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Silky skins are the star of E-Jae Pak Mor’s signature dumplings. Seattle’s paradisical dumpling scene leans heavily toward Chinese varieties, fitting for the birthplace of local-chain-gone-national Dough Zone and frozen xiao long bao dumpire Mìlà. But wrapping dough around filling is a universal language, stuffed with variations shaped by culture and geography. To keep things simple (and perhaps give ourselves the chance to someday do a follow-up on breadier enclosed snacks), we stuck with the classic concept of a dumpling as a little nugget o’ meat wrapped in a nice bit of dough as we scoured the Seattle area for places selling the finest renditions from outside the Sinosphere. Capitol Hill The Friday-night dinners at Dom Polski, the Polish Home, on Capitol Hill are a classic Seattle treasure. The room fills up with Polish-speaking families, big groups of friends toasting with bison grass vodka, and sometimes live music. Most important, there are pierogi. Sebi’s Bistro closed its Eastlake restaurant in 2022 and decamped to the Polish Home, where it took over the Friday-night dinners. The thick-skinned pierogi come slick from the frying pan and, depending on the filling, showered with bacon or caramelized onion confetti. For a full dumpling feast, snag some pyzy—round dumplings with a dough made of potato—and one of the sweet dumplings often available for dessert. Pak mor means "top pot," a reference to where the dumplings steam. Chinatown–International District TikTok sent the first waves of crowds to this bright counter-service Thai restaurant, but the wrinkled silky rice wrappers and cheerful service converted them into loyal regulars. Pak mor are a Thai specialty rarely seen in these parts because of the time and skill required to make the delicate dumpling skins, and that is also why they are so very worth going out of your way to try them.  Renton The big green booths hint at the space’s past life as part of a suburban chain, while the ornate colored glass chandeliers make clear its present as a Turkish restaurant. The extensive menu of meze and kebabs is supplemented by a pastry case full of baklava and custard, but don’t start on dessert until trying the manti. The doughy, marble-size pyramidal dumplings stuffed with beef and onion come bathing in garlicky yogurt sauce, awakened by melted paprika butter.  Wallingford In mid-2025, Seattle’s Central Asian restaurant scene (OK, restaurant; there’s just the one) shifted when Turkmen Fitchi House transitioned to the Uzbek Caravan. Among the changes was the addition of manti—which share little beyond a name and general “dumpling” category with the saucy Turkish variety at Cafe Sabah. The pinch-braid closure along the top of these dense ovals barely contains the juicy, onion-heavy golf ball–size lamb meatball inside. It’s a monster of a meal, but nothing that can’t be lightened up with a side order of carrot salad.  The colorful dumpling combo is the best way into the giant menu at Indian Nepali Kitchen. Northgate The dumpling selection at this Aurora charmer (now farther north, after a 2025 relocation) is as broad as the Himalayas are tall. Vegetarian and chicken momos each come in 10 different styles, including the butter masala ones: a dozen crescent-shaped, chicken-stuffed dumplings, deep-fried until crisp enough to resist the come-ons of the brick-red sauce in which they arrive. Rookies should start with the momo combo, a colorful sampler of the greatest hits.  Chinatown–International District This descendent of storied sushi restaurant Tsukushinbo mainly focuses on onigiri—the stuffed rice balls that one could argue are a dumpling of sorts—but makes an excellent gyoza, too. The delicate skins and mild meat filling serve mostly as background dressing for the star of the show: the impressively crisp bottoms. Federal Way Gogi on the Go now stays put in the Federal Way location that was previously Mandu-Ya. The two businesses have become one, and, thankfully, the Korean-Mexican fusion menu still includes Korean mandu. The steamed dumplings, like the king beef bulgogi, best show off the restaurant’s housemade skins, while the fried versions show off its creativity. For some excellent noodle-on-noodle action, try the japchae dumplings; order the hot flavored mandu for some brain-shaking spice. Korochka Tavern's cocktails and Russian dumplings make a surprising and lovely combination. Wallingford The dill, the bold floral wallpaper, and the craft cocktails in vintage glassware all tie together to form an adorable little bar—and that’s before you get to the Russian dumplings. Quietly terrific and deservedly on our list of the city’s 25 best bars, Korochka serves both pelmeni—small and meat-filled—and vareniki, a larger crescent-shaped dumpling with potato-based fillings. Don’t sleep on the housemade adjika hot sauce.  Northgate While Seattle has Vietnamese restaurants in spades—and plenty of excellent ones—Lotus Pond serves many lesser-known dishes that require more skill or time than the standards. That includes bánh bột lọc, the slender, chewy tapioca envelopes laid out on banana leaves and stuffed with shrimp and pork. Their mesmerizingly stretchy exterior makes them incredibly fun to eat, especially when softened and flavored with a dip in nước chấm—sweetened fish sauce and lime dip. 

The Cadillac Hotel in 1971, shortly after Pioneer Square was admitted to the National Register of Historic Places. As anyone who’s been on an Inside Passage cruise knows, Seattle has had deep ties to the Alaskan panhandle town of Skagway. During the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s, Seattle benefited greatly by functioning as the “Gateway to the Klondike,” where gold diggers loaded up on supplies before pressing their luck in Canada’s Yukon wilderness. Even today, Seattle is the main port for freight and passenger service to Southeast Alaska, which includes tiny Skagway, and every summer, the town relies on a stream of lower-48 tourists who use Seattle as their launchpad. But weirdly, the two cities are also connected by the US National Park Service. About six blocks of downtown Skagway are part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, along with the nearby Chilkoot Trail and White Pass Trail as well as the ghost town of Dyea, Alaska. But the rest of the park lies 1,600 miles south, in urban Pioneer Square. The Cadillac Hotel is a survivor of fire, fortune, a few major earthquakes, and the economic swells and recesses of both the city and the neighborhood specifically. Today, the building’s main floor houses a museum dedicated to the Klondike Gold Rush. But its story begins long before the first shovel ever struck Yukon soil.The Cadillac Hotel was born out of a disaster. In June of 1889, the Great Seattle Fire consumed 25 blocks of the young city’s commercial core, most of which was built out of Douglas fir. Seattle rose quickly from the ashes, though, this time built in masonry, and because the fire led to a housing shortage, the priority was to construct new, affordable hotels. Real estate developer Edward F. Wittler acted fast. At the corner of Second Avenue and Jackson Street, on a site previously occupied by run-down wooden buildings, his new three-story brick building was originally called the Wittler Block and was completed in just six months. Open for business as the Elliott House by the end of 1889, the hotel was intended for laborers—sailors, loggers, longshoremen, and, eventually, prospectors.A  single room went for 25 cents a night.  Seattle's branch of the Klondike Gold Rush Museum (left) probably looks familiar. Skagway's on the other hand... Upon its debut, the Elliott House featured a saloon, a drugstore, and an inexpensive restaurant on its ground floor. In 1891, the business was rechristened as the Derig Hotel. Its name was changed to the Star Lodge in 1904, before finally becoming the Cadillac Hotel in 1906. In the 1920s, the Teamsters had an office there, and a quilt manufacturer operated out of the building a decade later. By design, the Wittler Block was modest and pretty typical of the Victorian buildings that were put up in a hurry after the fire—arched window openings, iron details, and simple decorative brickwork, with 56 humble rooms stacked on three floors above a street-level retail space. Architect James W. Hetherington designed many of the post-fire buildings in the area—the Diller Hotel is another—and the facade bears his light Italianate details. Proving once again that timing is everything, the Cadillac Hotel was well poised when a ship docked in July 1897 carrying “a ton of gold.” The Klondike Gold Rush transformed Seattle overnight, with businesses like Nordstrom (Sweden-born John W. Nordstrom actually made his fortune in Alaska first, as an investor, before opening his footwear store here), Bartell Drugs, Filson (f.k.a Pioneer Alaska Clothing and Blanket Manufacturer), and various other outfitting stores sprouting up to sell clothing, food, and mining supplies. The flash mob of gold prospectors turned 1890s Seattle into the Klondike’s main supply hub and created a churning local economy, which in turn laid a foundation for the city's future growth in many sectors. Former stampeders later set up social clubs in downtown Seattle relating to the gold rush, like the Arctic Brotherhood and the Alaska Club—which merged in 1908 to form the Arctic Club and eventually build its walrus-themed, still extant hotel.  With low prices and a handy location near the waterfront, the Cadillac Hotel became an unofficial HQ for thousands of fortune hunters who poured through the city. When the gold fever faded and most would-be millionaires had gone home emptyhanded, the hotel continued serving low-income lodgers for decades. A Japanese American couple, Kamekichi and Haruko Tokita, owned and operated the hotel business starting in 1936. Kamekichi was a fine art painter of some local renown, and he lived and worked with his large family in cramped quarters at the Cadillac until 1942, when the US’s entrée into World War II forced the Tokitas into incarceration, first in Puyallup and later in Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho. Although the family moved back to Seattle after the war, they’d had no choice but to sell the hotel business beforehand and were homeless upon their return. The Cadillac Hotel (no longer accepting guests). In 1970, after a fire at downtown’s Ozark Hotel killed 21 people, the city passed the Ozark Ordinance, requiring sprinklers in all Seattle hotels. But the owners of the Cadillac Hotel couldn’t afford the upgrade and had to close off the upper floors the same year. Many of its residents left their belongings behind, only to be discovered later on by a photographer who was squatting in the hotel. The same year, in 1970, Pioneer Square was designated as Seattle’s first historic district, and the whole district was admitted to the National Register of Historic Places. But preservation measures came slowly, and for decades, the Cadillac Hotel waited its turn for repairs. Various businesses still operated out of the main and basement levels, though. In 1986, a funk/R&B club called the Hollywood Underground moved into the basement, and by New Year’s Eve 1992, the legendary Fenix Underground and its ground-floor Fenix Café had taken over, spotlighting PNW bands like the Gits, Jumbalassy, Hit Explosion, and the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. Meanwhile, the neighborhood had fallen into decline, and although the ground floor and basement floor were occupied, the upper floors of the Cadillac sat largely vacant, patiently awaiting updates. Lucky thing, too. Although less, ahem, expansive than its sister sites in the Alaska panhandle, the park’s Seattle unit still serves a huge role in telling the story of the Klondike. It was a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that booted the Cadillac to the top of the waiting list. On February 28, 2001, at 10:54 am, the Nisqually quake cracked streets, crunched chimneys, and wrought widespread damage to structures across the city—including many historic Seattle buildings, especially those made of porous, unreinforced brick. Among the hardest hit, the Cadillac Hotel became something of a poster child for the catastrophic damage to the city, as it sat for weeks behind a mountain of its own crumbled bricks that had toppled from the facade. The roof had partially collapsed as well, and its main structural beams were compromised. As an added insult, in the weeks after the earthquake, the top floors were exposed to the elements when parts of the cornice failed, and pigeons soon roosted inside, causing further damage to the hotel’s interior. The building was red-tagged—deemed unsafe to enter—and its owners requested permission to demolish it. What followed was a tug-of-war between economics and preservation. Although the upstairs had long sat derelict, the Cadillac was still one of the few remaining buildings from Seattle’s post-fire renaissance, and a main stage during the city’s lavish gold rush era. It was in a designated historic district and held serious historic value. After a push by several local preservationists to save it, nonprofit Historic Seattle successfully negotiated to buy the building in 2002 for $2 million, kicking off an ambitious restoration project that would take four years to complete. The hotel underwent a complete seismic retrofit and interior rebuild—walls were stabilized, a new roof was installed, shattered windows were replaced with historically accurate frames, and the building was brought up to modern safety and accessibility codes. Interesting items were uncovered in the process, like antique bullets embedded in a bannister. Although one of its two staircases had been taken out years earlier—which increased overall weakness in the structure, it should be noted—care was taken to preserve the hotel’s grand central staircase as faithfully as possible. Meanwhile, the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park had had an outpost in Seattle beginning in 1976, but it wasn’t at the Cadillac Hotel. The park’s Seattle unit was first in the Union Trust Annex at 117 Main Street, around the corner from its present site. But the museum’s space was limited there, and along with the increased square footage at the Cadillac, the NPS saw a more historically resonant and architecturally rich setting to tell the story of Seattle’s role in the Klondike Gold Rush. The NPS leased the Cadillac Hotel in 2005 and moved its museum in at Second and Jackson following the extensive renovations. Although less, ahem, expansive than its sister sites in the Alaska panhandle, the park’s Seattle unit still serves a huge role in telling the story of the Klondike. Established in 1976 by an act of Congress and totally free to visit, the museum documents not only the origin story of the raiding of the Yukon gold fields but also the ways in which it shaped Seattle—offering immersive exhibits like a full-size replica of a miner's cabin, an industrial-grade sewing machine of the era used to make canvas gear, a scale to weigh even the most minuscule gold nuggets and flakes, and an interactive exhibit for visitors to try their hand at gold panning. One exhibit profiles people who made and lost fortunes in a trice. Photos, diaries, gear, and other personal effects of the stampeders’ are also on display, some of them in the rooms where they once slept. The diverse mix of people who made the trek is also honored: Among the well-caricatured white male prospectors in beards and flannel shirts, there were also Indigenous people, Black Americans, women, and immigrants of many different extractions. The museum also explains the ways in which Indigenous communities along the route to the Yukon were impacted. Poetically, the building could be considered a symbol of the cycles of destruction and renewal that have defined Seattle. In March 2025, the Seattle unit of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park appeared on a list of 34 national parks that were in danger of having their leases terminated due to funding cuts by the Trump administration, and as of last week, the museum is closed during the government shutdown.  Although Historic Seattle still owns the Cadillac Hotel and the building itself is not at risk, it isn’t currently known if the NPS will be permitted to renew their lease there for another five-year contract. The Alaska contingent of the park is not at risk, since the NPS owns those properties, rather than leasing them from another organization. The Cadillac Hotel is more than a shell for all these stories; it’s a story itself. Poetically, the building could be considered a symbol of the cycles of destruction and renewal that have defined Seattle, from fire to fortune, from earthquake to preservation, from economic decline to boomtown renaissance. Although its future as a museum and educational center is shaky right now, the building itself is still a precious example of Victorian architecture that’s been restored essentially to its original state, and unlike its prior periods of decline, we can probably expect it to be occupied by something or another going forward. With luck, though, this uncertainty will be another small blip in the road that the Cadillac will overcome, and the historic hotel will continue to link us to our city’s rich, golden past.

Hungry for news? Welcome to our Friday Feed, where we run through all the local food and restaurant news this week—and maybe help you figure out where to eat this weekend. Same tamales, now available further west. Saved You a Trip The asparagus tamales from Los Hernández outside Yakima are hardly a secret: Nearly every food-loving Seattleite has detoured to the low building in tiny Union Gap to pick up a few for the road. The James Beard America’s Classic–honored food just got a whole lot more convenient, though. Local gourmet food purveyor Pasta & Co. announced this week that they now carry frozen six-packs of the beloved Washington staple in both their locations (University Village and Bellevue). Shrewdly Sliced The University District hardly lacked for bagels before Backyard Bagel opened its second location this week in the former General Porpoise space behind U-Village. Hey Bagel, Blazing Bagels, and Einstein Bros. all sit within sniffing distance. Given Hey Bagel’s controversial no-slicing policy and Einstein Bros. lack of pork (one of the city’s few kosher establishments), Backyard’s choice to debut a single-location special of a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich seems brilliant—whether calculatedly sly or simply taking advantage of the better-equipped kitchen. More Openings Drink in the beauty: Designer Nakisa Dehpanah and her husband, bartender Taylor Nepon (Pintxo, Rochambeau) combine their skills at Majnoon, a stunning cocktail bar that opened this week in Queen Anne. The name alludes to the Persian story of Layla and Majnun, and also translates to "crazy." Soup season: Roosevelt favorite An Nam Pho opened a second location in the former Thai of Wedgwood location on 35th Avenue NE. New street, who dis? After securing complete domination on N 45th Street, the folks behind Yoroshiku, Indigo Cow, and Secret Fort have expanded their range, opening Curry Lab Sapporo on NE 65th in the space previously occupied by Muto (and Lucinda prior to that). As the name implies, this spot focuses on Japanese-style curries—perfectly timed with the arrival of cozy season. Speaking of cozy: Cloudy Café, the Indonesian-tinged bakery from Dionne Himmelfarb (Canlis, Poppy, and Ethan Stowell Restaurants) is set to open to the public on October 17. Not the only curry in town: Japanese comfort foods, including curry, will also center on the menu of the Tsuki Shokudo. The new fast-casual restaurant from Moontree Sushi and Tapas owner Byungmoon Chun is set to open early next year, reports Puget Sound Business Journal. Not Opening The doughnut is half-empty: Capitol Hill Seattle dug into the sudden closure of Half and Half Doughnut Co. Along with the usual complaints—high costs, low security, not enough parking—owner Christine Cannon mentions a family matter, and CHS points out that Portland chain Voodoo Doughnuts opened last year and Mighty O recently closed its nearby location. That chicken is cooked: Cookie’s Country Chicken is on the move. Though lacking in details or actual dates, My Ballard reports that Cookie’s Country Chicken will close their current Ballard location and move to a new one. According to Cookie’s, the new spot is less than a mile from Market Street, has a big outdoor space, parking lot, and plenty of TVs. Closing time: Wallingford staple and classic neighborhood spot Kate’s Pub announced this week that it will shutter at the end of the month. Oh, BTW, here’s what you missed last time.

Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair  “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.” —Frida Kahlo This time, you must meetmy steadfast gaze. Watchas I unmarry each strand from my scalp, the scissorsa phantom limb in my grip,metal as sharp as grief. Don’t turn away. As a child, I was toldthat a woman’s hair is her crowningglory, but this keratin kingdom lies limp and lifeless at the feetof a vengeful god. My beauty, you used to call me, taming my hair with your fingers, heldin your eyes like an insectpinned inside a frame. This is how I demand to be seen: dressedin my finest silk suit and shiniesthigh heels, neither beautiful nor yours. And when they sayWhat a pity, she was so pretty once, the dark strands on the ground will writhe in reply. We/Us/Ours No I in sight, lost in the heat of we. Lovelittering the room like laundry, air thickwith the sound of skin slick on skin. Nightly, we invent new languages of devotion. We makewindows of our mouths and peer inside to discoverwhat soft secrets are buried in the dark. We leave no inch of flesh unloved. Kiss each other’skneecaps. Slide clandestine fingers into unsuspectingbelly buttons. Sink teeth into thighs with a hunger that we’d happily let obliterate us. It’s truethe particles that comprise us can never fully meetno matter how desperate our grasping—electrons withheld and repelled by forces our eyes cannotdiscern, but desire defies the demandsof physics. We touch like our bodies are as brief as heaven, as though we never feared our selvesdrowning in the dizzying ocean of other, limbstangled like seaweed, until we can no longer tell which parts of us belong to whom. Risk Assessment Where did you come from? I have spent / the currency of my body / clawing my way out / of the blood-dark dirt / that birthed me /  Do you know why you are here? O nation of filth / O great gaping maw / I pledge allegiance / to your oblivion / when I go waltzing into my grave / I will drag you down with me Is there a history of mental illness in your family? call it what you must: illness / or empire /the prognosis is the same / those unforgiving hands / narrowing their orbit / around my neck Have you had thoughts of hurting yourself or others? I knuckle the knots / out of my creaky back / harden my flesh to marble / and swallowthe cracked shards of myself / that I have meticulously chiseled away  Do you feel hopeless about the future? does the android feel hopeless about its lack / of consciousness, or does it simply / fulfillits function? Have you ever attempted suicide? when a starfish finds itself trapped / in a predator’s grip / it will detach its captive limb / in orderto escape / softening the connective tissue / until it drifts onto the ocean floor / like a rotting apple / some species can even regenerate / an entire bodyfrom a scrap / of severed arm / guided by stubborn instinct / a slow, bloodless miracle Ally Ang is a self-described gaysian poet and editor based in Seattle. They are the author of Let the Moon Wobble (Alice James Books, 2025). Their work has appeared in The Rumpus and Muzzle Magazine, on Poets.org, and elsewhere. Ang has received fellowships and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, and Artist Trust. They cohost Other People’s Poems, a poetry open mic and reading series in Seattle. Find them at allysonang.com or @TheOceanIsGay. 

Though a fire tore through Rising Sun Produce in early 2024, it reopened by August. Though the flames never entered the store, the fire that engulfed Rising Sun Produce in February of last year burned hot enough to melt the cash register and fill the Roosevelt space with smoke. Owner Bud Goodwin, who opened the shop in 1979, received the call from the fire department at 3:30 in the morning. “I thought that was it,” Goodwin says. “I didn’t see how we could recover from that.” Just a few months earlier, across town in Beacon Hill, the colorful handwritten signs that normally advertised Rainier cherries or Skagit Valley berries announced that MacPherson’s Fruit & Produce was closing after 39 years in business. In each case, the community lost a small treasure: an old-fashioned produce vendor that sold farmers market–quality fruits and vegetables at discount grocer prices. By the end of the summer, though, both stores reopened, buoyed and sustained almost entirely by support from their communities and the commitment of their owners—new and old. Flavor is the most important thing to MacPherson’s owner Elias Benitez. After the fire, online fundraising for Rising Sun brought in more than $80,000. “Small donations from people that just wanted us to be here,” says Goodwin. The landlord put up $275,000 to restore the building—particularly impressive given the value of the land just a few blocks from the Roosevelt light-rail station. “He could have torn it down and put a high-rise. He chose; he wanted us here.”  Goodwin opened Rising Sun in 1979, after it became clear that he couldn’t afford to buy land for an orchard in Yakima. Instead, he started buying peaches and apples there and bringing them back to the city. “It was a no-brainer,” he says. “People enjoyed it so much that we just expanded from there.”  He supplemented seasonal local produce with items like bananas, California citrus, and Christmas trees. When he calls Rising Sun a convenience store, he means it in a very literal sense: “a convenience for the neighborhood, someplace they can pick up vegetables really easily.” The fragile nature of produce gives Rising Sun, MacPherson’s, Ballard’s Top Banana, and other outposts like them far more life than the typical mini-mart. The glow of summer strawberries shimmers in a way Diet Coke does only in ads, the ethereality of August corn wields impressive power to inspire an impromptu stop. This is especially true at markets like MacPherson’s, which powers its affordable prices through small, precisely timed purchases from distributors. Rising Sun has the carrots you need for dinner tonight. Greg MacPherson started selling produce in Pike Place Market in 1975, then opened the Beacon Hill store in 1984. A 2005 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer sheds light on how the former gas station became a produce shop: “He struck a deal with the property owner, Angelo Borracchini, who started collecting $10 from him every day, in person, until he let him move inside the gas station at the onset of bitter cold. Then, it was $20 a day.” (Borracchini came from the grocery business himself, having spent many years helping run his father’s iconic eponymous Rainier Valley bakery and market, a neighborhood favorite since the 1920s.) In 2010, MacPherson purchased the property for $1.7 million. For almost 40 years, MacPherson sold a diverse array of inexpensive produce in a neighborhood that cherished it. Then, ready to retire, facing rising prices and falling sales, MacPherson closed up shop in October 2023. “It was heartbreaking for the community,” says longtime customer Joshua Inoue. “They always had good fruit and greens,” he says, and he would pick up flavored honey sticks there for his daughter whenever she got sick. Rising Sun's signs let customers know what's in right now. For 25 years, Elias Benitez worked at MacPherson’s. The buyer and manager was among the many people devastated by the store’s shuttering. “If I had the money I would just keep it open myself,” he told The Seattle Times. A few weeks later, MacPherson called Benitez and told him if he still wanted it, it was available. Much like MacPherson once rented from Borracchini, Benitez would lease the land from MacPherson. In March 2024, the lights went back on at MacPherson’s. Customers stopped by to say how sad they were that it had closed; how thrilled they were it was open again. Through the slow winter season, Benitez and his wife managed the store without much help. They changed little when they reopened, just ordering in smaller quantities to make it easier to manage. More significant was what they kept the same: “The important thing is the flavor,” Benitez says. “You cannot sell cantaloupe that tastes like a cucumber.” He checks everything that comes in, sampling to make sure it meets his standards. What sets them apart from a supermarket, he says, is that customers can do the same. “I’ll let you touch, taste my grapes, or a mandarin, apple. You want to know how it tastes, I’ll let you taste it.” While MacPherson’s reopened, Rising Sun worked toward doing the same, with a rising son on hand. Bud Goodwin’s son Virgil acted as chief carpenter, crafting new display stands for the store. He put them on wheels, looking for ways to improve the shop when it reopened in August 2024. Though Bud still does the books and buying, his son has taken over much of the rest of the work of running the store.  “You always want to do a little bit more,” says Bud. “But if you can get by and make people happy, that’s the most important thing.” Lucky for him (and his son and Benitez), the recent history of Seattle produce markets illustrates that what makes people happy is having a great place in their community to buy affordable fruits and vegetables.

Alert: The doors at this property are not raptor-proof. It’s impossible to look at Washington’s old-growth forests and not see the distant past—one populated with not just mossy trees and giant ferns, but roaming creatures straight from The Land Before Time. What would it have been like to live among them? Well, this Washougal home offers the closest thing to an answer we might find in 2025. The two-acre property just north of the Columbia River is ruled by life-size motion-controlled dinosaurs, from a Brachiosaurus that gently moves as cars pass through the entrance gate to a roaring Tyrannosaurus rex just outside the front door. "Custom, contemporary style" with a very not-contemporary twist. When real estate broker Louise James first sold the property to a Portland builder, it was just a shed. In 2019, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with “really cool flair” was completed. Industrial fixtures and large, exposed beams lend a “custom contemporary style” to the interiors, and the open floor plan makes the space attractive for family gatherings, she adds. The next buyer had something a bit more bizarre in mind. He built a handful of life-size dinosaurs on-site, equipping each with their own analog button to trigger roars and lifelike movements. It’s no surprise James remembers the first time she saw the updates in person: “I actually have video, and I’m laughing and I’m giggling and kind of scared at the same time.” Though it was born a woodsy cabin, the clean lines and airy light of the wood-forward interiors are overshadowed by the roaring residents just beyond industrial metal siding. It was a short-term rental property (considered a “guest favorite” on Airbnb), with visitors using the Jurassic getaway for weddings, bachelorette parties, birthdays, and family vacations. Dinosaurs are in the property’s DNA, but Dougan Falls, Cape Horn Lookout, and fishing access just beyond the nearly 11-foot-tall entrance gate also make it a great home base for outdoorsy travelers. Set on two acres of serene, forested land, the house includes a Jeep to explore the surroundings in true Jurassic Park style. All furnishings are also included, down to the dinosaur-related artifacts lining the shelves inside. Selling full-furnished homes “is a more common thing that’s going on in this world because every house is so personalized and different,” James says. Oh, hello. And bespoke it is. Sure, the next buyer could take escapism to the next level, opting for daily coffee with the hot-tub-adjacent velociraptors. But its short-term rental history positions this unique residence as an investment property, or perhaps as a second home with income potential for dino fanatics. One thing is for sure, says James. The ultimate buyer will be “somebody who loves dinosaurs.” Listing Fast Facts 61 Joy Ln Washougal, WA 98671Size: 2.03 acres, 2,166 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroomsList price: $899,000List date: 5/31/2024Listing agent: Louise James, Cascade Hasson Sotheby's International Realty

The Great Pumpkin Beer Festival is an Elysian tradition. the world is a scary place; why not take control of the spooks this Halloween season with some planned frights. Treat your brain to a tidy shot of adrenaline with the help of these haunted Seattle-area attractions, from terrifying corn mazes to pumpkin-flavored toasts. If you're seeking more PG happenings, check out our roundup what to do across the state in October. Sept 26–Nov 2 | $37–135 The Morgue distinguishes itself from other haunted houses with its world-building and theatrical panache—no rifling around, blindfolded, in bowls of cold spaghetti. A slurry of unconfirmed, sensational rumors of murder and the supernatural surrounds the building itself, which was the site of a former mortuary and crematorium. Georgetown sept 26–nov 1 | $58–99 Step into a historically haunted venue for a terrifying free-roam cocktail party experience, with spooky aerial performers and illusionists, music, and of course, gothic romance. Victorian finery meets vampiric desires in the cinematic haunt.  Rainier Chapter House Sept 27–Nov 1 | $30–45 Straddling a very thin line between LARPing, Renaissance fair, and haunted house, this forest trail at Grand Farms in Vaughn promises to be littered with grotesque medieval terrors. It warns that souls cannot survive in the utter darkness of these woods so, you know, buyer beware. Scare-free for the kiddos 6–7pm.  Vaughn  oct 2–nov 2 | $27–36 If costumed actors groping through the dark aren't quite your thing, the light show at the Seattle Chinese Garden just might fit the bill with a touch of spooky season thrill. Illusions, shadows, echos, and fog create mystery during a one-hour stroll through the garden's shadows.  Seattle Chinese garden oct 2–nov 1 | $13–22 Tacoma’s iconic house of horrors implores you to leave your everyday existential dread and doomscrolling behind in favor of a much more fun sense of impending doom. The concrete basement was once used to store corpses during World War II; ghosts and monsters await. Tacoma  oct 3 & 4, 4–10pm | $5–100 Experience the Great Pumpkin before Charlie Brown does with a several-hundred-pound gourd overflowing with beer, tapped fresh each night. This autumnal alcohol festival stars 60-plus pumpkin-adjacent beers on tap, a fierce costume competition, and a pumpkin pie eating contest. capitol hill oct 3–nov 1 | $35–40 One of the campier options, Nile Nightmares at Nile Shrine Center offers a whole fair's worth of haunted attractions that run the gamut of classic horror tropes—laboratory, circus, slaughterhouse, you get the idea—and four escape room puzzle games.  Mountlake TErrace oct 3–nov 1 | $20–50 Idyllic pumpkin patch by day, amygdala-tickling horror show by night, the Snohomish farm is part corn maze, part haunted house. The farm transforms into its spooky alter ego Stalker Farms in the dark, notable for its clown-heavy repertoire and four haunting storylines to choose from. Snohomish Oct 8–10 | tba This spooky, immersive walking tour celebrates its 22nd anniversary this year with a tilt toward Indigenous history—told by Indigenous storytellers. In place of jump scares along the one-mile walk, real macabre history is unearthed: Murder, mayhem, and monologues await in one of Seattle's spookiest neighborhoods (historically speaking.)  Georgetown Oct 25, 8pm | $39 Glam gods of gore and neon have taken over MoPop to throw the (annual) party of the century. Dance the night away or see if you can complete a terrifying scavenger hunt through the museum. Compete in the costume competition, trivia, and incantations for a shot at winning tricks and treats.  MoPop Oct 16–nov 1 | $35–90 Can Can Production’s adaptation of The Nightmare Before Christmas, running at the Triple Door, features a Jack Skellington who has become disenchanted with his life’s work of scaring people. An encounter with Christmas Town sets him on a spooky new path throughout the burlesque musical. Triple Door

Suncadia trails have all the fall colors at their annual Harvest Fest. the leaves are changing, and fall brings Northwest festivals that run the gamut: apple cider festivals, spooky frights, and classic harvest hurrahs. Cheers to the season, and don't forget a rain jacket.  thru NOV 2 | Federal Way We've bemoaned the shortage of amusement parks in our region, but Wild Waves continues to carry the banner for thrills—and in October the chills don't come from getting out of the water. The Halloween event is divided into family friendly (during the day) and a bit scary (after dark), with haunted houses, a kiddie hay maze, and an adults-only Vampire Bar. Most rides will be running, but not the water slides. Bucoda's casket races are unusual, to say the least. Oct 1–31 | Bucoda How to put tiny Thurston County town Bucoda on the map? In fall, a monthlong salute to all things spooky does its best, culminating in a mass "Thriller" dance near Halloween. The festival also includes a haunted house, costume contests, cemetery tours, a hearse procession, and signature casket races. Bucoda: dead and loving it. Tragic Kingdom, a No Doubt tribute band from Portland, goes full '90s. Oct 3 & 4 | Moses Lake The rare October festival that doesn't have some sort of Halloween tie—though a good flannel works as a costume if you're going as any member of a bygone Seattle grunge band. Half the fun lies in the names of the cover bands that perform: 21 Guns (singing Green Day), Fighting Foos (saluting Foo Fighters), and Nirvana tribute Nevermind. Held in the Grant County Fairgrounds, the annual concert is a celebration of all things, sounds, and fashions of the 1990s. It's October. Shouldn't you take your lederhosen to Leavenworth? weekends, oct 3–18 | leavenworth It's a fall classic. The Bavarian hamlet of Leavenworth plays host to the quintessential beer fest complete with live music and polka dancing in the Festhalle, a street market, and Kinderplatz festival rides. But the drink menu ventures beyond traditional festbier to include hard kombucha and a nonalcoholic lager. Oct 4 & 5, 11 & 12 | Cle Elum Suncadia Resort hosts its 19th annual fall event at the historic Nelson Farm. The free event includes face painting, axe throwing, and a hay pyramid, plus a classic pumpkin patch. Local brews and craft cocktails liven up the country line dancing and wagon rides; food trucks fuel square dancing lessons in quintessential fall fashion. oct 4 | north bend Beneath the towering Mount Si, adorable mountain town North Bend welcomes fall with an annual blues walk, as 18 venues throughout town host over 20 bands. The old-school neon of the North Bend Theatre serves as the starting line; from there, let the blues tunes guide you through Twede's Cafe, Twin Peaks Pub, and more town classics.  oct 10 & 11 | Bainbridge island A waterside literary fest brings national and local authors to Bainbridge Island for readings, panel discussions, and signings. The weekend kicks off with a keynote presentation from fiction author Karen Russell of recent Dust Bowl–era epic The Antidote. With something for writers and readers alike, the fest continues with a slew of literary stars gracing the weekend's free events.  Oct 10–12 | Port Townsend An event so big it can't fit in one location, the annual tree-to-glass festival pops up at farms and cideries around the Port Townsend area. Aside from requisite tastings, an apple-filled brunch, a cider cooking class, and an afternoon garden dance party fill the rest of the weekend.  Oct 11 | Kennewick The Tri-Cities' riverside Columbia Park hosts this serene annual tradition. Tickets score a kit to craft a floating lantern, each decorated and illuminated alongside live music before being set out on the Columbia at dusk. The admission fees also fund the cleanup of the artworks after the event.

Lake Chelan offers a full year of activities, making it an ideal destination for any season. Visitors can discover year-round adventure and family-friendly fun in this best lakeside escape in Washington. Beyond the scenic water activities, the area is also known for its award-winning wines.