My former colleague Jonah Spangenthal-Lee broke the story (of course) Wednesday that Angie’s, a longtime dive bar in Columbia City, seems likely to close. The state liquor control board has said it will not renew the bar’s liquor license.
Predictably, commenters are lamenting the demise of the neighborhood’s last “authentic” bar. (E.g., “I wish Angies owners luck. You will most likely wind up like Oscars and Deanos, gone because you dont fit in with your new imposers..I mean neighbors.”)
And they have a point. Angie’s is the only bar in the neighborhood that isn’t mostly white (although Lottie’s has a pretty diverse mix of folks most nights), and many of the formerly empty storefronts are now filled with upscale restaurants serving $15 Thai entrees and overpriced sushi. The wine bar around the corner is unbearable, and the pub across the street from Angie’s closes way too early.
But Angie’s isn’t a “cool” dive bar, as so many blog commenters insist. (How many of those commenters actually live in the neighborhood, or have ever visited Angie’s, is impossible to know.) It’s a constant source of problems for neighboring residents, many of whom are fed up with the drug dealing, gunshots, prostitution, and street harassment that happen inside and in the block immediately surrounding the bar.
Is if fair to blame Angie’s for what happens outside their doors? Ordinarily, I’d say no. But the fact is, Angie’s is one of the only spots in the neighborhood (the other being a minimart down the street) where you see open drug dealing, fighting, and prostitution. I walk past Angie’s probably once a day. In the years I’ve lived in the neighborhood, I’ve seen prostitution turning tricks in the alley behind the bar. I’ve been offered drugs. And I’ve been harassed (usually, the “hey, baby” type; occasionally, the following-me-down-the-street type), and witnessed other women being harassed, more times than I can count.
That’s just my general impression based on living in the neighborhood, though. Want specific examples? Here are several, all from Jonah: Earlier this month, a man was arrested after he fired a gun inside the bar. In April, a man attacked police officers who were investigating a separate crime in the alley behind Angie’s with “metal items” and his dog. Last August, a man was arrested for firing a gun in front of the bar. In July, police broke up a fight between two women who had been inside Angie’s, one of them a teenager who was “extremely intoxicated.” Police have reported being able to buy drugs at the bar repeatedly. And back in February, police arrested a woman for prostitution and for buying crack inside the bar.
That’s crime, not character. And the bar’s owners—who’ve met with police and representatives of the city attorney’s office repeatedly—have shown no indication that they’re going to take any proactive steps to clean it up.
I have mixed feelings about gentrification. On one hand—the wine bar. Ugh. On the other, it’s hard to take a tough position against gentrification when I’m part of it. (And cool stuff still does open up in Columbia City—see: Full Tilt Ice Cream). But does gentrification need to be “held back” by a bar that’s routinely visited by police for drug dealing, gunshots, prostitution, and worse? Can it be? And is preventing gentrification by keeping around a bar that’s a magnet for crime worth the tradeoff? Increasingly, I think not.
Addendum: My colleague Jonathan Cunningham points out that the crack problem in Belltown is far worse than the relatively tiny “problem” in Columbia City, yet police aren’t pushing to shut down bars and clubs there. I absolutely agree—there are parts of Belltown that I don’t like walking around at night.
But for the most part, those are areas where there are few or no bars or clubs (clubs, I think Jonathan would agree, are a good thing)—places that have a high concentration of empty storefronts or social services rather than a thriving nightlife scene. If drug dealers and prostitutes were concentrated around a single bar in Belltown—and only that bar—my guess is that the police and city attorney would notice it and try to shut it down.
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Awesome. Let's do something about Kelly's in Belltown while we're at it.
I'm not sure the public benefit of people stumbling drunk and shouting at each other at 6:00 a.m., every single morning.
Here's hoping that the new owners of the CC Theater can make something that is open and affordable for a diverse crowd (and that lasts for more than a few months). I've been in CC for 6 years and still can't stand Lotties or the Alehouse. I wish the Skylark would open up a CC branch. #Eternal_optimism
4 hours after the bar closes?
We shouldn't be celebrating the closure of the only place left in the neighborhood with majority African American patronage… It isn't all about white people feeling comfortable all the time.
Just becuase you don't feel comfortable at Angie's doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. Have you thought about your neighbors who don't feel comfortable at the Bakery or Geraldine's or the Ale House?
What happens at the Bakery or Geraldine's or the Ale House? Are police called for violent incidents and other felonies with regularity?
Sorry, but I don't see the point of closing Angie's. The problem isn't the bar but some people who go to the bar. Things can change without closing the bar. It just takes some effort and community support.
If all the people who are for closing the bar would go to the bar on a regular basis then the bad element would leave. These things take some time, but I assure you the 'bad' people will leave. Not only that, but the owners of Angie's would then feel the community was behind their business and probably spend more time cleaning out the bad element too.
Then, the CC community, could keep one of the last vestiges of a different time in Columbia City. Instead of having photographs of that different time period we would actually have breathing people and places that belong to those people who helped bring CC to where it is now.
Don't turn you backs on those people who are not involved. They deserve the place just as much as everyone else.
T,
That's not the point. People can feel uncomfortable without a gun pointed in their face.
Check your facts. The incident with the drunk giant and his now-dead dog was not at Angie's. It occurred near Lottie's (however, the intoxicated giant wasn't a Lottie's patron).
I like Angie's. I'd love it to stay in CC; however, they need to do more to clean the place up. A professional bouncer patrolling the sidewalk and alley would go a long way. Unfortunately, I think we'll lose Angie's in the end.
Good article, Erica. Angie's is just not a responsible neighborhood business. It's not even a good dive bar. While we need to keep a light on social segregation in Seattle (it's real), Angie's is part of the problem, not the solution.
Talk about an absurd premise! To suggest that a crime infested bar is “the only place left in the neighborhood with majority African American patronage” is simply ridiculous. Posting ignorant statements is one thing, but don't drag down black folks with your ignorance!