Shortly after 8pm on November 8, 2016, a gaggle of pals who had gathered in my basement deserted the information and headed to the Waterwheel Lounge in Ballard. If anyone there cared that there was an election occurring, they certain didn’t present it, and that made it an exceedingly nice place to nurse a beer over the following few hours earlier than dealing with as much as actuality. As we descend into one other election interval, the timelessness of a wonderful dive bar nonetheless supplies a super antidote to the stress.
On high of Washington’s already free and forgiving mail-in voting, King County makes it exceedingly straightforward for even last-minute voters to drop their poll in any of the greater than 80 packing containers across the area. A few of the areas get clogged with site visitors (taking a look at you, Greenlake), whereas some are straightforward to mix with one other errand (thanks to the field exterior the Seattle Uwajimaya).
However the factor many individuals want most after voting is the soothing disorientation of a particularly chill bar. So, we at Seattle Met have—kindly, and completely not for purely egocentric causes—gathered an inventory of one of the best locations to seize a drink inside a five-minute stroll of a poll field.
Hobnobber Bar
Burien City Sq. Park Poll Field
With the wood-paneled partitions of Grandpa’s basement and a wide array of pull tabs, this spot can be straight out of the Carter period if it weren’t for the fortunately trendy high quality of its beer choice.
Beveridge Place Pub
Morgan Junction Park Poll Field
In the event you end filling out your poll and assume that the world can be higher in the event you simply had a number of extra choices to select from, drop by this huge, many-roomed bar. With 37 rotating faucets and a whole lot extra beers by the bottle, you possibly can debate the hop candidates all night time.
Central Saloon
King Avenue Poll Field
Comply with up the election that might make historical past with a number of drinks at a bar that already has. The Central (and its predecessors) performed an enormous position in such moments as rebuilding after the Nice Hearth of 1889, the Yukon Gold Rush, and, a bit later, the grunge motion. Drink previously and current with the nostalgic posters from people who performed right here (Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Nirvana), the marginally seedy really feel, and its lovingly surly employees.
Twilight Exit
Garfield Group Heart Poll Field
Whether or not you come for solace or celebration, the reply is tater tots and infinite rounds of Godzilla pinball. As famous in our listing of one of the best neighborhood bars, the Central District’s unofficial front room has all the things you might need from a dive bar.
Montana
Seattle Central Faculty Poll Field
Large Sky Nation has some necessary races taking place this 12 months and there’s no higher place to make an applicable toast to the rugged residents of the 41st state than with the signature drinks on the bar named for it. Feeling gingerly? You want a moscow mule. Salty? Have a pickleback.
Streamline Tavern
Metropolitan Market – Queen Anne Poll Field
The U-shaped bar is a quintessential attribute of Seattle’s greatest and oldest taverns, making use of a delicate warmth to thaw the Seattle Freeze. The Streamline’s demonstrates that always and is a spot prone to maintain some gruff however sympathetic faces at any given second.
The Faculty Inn Pub
College of Washington Campus – Schmitz Corridor Poll Field
Time period limits are nice for politicians however horrible for traditional bars. We already voted for the Faculty Inn Pub as one in every of our 25 greatest bars within the metropolis, and it might need been our final likelihood: The present house owners plan to shut it in June. Elevate a glass to say goodbye to bar and, hopefully, unhealthy candidates.
Final Frontier Saloon
Fall Metropolis Library Poll Field
No, the identify doesn’t discuss with what’s about to occur to democracy, relying on how the election goes. It’s just a bit gingerbread-house-meets-log-cabin embellished with a dizzying show of outdated junk and is normally full of locals suspicious of metropolis folks.
H&H Saloon
Issaquah Metropolis Corridor Poll Field
Get your post-voting drink in a bar that’s older than any presidential candidate (present or former). The H&H has been round since Issaquah was extra rural city than tony suburb, and it retains the gritty pre-I-90 angle that makes it the right place to grouse right into a beer.