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Cal Raleigh started the season as a pretty good catcher. He concluded it as a mustachioed folk hero. Think back to late March. It wasn’t that long ago. The Seattle Mariners entered the 2025 season with typical Mariners-ish expectations: Maybe they’d compete for a playoff spot, or maybe after yet another underwhelming offseason with no major free agent acquisitions, they’d fall short. They won just three of their first 10 games. Cal Raleigh hit two home runs in that span, both in losses, neither feeling very significant at the time. There was absolutely no indication that this season would turn out to be one of the greatest in franchise history, right up there alongside the magical run of 1995 and the bewildering dominance of 2001. But no good sports movie starts with the team being good. Not that the Mariners were especially bad. They were just sort of there. Six months later, we we can say that this might be the best Mariners team ever. And it is definitely the most Mariners Mariners team ever. Of course, we can say it before a single postseason game has been played because of the inescapable subtext of every Mariners season: They have never won a World Series, never even been to a World Series. We can also say it because the Mariners have always been a franchise defined by two things: superstar players and wildly erratic vibes. This year, the superstars have been shining bright, and the vibes have been transcendent. Let’s start with the superstars. The Mariners entered the season with one. Julio Rodríguez has been exactly as good as anybody could hope for—exciting and charismatic and one of the top dozen or so position players in baseball at just 24 years old. They exit with two. Raleigh didn’t just have the greatest catcher season in baseball history, he had one of the greatest mythmaking seasons in the history of a sport that is built entirely out of myths. He hit 60 freaking home runs. The most ever by a Mariner. The most ever by a catcher. The most ever by a switch hitter. There he is, among the legends: Ruth, Mantle, Maris, Judge, Griffey, Dumper. Before Raleigh won the Home Run Derby in July, with his dad pitching and his brother catching, the Mariners had unearthed a home video of his 8-year-old self playing in the backyard and singing, “I’m the Home Run Derby champ.” [embedded content] Adorable evidence that the past is indeed prologue. A T-shirt was born. The myth of the Big Dumper grew that much more powerful. And it grew more powerful still as the season went on, Raleigh marching toward the historic 60th home run while the Mariners marched toward the American League West title and a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Was it an easy and pain-free march? It was not. The Mariners spent the first part of the season scraping by—carried by Raleigh, Jorge Polanco, Randy Arozarena, and J. P. Crawford as Rodríguez sputtered and the rest of the lineup was filled in by a random parade of veterans. Remember Donovan Solano? Remember Rowdy Tellez? Remember Leody Taveras? Even the vaunted starting rotation teetered on the brink of mediocrity as Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, and Bryce Miller all dealt with injuries. But the Mariners hung around. Bryan Woo emerged as an ace. Matt Brash demonstrated why the team missed him so much last year while he recovered from surgery. Then ownership empowered the front office to do something out of character: go out and trade for guys on expensive contracts. First came Josh Naylor. Then Eugenio Suárez.  Naylor has been spectacular for the Mariners: as a hitter, as a shockingly great base stealer, as an ornery personality to balance some of the goofy jubilation that typically marks this team. Suárez, on the other hand, has been fine. But his presence carries symbolic weight that is hard to explain unless you are a Mariners fan. His trade from Seattle to Arizona a couple years ago, the salary dump of all salary dumps, marked the nadir for an ownership group that seemed determined to do anything it could to keep a talented group of players from reaching the playoffs. His return, then, felt like an act of contrition. A rare second chance. And acknowledgment that yes, this is really happening, and it’s happening now.  Cal Raleigh getting dumped on by closer Andres Muñoz. It's a sight Mariners fans could get used to. And it did happen. Suárez is a known expert in good vibes (only). He brought them with him. The team has gone 32–20 since the trade, powered by both old-school baseball superstition (a bunch of the guys decided to grow mustaches), and new-school powers beyond the comprehension of ordinary humans (an Etsy witch contracted by a Mariners fan to help them finally beat Houston).   For the past few weeks, they have looked more dominant than at any point in the year. The rotation is one Bryan Woo pectoral strain away from full health. Raleigh is still dumping dingers. Rodríguez is playing his best baseball. They demolished Houston so thoroughly last weekend that, for all the drama, there was very little actual drama as the regular season concluded. It feels right. It feels like destiny. If you believe in Mariners Numerology, the signs are all there: They won 51 home games in the year they retired Ichiro’s number 51. They won their first division title in 24 seasons on the 24th day of September. No, March wasn’t that long ago. But it also feels like a lifetime ago. Magical baseball seasons don’t come around too often, and when they do, they don’t reveal themselves right away. After all, this is a sport that rewards patience. It’s a slow build, a wave collecting under the surface of the water before cresting, the little things falling into place before you can make out what they mean and see the big picture. Fittingly, after the game last Tuesday that clinched a playoff berth (and the night before he hit his 60th home run and the team wrapped up the division title), Raleigh went and quoted an old sports movie—one about a baseball team led by its beloved catcher banding together to overcome a cheap owner with good vibes and even a little bit of supernatural assistance to shock the world. “Might as well go win the whole fuckin’ thing,” he said. Might as well.

American capitalism has failed me in many ways, but none more ironic than the utter lack of Kpop Demon Hunters merchandise. The movie came out in mid-June and, by late August, when my daughter requested it as the theme of her eighth birthday party, it was on track to be Netflix’s most-watched movie ever, had three songs make the Billboard Top Ten, and was basically a certified cultural phenomenon. Yet, somehow, among Seattle’s many, many commercial enterprises—including three entire stores devoted solely to K-pop—the grand total of tangible Kpop Demon Hunters stuff I was able to locate in the region amounted to some keychains at The K-Pop Empire in Lynnwood, a few cups from a vendor at the Puyallup Fair, and some stickers at a pop-up art market. I’m generally a “couch, couch, couch” kind of party planner—the less I have to do, the better—but it became clear I was going to have to figure this out on my own. The great powers that be (tweens wielding their parents’ credit cards) have since spoken, and there is finally a slow trickle of merch hitting store shelves, but now that I’ve figured out how to do this DIY style, I figured I should pass on the wealth of information to you. Rumi smashing the (piñata) demons. What to Do at a KPop Demon Hunters Party The easiest part of the planning was the main activity: watching the sing-along version of the movie. But, while I love that it’s a mercifully short movie (I believe all movies should run 90 minutes), it meant we needed a few other activities. My one complete failure was Pin the (Pony)Tail on the Rumi. The plan for this fell apart when I couldn’t find a Rumi poster locally and the one that I ordered online got delayed the day it was meant to arrive, and suddenly instead of coming Tuesday for a Saturday party, it would come in two weeks (it’s not here yet). Should you acquire one, you could do what I planned to: trace the ponytail and cut that shape out from pieces of purple construction paper. More successful was my demon piñata, which the girls very much enjoyed smashing to pieces. With no KPDH piñatas in stores, I popped by my local Mexican market, La Conasupo, and picked up a random purple-ish one—it happened to be for the movie Wish. Then I printed pictures of the Saja Boys and glued them over the Wish graphic. Where the old design showed through, I painted over it with acrylic paint from one of the kids’ art sets, and added painted demon patterns to make it all look purposeful. Watching my 8-year-old daughter use an old shovel handle to whack at Jinu and friends with her thick, waist-length purple braid flapping behind her was my personal highlight of the night. How to Make a DIY KPop Demon Hunters Costume in Seattle Obviously, the birthday girl needed to be Rumi, and multiple parents asked me for costume advice to make their own demon hunter for Halloween. My top tip: The best time to raid thrift stores for Rumi costume supplies was last month. The second-best time is right now. The minute my daughter committed to a Rumi costume for both the party and Halloween, I ran for the car and headed to Goodwill for a black jacket before everyone else had the same idea. She already had a white tank top and shorts, and we scored an Old Navy faux-leather jacket. We hit up Seattle ReCreative for gold ribbon and twine that I braided into the details for the jacket and stuck on with fabric tape. A gold chain off an old dress-up purse, clipped around her waist, was a dead-ringer for the belt. For the hair, I bought long purple braiding hair from a hairdresser friend—most beauty stores should sell it. TikTok helpfully fed me 1,000 instructional videos to weave the fake hair into the real and create Rumi’s hairstyle, then I sprayed it all into place with purple hairspray from Walgreens. A feast of Huntr/x ramen and Dr. Han's tonics, along with shrimp chips and kimbap. How to Serve a DIY KPop Demon Hunters Meal in Seattle I’m a food writer, of course the scenes of Mira, Zoey, and Rumi eating their personal flavor of ramyun, housing whole rolls of kimbap, and scarfing shrimp chips needed reenactment. Washed down with Dr. Han’s tonic and popcorn from Abby’s so-hot abs, naturally. For the ramyun, I had hoped someone would sell stickers I could slap on to instant noodles. Or at least sticker templates I could print onto labels. They did not. I ended up just buying templates for the ramyun and tonics (uh, Capri-Sun) from Etsy and sticking them on with double-stick tape. They weren’t perfect, and the template size dictated which brands of ramyun I could use. But you know who did not care, and could not have been more excited? Second-graders. As my daughter pointed out with the tonics, it was just like in the movie, when they realize it’s actually grape juice Totally authentic Dr. Han tonics, just like in the movie. I had hoped to get more interesting ramyun, but between the template size, dietary restrictions, budget, and H Mart’s Ballard store selection, I stuck with two options—a fun sounding cheese and classic Cup O’ Noodle chicken. They looked pretty cool, and that was all that mattered. When I checked out at H Mart, the cashier immediately pegged me as purchasing for a KPDH party and told me they had just received a shipment of the actual KPDH-branded Shin Ramyun. She ran to the back and grabbed one to show me—they weren’t cups, so they wouldn’t work for the party, but I bought one for later anyway. (Unfortunately, even using only half the seasoning packet, they were too spicy for my 9- and 8-year-old.) To attempt to get the girls to eat a little food before the candy, I served everything except the popcorn during the first half of the movie, then paused for the piñata and doughnuts (birthday girl is not a cake person). I probably could have thought through handing a bunch of kids boiling water better. But we brewed them off to the side, filled them a little low, and handed them the cups with the option of an ice cube to cool it down. The only spills came later, when folks had kind of forgotten about them and knocked them over during an impassioned rendition of "Takedown." Make your meal match the movie, pause for cuteness. This Is What It Sounds Like Fifteen second-grade girls unabashedly singing their hearts out to Huntr/x turned out to be about the most delightful and earnest sight imaginable. Each time one of the snacks came on the screen they giggled and pointed at their version. If, for a single moment, I had any doubt about the value of paying for the templates, printing them at FedEx, and cutting them out until my hand ached, it was completely erased by the time the girls left; many insisting on bringing home their empty containers of Dr. Han tonic and half-eaten Rumi ramyuns.

Yeet that cell phone into the sea (or maybe just leave it behind). The first time I reached the summit of Mount Rainier, in August 2012, I switched my phone out of airplane mode to send a giddy text to the friend who'd helped me train for the climb. As I waited for a reply, I found myself idly scrolling. Through Facebook notifications, no less. It was just before 7am on a sunny Sunday, and the Mount Rainier crater rim stretched in front of me like a bowl of snow, balanced slightly askew. At 14,410 feet above sea level, I was halfway to cruising altitude for an airliner, atop a volcano—in a place I'd dreamed of standing my whole life. But I'd ended up with my face buried in Facebook's blue glow. I quickly did a what am I doing? head shake and switched the phone off, a little embarrassed. Last month, more than a decade later, I stood on a lawn in the San Juan Island County Park with Tiff, a guide for Outdoor Odysseys kayaking company. She explained to the six clients that signed up for the day-long paddle ($149 each) that the operator offered a new digital detox discount: a 10 percent refund if they left their phone in the van for the full six hours.  We all know, in some vague form, that being on our phone is bad for us. My boyfriend and I were the only ones to ditch our tech. Owner Tom Murphy launched the promotion this year to recapture the built-in disconnect that used to come with San Juan Islands kayaking. When he first joined as a guide in 2005, “You could kind of count on shitty cell reception when you went on one of these trips,” he says. But blanket coverage has come to even the waters of Haro Strait, which separate the archipelago from Vancouver Island, and phones get both American and Canadian cell signals. Now that circumstances don’t dictate an off-the-grid experience, Murphy realized it required intentionality. Phones safely stowed in the van, we carried bright-red two-seater kayaks to the water’s edge and launched into the slight chop of Salish Sea waters. In the paddle north, past exposed rock bluffs and the squat Lime Kiln Point State Park lighthouse, I kept my eyes on the surface for sea life. Oddly, I was ambivalent about the possibility of encountering the San Juans’ iconic orcas; it would be hard to see whales up close and not be able to take a photo.  We all know, in some vague form, that being on our phone is bad for us. Studies have shown that less phone use means better attention spans and better mental health; one recent study showed that 91 percent of people who took a two-week break from phone time saw some form of improvement. What’s more, a 2023 study found that cell phone use went up when people went to urban parks—though it does go down in more remote places like forests and nature preserves. Murphy is pushing the detox because he saw so many people engage through the tiny machines on his kayak trips. (Not, as I suspected, to keep people from dropping their phones into Puget Sound—that hardly ever happens. We hold on tight, not just figuratively.)  “They’re literally there in person, and they’re watching it on a seven-inch screen,” says Murphy. Clients would even edit in real time, using the day trip’s lunch hour to post on social media. “When you could be just enjoying the sunshine and the view and everything else, people are, like, banging their thumbs on that piece of glass.” Murphy notes that he’s trying to promote disconnection without judgment: “I don't think people are dumb for doing that,” he says. On my Outdoor Odysseys paddle, we were the only locals, and I knew it was far easier for me to forgo Instagram posts of the stunning but relatively familiar western shore of San Juan Island than it was for the out-of-towners. Ever since cameras became a main function of smartphones, they’ve been hard to ditch, even in outdoor spaces that we visit specifically because they are undeveloped.  Phones are also our navigation tool and our emergency communication; iPhones are now advertised as working with satellites to place an SOS call. Phones quickly evolved from luxury to necessity. A few weeks after the kayak trip, I figured I’d try a digital detox without the promise of money back. Embarking on a hike on a new-to-me trail just east of Stevens Pass, I stowed my phone so deep in my backpack that I couldn’t reach it. I didn’t start the tracker on my smart watch, and I didn’t even bring my headphones. For seven hours, I hiked with no GPS data to reassure me how far I’d gone or how many feet I still had left to gain. When the hillsides erupted into brassy red bushes, I took no photos; when we came to a fork in the trail, I dug into my memory of the trail map to decide which way to go. Trudging 4,000 vertical feet back to the car, I had only the ache in my knees to tell me how much of the punishing descent I’d accomplished. Every time I looked at the view, I implored myself to absorb it fully. Odds are I’ll never get back to that exact spot again (did I mention it was 4,000 feet of downhill?). It was freeing to experience the hike not through the lens of stats and metrics or inadequate cell phone snapshots; I finished feeling full of the actual scope of the mountain.  In the first year of offering the rebate, Outdoor Odysseys has seen more than 65 guests take them up on the offer. About 20 percent of clients are willing to ditch their phones, though guides don’t count digital cameras. (Murphy, an avid photographer, feels that those smaller, less interactive screens aren’t as bad.) Digital detox has grown into a vibrant travel sector, with The New York Times pegging it as a 2025 trend. While the day-trip discounts at Outdoor Odysseys are advertised on the company’s social media like any promotion meant to bring in customers, sales and marketing director Peter Yacobellis says “there’s no profit motive in what we’re doing here.” People come out of a digital detox trip feeling a little less harried and a little more refreshed; it’s a feeling even more addicting than the Facebook scroll.

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. Right up until it closed this week, Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill drew crowds. Not So Grande The Starbucks Reserve locations on Capitol Hill and SoDo closed suddenly this week, despite consistently drawing heavy crowds. The company announced large-scale store closures of locations they are “unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect,” or that they didn’t see as financially viable. No word on which category these fit into. The staff at both stores were unionized, with a threatened strike on the horizon. Final Flip SeaTac breakfast spot Pancake Chef will fry its final egg on Sunday, after more than 65 years in the same location. But as bad as this news is for fans of the old-school icon, it’s for a good reason—the owner is retiring after forty-some years. Ooey, gooey cinnamon rolls will be on the menu at the Pastry Project's new bakery. Ready, Set, Bake Whimsical, wonderful, mission-driven the Pastry Project announced its latest project, and—no surprise—it involves pastries. The free job-training, subscription baking kit, and soft-serve company will add another element to the business on October 16 when it launches its own bakery. The bakery will operate from the same Pioneer Square space, selling cinnamon rolls, cookies, croissants, and a few breakfast items Thursdays through Saturdays. Supreme Dumpling brings its dumpling supremacy to Seattle's side of the lake. And Many More Flying the coop: Coop-model restaurant Pidgin began its soft opening phase this week by serving lunch at its new Fisherman’s Terminal location with a menu that aptly includes a rockfish and chips with Sichuan tartar sauce. Matcha watcha: The former Boba Gem Tea House has been remade into Snooze Café. The Vietnamese coffee house comes from the same owners as Soufend Café, so while much of the menu is drink-focused, it also serves a few Viet snacks, including fish sauce garlic chicken wings. Ay, pupusa!: Beloved White Center staple the Salvadorean Bakery is on the verge of opening a sibling restaurant in Burien. Tia’s Café will open soon on Ambaum, focusing on breakfast—which will include cake, naturally. Small dumpers: Eastside minichain and sibling of Kizuki, Swish Swish, and Comebuytea, Supreme Dumplings is heading west. The Bellevue and Kirkland locations will soon be joined by a South Lake Union sibling, with a location in Alderwood to follow. They also have a San Francisco location and further plans in Texas. Oh, BTW, here’s what you missed last time.

Charcuterie and cider at Snowdrift in Wenatchee. Washington perfected apples, and our official state fruit makes a hell of a drink. We're talking the hard, alcoholic kind here, ones that rival our hoppiest beers for kick. Cidermakers are spread across the western half of the state and make for ideal road trip destinations. Just remember to bring a designated driver willing to sip on plain old apple juice. Keep in mind that given the family-run nature of some cideries, tasting rooms may have limited, seasonal, or weekend-only hours. East Wenatchee It's only fitting to drink cider in Wenatchee, the town so deep in apple production that it holds an annual festival dedicated to the fruit. Located on the east side of the Columbia, Snowdrift cites both the plentiful sunshine and its namesake snow as being responsible for their apple quality. Located out in East Wenatchee's farmland, the cidery is clearly a family operation—meaning visitors get to connect with the cidermaker himself, but must reserve ahead. Finnriver Farm and Cidery is a large complex for cider nerds. Chimicum In the rolling farmland just south of Port Townsend, the Finnriver orchards stretch across 80 acres using more than 20 different varieties of apple tree. And for good reason; the menu is long and varied. With both its own kitchen and visiting vendors dishing food, Finnriver is set up for a most-of-the-day visit. The farm also hosts art classes, poetry readings, line dancing, and workshops, plus regular live music. Eatonville Though a quaint water wheel turns outside the wood cabin–style cidery, it's there for decoration, not power production. But it makes for a nice backdrop in one of the state's most extensive outdoor areas devoted to cider—firepits, picnic tables, a pond. The drinks menu shows an affinity for the wild forests that surround the small town of Eatonville by featuring huckleberry and marionberry. Flatbreads and street tacos hold down the menu, with burnt-end sliders topped with slaw a real highlight. On warmer evenings, crowds stop here on the way home from nearby Mount Rainier National Park. Yakima Though one of the state's dominant cideries is named for Tieton—the small town in which it was launched, and in which its fruit is still grown—today its tasting bar is settled square in the middle of nearby Yakima. Familiar to anyone who's gotten fruit-forward drinks on draft in Seattle, Tieton makes crowd-pleasing apple standbys, but has also spread lavender honey and bourbon peach into the local mainstream. The tasting room has a bocce court outside and a machine for cider slushies, both well suited to the Yakima sunshine; a new food concept is coming soon. Westcott Bay ciders are small batch, from a small island. San Juan Island Like the rest of the San Juan Islands, the cidermaker near Roche Harbor is a small-batch, artisanal operation, the cider made in concert with liquor at San Juan Distillery. The owners pick the heirloom variety apples themselves from a small orchard nearby and make only three cider types; the driest uses no sugar at all. The cidery is open to visitors on weekends much of the year, but if you catch someone at another time you might score a chat and a taste. Vashon Island It's a two-fer! Vashon Island, a short ferry ride from Fauntleroy, is home to two different cidermakers, making it ideal for a comparison tasting by car or even bicycle. Nashi Orchards specializes in apple cider as well as perry, which is a similar drink made with pears—not apple cider flavored with pears, as so many pear ciders are. They turned an old artist's studio into a tasting room but do require tasting reservations. Dragon's Head, just a mile away, grows most of its own apples and focuses on highlighting the individual varieties in each cider.  The tasting room is more of a picnic area with Adirondack chairs next to the orchards. Curated tasting flights help visitors compare the subtleties between types. Bellingham The menu at this far north cidermaker reads like a produce stand: Rainier cherry, cucumber lime, and raspberry rhubarb, among others. Their imperial line reaches above 8 percent ABV. The downtown restaurant in quirky Bellingham has a patio that overlooks a park and the bay, dishing pizzas and a full dinner menu. It's definitely more of an in-town experience than a connection with the orchards and makers, but all the ciders are made of Washington apples, and the bar includes a cider slushy machine. Wilderbee Farm makes mead, a sweet alternative to cider. Port Townsend Okay, this is kind of a cheat; this idyllic farm makes mead, not cider, so it's not an apple product. Still, the sweet, wine-like drink made from honey has such strong farm flavors that it fits better with its apple cousins than it does hoppy breweries or refined wineries. With flower fields and a pumpkin patch, plus cute farm animals, it's a full-day destination; you'll need a few minutes to recover from the mead flights, which can include varieties made in bourbon barrels or spiced with smoked peppers.

From Pike Place Market to Amazon Go, Seattle’s long been a leader in the supermarket biz. We traced the history of some of our most famous local brands through their many debuts, mergers, buyouts, and bankruptcies to see how we got to the current state of supermarkets—and what the future might hold. Pike Place Market opened the door to new grocery stores in 1907. 1907 Among the vendors who set up at the city’s new public farmers market on Pike Place was Herman Eba. Eba’s son continued his legacy, growing Eba’s Grocery and Market to dozens of locations before becoming part of Tradewell in 1939. 1915 Seattle’s first self-service grocery—where shoppers pick their own goods, rather than asking a clerk for what they need—opened downtown. One of the first few in the country, Groceteria expanded to 40 locations in the ensuing six years, then collapsed just as quickly. The Moriguchi Family founded and still runs Uwaijimaya. 1928 Fujimatsu Moriguchi, a native of Japan, started a business selling homemade fishcakes and other Japanese staples from the back of his truck in Tacoma. Later the same year, he and his wife, Sadako, opened a store called Uwajimaya. 1934 Associated Grocers formed as a cooperative wholesaler, allowing its 11 independent stores to wield the buying power of larger chains. It grew to be a juggernaut of the industry, spawning groups of independent stores that banded together for additional leverage within the company, such as Red Apple and Thriftway. A Tradewell shop, around 1962. 1939 From the ruins of Eba’s and several other local grocers came Tradewell Modern Food Stores. President Monte L. Bean turned the failing brands around and continued to serve the company for nearly two decades before shifting his attention to the companies he and his son owned: Pay’n Save, Ernst, and Lamonts. Both Tradewell and Pay’n Save survived into the ’80s before fading out. 1945 After returning from Tule Lake Internment Camp in California, the Moriguchi family reopened Uwajimaya on South Main Street (in what is now the Chinatown–International District). It has moved a few times since, remaining in the same neighborhood and family as it expanded to four locations. 1953 John Affolter started a food-buying club for 15 families trying to spend less on groceries. The group evolved into the Puget Consumers Co-op and eventually the current 16-store PCC Community Markets. A Thriftway store at 19th and Dravus. 1955 Ray’s Thriftway at 6600 Roosevelt Way NE opened. In 1960 Ray’s owner Vern Fortin and Lake Hills Thriftway owner Jack Croco merged their stores into what they later named Quality Food Centers, which came to be better known as QFC. John (left) and Mo Nakata on Town & Country Market's opening day. 1957 John and Mo Nakata and family friend Ed Loverich opened Town & Country Thriftway on Bainbridge Island. 1964 Larry McKinney followed in his grocer parents’ footsteps by opening his own store, Larry’s Market. By the early 1990s, his focus on high-quality seafood, broad wine selections with experts to sell it, and aesthetics like floral shops at store entrances changed the industry. 1971 Dick Rhodes took over the nine-year-old Queen Anne Thriftway and brought a young courtesy clerk named Terry Halverson under his wing. In a few years, Halverson joined Rhodes in ownership and led the company in expansion. 1983 Jim Sinegal channeled his experience at San Diego’s Price Club into founding Costco with Jeff Brotman. The warehouse store was an immediate and wild success, the two companies merged in 1993, and there are now more than 900 stores worldwide. 1997 Portland-based Fred Meyer acquired QFC. 1999 Kroger became the country’s largest supermarket company when it purchased Fred Meyer—and thus QFC. 2003 Terry Halverson and Dick Rhodes’s Queen Anne and Admiral Thriftways rebranded to Metropolitan Market. 2005 Regional chain Saar’s Market Place (now Saar’s Super Saver Foods) opened its first Seattle store in a former QFC in Rainier Beach, 17 years after its original Oak Harbor location. 2006 Two years after Larry McKinney’s sons took over the six-store company, Larry’s Markets filed for bankruptcy and began selling its six swanky stores, including the flagship Aurora location—now a Saar’s Super Saver Foods. 2012 Metropolitan Market sold to national brand Good Food Holdings‚ which, in turn, sold to South Korean retail conglomerate the Shinsegae Group in 2018. 2017 Local tech company Amazon bought Austin-based upscale grocer Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion. 2018 Amazon debuted its cashierless concept, Amazon Go, to the public in South Lake Union. It grew to about 30 stores in 2023, but has since shrunk significantly. 2021 Ballard Market and three Central Markets rebranded to match the name of sibling stores Town & Country Markets (née Thriftway). Leadership remains with members of the Nakata family.

Lion dances are a mainstay at the CID Night Market alongside a host of live performances. Jump to Your Genre:  Food and Drink / Visual Arts / Live Music Performance / Film / Special Events / Readings and Lectures / On Sale Now Seattleites are spoiled for choice when it comes to spending our leisure time. Just take a look at the sheer variety of options: We have an exceptional array of museums, independent bookstores, restaurants, bars (and bar trivia), record stores, nightlife options, local shops, and a rich music landscape. And the actual landscape? Outdoor recreation opportunities abound, especially if you subscribe to the “no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing” mindset (if you don’t, are you really from Seattle?). From abundant hikes, swimming holes, state parks, and campgrounds just beyond city limits to a voluminous urban trail system, there’s something for the outdoorsperson of every skill and stoke level. Those with little ones (human or furred) can rejoice at a bevy of great playgrounds, spray parks, and zoos.  But if you just want a guide already, we've got plenty for food, outdoors, shopping, and entertainment. Plus, a shortlist of what to do in Washington this month. Or find below the best things to do in Seattle, updated weekly.  Food and Drink Annual Salmon Derby Dinner september 25, 6pm | ben paris, $175 Ben Paris, the Pike Place Market restaurant namesake, was known in his day for organizing Seattle's salmon derbies. With salmon season in full swing, the five course dinner returns with Washington wines and local PNW fare that would make him proud. Great Pumpkin Beer Festival october 3–4, 4–10pm | elysian brewing capitol hill, $5–100 Missed Oktoberfest? Never fear, another autumnal alcohol fest is upon us, complete with a real pumpkin keg overflowing with beer, tapped fresh each night. The annual fest stars 60-plus pumpkin-adjacent beers on tap, a fierce costume competition, and a pumpkin pie eating contest. Come see what's cooking at the Northwest Chocolate Festival. Northwest Chocolate Festival october 4–5, 9am–5pm | MEYDENBAUER CONVENTION CENTER, $35–125 Bellevue's annual chocolate fest isn't all about taste-testing artisanal chocolate; workshops get into the weeds with historical presentations, behind the scenes demos on chocolate's creation from fresh cacao pods to bar, and the stories behind surprising combos like tea and cacao.   Visual Arts Hugh Hayden: American Vernacular through september 28, various | frye art museum, free The sleek, always-free art museum houses sculptor and multimedia artist Hugh Hayden’s first solo museum spot on the West Coast. Filling the galleries are curiously reworked items from everyday American life, like the cherry bark encased Louboutins and a life-sized church nave. Nina Katchadourian's installation at the National Nordic Museum displays lost stories. Nina Katchadourian: Origin Stories through october 26, various | national nordic museum, $5–20 Fresh art drops at the National Nordic Museum, courtesy of multidisciplinary artist Nina Katchadourian. Her works range from photographs, to video, to an immersive installation surrounding a real-life shipwreck disaster. On June 22, Katchadourian will join a survivor of the shipwreck, Douglas Robertson, in conversation at the gallery.  Light bends; light shapes. Anila Quayyum Agha: Geometry of Light through april 19, various | seattle asian art museum  Go ahead, interact with the art in Anila Quayyum Agha's new exhibition at the Volunteer Park museum, the first solo show from a Pakistani American artist in SAM’s 90-years. Laser-cut steel cubes suspend from the ceiling, lit by a halogen bulb that paints the room—and visitors—with intricate shadows that illuminate the light and dark of life.  Fall Exhibition Opening october 3, 7–9pm | henry art gallery, free A bar, music by KEXP DJ Diana Ratsamee, and artist cameos mark the opening of University District Henry Art Gallery's fall exhibitions. A food-forward mural graces the sculpture court, multi-media works from Kameelah Janan Rasheed span collage to video, and LA-based Rodney McMillian's abstract sculptures and political videos comprise the new additions. Live Music White Denim september 24, 10pm | sunset tavern, $31.93 The Austin rock band's early show is sold out, but the late show brings tracks from their twelve studio albums to the Ballard venue's night owls. Helmed by core members James Petralli and Steve Terebecki, the group shifts like a kaleidoscope to add new sounds and energies. Princess Nokia and Big Freedia setpember 27, 6:30pm | Pier 62, $63.81 The Waterfront Park's Pier 62 hosts rappers Princess Nokia and Big Freedia. With several new singles out this year, Princess Nokia brings fresh tracks alongside Big Freedia's 2025 album Pressing Onward and bounce music roots. Tate McRae october 2–3, 7:30pm | climate pledge arena, $74.30–268 Coming off an electric—and particularly gritty—VMAs performance, pop star Tate McRae brings her Miss Possessive tour to the Climate Pledge Arena. Expect big hits ("greedy" and "Sports car") and bigger dance numbers. Performance The Play That Goes Wrong through september 28, various | bagley wright theater, $35–135 The show must go on...but should it? A meta physical comedy about a play that—you guessed it—goes all wrong, Seattle Rep’s season opener brings laughs at the expense of the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and their problem-riddled show. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom through october 12, various | charlotte martin theater, $25–62 Playful children's book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom gets a stage adaptation, the mischievous alphabet climbing off the page and into the Seattle Children's Theater. Nearly one hour of music and interactive storytelling serves as an introduction to theater for even the littlest patrons.  Stand-Up Science: Myth Understandings october 3, 6–10pm | pacific science center, $30 Highbrow comedy lands in the Seattle Center's Pacific Science Center, with comedian and podcaster Shane Mauss. He'll bring a pair of local scientists on stage for a show that's part stand-up, part science panel—complete with a peer review roast and audience Q&A. FILM Local Sightings Film Festival through september 28, various | northwest film forum, $ Capitol Hill's Northwest Film Forum curates films—both shorts and features—from local PNW filmmakers. The fest kicks off with a meet-and-greet brunch and closes out this year's run with a series of shorts alongside a vendor market, trivia, and mingling with cast and crew.  HUMP! through october 11, various | various, $18–25 Dan Savage's bi-annual film fest spreads the gospel of sex-positivity with homemade kinky shorts showing at three Seattle venues this fall. Not sure what to expect? He once told us, "Anything comes and goes at HUMP!, literally.” Quality Ski Time Film Tour october 6, 7pm | siff cinema uptown, $16 Four short ski films—starring local daredevils on Mount Hood, Cody Townsend's reckoning with risk, a story of relearning to ski after losing a limb, and requisite general ski stoke—set the tone for the coming season: wax those skis and get ready for snowfall.  SPECIAL EVENTS Yo-yo performances enthrall alongside lion dances and street vendors. Chinatown International District Night Market september 27, 1–9pm | chinatown-international district, free Three city blocks turn into a street festival in the highly-anticipated 18th rendition of the CID Night Market. Expect great food, stunning performances (lion dances, taiko drumming, even yo-yo), and dozens of local vendors.  MEXAM NW through october 9, various | various, various  The wide-ranging month-long fest curated by the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle weaves together Hispanic and Mexican-American cultural events in countless forms: art exhibitions, concerts, Spanish language spoken word poetry, and mural painting.  READINGS AND LECTUREs Our Brains on Art: How the Arts Transform Community Health september 25, 7pm | the great hall, $10–35 Susan Magsamen, co-author of 2023 nonfiction Your Brain on Art, joins leaders in the creative and health fields to show art's influence in healing settings. The group will expound art's potential for everything from reducing the need for pain medication and hospital stay length to increasing memory and cognitive function. Jodi-Ann Burey with Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work september 30, 7pm | central library, free with registration Author and critic Jodi-Ann Burey, known for her TED talk “The Myth of Bringing Your Full, Authentic Self to Work,” poured her insights into a book. She joins fellow Seattle author Sonora Jha to chat about reclaiming agency at work in spite of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism.  Lars Mytting: The Night of the Scourge october 2, 6pm| national nordic museum, $5 Norwegian author Lars Mytting travels to Ballard's National Nordic Museum to chat alongside editor and translator Elizabeth DeNoma. He'll dive into the final installment of his epic trilogy, a drama set in WWII Norway that infuses Norwegian folklore and family sagas.  On sale now The extra ingredient? Giving back and supporting culinary education in Seattle at Farestart. Yum. Guest Chef Night Series through november 20, 5–9pm | FareStart Restaurant, $55 FareStart culinary education nonprofit taps local legends for bi-monthly chef dinners that reliably sell out weeks in advance. This summer, the star-studded lineup includes the likes of Chef Bill Jeong of Paju, the siblings behind Ramie and Ba Sa Trinh and Thai Nguyen, and Kricket Club's Preeti Agarwal.  Supper Club: We're Having an Old Friend for Dinner october 31, 6pm | mopop, $130 Superfans are called to supper at MOPOP's newest dinner series, each meal themed to a different fandom. Next up: a delightfully creepy Silence of the Lambs-inspired meal that's more psychological thriller than dinner party; expect a chilling feast with passed horror artifacts and blood orange panna cotta.

There’s a real reason some grocery store parking lots suck more than others, and it isn’t that adrenaline spikes make you spend more. Stores know how much parking they have—they analyze the ratio of parking spaces to store size, width of those spaces, and direction in which their shoppers need to exit. Next time your life flashes before your eyes trying to return a cart or the Cybertruck in the compact stall blocks your door from opening, just remember: Some executive sat down and chose this paved purgatory for you. Trader Joe’s Capitol Hill  Many TJs contended for this honor, but only one hired a toddler to draw her favorite shapes and then used that as the garage blueprint. Parking uphill? Angled? Blind corners? This brave little architect said, “Why not all three?” Metropolitan Market Crown Hill If for some reason you need to go east from this store, the choices are simple: a sometimes-illegal (the sign goes up and down!), always death-defying left turn onto 15th to get to the light at 85th or a scenic tour of North Ballard’s wiggliest streets and finest dead ends. Safeway Wedgwood No number of painted arrows could tame the individual and collective chaos of the three main entrances into this sloped mess of angled spots. But that hasn’t stopped them from adding more! That’s a bummer for pedestrians who would prefer if drivers looked up, not down, since the lack of walkways forces them to weave through multiple rows of parked cars and two-way traffic to get to the store. PCC Columbia City Perhaps fewer people would attempt the wildly inefficient, mildly risky left turn onto Rainier from this lot if the other exit didn’t dump them on to a small street that probably either is closed for the farmers market or has all its visibility blocked by a delivery truck ignoring the “no parking” signs. Whole Foods Market Roosevelt Come one, come all, to the hall of mirrors, parking spot edition. The outdoor lot just across from the store entrance appears normal—until you try to turn down one of the narrow lanes, park in the tiny spots, or access the identical but completely separate lot on the west edge. If you can’t open the passenger side door, just tell your kid it’s a fun game to crawl in through the trunk.

Flights depart Seattle for spots around the globe, no layover required. Forget Making connections. Seattle's airports have direct flights to more than a hundred destinations, served by more than 30 airlines. Travel as close as San Juan Island (35 minutes of scenic cruising) or as far-off as Singapore (more than 16 hours in an airliner) and never suffer the indignity of a layover.  We catalogued all the direct flights from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (otherwise known as SEA), plus our other, smaller runways. Note that some flights are seasonal, and as is always the case with an international hub, the flight maps (like Sea-Tac's domestic and international ones) are ever-evolving. We're including new routes that have been announced even if they haven't yet begun, as long as tickets are already for sale. Before your flight, make sure you snag a spot to skip the security line. Bon voyage! From Sea-Tac: Pacific Northwest | California and Southwest | Mountain West | Midwest and Texas | South | Mid-Atlantic and New England | Alaska and Hawai'i International: Canada | Mexico and Central America | Europe | Asia and South Pacific Other Airports: Paine Field | Boeing Field | Float Planes Domestic Nonstop Flights from Sea-Tac Airport Pacific Northwest BellinghamYakimaWenatcheePullmanPasco/Tri-CitiesWalla WallaSpokanePortlandEugeneMedfordBend-RedmondSun ValleyBoiseIdaho Falls  California and Southwest ReddingRenoSonoma CountySacramentoOaklandSan FranciscoMontereySan JoseFresnoSan Luis ObispoSanta BarbaraLos AngelesOntarioBurbankOrange CountySan DiegoPalm SpringsLas VegasPhoenixTucsonAlbuquerque  Mountain West DenverYampa Valley (Steamboat Springs)Eagle County (Vail)BozemanKalispellMissoulaHelenaGreat FallsBillingsJacksonSalt Lake City  Midwest and Texas OmahaKansas CityWichitaOklahoma CityEl PasoDallas Fort WorthDallas Love FieldAustin San AntonioHoustonSt. LouisMinneapolisMadisonMilwaukeeChicago O'HareChicago MidwayIndianapolisDetroitColumbusCincinnatiCleveland South New OrleansNashvilleTampaFort MyersMiamiFort LauderdaleOrlandoCharlestonAtlantaRaleigh-DurhamCharlotte Mid-Atlantic and New England Washington DullesWashington ReaganBaltimorePittsburghPhiladelphiaNewarkNew York John F. KennedyBoston Alaska and Hawai'i FairbanksAnchorageJuneauSitkaKetchikanLihue, KauaiHonolulu, OahuKahului, MauiKona, Hawai'i Flight EnvyWhile Seattle has around twice as many direct routes as Portland's PDX, there are four airports it services that Seattle doesn't: Pendleton, OR; Santa Maria, CA; Des Moines, IA; and Grand Rapids, MI. International Nonstop Flights from Sea-Tac Airport   Canada Calgary, CanadaEdmonton, CanadaKelowna, CanadaMontreal, CanadaToronto, CanadaVancouver, CanadaVictoria, Canada Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean Belize City, BelizeLiberia, Costa RicaCancun, MexicoGuadalajara, MexicoLos Cabos, MexicoMexico City, MexicoPuerto Vallarta, MexicoNassau, Bahamas Europe Amsterdam, NetherlandsDublin, IrelandFrankfurt, GermanyMunich, GermanyZürich, Switzerland Copenhagen, DenmarkHelsinki, FinlandIstanbul, TurkeyLondon, EnglandParis, FranceBarcelona, SpainReykjavík, Iceland  Asia and South Pacific Doha, QatarDubai, UAEPapeete, TahitiManila, PhilippinesSeoul, KoreaShanghai, ChinaBeijing, ChinaChongqing, ChinaHong KongSingaporeTaipei, TaiwanTokyo Haneda, JapanTokyo Narita, Japan Border BoundThe YVR airport in Vancouver, BC, offers plenty of Canadian nonstops (Saskatoon, anyone?), plus novel international destinations like New Delhi, India; Auckland, New Zealand; and Sydney, Australia. Paine Field is as chill as Sea-Tac is crowded. Nonstop Flights from Paine Field San FranciscoLos AngelesPalm SpringsOrange CountySan DiegoLas VegasPhoenixDenverHonolulu Nonstop Flights from Boeing Field  Portland, OregonFriday Harbor, San Juan IslandEastsound, Orcas Island Future FlightAmerican Airlines has dangled the possibility of a direct route from Seattle to Bengaluru (Bangalore), India, since 2020, but its launch has been delayed several times. Nonstop Float Plane Flights from Lake Union and Lake Washington Friday Harbor, San Juan IslandRoche Harbor, San Juan IslandWest Sound, Orcas IslandDeer Harbor, Orcas IslandFisherman's Bay, Lopez IslandVictoria, CanadaVancouver, Canada (via Harbour Air)

The many meals I eat to compile guides to the city’s 50 best restaurants, best new restaurants, and top tasting menus for $100 or less give me a lot of time to notice the tiny details that can set a restaurant apart and the little patterns that emerge at any given moment. Some of these trends deserve to be served up to customers on a silver platter; others leave a bad taste in my mouth. Take a nibble of this season’s trends, listed from sweet to sour. Tiny ’Tinis The name’s Bond. Lightweight Bond. Shaken or stirred, just make it half the size, so I can drive—or have a second. Try Half Shell’s happy hour mini-tini, Atoma’s Le Tigre, and Lonely Siren’s mini-freezertini. Pow Pão (de Queijo) These little tapioca cheese breads made it out of Brazilian restaurants and onto menus at the Dandy of King Street Crossing, at Lark, and as a breakfast sandwich bun at Robin’s Restaurant & Market. Window of Opportunity Quick and cute, walk-up windows thankfully continue to open all the time. Most recently: Harry’s Fine Foods’ Smash Burger Window, Pizza Ritual’s Delridge digs, and Pike Street Hospitality Group’s Double O’ Burgers. Ta-ta, Tasting Menus Off Alley and Tomo are both nixing the tasting menu options and leaning into à la carte. Tomo found the format too restrictive, Off Alley said it wasn’t fun for them. Diners, the choice is yours, like it or not. Don’t Waffle on Buns Waffles are wonderful. So are sandwiches. Waffle sandwiches? Terrible. Here, I need the choice, and I choose bread. Or pão de queijo.