Martin's Seattle Coffee Hub R.I.P.
Gone But Not Forgotten Coffee Houses and Sites

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R.I.P.

• Blue Note Cafe and Sandwich Bar (406 Fifth Avenue S.).  Opened spring 2005.  Comfy spot looking out at the ID bus tunnel entrance and Union Station.  Closed by the beginning of 2006.  Another cafe named Blue Note had occupied the S.E. corner of Brooklyn and N.E. 45th St. in the U. District.
  
• The Black Cat (Brooklyn near Campus Parkway) Closed mid-1998.  Was run by a collective of young anarchists.  Today's moral equivalent is the Wayward Cafe.  Another cafe with the name Black Cat, styled as a "neighborhood Euro bistro", opened near University Village (5000 30th Avenue NE) c.2005.
• Cafe Maree (6560 Latona Ave. N.E., Greenlake neighborhood behind where Albertson's used to be). [First visit 6/19/2003] Lots of room. Friendly to live music.  Play space for kids.  Seems to have closed in 2006.
• Coffee Messiah (1554 E. Olive Way).  P-I photo.  A must-see for every first-time visitor to Seattle.  3/1/2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer story about its demise.
• Espresso Roma (4201 U. Way) There were also stores in California, Oregon, and elsewhere.  A second Seattle location on Broadway is no more.  Bakery on premises.  Under new management early in 2005, introducing a Hispanic flavor, which was lost when yet new management took over 6/2005.  Sandwiches introduced 7/2005, as the business became known as Cafe on the Ave.  The Roma name was phased out by 2006.
• The Green Cat (Olive).  Closed late 2004 or early 2005.
• Hungry Mind Magazine Cafe (717 4th Ave.).  Hundreds of magazines to browse as you sip your latte.  Out of business by June, 2008.
• Last Exit on Brooklyn (Ave.) Opened June 30, 1967.  Closed mid-1999.  One move during the 1990's, from 3930? Brooklyn to 5211 U. Way.  Famous as a chess venue, too.  A piece of Seattle history and legend, gone forever.  Tragic.  Many of the regulars moved to The Pearl (q.v.) which sadly has also closed.
• Café Paradiso (Pike) [Closed fall '98, re-opened as Caffe Vita]
• Pacific Desserts (Mercer).  Not sure when it closed -- at least by early 2004.
• Peace Cafe (Roosevelt below Ravenna).  Sadly, they closed in summer, 2002, as did the organization which operated the cafe, Seattle Peace Action.  Space currently (2006) occupied by Cafe Racing.
• Plymouth Cafe (621 3rd Ave., corner of Cherry).  "Located in the St. Charles Apartment Building... All profits from the Cafe fund the supportive service in these buildings" (health care, food banks, etc. for people making the transition from homelessness.).  Closed c.4/2007; a new cafe is promised for later in the summer, at 1st and Blanchard.  Meanwhile, Frontier Cafe has opened a branch in the space.
• The Rosebud (Pike) [Closed, reopened.  An informant tells me (11/2001) "it isn't really a coffeehouse anymore. it's now a restaurant/bar that seems to cater to a high-priced, high-style, high-ego, brunch/dinner clientele."]
• Habitat (Broadway) [Transmogrified late 2000 into the upscale Bleu Bistro]
• The Pearl (4200 block of U. Way).  Closed mid-2002.  Much missed by me.  Was the scene of several memorable Jason Webley concerts, including the 2000 Halloween concert immediately preceding his death.  The resurrection took place elsewhere.
• Perkengrüven (4736 University Way), became a restaurant in fall, 2005, Sunny's Home Cooking or some such.  P. had been in decline since the original owner, who laboriously created the cafe (c.1997) from a space that had been a shoe repair shop for years, departed.  A second Perkengrüven opened further down the Ave. (4100 block).  It became Cafe Zoe and finally closed in early May, 2006.
• The Speakeasy (2nd Ave., Belltown). One of Seattle's earliest Internet cafes (founded 1994).  Was to close spring '99 -- but didn't.  Destroyed by fire May 2001.  Speakeasy as an ISP survives and thrives.
• Still Life in Fremont (N. 35th off Fremont).  The original owner, Ruth Quinet, sold the Fremont location 9/2002, but continued to operate Still Life On the Ave (at the Grand Illusion Cinema) for a time before it became Still Life on the Oasis.  The Fremont location now [1/2005] operates under a different name as a restaurant.
• Sweet Springs (Ave.) Closed June 2001.  The closest coffee house to where I live, and not far from the Last Exit's final location. Hosted at least one Jason Webley concert, despite its tiny dimensions.  Greatly missed in the neighborhood.    Reopened in October, 2002, as My Sweet Lord, operated by the Hari Krishnas, offering free vegetarian meals on a sporadic basic.
• Uncommon Grounds Cafe (6508 Roosevelt).  In April, 2001, new owners added an upscale dining menu.  In September, 2004, even newer owners completed the transition to a bistro called Atlantic Crossing.
  

• Java Man's Favorite Coffee Links
• Mother City Espresso virtual magazine
• The Loft Bistro, celebrity maven Adelle Vancil Tilton's "on-line coffee house and tea room," is at last check (7/2003) off-line; status unknown.
• Dan DeMura's once-a-week single-panel  The Daily Grind, "a cartoon shot of espresso."
• Jolly Caffé, an Italian coffee company
• Seattle Coffee Houses: "A User's Guide, updated November 22, 2002."  Ownership unclear; possibly the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR).The Coffee-House by Markman Ellis: "Texts and ideas about coffee, coffee-houses, and modern life."  9/2003: This site has vanished.  Markman Ellis is an authority on 18-century English literature.   Apparently he is or was preparing a book on the history of the English coffee house.  A copy of his essay "An introduction to the coffee-house: a discoursive model."
• MuggaJava: books, gadgets, beans, misc.

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