Shorty's Barcade

I spent my childhood on the greenside of the Northwest. If you are reading this outside of the Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, you probably didn’t know there are three different parts to the States. Greenside is closest to the ocean, and the part most people imagine. It is rainy and cloudy, but incredibly green. The reason is the Cascade mountain range blocks clouds from moving without having to dump most moisture. For that same reason, the other side of the mountains is desert wastelands. Towns like Yakima- where I went to highschool- have very few clouds, and even fewer signs of greenery. Then you have the Rocky Mountains, where you have pine trees, cold winters, and an older feel. Spokane, Boise, and Cour D’Alene are Rocky cities, even if Boise is in the middle of a desert.

There are also stereotypes of the people living in those places. The wasteland folk were either farmers, or making money off of farmers somehow. It was hard dusty work, and it left a lot of people pretty hard. It showed up the most in how people complained. A Yakimite not complaining, is a Yakimite with their mouth closed. There are some incredibly wonderful people in these areas, but the absolute feeling of dread is difficult to deal with.

The Rocky Mountains are either backwoods guys with better internet connections, or people trying to appear cool. There is a lot less stress in the area, and more outdoorsy feeling.

Places like Seattle, and Portland are the greenside. You know where you are in the area based on the coffee shops. The cool looking urban area has tons of Starbucks, while the older areas have cappacino machines at every establishment. The people wear darker clothes, act a little more standoffish, and enjoy being really intelligent.

These images aren’t true btw. They were just how it was viewed as I grew up. When in an airport, I could tell who was from the Northwest, and what part based on their clothes, and attitude. When people asked where I was from, I said Seattle, not because it was where I lived, but how I acted.

This really isn’t true anymore. Seattle has been changing a lot. The dark, and gloomy buildings are getting replaced with bright happy colored places. The usual question of how the Seahawks will blow it this year has been completely disproven. Not only that, people in Seattle are happy, and ready to show it.

While walking around the Seattle looking for an open Subway restaurant, I couldn’t help noticing characters. These are people that dress up, just to dress up, and look dapper doing it. There were people dressed for the convention I was working at, but also people just walking to work, or going to see friends. This is shocking because New York is famous for them, not Seattle. They were carrying dogs in baskets, dressing in bright happy clothes, walking around in what in Hawaii we called Tourist Clothes. Heck, there was a hat store with amazing hats.

As a hat lover, I was amazed to see this. The changes of a city, and place I called home was both rewarding, and surprising at the same time. I have never seen a place so reinvigorated. This has all happened in the last 4-5 years. In the same time I lived in Seattle, the city changed.

It also made me sort of miss the old Seattle. The one with humour, and juxtaposition of the lighting. This was taken care of by the amazing Shorty's.

I had been told about Shorty’s from the president of the North West Pinbal and Arcade Show, and his wife. It is a bar arcade -Barcade?- with old pinball and arcade games. It was only a few blocks from the Sheraton, so I could walk to it.

It was a pleasant walk, and I was able to give directions to folks looking for the convention center. There were Subway restaurants everywhere, and I thought it would be easy to find them later that night. I was right with the directions, and totally wrong about the subways.

When I arrived, it was just before opening time. In fact, a guy answered the door and told me so. I sat down, and enjoyed the view from the front of the building.

While sitting and waiting, I spotted this wonderful little note to patrons in the window.

Needless to say they took citations very seriously on this block. The area was full of bookstores, restaurants, and other interesting items. It was all old style Seattle.

After a few minutes of waiting, the guy opened the door back up, and said I could hang out inside. It was circus themed, with pictures of Elvis, and clowns everywhere.

I was very early-they technically hadn’t opened yet-, so there weren’t a lot of people there. It was people fixing machines, and the barkeep. The tables for benches were one of the first things pointed out to me. They were old pin boards.

There was also some arcade games at the front. They all took quarters.

Needless to say, it was a really cool place. The backroom had another lounge, and a pinball room. The pinball machines were all worked and ready to go.

Some of the pins were really impressive.

Since the machines were being fixed, I asked some questions. Shorty’s has been around since ‘97, and most of the people working there had been around at least 5 years. They were all friendly, and able to answer questions. For all of the old stuff you saw, the Tab computer they used was pretty cool and advanced.

I ended up opening up a tab because I didn’t have cash. A couple rootbeers, and some hot dogs later and I was done. There is a wide selection of hotdogs to try out, with plenty of sides to add on. I actually had a specialized German hot dog with added sour kraut and cheese sauce. I ended up full the rest of the day.

The place was supposed to be packed later when the convention closed, but I never found Shorty’s again. This was a really cool visit, both to the restaurant itself, but also to how Seattle felt when I was growing up.