First Fridays BeatWalk - Columbia City - Seattle
Talk the talk, Walk the BeatWalk
Ten years ago, you wouldn't have wanted to go south from downtown that far, there wasn't really that much to do in Columbia City. But, while developers were planning the future of funky Belltown, made attractive by artists, said creative types were priced out of the neighborhood. So the first brave ones ventured south, to Columbia City and Georgetown.
These days, with the innovative housing developments west of the center of Columbia City, New Holly and Rainier Vista, all but finished, the older neighborhood is thriving with ethnic restaurants, pubs, coffee houses, a great bookstore, and even a gym.
On First Fridays between May and December the neighborhood BeatWalk draws crowds from all over the area, when music lovers come to sample sounds from across the world in the many venues on and off Rainier Ave. South.
For $5 per person (free for kids) you can take it all in which ever way you like.
Some plan dinner at their fave restaurant and stay there all night, others meander from bookstore to bakery, from lounge to pub and back again.
We've started the night at Awash the Ethiopean restaurant listening to a Brazilian band, followed by coffee and ices at Tutta Bella, watching characters pass by our sidewalk terrace table, or we had a burger at the Columbia City Ale House, chumping away on the rhythm of the stand up bass, to finish at the Bookwurm Exchange listening to a singer songwriter. Other nights we opt for dinner at home and dessert at the Columbia City Bakery, tapping our foot to Irish folk, while noshing on éclairs.
At Kallaloo, a Trinidadian home style eatery it was so busy, the service so slow, that we listened to three sets of good jazz without ordering anything, then moved on to Wine Bar Verve around the corner. The noise factor there sent us off an on to Lottie's Lounge where the crowd spilled onto the side walk, giving neighbors and old friends the opportunity to run into each other for a catch-up.
And at the Columbia City Gallery you can take in music and art at the same time.
Yeah, it goes without say: First Fridays you want to be at the BeatWalk
Schedule September 7, 2007
Awash - Mambo Cadillac, Afro-Cuban dance music
Bookwurm Exchange - Arthur Nelson & Friends
Columbia City Bakery - Janet Raynor and Rouge French Cabaret music and songs
Lottie's Lounge - Ruby Thicket Acoustic World Sound
Verve Wine Bar - Urban Oasis Brazilian
Columbia City Ale House - Angelo Pizzaro Acoustic and Electric Guitar
Kallaloo - Duo Caribe - Spicy Guitar and Percussion
