Grunge first stage dived onto Seattle’s scene way back in the early 1990s, but the sounds of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and others continue to be inextricably linked with the city. Here's just some sites where you can still feel the music.
LessThe Museum of Pop Culture (formerly EMP, the "Experience Music Project") is an inspired marriage between super-modern architecture and legendary rock-and-roll history. You can tune into the famous sounds of Seattle (with an obvious bias toward grunge) or attempt to imitate the masters in the Interactive Sound Lab.
A small city park, it's what lies near Viretta Park that connects it to grunge history. On the north side you can see the large house once owned by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, where Cobain tragically took his own life in April 1994. Love no longer owns the house, but Nirvana fans still make the pilgrimage to this park to pay tribute.
It may be two years younger than the official "Oldest Bar in Seattle" (Georgetown's Jules Maes), but Nirvana, Soundgarden, and most of the grunge nobility have played this local hangout.
Pearl Jam once played at Easy Street, arguably Seattle's most multifarious record store, and the business continues to sponsor regular events. Inside, young kids with elaborate tattoos mingle with graying ex-punks under a montage of retro parking signs and Nirvana posters. Proving itself to be an invaluable community resource, Easy Street has its own cafe selling food, coffee and beer.
Linda's was grunge central in the 1990s (band members galore piled in here) and it's still a pretty cool place to hang out. The back patio here is an excellent place to observe the nocturnal habits of Hipsterus northwesticus.
It's tough to get any hipper than a hotel that has a whole floor dedicated to Seattle's indie Sub Pop record label (that unleashed Nirvana on an unsuspecting world). The 5th floor pays homage to the music with giant grunge-era photos and record players with vinyls in every room.
If you like decorating your home with old magazine covers from Life, Time and Rolling Stone, or have a penchant for art-deco tourist posters from the 1930s, or are looking for that rare Hendrix concert flyer from 1969, this is your nirvana. It's in Pike Place Market's Down Under section.