It’s cliche: Aging grunge-lovers making the pilgrimage to Seattle. Checking out the Singles apartments on Capitol Hill, catching shows (that’ll never live up to the old days) at the Moore, driving around looking for Eddie Vedder’s house in West Seattle, imagining Belltown in its gritty needle-infested prime.
We find an excuse to visit the Emerald City every few weeks. Per capita, Seattle has an incommensurate number of fun festivals, “now” restaurants and hip neighborhoods—but for us, the disenfranchised echo of grunge-days-past is still the main draw.
So we were super pumped to learn about Hotel Max’s permanent 5th-floor-wide installation celebrating the recent 25th anniversary of the scene-starting label Sub Pop.
Dramatically lit hotel room doors have been covered with life-size images of Kurt Cobain, Vedder, Courtney Love (grrrrr…), and Chris Cornell baring their souls onstage in early-90s combat boot-wearing, sweat-glistening glory.
But room interiors gently suggest the way forward for all the forlorn souls who’ve come to the source. A six-pack of chilled Loser Pale Ale (another Sub Pop collaboration, with local brewery Elysian) named for Cobain’s favorite T-shirt, eases the pain. Modern, cheerful decor and gleaming bathrooms are a happy reminder that Seattle has, um, evolved. Likewise, turntables adorning bedside tables alongside stacks of more recent Sub Pop discoveries like Iron & Wine, Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes and Wolf Parade convey that there is life beyond grunge, and that Seattle—and Sub Pop—is still a provenance of music with meaning.
Pacific Northwest Family 