Tonight is Linda’s 15th birthday party. Seattlest can tell you more about the drink specials, free t-shirts, etc. Hoping to swing by tonight for a picture or two before heading off to other business.
What were you up to in 1994? And, for bonus points, do you remember the first time you went to Linda’s? I can’t, sadly. But, statistically, it was most likely a summer night on the back patio with a bunch of friends jockeying for a table.
As for my 1994, I was a sophomore at San Jose State University. I wanted to be a reporter. I had a shaved head and thought Pearl Jam sucked. I wore shorts every day of the year when I wasn’t at work. Didn’t go to bars. Drank peach schnapps bought at a 7-11.
Oh, here come the age reveals. In 1994, I was in middle school in rural Iowa and listened to Nirvana everyday with my friends during our study halls. Seattle seemed like a very faraway place then, both literally and figuratively.
I’m pretty sure that my first trip to Linda’s was brunch with jonglix!
Congrats, Linda’s! (And fun post, J.)
I was in 3rd grade at Wedgwood elementary school and living Cedar Park/ Lake City. And I still haven’t been to Lindas!
I was living with my new girlfriend (now wife) in The Porter apartments a block away. There weren’t many not-specifically-gay bars in the area at the time, and I remember thinking that if I had any money, I’d open one up and make bags of money.
Some of you are younger than me! But thanks, j and seandr, for being older!
’94: not positive, but I believe I visited Seattle for the first time in ’94, and I thought it was *way* cooler than Montana, mostly because here you could buy a shirt that said “ska” on it. :)
Linda’s–went right after moving here, and knew immediately that Capitol Hill was definitely where I wanted to be. Summer night, patio, Manny’s, people who seem cooler than me: perfect.
In ’94 I had just moved back to Seattle after 6 years in LA (including 2 major quskes, fires, floods, and the lovely ’92 riots) to write on this little Seattle-based TV show called “Bill Nye the Science Guy.” Got a downtown apt., walked to work in Pioneer Square (near the old Kingdome actually). Wrote funny science/comedy bits all day, played darts at Dutch Ned’s for lunch and enjoyed the resurging Seattle scene. Frequented Linda’s, The Comet, The Mecca, Moe’s, etc., saw the Sonics lose in the playoffs, then the wonderful northwest nirvana came to a screching halt with Kurt’s suicide (or was it…murder?). Interesting booming days those ’90s were, and it all seemed like just the beginning of an ever-increasing and ever-expanding life of Seattle success. Now it feels like we’re on the verge of something totally dark with no end in sight. And I could really use a coupla pints at Linda’s too…sigh.
That reminds me… in 1994 I LOVED Bill Nye the science guy. I applied to be one of his on camera assistants, or something like that, even though I was probably the shyest kid in the school and would’ve been terrible on tv.
I was in my senior year of high school in tiny town in Alaska. At the time I frequented Sal’s Klondike Diner. Which is sort of like Linda’s, in that they both have fries and are named after women…
I lived up the block in the porter. The grassy bit between the parking lot and my building wasn’t fenced in (almost qualified as a park), the pawn shop was half the size, puss puss was still open and I could have sworn that it was 1993, not 1994. Mama’s had sandwiches then too.
I lived on Pike/Pine (the 4 plex kitty corner from Piecora’s on 14th & Pike) from ’92 to early ’94. It was a blast to be there on the tail end of the music scene at that time, we had parties and some of the people in local bands hung out. ’94 seemed like the end of an era, or maybe just the end of my fascination with that era. Mia Zapata’s murder, Kurt’s death, our landlord’s continually raising the rent (insisting that the neighborhood was going “upscale” while continuing to rent the space below us to “Exotic Tan”! Anybody else remember “lingerie modeling”? We called them “the hookers”!) and finally experiencing a break-in at our apartment while I was there (that the 15th Precinct never responded to) led me to move from that neighborhood. It just seemed like it was time to move on. I heard that Linda’s was backed by Sub Pop money, which is cool. But I’d given up drinking by that point anyway. I have never been inside Linda’s. Back then we did our drinking at The Comet.
Attending UC Berkeley, loving the city of Berkeley. Spending a lot of time partaking in many, many things and activities, discovering music of all kinds. Basically “expanding my horizons”… generally in the direction of debauchery.
What was on the rotation? The requisite “alternative” stuff (which was still a new moniker then)… Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soul Asylum. Also “jam bands”. Phish, Grateful Dead, MMW. Plenty of classic rock – Floyd, Zip. Also lots of jazz – Swiss Movement (Les McCann and Eddie Harris), Coltrane, Miles, Herbie Hancock.
Also spent a lot of time trying to get into local pubs – Raleigh’s, Blakes. I don’t think I had my fake ID yet.
Also started our very first band in the basement. We needed a drummer so I started taking lessons. Ended up playing drums for a good 15 years.
Pretty typical college experience, I’d say.
In 1994 I would have been in 4th grade in the beginning of the year, and 5th grade at the end. I think I was listening to Nirvana and No Doubt, but only because some of the older kids I hung out with played it all the time. I was also in the sprawling suburbs of Southern California then (blech).
We were at the Porter then, too, the hipster couple on the 3rd floor with a tremedously fat grey cat.
In 1994, I was a year out of college, living in Seattle, getting fired (1st and only time) from a crap job. My dog died, Dankens on the Ave closed (best ice cream place ever!), KXRX turned into a country station and Kurt died (I was so pissed at the photo of his body on the cover of the Seattle Times that Saturday morning but I still kept the paper all these years).
Favorite Linda’s moment (I wasn’t a regular but I went there several times in the 90s):
Me (sitting at the bar): So, do I get a discount since my name’s Linda?
Bartender: Are you the Linda who owns the place?
Me: Uh, no.
Bartender: Sorry, no discounts.
Me (to my friend): Well, it didn’t hurt to ask.
A moment later, the bartender puts a pint of beer in front of me and says something about a bad pour, no charge.