Starbucks

Seattle's title as most caffeinated city in the country is well deserved and without exaggeration. Walk a city block and you are likely to find more than one coffee shop within a few feet of one another. In fact, you are more likely to find an open coffee shop than an ATM, bench, or even a trash can.

There are a number of theories regarding Seattle's love affair with coffee. Some say that because of the rainy weather, coffee shops act as sheltered community centers, dispensing legal liquid antidepressants. Others trace it back to the roots of the city itself; founded by misfits, weirdos, and fortune seekers, all of whom were independent and solitary, but recognized the rejuvenation of brief and occasional silent fellowship. Regardless of the harebrained reasoning behind it, it's impossible at this point to separate Seattle's recent history from the history of one of its most famous companies and biggest employers: Starbucks.

With a Starbucks in every town and inside every airport, it seems almost ridiculous to pick out any particular location as an attraction. However, the (near) original location of the first Starbucks is one worth visiting for any macchiato fan.

While the actual original location at 2000 Western Avenue is long gone, the Starbucks at 1912 Pike Place, nestled on the edge of the bustling Pike Place Market, remains relatively unchanged since its opening in 1976. The sign above the store is crooked and hand-lettered, and the logo is the brown, bare-breasted original conceived by the founders, based on Norse woodcuts (hey, the founders were two teachers and a writer).

There's always a line and the offerings are the same as any other Starbucks location, but the feeling is distinctively different. The rustic interior and absence of seating take you back to what Starbucks was created to be about: getting a good cup of coffee and then getting on with your day.

 

- by Caren Gussoff Sumption, Seattle Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Caren Gussoff Sumption

Caren Gussoff Sumption is a freelance writer and editor from Seattle, WA. She's written for USA Today, the Seattle Times/NW Source, MSN and AOL, and her fiction has been published worldwide. She received her MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.