While I appreciate your nostalgia, calling a nine year old bar a "granddad" and "legendary trendsetter" is rather amusing, especially for anyone who remembers Ernie Steele's.
It got a wrap as being too hipster but that's pretty much because it's the only bar in the area where someone living on an artist's salary could afford to drink. Really one of the only places on the Hill that felt as welcoming to a young professional in a dress shirt as to a tatted-up punk. Just good folks all around. I'd be more distraught but this was a well-known secret and I've pretty much mourned the death of the Hill at this point. Glad they've got another year in them. Good job summing up the futility of anger, Tobias.
This is probably the most pragmatic piece I've read on the changing face of Capitol Hill in the Stranger, well done. Cumulatively, I have spent more time in the Redwood than any other bar in that neighborhood, and so I have loved it but figured this was coming some day. Single-story small commercial establishments on the Hill are part of its past; the land is too well-situated, too valuable, and there are too many moneyed people moving to Seattle to have it any other way.
I remember being annoyed when the new hipster bar moved into the spot where I used to be able to do laundry, drink a PBR, and use the wifi--simultaneously!!! That was the best laundromat ever.
Didja ask them their thoughts on &$15/hr MW? All this funny talk about how much harder it is on Capitol Hill to operate in the development climate that small biz's are under...but you write about the burden of rent, but don't you know that payroll is a larger % BY FAR of a small businesses operating budget.
The bigger guys'll have little problem with it. Bars like Redwood? I wonder.
Back when I was a VERY young Catalina, and that was a VERY old laundromat (before it became a hipster laundromat) I was in there alone one late night with someone who (I think) fancied himself Seattle's answer to Tom of Finland. He was dressed all in leather, doing his laundry.
He wasn't bad looking, and he was flirting with me something terrible, but the combination of laundromat and leather daddy just made me giggle.
This is a really well-written piece on the changing nature of Capitol Hill, except for the fact that the whole reason why it was the "weird and fun" neighborhood that you remember in the first place is because of money and gentrification. Which isn't me being a wrist-slapping buzzkill! I cut my early-adulthood teeth at the Redwood and Linda's and the DIY spaces like Atlas and HTFC that have also closed their doors. But those places had already displaced an existing Capitol Hill neighborhood.
If you don't want to be at the mercy of landlords, you have to become a landlord. But commercial properties are more expensive and harder to finance than residential. One solution might be distributed ownership, particularly in the form of worker-owned collectives. If we don't want to continue sacrificing community on the altar of self-serving capitalism we need to rethink how we structure businesses, otherwise we're all just living year to year at the mercy of people for whom money is the top, if not only, priority.
RIP Redwood. The only two bars I ever felt were home -- Redwood, and Bus Stop. I remember sitting on the floor watching the Biden / Palin debates with a packed house. Next time I'm in town again, I'll pay my dues.
I agree it's a shame this place is closing, but this article is so off-base it's ridiculous. Where are the journalistic standards?
1) The 12th Man has been around for decades (the "12" jersey was retired by the team in 1984). Not to mention, the Seahawks went to the Superbowl in early 2006 (just before this bar opened), so your attempt to make it sound like they "liked the Seahawks before it was cool" is misguided.
2) The Pine block with Cha Cha, Bus Stop, etc. wasn't shut down until 2007, over a year and a half after the Redwood opened. When it first opened, it wasn't replacing anything.
3) This place was in no way a trendsetter. If anything, it copied what many others have done with the lumberjack thing. Have you ever heard of Linda's (way older) or King's (opened around the same time), among many others ? Also, you're citing sweet potato fries and grass-fed meat as your examples of them being a trendsetter in 2006? Really? Just because you experienced it here first, doesn't mean they set any trends. Honestly, this place always struck me as derivative above all else.
I could keep going but what's the point?
Again, this is a fine bar and will leave a void, no doubt, but this article is wrong on so many levels and with so many facts it's hard to ignore.
I've been to the Redwood less than a dozen times so I can't speak to quality, nostalgia etc. But this piece, in addition to being nicely written, really captures the role that hungry capital plays in disrupting neighborhoods. Seattle is awash in investor capital looking to buy and/or build apartments in Seattle, and Capitol Hill is their golden child for all the reasons you can imagine. There really isn't much anyone can do about that, except to enjoy and appreciate these wonderful establishments while they exist.
I do not really care much that you have made up a bunch of bullshit in order to write an article. Normally I do not care if people make up stuff and print it. Like Fox news in general or Sara Palin with her Obamacare is going to create death panels crap.
People make things up to cause less informed people to get riled up and think the way you want them to all the time.
Been going on for many many years and will keep going on.
Some reporters will simply make up their own facts to make the story sound better.
Like saying I “likely doesn’t have much of a stake in the cultural fate of the cultural fate of the neighborhood”
when in fact I have lived in the neighborhood longer than you have “likely” been alive.
And “he’s old enough to give a shit less about bars” when in fact I OWN A BAR in Seattle! And I own two buildings that house bars.
I don’t make up facts but I will make a guess that you do not, never have and never will own a bar.
And this one “he doesn’t have any motivation not to take the millions of dollars he will get from a developer and go retire comfortably”.
Who are these developers that are going to give me “millions of dollars”? I have no idea. Do you have some knowledge that I do not?
Could you please tell me who exactly they are so I could talk to them?
You statement “the bar that successfully fought off a very concerted effort by a few NIMBY neighbors to keep it from opening” would
be far more accurate if you said the owner of the building successfully fought off…as I was the one the city sued and I am the one that had to fight with Tom Carr
to keep the Redwood open.
I really do not care how many “facts” you want to make up in order to get your story in the paper.
None of the stuff you, Sara Palin or Fox news makes up really matters to me much.
It is kind of a pain explaining to my work that I am not retiring and it is just something the reporter just made up to make the story more interesting.
Fortunately the folks at my work realize that some reports will say anything to try to make the story more interesting.
But the part that goes like "He lives in the building behind the bar" followed by "he asked Brooke to maintain his anonymity" really pisses me off.
Even though reports make stuff up to make their story more interesting or just accept as fact what someone says without verifying it I always
thought they were bound by some sort of ethical code where you honor a person’s request to remain anonymous.
Maybe they did not teach you in reporter school that even worse than publishing a person’s name is publishing their address.
You and the Stranger should be ashamed of yourself.
All of Seattle should know that if the Strange tells you they will keep your identity private that does not include your address.
About the only thing you got right is that I am not an asshole but I certainly wonder about you.
This was an interesting article, and it does seem that the cities with the most character today are those with bad economies (Portland and Austin being a couple of examples).
However, historically, there have been a number of wealthy city neighborhoods that have also maintained unique, culturally rich personalities. Cambridge, MA or Providence, RI's eastside in the early 90's were great examples of this. I'm sure there were parts of NYC in the 80's where you probably could have said the same. While these neighborhoods were extremely wealthy, they were also loaded with galleries, vintage shops, used record stores & book stores, punk clubs, boutiques, dive bars and upscale bars, etc...
I think the problem isn't with the influx of money itself, but the values and desires of the currently wealthy that have changed.
Older Rich White "Progressives" - We need more density, just don't build over my view!
Younger Broker White "Progressives" - We need more density, just don't build over my favourite dive bar!
I keep getting asked why I am kicking the redwood out of my building.
I am not.
This articular is BULL SHIT.
The Redwood's lease is expiring at the end of the year.
Most likely your lease for your apartment is expiring within a year. Does that mean you are getting kicked out of your apartment?
My guess would be that the Strangers lease is going to expire within a few years. Does that mean the Stranger is closing?
The Redwood, like most every other commercial building in the country, has a lease that will expire. That does not mean the lease will not be extended. That does not mean it is closing.
Had the author of this story bother to ask for the real facts there would be no story.
And how can you forget the Man Ray?! That place's closure has left a hole in my heart no other gay bar can fill.
The bigger guys'll have little problem with it. Bars like Redwood? I wonder.
He wasn't bad looking, and he was flirting with me something terrible, but the combination of laundromat and leather daddy just made me giggle.
Oh yeah, your new lease just doubled, gotta move to FIFE.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
1) The 12th Man has been around for decades (the "12" jersey was retired by the team in 1984). Not to mention, the Seahawks went to the Superbowl in early 2006 (just before this bar opened), so your attempt to make it sound like they "liked the Seahawks before it was cool" is misguided.
2) The Pine block with Cha Cha, Bus Stop, etc. wasn't shut down until 2007, over a year and a half after the Redwood opened. When it first opened, it wasn't replacing anything.
3) This place was in no way a trendsetter. If anything, it copied what many others have done with the lumberjack thing. Have you ever heard of Linda's (way older) or King's (opened around the same time), among many others ? Also, you're citing sweet potato fries and grass-fed meat as your examples of them being a trendsetter in 2006? Really? Just because you experienced it here first, doesn't mean they set any trends. Honestly, this place always struck me as derivative above all else.
I could keep going but what's the point?
Again, this is a fine bar and will leave a void, no doubt, but this article is wrong on so many levels and with so many facts it's hard to ignore.
People make things up to cause less informed people to get riled up and think the way you want them to all the time.
Been going on for many many years and will keep going on.
Some reporters will simply make up their own facts to make the story sound better.
Like saying I “likely doesn’t have much of a stake in the cultural fate of the cultural fate of the neighborhood”
when in fact I have lived in the neighborhood longer than you have “likely” been alive.
And “he’s old enough to give a shit less about bars” when in fact I OWN A BAR in Seattle! And I own two buildings that house bars.
I don’t make up facts but I will make a guess that you do not, never have and never will own a bar.
And this one “he doesn’t have any motivation not to take the millions of dollars he will get from a developer and go retire comfortably”.
Who are these developers that are going to give me “millions of dollars”? I have no idea. Do you have some knowledge that I do not?
Could you please tell me who exactly they are so I could talk to them?
You statement “the bar that successfully fought off a very concerted effort by a few NIMBY neighbors to keep it from opening” would
be far more accurate if you said the owner of the building successfully fought off…as I was the one the city sued and I am the one that had to fight with Tom Carr
to keep the Redwood open.
I really do not care how many “facts” you want to make up in order to get your story in the paper.
None of the stuff you, Sara Palin or Fox news makes up really matters to me much.
It is kind of a pain explaining to my work that I am not retiring and it is just something the reporter just made up to make the story more interesting.
Fortunately the folks at my work realize that some reports will say anything to try to make the story more interesting.
But the part that goes like "He lives in the building behind the bar" followed by "he asked Brooke to maintain his anonymity" really pisses me off.
Even though reports make stuff up to make their story more interesting or just accept as fact what someone says without verifying it I always
thought they were bound by some sort of ethical code where you honor a person’s request to remain anonymous.
Maybe they did not teach you in reporter school that even worse than publishing a person’s name is publishing their address.
You and the Stranger should be ashamed of yourself.
All of Seattle should know that if the Strange tells you they will keep your identity private that does not include your address.
About the only thing you got right is that I am not an asshole but I certainly wonder about you.
SLOG is in the toilet.
However, historically, there have been a number of wealthy city neighborhoods that have also maintained unique, culturally rich personalities. Cambridge, MA or Providence, RI's eastside in the early 90's were great examples of this. I'm sure there were parts of NYC in the 80's where you probably could have said the same. While these neighborhoods were extremely wealthy, they were also loaded with galleries, vintage shops, used record stores & book stores, punk clubs, boutiques, dive bars and upscale bars, etc...
I think the problem isn't with the influx of money itself, but the values and desires of the currently wealthy that have changed.
Younger Broker White "Progressives" - We need more density, just don't build over my favourite dive bar!
So much NIMBY BS in such a "Progressive" town.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Montaño
I am not.
This articular is BULL SHIT.
The Redwood's lease is expiring at the end of the year.
Most likely your lease for your apartment is expiring within a year. Does that mean you are getting kicked out of your apartment?
My guess would be that the Strangers lease is going to expire within a few years. Does that mean the Stranger is closing?
The Redwood, like most every other commercial building in the country, has a lease that will expire. That does not mean the lease will not be extended. That does not mean it is closing.
Had the author of this story bother to ask for the real facts there would be no story.
Perhaps that is why he did not ask.