They introduced me to the city's night life on a Saturday evening that extended merrily until 2 a.m. I went out a couple of nights without them, but together we went to the Palace Kitchen (a hip restaurant-bar for which Dennison works as a caterer) and then to the buzzing Ballard neighborhood, described by Dennison as "the roots rock center of the universe here." It's a flourishing, artist-friendly area that was "mostly boarded up when I got here 11 years ago," Porter says.
Ballard's focal point is the Tractor Tavern, a roadhouse reminiscent of Harpers Ferry in Allston. High ceilings and a mellow, mixed-aged crowd ("a lot of people in their 30s and 40s go out in Seattle," says Dennison) makes this a comfortable stop. The music spans country and rockabilly, and Boston bands such as Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles have played here. Within walking distance are cool watering holes like Lock & Keel, the Sunset Tavern, and Bad Albert's.
"There are a lot more live music venues here than in Boston," says Porter, and that's hard to dispute. Seattle's rise seems fueled by better entrepreneurial opportunities for young people, cheaper rents, and easier availability of liquor licenses, says Dennison.
On another night, I went to the popular Capitol Hill neighborhood, built on one of the San Francisco-like hills in the city. I visited a funky rock dive called the Comet Tavern, booked by another former Bostonian, Michelle Smith, who now goes by the name of Mama Casserole. And across East Pike Street is the hopping Neumos, which felt like a smaller version of Boston's Avalon. A British dance crew called Simian Mobile Disco pumped up the volume for a young, sold-out crowd. And adjoining it is Moe Bar, a swinging room where Porter plays disc jockey once a month, spinning vintage '60s rock and Brit pop.
