"Katie," my friend Sam turned to me at the end of bible study on Thursday night. "When are we going to the speakeasies."
"Um... whenever you want but it has to be a small group, most of them don't take large groups."
It has become a thing in my life that people ask me to take them to a speakeasy because, "Katie knows all of the speakeasies." One of these days my friends are going to find out that I am not actually cool and I do not know what is going to happen but I imagine it will not be fun for me.
Once word got around my bible study group that I knew all of the speakeasies my friend Karen asked if I would take them all to one for her going away party (Karen moved, it still makes me sad). I looked around at the at least 8 people who I knew would be going and started through my mental list. My standbys, Needle and Thread and The Knee High Stocking Co, did not take groups that large without making you rent out the whole space, most of the others I wasn't sure on.
"Well, we could go to the Back Door in Fremont."
The Back Door at the Roxy is your best bet if you want to go to a "speakeasy" with a large group or without a reservation (or both). In my mind it does not really qualify as a speakeasy or secret bar because it is big and it is loud. There is no way it would have remained secret during prohibition. Instead it is more like what I imagine a hip Parisian bar would have been like in the 20s and 30s. The most speakeasy thing about it is the entrance, just a back door in a parking lot that would look a lot more secret if there wasn't a big chandelier painted on the wall with the words "the back door" beside it. From there it really just becomes a retro themed bar.
Don't get me wrong, it is still way cool and it has tasty drinks, it's just not a speakeasy, so if your goal is a quiet speakeasy kind of spot I would try one of the other ones first.
The Back Door is way cool. It is a hodgepodge of old artwork, mirrors, chandeliers, and windows meshed together to create a dim, nostalgic atmosphere that somehow works. It is definitely the kind of place I can picture F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald hanging out in. The walls are covered with interesting murals and one time I went there they had jazz music playing overhead. They also have good food and their drinks aren't unreasonably priced. It is a good place if you have a larger group but not if you are looking for a quiet spot to get to know someone better.
Some other things that definitely make it a cool place that you should check out:
They offer bar tending classes for groups before their normal business hours. You can book them on their website.
It is not an unreasonable distance from the fremont troll so you could potentially get two cool/weird Seattle things done at once.
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