westcoastman

For clothing, Mario's is the best thing for men. It is very expensive but you will find most of the higher end designer brands. Things are much better during their sales - I saw a $3,000 jacket for just $1,000 and $300 Prada shoes for only $100 but finding the right size is typically a problem with sales here.
Barney's is currently in the City Center building and is very small but worth checking out during their sales. In Spring 2007 Barney's will be moving to a the large corner store in Pacific Place (where Pottery Barn use to be) so this will be a must shop then.
Nordstrom's began in Seattle so may be worth a stop but for those that have one in their local city it is not much different.
Most of the malls are a bit of a drive - Bellevue Square across the water is probably the highlight for malls. Northgate Mall has very little to offer but is going under massive renovation.
There are two Premium Outlets. The Factory Stores at North Bend is 30 minutes on the freeway and is not worth the effort but is on the way to Snoqualmie Falls and The Summit. The Seattle Premium Outlets is way up in Tulalip (near Marysville) and is 45 minutes (or more during rush hour) by freeway. It is the best outlet in the region and highlights include Burberry and a Sony Store outlet. If you are in this outlet there is a large Indian casino (Tulalip) next door with a decent lunch buffet for $9.99 till 3:30 PM ($13.95 brunch on Sunday).

fly4funsea

What are they doing over up at Northgate? Its been almost a year since I've been up that way.

Points Scrounger

Martin's participates in Rewards Network (f/k/a iDine) every day; the late Timberline was also a miles joint.

westcoastman

On my way north to:
1) Vancouver
2) Whistler
3) Seattle Premium Outlets/Tulalip Casino

westcoastman

Some updates
1) Purr Cocktail Lounge before midnight and Neighbors Nightclub around 2 a.m. are becoming the most popular places to be recently.
2) The Elite Tavern the first gay bar on Broadway closed its doors. Nearby the seedy Jade Pagoda Lounge closed down after 63 years. However, the Elite Tavern will reopen at its new location: 1520 E Olive Way. That is a block that has seen its share of gay businesses close down.
2) Sugar is changing formats by March '07. Both events: Sweet Spot (Friday) and Revival (Sunday) are done there. Look for a more mainstream format.
3) Revival Sunday moved to a new venue "Element" near the Seattle Center. They typically have straight dance parties but the club set aside their nightly dress code of no tennis shoes or sports apparel trusting the gay crowd would have better taste. They want to make it a monthly event so check their website for upcoming Sundays: http://www.revivalsunday.com/
4) Manray must close by November. Read about the death of Pike/Pine here: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=111746 . The building is becoming a 96 unit condo and they don't want any bars in the new building. Gay friendly Cha Cha Lounge next door must also move.

formeraa

Thanks for the update on Seattle's scene. I grew up in Seattle and knew many of the old places. It's sad to see all the "progress" which displaces some of the old favorites.

BTW, I second the recommendation for the Seattle Premium Outlets. They're great! In the South End (Auburn), there is also the Supermall of the Northwest -- another outlet mall located near an Indian casino.

westcoastman

Some updates
1) Purr Cocktail Lounge continues to be very popular well before midnight and even after that. Attitude of the staff is mostly good except when they frequently close the upstairs lounge for a "private event” and the person guarding those stairs has quite a nasty attitude.
2) The former site of the Elite Tavern, the first gay bar on Broadway is closed, empty and awaiting demolition.
3) The former Thumpers building is completely gone and ready for a new giant condo building.
4) Sugar has appeared to have made the format change to a straight club. They even have a dress code on Saturday. It is still in the heart of Capital Hill so the club is still very gay friendly if choose to visit.
5) The crowd at Manray has picked up but they only have half their staff so the wait for drinks is even worse. IMHO not worth the trouble as people anticipate its building's destruction in November.
6) Revival Sunday now goes weekly: www.revivalsunday.com
7) The controversy of the Pride Parade moving to downtown continues but it looks like it will again be held in downtown this year. Last year’s downtown parade was one the best I have seen in a decade. Capital Hill’s businesses, who want it to return to Capital Hill’s Broadway Avenue, have sought to squash the downtown parade since it takes away from their profits. The Capital Hill bars actually threatened to boycott the beer companies if they donated money to the downtown parade group. Even Microsoft would not donate because of the threat. Shame on them!
The good news it will be happening again on June 24 going through downtown Seattle and ending at the Seattle Center. Last year the parade attracted 200,000 and 40,000 to the Seattle Center. But again this date competes with a number of big parades around the country.
8) Housing costs in Seattle jumped HUGE last month. We will see how this affects the clubs in older buildings.
9) With the warm weather approaching business at Broadway Grill is going to get crazy. Wait on Friday for an outdoor seat was over 45 minutes (no wait for an inside seat) by the time we were done eating it was after 9 pm and dark. The host/hostess is picked from the employee who has the most attitude. I want to avoid this place but nothing has the great seating in a gay environment. Saw a crowd at the Metropolitan so maybe worth checking out.

westcoastman

Alaska Airlines has codes for 10% off for those attending Pride 2007 in Seattle. PM me and I can give you a couple of discount codes for Gay Pride 2007.

Nado

Great review of the nightlife.

How about a hotel review? Will be traveling to SEA next week and would like to find a centrally located hotel.

westcoastman

Silver Cloud Inn is close to the action but I would never recommend it since it is primarly used by parents visting their kids at Seattle U. The Hyatt is pretty nice (but expensive) and not too far from Capital Hill (but requires a trek of a few blocks up the hill). Sheraton is across the street from the Hyatt but under renovation and both hotels have elite clubs. Avoid the Hilton if you can but the smokers from Japan seem to like it. The Marriott properties and the Red Lion come up on Priceline and acceptable but not opulent or anything. I would bet the Marriott may have the new beds but have not confirmed that. The Westin is a bit tired so I would not pay up for that. You should be happy at the W or Hotel Monaco. Hotel 1000 is over the top nice if you can get in there but very expensive.

westcoastman

As an update Purr is still the place to go early. Neighbors gets going really late on weekends as the underage crowd is admitted after 2 AM. Check out this recent post for other info:
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...42&post7867042

Nado

Thanks for the quick response. Went ahead and booked a room at the W.

vt2k

You'll like the W, except for where it's located. That part of downtown isn't exactly "lively" after COB (Close of Business), but you are close to Capitol Hill / Belltown / Pioneer Square for nightlife.

There are also a number of B&Bs to stay at on Capitol Hill. I'll try and come up with a link or a list of them soon. They're mostly in old mansions that have been converted.

westcoastman

Some friendly restaurants on Capital Hill that look pretty good include Osteria La Spiga (here is a picture of the dining room) or the Cafe Stellina next door. Worth mentioning these two since I see a lot of diners recently on your average nice summer evening. However, some have complained that they may be "overpriced."

westcoastman

Well the gay friendly Cha Cha Lounge has reopened at a great location: 1013 E Pike Street.
There are quite a few "gay friendly" bars on Capital Hill that are arguably cooler then the gay ones such as 22 Doors, Bad JuJu Lounge, Barca, Capital Club, and Chapel. Since these bars are located in the heart of all the gay clubs it may be worth popping into one but realize that the clientele may be primarily straight on any given night.
There are three straight clubs on Capital Hill I would avoid. War Room has hard core hip hop nights and attracts primarily a suburban thug crowd. See this recent article that happened right in front of the War Room. Sugar, which use to have a gay format, changed 360 degrees and now attracts the same kind of clientele as the War Room. Club Lagoon is located in the very heart of gay Broadway Avenue but also has a similarly straight and mostly unfriendly format.
If you feel you must “hip hop” then go to R Place which is almost entirely gay and attracts a young racially mixed crowd looking to hip and hop but without the “issues” of the straight hip hop clubs.