verified them from inside. Al's has been around since 1940, and has a classic, neighborhood bar, poorly rendered but oozing with local personality mural on the back wall. It's a quite pleasant neighborhood dive.

Est. 1940 (also listed as Smithy's Tavern that year)

2303 N 45th St., Seattle, WA 98103 - 206-545-9959
seattle weekly - citysearch - yelp - the stranger

#886 - Jersey's, Shoreline, WA - 9/6/2009

In 1980, Dick Oldham bought a sputtering new bar across from the Kingdome parking lot called "Stanley's Ticker Tape," and renamed it "Sneakers." Of course, "sports bars" had existed for many, many decades in various cities, but Oldham did some things that few if any other bars in the country had done at the time. He got the idea to put televisions everywhere -- 10 TVs, so that patrons could follow simultaneous games and see them from anywhere in the joint. When lineman Reggie McKenzie was traded to the Seahawks, he flew in a chef to teach Oldham's crew how to make spicy chicken wings like they did back in Buffalo, NY (hence, "Buffalo Wings"). And he very actively collected an idiosyncratic set of memorabilia and autographs from local players/patrons and players from around the country. Sneakers (sold in 1996 and now "Sluggers") was often listed as one of the best sports bars in the nation.

Little did Oldham suspect, one must assume, that he was helping to invent one of the most ubiquitous and most boring bar themes across America.

Jersey's is one of these -- one of any number in every city and town. It has the TVs, the sports artifacts, and that essential set of old geezers carrying on as if they know much better than those yahoos actually filling the coaching and management jobs. But the space has no personality, let alone the appealing quirkiness of Sneakers' 15-foot-wide confines. And in sharp contrast to the personality of the Sneakers collection, the entire decor looks like it came from one trip to the mall, plus the blow-up props and posters from beer distributors. And they add pretty much every checkbox item for the current cookie-cutter sports bars -- the pulltabs, the plastic, electronic darts games, and the contraption of various disco lights hanging from the rafters for some godforsaken dance night.

I don't mean to single out Jersey's -- the food is fine, the liquor is the liquor, and there is nothing particularly out of sorts about the place. But that's exactly my problem with Jersey's -- exactly my problem with all of these places. A bar needs a personality, and decorating structures that could just as well be an Applebees with framed jerseys from a memorabilia store and football decorations from Budweiser is just no substitute for that.

1306 N 175th St (a block east of Aurora), Shoreline, WA 98133 - (206) 546-4054
jerseysgreatfood.com - yelp

#885 - Ricky's Bar & Grill, Shoreline, WA - 9/6/2009

Update: Ricky's closed in 2011.














632 N Richmond Beach Dr. (Richmond Beach Shopping Center, between N 3rd Ave & N 8th Ave) Shoreline, WA 98177 - (206) 546-4847
Est. 2008? - Closed 2011
yelp

#884 - Richmond Beach Grill House, Shoreline, WA - 9/6/2009

Update: Richmond Beach Grill House closed in 2010

---

This seems like a pleasant enough little complex for families, but I would not recommend going out of your way for the lounge.

1430 NW Richmond Beach Rd., Shoreline, WA 98177 -  206-533-1500
Previous bars in this location: Arden Inn Tavern (1970s)
Subsequent bars in this location: Swannies on the Alley
mygrillhouse.com - spinalley.com - yelp

#883 - The War Room, Seattle (Capitol Hill) - 9/2/2009

Meh. Even the rooftop deck, which should have been a nice respite from the top 40 style music, was compromised by watching a mouse dart back and forth across the floor. Obviously not my kind of crowd, but the bartenders were cool, and they did have a slideshow showing much more interesting club people than their patrons.

 The War Room is closing Nov. 30, 2009

722 E Pike St. Seattle, WA 98122 - (206) 328-7666
thewarroomseattle.com - yelp - citysearch - the stranger - seattle weekly

#882 - Maharaja, Seattle (Capitol Hill) - 9/2/2009

Update:  The Maharaja closed Dec 31, 2010

I have it on good authority -- and yelpers confirm -- that it is a fine dive bar in the back of this establishment (the food, the bathrooms -- not so much). It was completely dead on the early Friday evening that I attended, so I obviously haven't seen it in top form. If you're on Capitol Hill and want a bar with stiff, basic drinks without the Capitol Hill prices, it seems like a reasonable choice. And the web site is, um, remarkable.

720 E Pike St, Seattle - (206) 320-0334
Closed Dec 31, 2010
seattlemaharaja.com - yelp - the stranger

#881 - Captain Black's, Seattle (Capitol Hill) - 9/2/2009

If this were any place besides the embarrassment of bar riches area of Capitol Hill, I'd immediately give it my highest rating. The food gets mixed reviews and it's not the place you'd want to go for a really interesting cocktail, but if you're just drinking and it's just the basics, there aren't many better places in town. The small porch in front, the homey remodeled bungalow interior, and especially the large porch in back make this seem like a really nice resort town bar -- but with a more likable crowd.

129 Belmont Ave, Seattle, WA 98102-5602 - (206) 327-9549
captainblacksseattle.com - the stranger - yelp - urbanspoon - seattle weekly

#880 - Tavern Law, Seattle (Capitol Hill) - 9/2/2009

My first impression of the much hyped Tavern Law was negative. After all, it was supposed to be a prime example of the new speakeasy trend, so what was it doing with a prominent sign out front identifying the place (even though anyone who even casually follows Seattle foodie and bar news knew exactly where it was)? I later realized that the speakeasy was hidden inside the public bar.

The space is nice, with lots of quirky angles, and the drinks and the food are absolutely lovely.

Thanks to (customer) Naomi for an enjoyable an informative conversation, and thanks to the TL/Spur crew for a great salmon and risotto and cocktails. I will very definitely be back.

Try the: Monkey Gland

1406 12th Ave (between Union St & Pike St), Seattle, WA 98122 - (206) 322-9734
tavernlaw.com - blog - facebook - seattle times - yelp - seattlest