From the Aug 8 – Aug 14, 2002 issue

Music

Bio: Club

THE STREAMLINE TAVERN
121 W Mercer St, 283-2923

I chanced to walk into the STREAMLINE TAVERN while on my way to the bus stop at the corner of Queen Anne Avenue North and Mercer Street. It was almost midnight and the bar was nearly empty. But the emptiness was not depressing; it was warm and even magical. The Streamline is narrow, with a low ceiling and a central, oblong bar that occupies most of its space. The night I discovered the tavern, the bartender, a tall middle-aged man, was learning Vietnamese on a Walkman. Though focused on the tape's instruction, he never neglected my drinking needs: several glasses of chilled white wine (no hard booze at the Streamline). The next time I visited the bar, which was during its happy hour, the same bartender was there but not learning Vietnamese. He was busy with the 20 or so customers who sat facing each other along the oblong bar. There are booths in the Streamline Tavern, but it is the common truth of facing other drinkers that makes this place special. CHARLES MUDEDE

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