Haunted Coke Machine

On an unassuming corner in the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol Hill is a worn down, 1970s Coke Machine. This thing does not encourage you to give it money. You take one look and think it probably fell off the back of a truck accidentally. But for those who look a little closer you will see the buttons read "Mystery" and for just 75 cents it will throw a random soda product out at you. 

Who owns this coke machine? Where does it pull its power from? And who is refilling it? All mysteries that add to the joy of walking to the corner of John St. and 10th to get an ice cold, refreshing mystery beverage. 

5 Best Cocktails of Pike Place Market

Whether you are a local getting off work at 5:00 PM or a visitor looking for a great drink to unwind after a day of sightseeing, there is no better place in the city to go for a cocktail than Pike Place Market.

We spent the last month sampling drinks at all the restaurants and bars around the market to find the best to recommend. It was trying at times, talking to nice bartenders and sampling different artisan concoctions, but we did it for you, readers, we did it for you.

Left: Rachel's Ginger Beer Boozey Float, Top Right: Jarr Bar El Cochino, Bottom Right: Place Pigalle La Salle

Here are our top five cocktails of Pike Place Market:

1. Radiator Whiskey: Guns and Rosemary

This gin-based cocktail is great for any time of year. Bonus points for its name.

2. Jarr Bar: El Cochino

The El Cochino is a hearty vodka cocktail and the chorizo-wrapped pipparas doubles as a nice snack.

3. Place Pigalle: La Salle

This (pink) cocktail is served with a view of Puget Sound. A favorite for the ladies!

4. Jarr Bar: Westside

The Westside is refreshing and light. Cucumber, basil, mint, and lime make it a bright green.

5. Rachel's Ginger Beer: Dark & Stormy Boozey Float

Do ice cream floats count as cocktails? We don't care. It is making this list because it is De-licious. 

Honorable Mention:

Best Bang for Your Buck: El Borracho's El Cheapo

This margarita costs $4 and packs a punch!

Seattle St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl

Rejoice, the calendar has brought around another holiday devoted to drinking. We will dye the beer green, and in some really Irish cities, we will dye large bodies of water green as well.* 

[Green heart + Beer mugs clinking]

If you are planning on going out and toasting a delicious green lager to your Irish brethren and St. Patrick for all he did** we have put together a downtown Seattle Pub Crawl that is guaranteed to show you a good time. 

First stop, Fado. 810 1st Ave. Seattle, WA 98104

Doors open at 7:30 AM for "Kegs and Eggs." If you aren't there with a beer in hand, well then you just aren't fully committed to this holiday. Live entertainment all day plus a cool atmosphere makes Fado one of the best spots in the city to "Paddy hard."

Next up, Owl N Thistle. 808 Post Ave. Seattle, WA 98104

Just down the alley is your next bar, Owl N Thistle. This one is the smallest and dirtiest, but that might make it the best. Live music starts at 1:30 PM, so mosey on over after you've drank your way through lunch at Fado.

End the tour at Kells. 1916 Post Alley Seattle, WA 98101

People come from all over the world for Kells' St. Patricks Day so be ready for crowds. The good thing is, everyone is usually drunk before mid day, so you are bound to make some friends! This party keeps going until the early morning so come prepared for a late night.

*Is that bad for the water? We always wonder but never want to be Debbie Downers on our Chicago friend’s Instagram posts, so we just always put the green heart emoji with a beer clinking emoji.

**Let’s be honest no one knows who St. Patrick is. Luckily we have Wikipedia. Keep reading, it gets really interesting when he banishes all the snakes from Ireland.

The Gum Wall: Second Dirtiest Attraction in the World.

Pike Place Market has a lot of places to visit. It really is a village you could spend weeks exploring and not see everything, but there are several can’t miss places. One of those places is The Gum Wall. The Gum Wall isn’t hard to find and it is a wonderfully gross thing to take in. In fact, it is the second dirtiest attraction in the world.*

Let’s start the journey. You walk down an alley and are confronted first with the intense smell of bubble gum. Not any of that double mint crap, but the big, juicy Bubblicious of your youth. The kind that would rot your teeth but you didn’t care, because the satisfaction you got from stuffing three pieces in your mouth and then blowing a bubble so big that when it popped it got stuck in your eyebrows was worth the trip to the dentist.

After the smell you will notice the crowds of people. Warning: There will be selfie sticks, accept it and move on, you are going to want a photo of this too.

Finally, you get to stand in front of the wall of gum. Not just a few pieces. It is literally a WALL of gum. If you could somehow dismantle the wall behind the gum, the gum would still stand up as a wall (this is in no way based in fact, it is just fun to imagine). People create art with gum. You can find business cards. You can even find a geocache hidden in there.

Don’t come without a stick of gum; you cannot come to the gum wall and not contribute, it is an unspoken rule. If you need gum, a number of places in the market can hook you up. Orange Dracula is our favorite. Depending on your level of germaphobia you might also want to come manned with anti-bacterial gel and/or rubber gloves.

Now, let’s get down to business (Mulan song? Anyone?). The Gum Wall is in an alley and if you don’t know your way around it can be tricky to find. Here is the best way to find it. Go to the corner of First Ave. and Pike St. (the main intersection in front of the entrance to Pike Place Market) and face the large, neon sign that says “Public Market Center.”  You will see a road that goes down to the alley to the left of the main road. Take this road down and when you see Ghost Alley Coffee- turn left. From there you can’t miss it-follow the smell and the crowds!

Recently and tragically, the market said the brick was becoming unstable under the weight of the gum, so they power washed every last piece of gum off the wall. People have been adding to this gooey masterpiece since the early 1990s when the theater next door placed a sign stating “No Gum Allowed” outside the entrance. Visitors started sticking gum outside and it snowballed (or should I say GUMBALLED) from there. Fortunately for us, tourists and locals alike refused to let this institution in the city fade away after one cleaning. Just a few months after the power washers were rolled away the gum wall has come back in all its glory. So go check it out and add to the sticky, colorful mess!

*The Blarney Stone in Ireland wins the #1 most unsanitary tourist attraction. If people start kissing the Gum Wall we think we have a shot at taking the crown.