Capitol Hill Spotlight

Capitol Hill Spotlight

One of the city's most popular nightlife and entertainment neighborhoods, Capitol Hill is packed with bookstores to browse before you head to the bars. Stop by Twice Sold Tales to say hi to their in store cats or head to Ada’s for your favorite science titles.Then swing by Elliott Bay Books or Hugo House to catch one of their regular author talks.

Bookstores and Libraries

Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe

Ada's carries science and technical books as well as a selection of cookbooks and science fiction. It also features a vegetarian cafe, coworking space (the Office at Ada’s), and an intimate event venue, The Lab at Ada's.

 

Elliott Bay Book Company

Located in the heart of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, The Elliott Bay Book Company is a full service bookstore, offering one of the region's best selection of new books and an amazing schedule of author readings and events. Elliott Bay featured Seattle’s first bookstore café, and has still has wonderful cafe where you can grab a bite to eat or a glass of wine.

 

Nook & Cranny Books

Nook & Cranny is a new and used bookstore and community space for the non-reader, the new-reader, the book-gifter, and the bibliophile–the only prerequisite is curiosity. Their mission is to celebrate stories on the printed page and beyond.

 

Phoenix Comix and Games

Phoenix offers a variety of comics & games, and hosts weekly game nights & other events.

 

Twice Sold Tales

Home to six live-in bookstore cats, Twice Sold Tales is an eclectic used bookstore with a sprawling inventory of used, collectible and rare titles.

 

The Seattle Public Library Capitol Hill

Serving Capitol Hill since 1954, the branch was rebuilt and reopened in 2003, It features a reading room with glass walls to the north and south and Iole Alessandrini's "Contour," a green, living wall over the entrance.

General Interest

Hugo House

Hugo House is a writing center that offers classes on a variety of topics across several genres for writers of all ages. They also host several event series with best-selling authors throughout the year.

 

Landmarks

Lake View Cemetery

Known as "Seattle's Pioneer Cemetery” Lake View Cemetery was founded in 1872 and named after Lake Washington, to its east. Home to the graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee, Lakeview Cemetery is where many other famous Seattlelites have been laid to rest, including Princess Angeline, the daughter of Chief Seattle, Seattle settlers Arthur Denny and Thomas Mercer, and poet Denise Levertov.

 

People

Horace R. Cayton Sr. (1859-1940) was a prominent Black journalist who published the Seattle Republican newspaper from 1894-1913. His family home on Capitol Hill was designated a city landmark in 2021.

 


Vi taqᵂšǝblu Hilbert (1918-2008) was an Upper Skagit elder who was a storyteller and dedicated conservationist of Lushootseed culture and language. She was the author of Haboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound and she co-authored the second Lushootseed dictionary. This ethnobotanical garden is named in her honor.

“All of the time I have spent doing this research to date has been an act of deep respect to my elders and a donation to our Indian youth. It is a cherished legacy to the memory of our ancestors whose hearts would be gladdened to know that the culture of our people is being passed on to generations to come. ”
— Vi "taqʷšəblu" Hilbert
 

Denise Levertov (1923-1997) was a prolific poet and recipient of the Lannan Literary Award. She lived in Seattle from 1989 until her death in 1997. She is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Capitol Hill, or you can venture to the Seward Park neighborhood to see the plaque that was dedicated to her at the site of her former home.

“Two girls discover the secret of life
in a sudden line of poetry.”
— Denise Levertov, Poems, 1960-1967

Lower Queen Anne Spotlight

Lower Queen Anne Spotlight

The neighborhood is home to Seattle Center, a park and entertainment center originally built for the World’s Fair in 1962. The center is home to several theaters, including Book-It Repertory Theatre as well as August Wilson Way. And you can’t miss the iconic Space Needle. Browse for books at Mercer Street Books and then head up the hill to Queen Anne Book Company.

Bookstores and Libraries

Mercer Street Books

This charming, independently owned store sells a wide array of used books in excellent condition.

 

Theaters

Book-It Repertory Theatre

This regional theater company brings the page directly to the stage by using an author’s exact words in their stage adaptations of books.

 

Landmarks

The Space Needle

This iconic landmark was originally built for the World’s Fair in 1962. It has been featured in several books including the picture book Wheedle on the Needle and the novel Truth Like the Sun. Although the fine dining restaurant that hosts a key scene in Where’d You Go Bernadette closed in 2017, visitors can still enjoy a glass of wine and a snack while taking in the breathtaking views from the top.  

 

People

Chief Si’ahl (c. 1786-1866), who is commemorated by the statue in the fountain here, was an important Suquamish and Duwamish chief, for whom Seattle is named. The name “Seattle” is an Anglicization of Si'ahl, the modern Duwamish spelling of siʔaɫ. A famous speech advocating ecological responsibility is attributed to him.

 

Frank Herbert (1920-1986) is best known for his landmark science fiction novel Dune and its sequels, Herbert wrote for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in the early 1970s. He was posthumously inducted into MoPOP’s Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006.

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.”
— Frank Herbert, “Dune”
 

August Wilson (1945-2005) was a multi-Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, who is best known for his ten-play series The Pittsburgh Cycle, which includes Fences, The Piano Lesson, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He lived in Seattle from 1990 until his death in 2005. During his time here, he had a long-standing relationship with The Seattle Repertory Theatre, near August Wilson Way.

“You got to be right with yourself before you can be right with anybody else.”
— August Wilson, “Gem of the Ocean”

Pioneer Square Spotlight

Pioneer Square Spotlight



Bookstores and Libraries

Arundel Books

Founded in 1984 as a fine press publisher that specialized in art and poetry; three years later, Arundel Books began selling rare and out-of print books. They now operate a retail bookstore in Seattle, an affiliated Indie publishing company called Chatwin Books, and a book printing and binding operation including both digital printing and our own vintage letterpress printing press.

 

Open Books: A Poem Emporium

This poetry-only bookstore features new, rare, and out-of-print books, chapbooks,and more. They offer events and classes throughout the year and operate a charming co-working space called The Parlor. 

 

Peter Miller Books

Located in Post Alley, this bookstore specializes in architecture and design books, and also carries a wide array of art and design supplies and homewares.

 

People

Photo courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry

Murray Morgan (1916-2000): Author of Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle, which is said to be the “longest-running Pacific Northwest book in print.”
The term “skid road” originally referred to a logging road used to “skid” trees to the mill. Yesler Street was Seattle’s skid road and Henry Yesler’s mill stood at this intersection. The contemporary meaning of “skid road” as a poor urban area may have originated in Seattle in the 1850s.

 
“I miss it if I’m not in it for any length of time; I don’t feel comfortable. I want trees and I want frequent rain.”
— Murray Morgan

Photo courtesy Yoshito Okada

John Okada (1923-1971) was the author of the seminal novel about Japanese American  incarceration, No-No Boy. He was born in the family quarters of the hotel above the Merchants Cafe and Saloon, which is still in business today. (It’s actually the oldest standing restaurant in Seattle!)

“Only in fiction can the hopes and fears and joys and sorrows of people be adequately recorded.”
— John Okada, "No-No Boy"

International District/Chinatown Spotlight

International District/Chinatown Spotlight

Enjoy a cup of tea at the “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” after exploring the Wing Luke Museum or browsing at Kinokuniya. Or take a self-guided walking tour through the neighborhood inspired by this article co-published by the International Examiner and Crosscut.

Bookstores and Libraries

Kinokuniya Books

This Japanese bookstore chain is housed at Uwajimaya Village. They carry a large selection of books and magazines in Japanese, Chinese, and English, as well as K-POP CDs, local goods and more.

 

The Seattle Public Library International District/Chinatown Branch

This branch is part of a community center that includes affordable housing, retail, and a gathering space. “Wellspring” by Rene Yung features tea cups from local residents. 

 

Galleries and Museums

Wing Luke Museum

The museum showcases the history, cultures, and art of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. They host numerous literary offerings including “Tateuchi Story Theatre” and a regular literary tour “Poetry, Voice and Detention.” Stop by their gift shop to pick up a copy of We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration.

 

General Interest

Panama Hotel and Tea House

Featured in Jamie Ford’s bestselling novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the Hotel and Tea Room is a National Historic Landmark. It has been restored to showcase the belongings of Japanese American families that were incarcerated during World War II. Stop by to enjoy a cup of tea.

 

People

Carlos Bulosan (c. 1913-1956) was an English-language Filipino writer best remembered for his semi-autobiographical America is in the Heart. In the 1930s Bulosan lived in the historic Eastern Hotel, which hosts a permanent exhibit in his honor.  

“This is the greatest responsibility of literature: to find in our struggle that which has a future. Literature is a living and growing thing. We must destroy that which is dying, because it does not die by itself.”
— Carlos Bulosan, "America Is in the Heart: A Personal History"
 

Monica Sone (1919-2011) was best known for her memoir Nisei Daughter, which was the first published autobiography written by a Nisei woman. The book explores themes of Japanese American identity in Seattle and the U.S. government camp Minidoka. The Carrollton Hotel stood at this site until 1956. Sone’s father Seizo Itoi owned the hotel from 1918 until 1942, when the United States passed Executive Order 9066, and the family was sent to Minidoka.

“Shortly after, Father sold his little shop and bought the Carrolton Hotel on Main Street and Occidental Avenue, just a stone’s throw from the bustling waterfront and the railroad tracks.”
— Monica Sone, Nisei Daughter
 

Victorio Acosta Velasco (1902-1968) was a pioneering Filipino American journalist, best known as the founder, publisher and editor of The Filipino Forum (1928-1969), a bi-weekly newspaper billed as the “Independent Organ of Filipinos in the Pacific Northwest.” Through the course of its long history it became one of the most influential and successful Filipino newspapers in the United States. This address, near the Historic Chinatown Gate, was the site of the original offices of The Filipino Forum. 

“Shout aloud your merchandise, loud, louder,
till your frozen voice melts in the revelry of the party
that has been breaking silver glasses to awaken life
in their lives already made lifeless with sin”
— Excerpt from “The Corner Newsboy” by Victoria A. Velasco

Pike Place Market Spotlight

Pike Place Market Spotlight

Picturesque Pike Place Market is the home of several bookstores and a member-supported library. Enjoy sweeping views from Folio: Seattle, then stop by the oldest comic book shop in the world or one (or all!) of the bookstores to find your next read.

Bookstores and Libraries

BLMF Literary Saloon

BLMF Literary Saloon

This cozy secondhand bookstore has been owned by J.B. Johnson for twenty-six years. If you’re wondering, the name was inspired by a friend who commented that Johnson had “books like a motherf—-er.”

 

Chin Music Press

Located deep in the heart of the Market, Chin Music press is an indie publisher and bookstore that has been creating beautiful, engaging, and sometimes quirky books for the last eighteen years.

 

Folio Seattle

This nonprofit member-supported library and cultural center offers cultural and civic programs, author events, book discussions, a lending library, intimate concerts and access to beautiful and affordable reading and workspaces.

 

Golden Age Collectables

Founded in 1961, Golden Age is considered the oldest comic book shop in the world that’s still in business. Stop in to find new comics and books as well as collectible merchandise.

 

Lamplight Books

Located in the “Sanitary Market” Lamplight specializes in vintage, classic, and out-of-print ⁣literature, philosophy, poetry, and children’s books.

 

Left Bank Books

Operating as a collective  since 1973,  Left Bank carries over 10,000 new and used books, specializing in anti-authoritarian, anarchist, independent, radical and small-press titles. 

 

Lion Heart Bookstore

Tucked away in the lower levels of the Market, Lion Heart Bookstore has an eclectic selection of new and used titles and is known for its owner, David Ghoddousi, who has been called  the “friendliest, jolliest bookstore owner I’ve ever met.”

 

Restaurants and Bars

While  you’re in the Market, stop by Beecher’s Cheese to watch the cheesemakers at work and to grab lunch. The restaurant is a favorite of characters Bernadette and Bee in Maria Semple’s love/hate ode to Seattle, Where’d You Go Bernadette?

 

Also Nearby

Downtown Seattle Jewish Library

Not far from the Market, the Downtown Seattle Jewish Library features Jewish religious texts, classic literature, and children’s books in Hebrew and English.

 

Holocaust Center for Humanity

This nonprofit education center hosts a number of field trips, programs, and events as part of its mission to fight hate through education.

University District Spotlight

University District 

Visit Octavia Butler’s favorite Thai restaurant or grab a drink at the famed Blue Moon Tavern, a favorite of poets throughout the years.

A walk through the University of Washington campus evokes many of the literary figures who worked and studied there.

You can browse the stacks at Magus Books, University Book Store, or one of the neighborhood’s libraries.

Bookstores and Libraries

Edge of the Circle Books

Find all of your pagan and occult books, jewelry, and supplies at this Seattle institution.

 

This eclectic bookstore was founded in 1978 and carries a wide array of used books. They have a second “annex” location about a mile west of their original store.

Founded in 1900 by University of Washington Students, University Book Store is the largest independent bookstore in Washington state and sells new and used books. They are known for having a great speculative fiction section, and host many author events throughout the year.

This historic location of The Seattle Public Library was opened in 1910 and features artwork by Dennis Evans.

Called the “soul of the university,” Suzzallo Library opened in 1926 and is named for a former president of University of Washington. Inside, you’ll find one of the world’s largest books, a series of photographs of Bhutan. The magnificent Reading Room was a favorite of many Seattle authors, including Beverly Cleary and Ivan Doig.

Restaurants and Bars

 
 

Royal Palm Thai Restaurant

Renowned speculative fiction writer Octavia Butler loved eating at the Royal Palm restaurant.

Blue Moon Tavern

Opened in 1934, the Blue Moon has long been a haunt of local writers. In the 1950s and 1960s poets Theodore Roethke, Carolyn Kizer, David Wagoner frequented the bar. The alley that runs from NE 45th Street to NE 47th Street between 7th Avenue NE and 8th Avenue NE was named for Theodore Roethke in 1995. You can learn more about Roethke Mews here.

 
 

General Interest

University of Washington

A stroll through campus evokes many of the literary figures who taught and studied there, including Beverly Cleary, Madeleine DeFrees, Spencer Shaw, and Vonda McIntyre. As you enter from 45th Street, pass wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (Intellectual House), a gathering space for American Indian and Alaska Native students, faculty, staff, and others from various cultures and communities. Continue to “Red Square” to find the magnificent Suzzallo Library which was beloved by Ivan Doig. Off-campus, catch a student production at the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center and Theatre, once directed by noted Latine playwright and actor Ruben Sierra.

 

People

Octavia Butler (1947-2006) was a renowned speculative fiction writer and author of Parable of the Sower and Kindred, among other books. She lived in Seattle from 1999 until her death in 2006, and loved to eat at the Royal Palm restaurant in the University District. 

“In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn.”
— Octavia Butler, "Parable of the Talents"
 

Beverly Cleary (1916-2021) was the beloved creator of Ramona Quimby who received her library science degree from University of Washington in 1939. The UW Information School now has an endowed chair for Children and Youth Services to honor her.

“One rainy Sunday when I was in the third grade, I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered that even though I did not want to, I was reading. I have been a reader ever since.”
— Beverly Cleary
 

Ivan Doig (1939-2015) was a recipient of the prestigious Wallace Stegner Award, Doig is best known for his memoir This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind and his bestselling novel The Whistling Season. He received his Ph.D from the University of Washington and lived in Seattle until his death in 2015.

“I thought again what an achievement a book is, a magic box simultaneously holding the presence of the author and the wonders of the world.”
— Ivan Doig, "Sweet Thunder"
 

Spencer Shaw was a University of Washington professor emeritus of library science and nationally recognized storyteller and advocate for children’s reading. An endowed lecture series at the University of Washington is named in his honor.

 

Ruben Sierra (1946-1998) was a playwright, actor, University of Washington Drama School faculty member, founding artistic director of the multicultural Seattle Group Theatre, and director of the University of Washington Ethnic Cultural Center and Theater.

 

Also Nearby

Stop by the Ravenna location of indie bookstore favorite Third Place Books, where you can grab lunch after you shop. Then head to the lovely Northeast branch of The Seattle Public Library, designed by eminent Northwest architect Paul Thiry.