Archive for May, 2011
Seattle’s Caffeinated Past
Posted by Kelly in Uncategorized on May 27, 2011
There are few cities as pop culturally significant as Seattle. Known as the birthplace of grunge music and good coffee, the Emerald City holds a special place in the hearts of many, whether they know it or not. In fact, Seattle is so utterly defined by its association with coffee that there’s even a Coffee Crawl tour folks can take.
Starting at Pike Place Market and meandering through downtown Seattle, the Coffee Crawl tour stops at six different coffee houses, allowing the participants to sample four sets of coffee and learn about the history of coffee in Seattle. Among the stops are Seattle’s Best Coffee, Seattle Coffee Works, Monorail Espresso, Dilettante Mocha Cafe, Trabant Coffee and Chai, and Zeitgeist Coffee. Nope, no Starbucks.
Coffee in the U.S., as a whole, goes back to the 1600s when it’s believed that John Smith brought it over. In 1867, caffeine buzzed Seattle when an African-American pioneer from Oregon set up shop with Monet’s Seattle Restaurant and Coffee Saloon.
Some 100 years later, in 1970, Seattle’s Best Coffee opened on Pier 70 with a used peanut roaster to roast the beans. Interestingly enough, Seattle’s Best was first an ice cream and coffee shop on Whidbey Island called Wet Whisker. After a few evolutions, the venture became Stewart Brothers Coffee (in 1983) and, eventually, Seattle’s Best Coffee (in 1991) after a victory in a local competition.
A year after Wet Whisker started roasting beans, Starbucks opened at Pike Place Market, about a block south of the “original” Starbucks location that is still in operation today. The founders were inspired by Alfred Peet who was roasting his own in Berkeley, providing high-quality, small-batch coffee beans and related equipment.
An entrepreneur by the name of Howard Schultz joined the Starbucks team in 1982, but failed to convince the owners that selling coffee drinks, in addition to the beans, was a good idea. He splintered off and formed Il Giornale, convinced there was a market for his products. A couple of years later, the Starbucks founders bought Peet’s and, subsequently, sold Starbucks to Schultz who tucked his Il Giornale brand under the Starbucks umbrella and hit the ground running.
The result, as everyone knows, is a Starbucks on every corner, or close to it. Since then, the company has gone international and gone public, both with astonishing success. In 2003, Starbucks even welcomed Seattle’s Best into its fold. Now, Peet’s is rumored to be in merger talks with the coffee behemoth.
For the 30 years before their joining, the two companies – along with other artisanal shops – built a coffee culture that, though anchored in Seattle, spread far and wide. Starbucks, in particular, has become so thoroughly iconic that it rivals massive brands such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, both of which have far longer histories and ties to the American psyche behind them.
So, while Seattle has much to crow about – from Amazon to Microsoft – the city will long be fondly remembered for giving us “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Venti Caramel Macchiatos.
Seattle Sports Fans Don’t Despair, They Just Go Outside And Do Something Else
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on May 24, 2011
Seattle Sports Fans Don’t Despair, They Just Go Outside And Do Something Else
If you’re a Seattle sports team and you’re winning the entire city gets behind you. If you’re not winning then the city moves on to other things.
When times are tough, Seattleites don’t turn on their teams. They don’t get angry. They don’t demand that heads roll. They just cut back on buying Seattle sports tickets and do something else instead. They may not always fill stadiums, but they never abandon their teams. They’re always ready to comeback when there’s a reason to cheer.
As everyone knows, sports fans in the Emerald City have had little to cheer about over the years: the Seattle Mariners are one of two franchises that has never played in the World Series; the Seattle Seahawks have reached the Super Bowl just once in 35 years in the NFL; and before the Seattle SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City they had won only one NBA championship—and that came way back in 1979.
I have a friend who is also a fan of Seattle sports and he blames their historic struggles on the happy-go-lucky attitude of the city’s denizens.
My friend believes that the average Seattle sports fan doesn’t get mad enough when their teams lose. This apathy keeps franchise executives off the hook; there’s no urgency to make changes and win. He believes if Seattle sports fans were more like the stereotypical East Coast sports fans—you know the type, ready to run anyone out of town at a moment’s notice—then the Emerald City’s championship count would be much higher.
She is of course wrong.
I don’t see how the average Seattle sports fan shrugging off a losing season has any effect on what the team does and does not do to produce a winner.
John Schneider, general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, is still trying to win a Super Bowl even though the city isn’t rioting over his team’s 31st place rushing offense. Jack Zduriencik, the Mariners’ GM, still has World Series aspirations even though his fan base isn’t threatening to tar and feather him. Schneider and Zduriencik are professionals. They want to win because they’re competitive and it’s their job. They would strive for success even if no one was watching.
Part of Seattle’s “it’s great if they win, it’s okay if they lose” attitude comes from the fact that there’s so much to do in the Pacific Northwest.
“What’s that? The Seahawks missed the playoffs? That’s okay, let’s go to North Bend and do some rock climbing.”
Yes, there’s a lot of stuff to do in other cities but the stuff to do in the Seattle-area is a little bit different. The citizens of Seattle can take their pick from dozens of outdoor activities like boating, skiing, hiking, camping, and biking.
Obviously, those activities aren’t exclusive to Seattle but they’re all close, and by “close” I mean proximity. Places to do all that fun stuff I mentioned are near enough to Seattle that you can drive there and back in a day.
Don’t forget all the other great sporting events that come to the Emerald City. Depending on the time of the year you can get tickets to AMA Supercross in Seattle, WWE events, Professional Bull Riders, UFC, and Monster Jam.
Clearly, there’s so much to do and see in the Seattle-area that no one has time to get upset over a struggling sports team.
Furthermore, Seattleites are an adventurous bunch. That’s why they live in such a remote part of the continental United States. They don’t hang their heads when their sports teams struggle; they just say “oh well,” go outside, and do something fun.
Besides, if Seattleites buckled under the stress of a pathetic sports team they wouldn’t be able to endure the 300-plus days a year of clouds and drizzle.
The problem with sports in Seattle isn’t apathetic fans or franchises, it’s the city’s location. The next nearest NFL and MLB teams are 800 miles away (San Francisco, California). If you live in or near Seattle and you want to see a professional football or baseball game, you’re stuck with the Seahawks and the M’s.
If anything, it’s the long distance to the nearest competitor that prevents front offices from becoming unnerved. There’s really no urgency to get better if the nearest competitor selling NFL tickets and NBA tickets is a 2-hour flight away.
There is one exception.
Seattle Sounders FC sell out every regular season game at Qwest Field. They’ve set MLS records for average attendance, and they’re tops in the league in season ticket sales. They’ve accomplished all that while competing with teams in Portland, Oregon (175 miles away) and Vancouver, B.C. (150 miles away).
Leave it to Seattle to go nuts over a sport that’s not American; leave it to Seattle to cheer for a sport that most of the country could care less about. Then again, the same spirit that empowers Seattleites to nonchalantly dismiss losing teams also compels them to embrace the beautiful game.
That attitude is of course what makes the city of Seattle so unique. Yes, Seattle’s sports teams are generally not that successful but they have a lot of fans who have their priorities straight.