Food & Drink
Beacon Hill Heats Up
Beacon Ave S has amassed a trove of new tastes, out-of-the-box art and community musc spaces to expl
Seattle’s South End hilltop neighborhood is heating up. Long treasured for its diversity, Beacon Hill is amassing a trove of new tastes, out-of-the-box art and community music spaces—not to mention the new light rail station that provides quick and easy access for residents and day-trippers alike. TASTE >> Longtime favorites such as Kusina Filipina (3201…
Best Local Shopping in 2011
The Seattle products and boutiques we couldn't stay away from this year.
Best New Home and Gift Shop: Butter Home The sentiment “Go to your happy place” became a physical, rather than mental, destination after the arrival of sweet charmer Butter Home last December. Tucked under the rafters in the new Melrose Market, gifts and wares range from the eclectic (felted gazelle-head taxidermy-like wall hangings!) to the…
Weird Yoga: Embrace Your Hang-ups
Aerial classes turn yoga on its head
January is the month for overly optimistic New Year’s resolutions, so why not dream big by signing up for an aerial yoga class? The exercise trend is taking wing all over the city, and involves airborne workouts similar to traditional yoga (focusing on core strength, flexibility and coordination) but performed while hanging from a ceiling-suspended…
Best Beauty Services in Seattle 2011
The best places for styling, spa'ing and waxing needs in 2011.
Best New SalonAdele Stylist Amy Quackenbush has returned to her roots: that is, to preventing our roots from showing. In previous years, the former Suede owner found she was spending less and less time styling, so she opened up chic new salon Adele in Fremont in February to get back behind the chair. Clients eagerly…
Best Kids Stuff from 2011
These book clubs, products and party ideas made parents' lives a little easier in 2011.
Best “Mini Me” TrendBook Groups for Children For Seattle’s subadult set, 2011 was the year of the book…group. Across the city, kids are huddling in circles to discuss everything from Hunger Games to graphic novels to Daisy Dawson stories. Best of all: Mockingbird Books‘ free book group, complete with free pizza, just for tween boys…
Postcards from the Edge
Seattle artist Joe Parks' new work draws viewers into a mysterious underworld.
You may not be able to afford an oil painting by esteemed local artist Joe Park, but you surely can pick up I Am Yours (Chronicle Books; $9.95), a new pack of postcards featuring his richly atmospheric work. Evoking animation stills, Edward Hopper–style ennui and barely remembered dreams, Park’s work draws viewers into mysterious tableaux—a…
Sarah Caples’ 1970s Disco Glam Style
This stylish Seattleite mixes breezy bohemian looks with her favorite golden accessories.
Sarah Caples may have been just a tyke when disco was first in vogue, but the busy charity fundraiser, stylist, mom and blogger (subterfugeseattle.com), 41, often looks ready to hit the floor at Studio 66 with her voluminous, tousled hair, platform heels and layers of gilded baubles. Peppered in with her high-waisted jeans and flowing…
Holiday Gift Guide: Tech-Savvy Accessories
The best Northwest-made accessories to bestow on beloved gadget geeks this season.
Still those texting fingers for a millisecond and redirect your iThing’s browser to these Northwest-based “techcessories” (also known as protective accessories for your personal playthings) to bestow on your fellow gadget geeks this holiday season. >>iPad: Portland-based Grove’s leather and bamboo iPad case is one talented multitasker: Accenting the laser-cut “Two Birds” design by…
For the Love of Old Cameras
At Rare Medium, nostalgic photographers find a shop and gallery space just for them.
Vintage-camera aficionados and Instagram-loving cell-phone photographers are saying cheese in response to Rare Medium, the instant-camera shop/gallery/workspace that opened last month on Capitol Hill. While renting art studios in the 619 Western Building, former Microsoft engineer Cory Verellen, his astrologer wife, Tali Edut, and Seattle visual artist Justin Mata had a vision of an artistic…
Give the Gift of Grunge
Grunge fans will dig these new books chronicling the music genre, its players and its predecessors.
This year marked the 20th anniversary of several seminal events in Seattle grunge history—Nirvana released Nevermind, Pearl Jam released Ten, and Soundgarden released Badmotorfinger, all in 1991—which is why we’re awash in grungy nostalgia. If you’re hoping to keep the dream alive (or wondering what all the fuss is about), dig into these new books…
Charming Holiday Frocks for Girls
Why we love this Beacon Hill designer’s new line of little girls' dresses.
If a party, high tea or afternoon at The Nutcracker is on your little girl’s dance card this year, consider these fashion-forward creations from Beacon Hill designer Ana Louie’s debut Holiday 2011 collection. Inspired by Paris in the 1950s, this line started as sketches done by Ana Louie, founder Ann Marie Louie’s 8-year-old daughter. Using…
New Life in Japantown
One of Seattle's oldest neighborhoods is sprouting new galleries and shops.
It may be one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods, with roots stretching back to the late 1800s, but Japantown is quickly becoming the city’s newest art destination. The vibrant, diverse spirit of the ’hood (which is anchored by the historic Panama Hotel and runs along Fifth and Sixth Streets between S Jackson and Main) is the…
How 1962 Changed Seattle Forever
Knute Berger on two men and one book that helped shape Seattle’s opinion of itself.
This last year, I’ve spent a lot of time in 1962, as I research and write a history of the Space Needle. Every week, I appear on KUOW-FM’s Weekday news roundtable to discuss such things as the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the tunnel, marijuana and the mayor, but honestly, I’ve been more fascinated with the politics…