Seattle Culture
Seattle Now Has Its First K-pop Store
K-pop Nara open in Capitol Hill
The city’s first store devoted entirely to K-pop, K-pop Nara, is now open in Capitol Hill. Fans can purchase the usual goods for a K-pop store: albums, lightsticks, artist merchandise, stationary, and more. Unique items include custom photocard sleeves and magazines with artist interviews.
Teatro ZinZanni is Seattle’s Moulin Rouge
The cabaret is celebrating 25 years
The real star of the show, though, was the tent itself. Known as “Palais Nostalgie,” the 285-seat spiegeltent is an antique cabaret tent decked out in red-velvet curtains, mirrored walls, and carved wooden booths. Originally used as a traveling pavilion in the early 1900s, it is one of the few surviving such tents in existence. Norm Langill, the creator of Teatro ZinZanni, first encountered one during a trip to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. He was instantly transformed by the spiegeltent’s mystique, and after learning about their history and how they were being used for dinner cabarets throughout Europe, he deftly managed to acquire one and have it shipped here to Seattle.
Star Power in Seattle
Boys in the Boat, The NHL Winter Classic, celebrities and the greater good
Trevor Noah brought some star power to the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle’s 22nd annual fundraising breakfast. The theme of “Era of Essential Service” paid homage to the programs and services the League provides in areas such as health, housing, entrepreneurship, advocacy, education, and workforce development.
It Starts Here
Seattle has momentum heading into 2024
Seattle is far from perfect. But, as the new year unfolds, there’s a lot to like. Here are several reasons why Seattle remains one of the nation’s most innovative — and, in many cases, unsung — major cities.
The billion-dollar waterfront makeover is perhaps the most ambitious public-private project in the country. The transformation of 20 acres along the city’s shoreline includes hundreds of new trees, native gardens, viewpoints, and a pedestrian promenade and cycle path. It will, once and for all, connect the waterfront to several nearby neighborhoods.
Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions
Washington state residents are surprisingly disciplined
A new survey says Washington residents on average remain committed to their resolutions for the entire year, three times more than the average American. Almost six in 10 state residents make resolutions, with the most popular being enhancing savings, reducing spending, and improving fitness and nutrition.
Most Influential, Equity: The Women Behind OSAYS
Co-founders Mari Horita, Mimi Gan, Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, Betti Fujikado, Katherine Cheng
They are storytellers. They are Asian American women. And they want to give their community a voice. They banded together several years ago to create Our Stories are Your Stories, or OSAYS, to feature two-to-five-minute videos of local Asian American individuals talking about their lives and experiences. The idea was to bring positive attention to a community that had been embattled by rising hate crimes.
Most Influential, Philanthropy: Melinda French Gates
Founder of Pivotal Ventures, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
“The principles underlying my work at the foundation and Pivotal are the same. I believe in equity and opportunity. I’m focused especially on helping women run for and win public office because I want women to exercise power and influence in society, and elected officials are in a unique position to control resources, make decisions, and shape policies and perspectives. 2024 is going to be a critical year when it comes to whether our political system truly represents women or marginalizes them. Voters will get to decide.”
Seattle’s Most Influential People
Making a significant difference in our community
Five women fighting Asian hate. The Medical Mythbuster. A woman in charge of revamping Seattle’s waterfront. The Civic Poet of Seattle.
They are just four of Seattle magazine’s Most Influential People of 2024. These extraordinary individuals sometimes (not always) toil in obscurity, but they’re fighting to improve their communities with whatever means available. They are truly heroes working to make our constantly changing city, state, and nation more livable, accessible, and equal.
Celebrating Seattle
Honoring the driving forces creating change in our community
Seattle magazine has consistently posited that “what happens in Seattle impacts the rest of the world.” This issue’s cover subject is one such example of the outsized influence Seattle’s thought leaders can have on our culture and shared history.
Author Daniel James Brown was someone whom I fondly remember knowing while at Microsoft during the pre-internet era. He was a quiet and contemplative thinker with a reputation for humility and hard work, and such is the very ethos that has come to define how we see ourselves in the Pacific Northwest. When very few tech retirees could reboot to wholly non-tech careers, Daniel thrived as an author of multiple best sellers.
Fave Five: Skate, Drink, Walk, Shop
The holidays are over. Reward yourself.
CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve survived the holiday season and landed safely in the new year. If you feel that pesky impulse to make a list of self-improvement resolutions, ignore it. You’re wonderful. Instead, here are five ways to enjoy the start of 2024 and perhaps find a sense of renewal without doing a seven-day cleanse or cutting up your credit cards.
‘We Are Groot’
Guardians of the Galaxy tops superhero genre
Imagine hanging out with Bruce Wayne. Or talking photography with Peter Parker. Perhaps brash adventurer Peter Quill is more to your taste. We love the action and spectacle of superhero movies. In Washington state, we particularly enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy — the state’s top superhero movie of all time. A recent study combed through…
When Bad Meat is a Good Thing
Choreographer Alice Gosti’s work dives deep
For those watching, it quickly became clear that the group wasn’t a sports team but rather some kind of performance troupe dancing along the footpaths, under the white arches of the Pacific Science Center, and in Memorial Stadium’s concrete breezeways. The bright red jerseys were all emblazoned, front and back, with the same word: MALACARNE.
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