West Seattle, Über Alles

According to Mapquest, West Seattle Junction is exactly 6.83 miles
from Broadway and Pine Street on Capitol Hill. That’s 14 minutes by
car. That’s one listen to the live version of “Free Bird.” Yet, ask any
Capitol Hill, Ballard, or even Belltown resident to go to West Seattle,
and you may as well ask them to help you dispose of a body.

But we can no longer let distance—mental or
physical—keep us from enjoying West Seattle’s treasures. For one,
Sugar Rush on California Avenue has the best cupcakes in the entire
city. There’s a well-stocked Easy Street Records, a movie theater that
charges just $5.50 a ticket all day every day, and amazing views along
Alki; and every summer it has one hell of a music and arts festival
that has, in the past, pulled in such great local headliners as the
Saturday Knights, Mark Pickerel and his Praying Hands, and the Lonely
Forest.

This year, the West Seattle Summer Fest will celebrate its 27th year
with two stages of music, hundreds of artists, food, an old-school
video-game gallery, skate demos, a Rat City Rollergirls dunk tank, and
more.

What makes West Seattle Summer Fest so great is that it really does
feel like a neighborhood celebration.

“It’s all about the community,” says festival director Oliver
Little. “Everything we plan is based on what West Seattle residents say
they’d like to see. Our primary goal is to show off the neighborhood
and get people out on the street together. Musicians and artists seem
to dig this message and think of this as ‘their’ neighborhood festival.
It’s pretty incredible how many Seattle musicians live in the West
Seattle area and are willing to play on the street.”

Festival booker Jason Fitzgerald takes full advantage of the musical
talent residing on the other side of the city when curating the
festival. “West Seattle affiliation is important to me,” he says. “It
seems like a lot of festivals—especially community
festivals—just book whoever applies, whoever is the cheapest, or
friends of friends, and that makes for a dull festival experience. I
think it reflects poorly on the community in the long run. So I say no
to bad bands. I care about West Seattle and Summer Fest and try my
hardest to persuade good bands to play, even when other festivals offer
them more money.” For this year’s festival, at least half the bands
have ties to the neighborhood, including Mudhoney, Super Sonic Soul
Pimps, We Are Golden, Pillow Army, and Westerly.

Mudhoney may be the biggest name in the lineup, but they’re not the
only talent in the pool. Black Panties—featuring members of the
Cops, the Presidents of the United States of America, and the Heavy
Hearts—play quintessential rock and roll about makin’ out and
screaming in authority’s face. Thee Sgt. Major III, featuring Kurt
Bloch, deliver super-sunny and sing-alongable pop anthems.

And just as Fitzgerald notes, it’s a music festival by and for the
residents of West Seattle, which includes Mudhoney frontman Mark Arm,
who’s lived in the neighborhood since 1993. “I haven’t attended a
street fair in a long time,” Arm says. “Crafts in general aren’t my
thing. But for the last couple years, the West Seattle Summer Fest has
been bringing in good bands.” Just a few of the artists he’s excited to
see: Black Panties (“They cover the Saints!”), Mark Pickerel, the
Tripwires, Thee Sgt. Major III, Green Pajamas, Capping Day, McTuff, and
Trombone Cake.

Also playing (and worth checking out): Derby, Team Gina, the Dimes,
We Are Golden (with Barrett Martin of the Screaming Trees and Sarah
Rudinoff), Chris Ballew’s kid-friendly project Caspar Babypants, and
Super Sonic Soul Pimps, who headline Saturday night as part of the
all-ages Saturday Night Street Dance, where the music goes until
midnight.

Best of all, it’s all free. And to get there, you just have to be
able to take a gorgeous 12-minute cruise on a water taxi, sit on a bus
for an extra 15 minutes, or bike or drive yourself across a bridge.
Then you’re rewarded handsomely. With Mudhoney! And a Rat City
Rollergirls dunk tank! And delicious cupcakes! And the ability to say
you got off the Hill for once in your goddamn life!

Meet you at the Junction.