Quarter Lounge on First Hill

Two of the walls of the outdoor deck at the Quarter Lounge—which is one of my favorite bars in the city—are tall, blank, and imposing. These are institutional walls, the kind that could easily dash any dream or hope of freedom harbored in the heart of a man or woman serving life in a super-maximum-security facility. There is no climbing over those tall walls, no breaking through their concrete thickness, no digging underneath their deep foundations. You are here to stay. At the Quarter Lounge, these walls confront the drinker and dominate the mood of the well-built wooden outdoor deck (it was completed two or so years ago). What has the drinker done wrong? What crime is he/she paying for at happy hour? What is this institution I'm in? And what does it want from me and my drinking buddies? At least there are drinks; in drinks, there is freedom. The institution happens to be the Puget Sound Blood Center. CHARLES MUDEDE

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