A Cascadian Prep's Commute Home

One would think that for an urban region with mountains and snow about 30 miles east, we would be used to driving in a little of it here. NOT!

(Play with sound ON)

(music by Ra Ra Riot)

(music by incredible Portland, OR band - The Shins)

Lowell's, Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA, USA

Lowell's at Pike Place Market

Lowell's - 2nd floor where the "tourans" are less present. Find your self here. Not a bad place to contemplate all manner of things. Since this is supposed to be a prep-themed blog, I was wearing Sperry Top-Siders, L.L. Bean ragwool socks (gray), Boss jeans, Orvis viyella shirt, Henri Lloyd vest, Castaway Clothing jacket. Not a bad kit, if I do say so myself. Totally lost on the crowd, however.  WTF Cascadia?!

Send... Help... Fast

This is what we're dealing with here in Cascadia. Don't buy the starving artist bit this Seattle (Kirkland) band wishes to portray. They're from the Seattle-area's "Eastside," which is to say the east side of Lake Washington, which also is to say the well-monied side of the city. Home to more Bourgeois Bohemians (BoBos) than a Franco-Czech Chambers of Commerce convention.

Increasingly popular Fleet Foxes

(I hate that I like their music.) Watch the video and ask me about the goats.

A Seattle Icon of Epic Proportions

The Location: Lowell's, an iconic restaurant in Seattle's Pike Place Market.
The Inspiration: The Epic's "Fuzzy Photos from Great Bars."
This Afternoon's Drinks (at least a few of them):



"Mi Novia" (muy, muy caliente)




Douglas Fir Eau de Vie




Naughty Nellie Golden Ale

Whether you live in Seattle or not, The Pike Place Market should always be on your hit list.  Aside from the expected excellent seafood markets, bakeries, cheese mongers, cafes, etc., there are the unexpected things and places which really make it shine. Locals and tourists collide, mingle, smile at each other and it's all good. Shopkeepers are genuinely friendly and don't seem to be there just doin' another shift. We are all happy to be here. Lowell's is great because it has three floors of seating all with epic views of Elliott Bay, West Seattle, and the Olympic Mountain Range. Note well: the bar is on the second floor and the best time to go is any late afternoon.  Ask for Nick.



Hip Hip Chin Chin! Signing off for a week - Happy Fourth of July!

Nantucket Reds in Cascadia

Just a quick little posting to say that my faith in Cascadians is restored... at least temporarily.  I donned my relatively new Nantucket Reds at the U2 concert at Qwest Field (Seattle) Saturday night and was met with compliment after compliment. Most kudos came from drunken rabble-rousers, but their words were positive, nonetheless.  Giant-sized grunge guys, middle-aged suburban women on a "Girls Night Out," and Vancouver Canucks fans down for the show all paid tribute to the "Reds." (Congrats to the Canucks who won Saturday's game of the Stanley Cup.)

U2's 360 screen from the floor of Qwest Field

a surreal experience

Since the Mrs. and I had general admission floor tickets (putting us on the crowded field), she appreciated my wearing them since she could see me a mile away - I easily stood out in a sea of blue jeans, baggy brown cargo shorts, and fully-tattooed legs.  There must be something about U2 which causes one to have an open mind because I really thought I would be jeered, not high-fived by my fellow Cascadians.

The pants are great, but you have to choose your venue wisely.  The U2 show was absolutely incredible, and they chose their venue wisely - a metropolitan Cascadian night. 70 degrees F, not a cloud in the sky... only stars and the dulcet tones of The Edge's guitar.

Filson - "Might As Well Have The Best"

No self-respecting Cascadian prep or general man's man would be caught dead without his side adorned with a Filson briefcase. Quite simply THE. BEST. BRIEFCASE. EVER.*

the mark of [cascadian]excellence

I have the "Original Briefcase" in otter green, which today sells for $210.00 (a steal). Made from rugged twill glazed with oil, it is indestructable; and if you do manage to rag it out, the good people at Filson will repair it or replace it free of charge.

Shop floor at Filson

At their flagship store in Seattle, Washington, one may view the factory (sewing) floor from the showroom, which reveals several of the sweetest-faced little ladies from SE Asia you'd ever want to know made your briefcase.

interior of Filson

Have you noticed the "Harley wave" or "Porsche wave"? You know, when owners of these vehicles see another enthusiast, they give the two-finger signal, as to show membership in the same club.  With Filson, it's no different - get in an elevator or on an airplane with it, you are sure to get the nod or that two-fingered gesture in recognition of your impeccable taste.

* NB:  Not suitable for all professions or in all office environments. If you wear a suit to work, this style of briefcase (and brand) may not be appropriate, any more than wearing brown shoes to a black tie affair is. However, if insouciance is your MO, take the case and the brown shoes to that black tie affair, and have a one-fingered gesture at the ready.

Distant Sun

Today, under a building overhang, a stranger said to me that it could be a long time before we get reliably sunny weather. Just at that moment, we each were sprayed with dirty street water from a passing bus.  We weren't strangers anymore.

(Good thing I was wearing rainy-weather shoes, or as we like to say here in Cascadia - "shoes.") 

a desert island song & band - Crowded House's "Distant Sun"

If you ever have a chance to see Crowded House or Neil Finn's solo act, do it. You don't have to be a Gen X'er, but being born in the 1970s, or earlier decades, might help. These Kiwis don't come to North America very often, and heaven forbid they go on the casino or free concert-in-the-park circuit, but even if they have a less desirable venue, it would be worth your while. It was mine.

Rowing

I love rowing, but I love the idea of rowing even more.

Who is that man in the green cap?

I rowed for The University of Texas "back in the day." I know - Texas is not exactly synonymous with the life aquatic or rowing, to be sure. But with my intentions being as pure as the lake we rowed on, I took it up as a club sport. (More on that in a sec.)

Sidebar: In Austin, most rowing is done on Lady Bird Lake, which is really just a dammed-up spot on the Colorado River. The lake used to be  called "Town Lake" because it courses through the middle of downtown Austin. The "lake" is spanned by the Congress Avenue bridge, which is home to the world's largest colony of urban-dwelling bats.  (Can you say "guano"?) The lake - none too pure.

Back to a now-Cascadian, then-transient prep trying to explain r-o-w-i-n-g in Texas, for Pete's sake. At the time, rowing wasn't just any "club sport."  If you are like me, the idea of  "club sports" in college evokes images of frisbee golf, competitive hackysack, or late night dwarf-tossing. But rowing, as a club sport, was different in that it enabled marginally-athletic guys like me to think we were cool on campus. It also gave us that  "je ne sais liberal arts smugness" hard to achieve with, say, club rugby or club pickelball. It gave us a chance to travel, wear henleys, talk about how we don't drink because we're athletes, not talk about how we ate magic brownies after regattas because we're club sport athletes, etc.

 

                                                                                                                                                                   

It's different now.  Texas actually has a nationally ranked rowing program... #15 in the country! This fact takes the fun out of it for me, since my motivation was to impress liberal arts lassies, not actually work hard and take it seriously. There's no messing with successful Texas sports programs.

"The Cut" with Montlake Bridge in the background (Seattle)

In Cascadia - Washington to be exact - it's the same as it has been for a long time... they row well here... really well. So well, in fact, I had to ask myself why such a locally popular and strong preppy sport didn't radiate more preppiness through out the land.

I think I found the answer... it's because the traditional rowing powerhouses from back east are being challenged by schools from the West Coast, the Midwest and the South Central. The whole paradigm is shifting.  Cheating Tiger Woods in golf. Derrière-picking Nadal in tennis. Football-loving Texas in rowing. Don't get me wrong... I love each of these three sports establishments, but they can dilute the spirit, obscure the history, and cheapen the lore. Preps need spirit, history, and lore.

Division I

1) Tie - Cal & Princeton

7) Washington

9) Yale

12) Harvard

14) Washington State

15) Texas (seriously)

Division II

1) Western Washington Univ.

2) Seattle Pacific Univ.

(source: http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/rowing/d1)

The rowing Winklevoss dudes who "founded" FB... sorta

Opening Day of Boating Season was Saturday, May 7th, when  the Pacific Northwest's premier regatta - The Windemere Cup - is contested.  The fours crews rowing this year were Cambridge, Stanford, Oklahoma, and Washington. Washington won.

(A few pics taken in Tigre, Bs. As.... more reasons why rowing is great.)

Buenos Aires Rowing Club

La Marina Regata Club

Rowing Club Argentino

This Western Feeling

The Foals - This Orient

You may ask, "So how is this germane to Cascadian preppiness?" Well, time for another round of "6 Degrees of Pugetropolis Prep." I'll have you know that The Foals are from Oxford, England - namesake for the cloth in which our favorite button-down shirts are made. The Foals, in the US, are signed to Sub Pop - a Seattle-based record label.  And, quite simply, I just really like this band. 

Major League Soccer in Cascadia, U.S.A.

  

The 2011 season is going to be fun!  For the first time in several years, these three teams and these three cities - Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver - will compete for best sports team in Cascadia. Football Soccer, in this instance, is the sport to be competed - one of a few chosen to be played and observed by the Cascadian prep.

Cascadians love soccer (or "the idea of soccer") because it harks back to their suburban youth and the happy days of picking grass and gazing, slack-jawed, at the adjacent soccer field in anticipation of the CapriSuns and Granola bars which awaited them. They (we, really) equally love the sport for what it was not - basketball, baseball, and American football. Soccer is also a versatile sport and Cascadians love versatility.  This sport, watched at the professional level, can become a cherished family outing and it also can be a sport that the guys and gals from the office get together to watch at the "Pub" - don't even utter the words "Sports Bar"!

Soccer is also filled with nuance and Cascadians love nuance.  Example, the group of players don't actually make up a "team." They make up a "club." "Club" is a far preferable choice of words to the Cascadian or classic prep because of the sense of belonging it conveys. And all we ever wanted was to just belong. [See tongue planted firmly in cheek.]



Qwest Field - Home of  Sounders FC (and that other team that has to wear helmets)



Dress FOR the weather, not LIKE the weather

So Seattle and the rest of Pugetropolis is at Day 44 of the "90 Day Gray." Haven't seen the sun in some time, nor will we.  But why, pray tell, must we dress as monochromatic as the skies?

Waiting for the Interurban

 

Have we no spirit, no joie de vivre?  Alas, it is true; we've given up as a people, taken on too much water, and just want to get to the other side (May/June?) in order to dry out before we head back across, again.



Washington State Ferry