My minimum requirement for adding a bar to this list is having one drink at the place, and when I don't trust the bartender, my standard order is a gin & tonic. It's hard to make a gin & tonic very badly and also -- and this can be important in some places -- the ingredients are right in the name. After quickly and not so happily doing this minimum at neighboring Aura, I thought I'd drop just as quickly into and out of Trinity, and sacrifice the night to knocking off two places I was bound to dislike. But a funny thing happened on the second half of that project -- I actually liked Trinity.
It's not my music, it's not my crowd, and it's not where you'd go for a first rate cocktail, but Trinity was happening. My good impression started with the interesting decor and the way the vibe changes as you move from room to room. Of course most people are in the main dance area, where a DJ was doing a great job creating interesting mixes of sounds, songs and samples, and where they put in more creativity than just installing the standard bump and grind lighting system. There's the main bar area with its own DJ playing somewhat more mellow tunes from a loft that looks like an old Chinese temple. And there is a comfortable, relatively quiet room -- that is, quiet enough that you can talk without pressing your mouth within an inch of the listener's ear. The crowd, at least on this night, was varied and interesting, with a minimum of the cliques of boring people dressed exactly alike, as you so often see in this part of town.
Historical Notes: This address has hosted bars since at least 1898. City guides list various owners from that year through the early 1900s, and by 1909 up until prohibition it was The Bohemian or The Bohemian Liquor house. In or shortly before 1960 it became the Totem Pole Tavern, and by 1965 the One Eleven Yesler Tavern. From the early 70s to 1992 it was the Pioneer Square Tavern, or "The Square." It was the first of four locations for The Fenix (The Fenix Cafe) in 1992, and was hosted the Bohemian and Velvet Elvis before the spaces were connected for Trinity.
111 Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98104 - (206) 447-4140
Est. 2006 - Building constructed
1890
Previous bars in this location: Fenix Café, Bohemian Café, Velvet Elvis, One Eleven Yesler Tavern, Totem Pole Tavern, Pioneer Square Tavern, The Bohemian
Web site:
trinitynightclub.com -
facebook
Articles:
examiner -
thrillist -
yelp -
tripadvisor -
the stranger -
roadtrippers
#1176 #S717 - Bricco Della Regina Anna, Seattle - 7/7/2010
#1174 #S715 - Hudson Public House, Seattle - 7/5/2010
Wow, this place has so much more character than I had envisioned. It feels like suddenly you're in Texas. Notwithstanding what must be the largest posts to obstruct a stage view in the city (well over 2 feet wide beams), it's a fun place to grab a drink and some grub and watch blues, or, as it was on this particular night, rockabilly.
#1156 - Lot No. 3, Bellevue - 6/25/2010
