Blue Moon Tavern

I’ve heard about this place before. I don’t know all the facts, but even my Grandpa who is at least 85 years old (and 60 years since living in Seattle) knows about this place.

This bar is unlike any other I’ve been to in Seattle. There are books behind each booth that look like they’ve been there since the first settlers came to this area.

I’m not sure if it was me or my bicycling group, but this place SMELLED. Good goly it smelled. This bar is one of those places that won’t go away. There’ve been several controversies causing this place to almost shut down, but it’s still there. Either way, I consider this one of Seattle’s long lost icons.

I’m glad we went here once, but I might never go back. At least for a 60 years or so. I’m sure it’ll still be there then.

I love this place. I’m subleasing an apartment in the U-District this summer and wanted to find a local hangout that didn’t consist entirely of students in their early twenties. Someone once asked me what type of bar I like and I told them I liked bars where you might find homeless people pissing themselves. I went here on a Sunday night, post-graduation, so there was not a college student in sight, but there were at least half a dozen derelicts sitting at the bar. I felt right at home.

I’m definitely going to go back here again. One tip: no cards accepted, so bring some cash with you.

I had the chance to finally snap this pic of
The Hammered Man!

SAM’s Hammering Man Sculpture…”Hammered Man”!
It adds some culture to the place. I saw it while sitting at a red light & laughing, I wished I’d brought my camera!

It’s the bar that advertises itself as being grungy. It’s really not thaaaat scary. I mean, come on, we played there!

Despite being the unofficial hangout for Deadheads in Seattle, the Blue Moon attracts a pretty diverse clientelle for a dive bar, appealing to fresh-faced college kids as well as hard-drinking old men who’ve been regulars for…decades? There’s a legend that Allen Ginsberg used the payphone in here to call Pablo Picasso, and another story that Tom Robbins puts a few back here whenever he’s in town. I can’t confirm these stories of course, but neither would surprise me.