Slog - Comments on The Loss of an Essence

Comment by Hal

Hal — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:12:26 -0800

A very nice eulogy!

Comment by Hernandez

Hernandez — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:17:23 -0800

The most moving and coherent Mudede post I think I've ever read.

Comment by Eric F

Eric F — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:30:14 -0800

Makes me wish I'd been to the Bus Stop. I spent an hour at a bar in Berlin this summer, a nice room, a bar in the center, one bartender, one tap, selling glasses of Grolsch and nothing else. The bar's name was "3." It was great.

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:32:32 -0800

Seattle has bars now? Did they lift the food requirement to serve booze?

Comment by M

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:39:09 -0800

The Bus Stop was the best! I don't even hang out on Cap. Hill but I did hang there a few times.... worth the trip.

Comment by STJA

STJA — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:44:31 -0800

uh... You've been in Seattle too long. You just defined precisely the kind of bar one finds in the smallest of towns. No art, no TV, no pool table. Urban? No. Real? Yes. Great? Yes.

Comment by Juris

Juris — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:52:41 -0800

Also, the fantastic walls. I will miss those walls.

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:58:38 -0800

What makes it urban is that it is being destroyed.

Cities change, and few city bars last more than a decade. A bar 20 or 30 years old is probably in a city with something wrong with it. In a small town you can find bars that have been around 50 years.

Cities are supposed to make your head spin, and make you wish you had gone out and enjoyed it today instead of putting it off. You city will be gone if you wait for some other time.

Comment by Hal

Hal — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:01:10 -0800

Sounds like the kind o' place Bukowski would have hung out in. I don' think you'd have found him in some small town tavern.

Comment by country boy

country boy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:05:00 -0800

But some souls like my own long for the essence of things: the essence of whiskey, the essence of a table, the essence of a wall, the essence of a floor, the essence of a bartender, the essence of a pour. The Bus Stop distilled the drinking experience down its final elements, and that is what made it great, made it urban.

then you've never drank in a rural bar. i've been to one that was literally rough sawn lumber floors/walls, a bar, and a few stools. it was maybe 700 square feet. Nothing on the walls. Outside of the booze behind the bar, there was a rotary phone and a picture window that looked into the forest.

They only accepted cash.

Comment by DOUG.

DOUG. — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:19:27 -0800

Sounds like my basement.

Comment by NapoleonXIV

NapoleonXIV — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:20:14 -0800

Bukowski frequented the Blue Moon, which barely changed in 70 years, and shows all the signs of staying put.

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:23:06 -0800

#9 - Bukowski was a regular at the Blue Moon on 45th, which is a decent approximation of a small town tavern in some ways, come to think of it.

#10 - Right on the money, and it's something I really appreciate when I stumble across such a place.

Last time I was in Seattle and paid a visit to the new Cha Cha, I was really grossed out at the McDonald's style drink touchscreens the employees have to use. It made me sad for the younger generation.

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:24:15 -0800

Shit, #12 beat me to it, apologies for being redundant.

Comment by paul

paul — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:27:26 -0800

You were grossed out by a touch-screen? You're a fucking moron.

Comment by spencer

spencer — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:28:41 -0800

This is a nice eulogy, but they actually did have live entertainment and events. Aside from the weekly karaoke and different DJs just about every night, they used to have a weekly reading series on Tuesdays (though those stopped quite some time ago), and would sometimes have singer/songwriters perform (though i was never a fan of those nights in that space). And I'll always fondly remember the World's Tiniest Tea Dances on Sunday afternoons.

Comment by Julie

Julie — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:33:46 -0800

elenchos @8...

Cities are supposed to make your head spin, and make you wish you had gone out and enjoyed it today instead of putting it off. You city will be gone if you wait for some other time.

That is lovely. I used to follow that advice more often than I do today. I think I have been living in one place too long... knowing there's a definite end to your time in a city forces you to go about and "enjoy it today."

Comment by revisionist

revisionist — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:41:19 -0800

@16 and wasn't there a craft night for a while, too?

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:43:59 -0800

#15 - yes, I was, and am. I give you the cash, you give me the booze, that's what I appreciate in a bar, and is all I need.

Watching a kid twirl his finger around for 30 seconds looking for a picture of a beer bottle on a monitor isn't really my ideal bar vibe.

Comment by chubby chaser

chubby chaser — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:45:21 -0800

I just liked the music and the hot chubby DJs. I'll miss both.

Comment by Cale

Cale — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:45:46 -0800

A good artist deals with boundaries and change. If the bar owners couldn't find a way to respond to the realities of the urban shift, their art is underdeveloped.

Comment by Skip

Skip — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:48:35 -0800

Chaz,
I'm sorry the other bars deny you their essence.

Comment by Will in 98103

Will in 98103 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:57:13 -0800

I'm surprised to read this eulogy post, since the one time I stood in line behind Mudede and Feit to get in to Bus Stop, Mudede left almost as soon as he entered, complaining about the volume level. "Oh well, more margueritas for me!" I said to myself.

Bus Stop really did have the best margueritas in town - made from scratch.

Comment by aarons

aarons — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:23:55 -0800

@15- i was going to say the same thing. It was quite the stupid statement.

Comment by Catman

Catman — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:25:45 -0800

The only thing Charles has written which I've been able to stomache. Thank you.

Comment by NapoleonXIV

NapoleonXIV — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:26:54 -0800

@23--you gotta understand, when Charles says that the place had an "essence", he's really politely complaining about "aroma".

Comment by adrian

adrian — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:53:49 -0800

essence of bartender, indeed. don't get me started.

Comment by spencer

spencer — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:27:35 -0800

@18, that's right, they did! But I guess none of those events really stuck. I loved the weekly themed reading series, though.

Comment by matt

matt — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:44:50 -0800

the graff wall was intolerable....thats what happens when you hire a 3a kid off of craigslist.

Comment by It's Mark Mitchell

It's Mark Mitchell — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:11:48 -0800

Umm, we didn't hire the kid from Craigslist. He kind of came with the building.

The Bus Stop was (when at it's best) completely random, and completely wonderful.

Comment by Wil Penguin

Wil Penguin — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:13:04 -0800

It's killing me to watch what appears to be the death throes of this neighborhood. I'll certainly miss Bus Stop; I frequented it more than any other single Seattle bar. Sigh.

Comment by Issur

Issur — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:30:58 -0800

As a New Urbanist myself I have to agree with Charles. In Manhattan true bars are simplicity, like Bourbon on the rocks, the distilled essence. I'm glad they are tearing down this "old Seattle" nonsense. Seattle can become more like Manhattan. Dense Urban and vibrant.