From Mike Seely at the Seattle Weekly:
To the overwhelming majority of bars in my soon-to-be-released book, Seattle’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking & Diving in the Emerald City (due out in April, Ig Publishing, $12.95), the term “dive” is bestowed with a salty spoonful of love. By and large, these places are the most distinctive, preservation-worthy bars in a city where watering holes of their ilk are swiftly disappearing. What they have in common isn’t so much attributes, but a state of mind—you just know one when you see one.
Angie’s
4915 Rainier Ave. S., 722-7771
Before Columbia City became Wallingford with a slightly browner median skin color, the once-slapdash neighborhood’s linchpins were the Busy Bee mini-mart and Angie’s Tavern, a longstanding watering hole that one expatriate of the nation’s capital aptly describes as “more D.C. than Seattle.” In other words: The music is thumping, the crowd is mostly black, the apparel can be flashy and suggestive, pool hustlers hustle, the drinks are cheap, the bouncer is big, and the interior design an afterthought. Simply put, a weekend night at Angie’s is a party—combustible in the best and worst senses of the word.At Angie’s, Bud pitchers can be had for the low, low, non-happy hour price of $5.50, and the bartender is a ringer for NBA star Nate Robinson, who played his high-school ball a couple miles south on Rainier. But one thing that’s in short supply at Angie’s is top-shelf liquor. Check that: Medium-shelf liquor is tough to come by here; they don’t even have Jack Daniel’s. If the top shelf is going to be that low—and we’re talking Gentleman Jack and Cuervo low—the drinks had better be stiff and cheap. On this front, Angie’s delivers, offering Olde English tallboys to boot.
As Columbia City continues its march toward gentrification, Angie’s is bound to come under increased scrutiny. Occasionally you’ll hear the place mentioned as a hotbed of drugs, drunkenness, and violence. Not to say that sort of thing doesn’t exist to some extent at Angie’s—it does at just about every bar—but when a neighborhood tends to get too full of itself, hyperbole often masquerades as truth. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail in Columbia City, and Angie’s is embraced as the cultural and commercial forerunner that it is.
Photo/do communications, inc.
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“Before Columbia City became Wallingford….” Ouch. That hurts like a stake through the heart. Wallingford sucks.
“Wallingford sucks”
It may, but they have both Bottleworks and Quan Yin teahouse.
I may just split in two one day: Dick’s IPA…no Oolong..no.
Columbia City is Wallingford? Seeley must not be from around here? Maybe Seeley is smoking some of what is sold in the alley behind Angie’s? Columbia City is more authentic than any other Seattle neighborhood but none the better for Angie’s. The last time I was there the place stank of moldy carpet and stale beer. It’s not a place I’d choose to spend an evening with friends. A dive is a dive. Angie’s is a dive with a high risk factor and not worth writing about. I’ve lost track of the number of violent episodes that have occurred at or in front of Angie’s Tavern. Angie’s is no asset to Columbia City and it adds nothing to the community. If Angie’s closes forever it will be missed by few.
In other words, Angie’s has street cred.
true to the brick.
Yeaaaa, let’s put a McDonalds in, then maybe the boushee cc brats won’t be so scared, disgusted, or insulted.
“but when a neighborhood tends to get too full of itself, hyperbole often masquerades as truth.”
I couldn’t have said it any better!!
An evening at Tutta Bella isn’t complete without some sort of emergency vehicle pulling up in front of Angie’s. That said, I’ve never actually been there, and can’t really jump in with my own two cents until I spend an evening getting tossed at Angie’s.
I want to come, Nick!
I’m always game — and I can even carlessly stumble home afterwards!
Columbia City Ale House is way overpriced, and Lottie’s is def Wallingford-y. Last time my parents came to the RV we ate at Tutta Bella and I explained to them how there’s ‘Columbia City’ and then there’s ‘the rest of Rainier Valley,’ and pointed to the escalating altercation across the street in front of Angie’s.’ Let’s do this.
I’ll take Wallingford’s crime rate over ours any day.
Do you suppose we could trade Wallingford some of our criminals –er, culture, for their lower crime rate?
I was in Angie’s a few weeks back with couple of ladies from my church. Both are long-term residents of South Seattle of many decades each. It is a fine dive bar. One women has hit on. We got reasonable service. The women were way more comfortable in there than I, and apparently more comfortable than more than a few on this list.
I’m a new comer to the Columbia City area (<5 yrs), I’ve eaten at most of the restaurants in Columbia City including Tutta Bella’s and have never been a witness to any emergency vehicles arriving at Angie’s, so
let’s cut the hyperbole like “An evening at Tutta Bella isn’t complete without some sort of emergency vehicle pulling up in front of Angie’s”
otherwise the Mike will be right when he wrote:
“but when a neighborhood tends to get too full of itself, hyperbole often masquerades as truth.”
I love the beat walk and all the fun things in Columbia City, but I’d let Angie’s keep serving the cheap wine and beer.
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