Today we’re re-upping this story to highlight Charles Mudede’s appearance on KUOW’s Seattle Now podcast this morning. Give the piece a read, then listen to Charles talk about it and the future of the Ave with host Patricia Murphy right here. —Eds. Note
For the past 28 years, the best bar on the Ave has been Flowers Bar and Restaurant.
This location was once a flower shop that ultimately ran out of business and remained empty for a few years. Then, in 1992, Fadi Hamade transformed the abandoned space into a mirage of Lebanese cosmopolitanism that served cheap drinks and featured a Mediterranean menu. Hamade wisely kept the sign and part of the name of the former business. The sign is now an Ave icon, and it functions as a kind of gateway to what some call Little Lebanon. Here, Hamade’s Flowers shares a little street with Cedars of Lebanon, and Samir’s Mediterranean Grill Lebanese Cuisine. The former opened in 1975 and the latter in 2005. Flowers is also great for indoor and outdoor people-watching. And in the mid-90s it was something of a court for an obscure Pakistani poet named Wajahat Malik. He left town after 9/11.
