Irrational Reasons to Move to Seattle

[homesinseattle]

I've been a reader during my youth in Miami, university in Vermont, time in LA and my 26 years in Seattle. I'm not anti-social, introverted or shackled to my home during winter. I just like to read.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Cinema Cat

I've thought about moving to Seattle because I love rain, gray skies, cool temps. And because I've heard that Seattle is full of literate, cultured people.

But Seattle-haters tell me the only reason so many people in Seattle read is because they're anti-social introverts, and because it's so cold, wet, and dark outside.

Going back to the 1960s-1970s, Seattle had an in-door "hang-out" scene, starting in the U District, with coffee houses (the Pamir House, Eigerwand, Queequeg, and Edge along the Ave, and the Llahngaelhyn across University Bridge, where Repunzel's was later located, and later the Last Exit and the Allegro) and bars (Blue Moon, Century, Red Robin, and Eastlake Zoo along the periphery). The coffee houses, except for the Eiger, featured folk music, jug bands, and jazz (Llahngaelhyn). There were also several used bookstores dotting the Ave or just off it, including the Id (later the Magus).

With the expansion of UW, going from 19,000 to 36,000 students in a shortwhile, the "scene" was largely pushed south to Capitol Hill, where cafes (Andy's Cafe, Ernie Steele's, and Bloch's) and bars/lounges (The Deluxe, Elite, Comet, Gaslight, Jade Pagoda, Broadway, 206, Belmont, etc.) were where denizens gathered. While the Ave had been more of a music and writing scene, the Hill was more of an art scene, with the original SAM, two art schools (Cornish and Burnley, which later became the Seattle Art Institute), and theatre and dance companies. There were also used bookstores (The Different Drummer on Broadway and Horizon Bookstore on 15th).

There was also a film scene, with foreign "art house" films shown at the Varsity on the Ave and the Ridgemont on Phinney Ridge. I practically lived at the Ridgemont, where I was to introduced to the films of Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, Godard, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Truffaut, Chabrol, Rohmer, Polanski, etc.

In many ways, the "scene" was fueled by abundant cheap housing (I rented a one-bedroom apartment for $75 on Capitol Hill in the early- to mid-70s, for instance), largely due to the Baby Boomers just starting to come of age, following the "Baby Bust" of the WWII years, with the Boeing Bust of the early 1970s doing its part in keeping rents low. Today, of course, the situation is exactly reversed.