The Wild Rose Tavern (1021 E Pike St): For women-loving women, the only consistent game in town (besides Storm home games).

Near the east end of the Pike/Pine corridor sits a triumvirate of happening adult-ish nightspots--1200 (swanky!), the Elysian (grungy!), and Barça (swanky grunge! And gorgeous!). Spending an evening strolling from one venue to the next should get most folks chatted up, if not fully bedded.

Capitol Hill Arts Center (1621 12th Ave): A half-block o' happenings, with a soft spot for the unpopular arts--poetry slams, theatre--offset by the availability of booze and a dreamy adjacent eatery (Crave).

While high-stakes goths mope at the semi-exclusive

Mercury (1009 E Union St), the

Vogue (1516 11th Ave) continues to attract the fashionably dark, and the Suicide Girls-loving

investment bankers who'd love to love 'em.

Neighbours (1509 Broadway Ave)--Nobody likes going, but everyone--straight, gay, in-between--gets laid. Why question one of life's few certainties?

Natural Habitats

Victrola Coffee (413 15th Ave E): The natural epicenter of the little city of 15th Ave, with a hang-out-all-you-want vibe that invites easy interaction, if not stalking.

Bailey/Coy Books (414 Broadway Ave E): Fact 1: Bookstores are sexy. Fact 2: Half-Price Books is the exception to Fact 1. Which leaves Capitol Hill bookworms with Broadway's Bailey/Coy for their browsing-and-scamming needs.

Volunteer Park (Galer St at 15th Ave E): The name will forever say it all.