Things to do / Travel Guide
Seattle has become a regional mecca for most nightlife activities, with a well-developed music scene that includes classical music, jazz, and grunge rock, as well as a slew of festivals during the spring and summer months. Among the top resources for what's happening entertainment-wise in Seattle are “Ticket,” the arts and entertainment section of the “Seattle Times” Friday edition, and “Seattle Weekly.”
Seattle Nightlife
Most of Seattle's nightclubs and late night entertainment venues are in the Seattle Center - a fairground park that is the city's premier arts and entertainment center - or around Pioneer Square, but some trendy clubs are also located in Belltown. Of these, Pioneer Square is probably the best place to see and be seen in Seattle. One of the more lucrative options offered in Pioneer Square is the “Joint Cover Plan,” which allows you to pay one cover charge for seven different participating clubs.
College students and “techies” like to head to what was once a “Scandinavian enclave” in Ballard, in north Seattle, which is known for bars, taverns, and some live-music clubs catering to a primarily middle-class clientele.
Seattle Music Scene
Seattle has been the birthplace of some big names in the music industry. Most recently, Kurt Cobain and his pioneering grunge rock band Nirvana got their start dressed in flannel playing for apathetic teenagers and 20-somethings sipping on coffee in a smoke-filled café. Years earlier, Jimi Hendrix, who was born in Seattle, taught himself how to play the guitar before going on to become a cultural phenomenon after a successful performance at the famous Woodstock concerts of 1969. Nowadays, Seattle remains a hotbed of grunge, rock, jazz, and even country music acts which perform across the city in a myriad of venues, the most common ones being coffee houses.
Seattle Space Needle
Seattle's most famous landmark is the Space Needle, which is located at the Seattle Center. The Space Needle features an observation deck as well as a revolving restaurant at the top. The sky-high structure has also appeared in several films such as “Austin Powers and the Spy Who Shagged Me,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” and the television shows “Frasier” and “Grey's Anatomy.”
Performing Arts in Seattle
The Seattle Opera is ranked as one of the best opera companies in the United States, while the Seattle Symphony is considered one of the country's best symphonies. There's also no shortage of high-class theater in Seattle. The Seattle Repertory Theatre, for example, has won several Tony awards for its often avant-garde stage productions as well as standard stage plays and musicals.
Most impressively, Seattle is home to one of the best and most reputable dance companies in the United States. The Pacific Northwest Ballet is popular and, statistically speaking, is believed to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States. The Pacific Northwest Ballet started in 1977 and always offers a full repertoire and calendar of performances in McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center.
Tacoma Entertainment Scene
While the entertainment scene in the northwest Washington and Cascades region is somewhat more subdued outside of Seattle, Tacoma does have what to offer. Like Seattle, Tacoma has its fair share of nightclubs and late night entertainment venues. If you're in the mood for some live music, make your way out to the Tacoma Dome in downtown, which occasionally hosts concerts, country music performances in particular. For more “classy” entertainment, as it were, visitors can attend stage shows in the city's downtown theater district at the Pantages Theater, which has been part of the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts since 1983.
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