A fire erupted at Dante's bar Tuesday morning near the border between the University District and the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle. The blaze was caused by overheated electrical wiring in the basement, according to the Seattle Fire Department.Seattle Fire Department
A fire erupted at Dante's bar Tuesday morning near the border between the University District and the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle. The blaze was caused by overheated electrical wiring in the basement, according to the Seattle Fire Department
JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
A fire erupted at Dante's bar Tuesday morning near the border between the University District and the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle. The blaze was caused by overheated electrical wiring in the basement, according to the Seattle Fire Department.Seattle Fire Department
Seattle firefighters work the scene of a Tuesady morning fire at the popular U-District bar, Dante's on Roosevelt Way Northeast.Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com
Firefighters work the scene at Dante's bar in the University District after a fire at the popular bar. The fire, which as mostly in the building's walls and ceiling, required firefighters to tear into the walls to extinguish the blaze. Photographed on Tuesday, August 18, 2015.JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Now here are other Seattle bars we miss. Weigh in with your own stories. Google Street View
The Redwood on Capitol Hill closed on Halloween 2017 with one final bash before making way for a microhousing development.
Google Maps
Cafe Racer closed after 14 years in October 2017.
GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI
The People's Pub on Ballard Avenue NW closed in August 2017. GRANT HINDSLEY/SEATTLEPI.COM
Dante's in the University District closed after a 2015 fire. Hopes remained for a revival until a new development was announced for its lot in 2017. JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM
Hurricane Cafe:
The gritty Belltown 24-hour eatery and bar announced its impending closure earlier in 2014 and served its last grub New Year's Day 2015 before making way for the behemoths at Amazon.
seattlepi.com file
For more than three decades, the Alki Tavern was West Seattle’s most famous dive bar with a view. But the Taco Thursdays and biker regulars bid farewell in March of 2013, when the bar closed to make way for condos. Photo: aturkus, Flickr.aturkus/Flickr
The Alki Tavern when it was a scene for bikers, especially in the summer. It closed in March 2013.Seattlepi.com file
More Alki Tavern fun, before it closed.Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Angie's Tavern:
Police considered this Columbia City dive bar a trouble spot, but regulars found it a welcoming refuge from a gentrifying neighborhood. Pictured here is Ted Cook shooting pool in 2007.
Dan DeLong/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Manray:
A futuristic (or space retro?) theme distinguished this favorite Capitol Hill gay bar, whose building was demolished in 2007.
Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
A bartender makes a drink at Manray in 2003.GILBERT W. ARIAS/SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER
Did anyone actually do their laundry at the Sit & Spin? This Belltown place had food, beer, board games, live music and laundry facilities.King County parcel viewer
Before skinny jeans and smart phones were everywhere, the Fenix Underground in Pioneer Square was the place to dance in mom jeans with a big phone attached to your belt. It closed in 2001, when the Nisqually Earthquake destroyed its building. It reopened in 2003, when this photo was taken, but was part of a bankruptcy filing in 2007.MIKE URBAN/SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
More dancing at the Fenix Underground, which used to host a swing night.MERYL SCHENKER
Buckaroo Tavern:
This longtime Fremont watering hole was a popular place for cheap beer after filling up at Paseo. It closed in 2010 when its lease wasn't renewed.
Google Street View
Sorry Charlie's
was old-school Queen Anne. It was a piano bar on one side and dark hangout on the other, with old-timers filling both. Pictured is owner Betty Henderson (right) in 2003, talking about closing shop after almost 30 years with Drew Curry, owner of an Uptown floral shop that also closed.
Scott Eklund / Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Before it closed, Sorry Charlie's featured legendary lounge piano player Howard Bulson, who is pictured here in 2003 getting a kiss from bartender Rose Stringer. Bulson died in 2007.Mike Urban / Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Turf
, at 2nd and Pike, was known for friendly service, cheap food and a first-of-the-month kind of bar, where many down-and-outers spent their government checks. It's still run by the same Filipino family, but the name has changed to Ludi's, after the owner's daughter, and it's now known more for its Filipino breakfasts.
211 Club
: Serious pool players hung out at this quiet Belltown place, which had no music and a sign that banned whistling and loud noises. Pictured is former 211 Club janitor Jay Murray, practicing his nine-ball after work.
MIKE URBAN/SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Cloud Room
: For decades, this restaurant and bar atop the 11-story downtown Camlin Hotel was known as a classy spot to get a drink, toast the view and listen to a piano man. The Cloud Room closed in 2003, when the 1926 hotel was sold.
Seattle Municipal Archives
The Ballard Firehouse
was an 18-year music institution before it closed in 2003. Located in a historic brick firehouse, it hosted thousands of bands, including the Kinks, Blue Oyster Cult and Quiet Riot. Pictured here is Kevin Lindeman of the Retros.
MERYL SCHENKER
In the '90s, RKCNDY was the place to see grunge and hip hop, with the AP calling it one of the "most influential music clubs" in Seattle. But that was in a story about about "life after grunge." This picture, taken for that story, was of RKCNDY's closure.Associated Press
Velvet Elvis
: In the '90s, this all-ages Pioneer Square club was the place to see music if you were under 21. But you had to wait in this alley to get in.
Ernie Steele's,
the namesake bar of a UW football star, was known for its walls of hunting trophies and booths of hard-drinking old-timers. It lasted 46 years, until it became Ileen's Sports Bar in the early 90s. That bar also closed. Photo courtesy Louis Chirillo.
"Singles," a love letter of a movie to Seattle's grunge scene, filmed at the OK Hotel, a favorite punk and grunge music club under the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The club closed after the Nisqually Earthquake damaged its building in 2001. It has since reopened as a building of artist suites and apartments.publicity photo
This grim photo is of the old Weathered Wall (left), a short-lived, two-story music club on Fifth Avenue in the 90s. It was famous as the venue for the frenetic opening scenes of "Almost Live."publicity photo
When the 24-hour Dog House closed in 1994, it was a passing of an era. KCTS broadcast the restaurant and bar's last day on live TV, and Seattle PI columnist Jon Hahn wrote, "The Dog House was an epoch of Seattle history, a virtually non-stop, open 24-hours run of food, booze, music and fellowship..." Pictured here is Laurie Gulbransen, who ran the Dog House for nearly 60 years, on Jan. 10, 1994, days before it closed.Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Before the Red Door Ale House moved to its current location, it anchored North 34th Street and Fremont Avenue North in this 1902 building. The historic building was moved a block west, along with the bar, to make way for new development.PHIL H. WEBBER
The "old" Red Door Ale House in Fremont, before it moved to its current location.PHIL H.WEBBER
If you grew up in Seattle, you might have hit DV8, an under-21 dance club. It's pictured here in this 1995 photo, when people in not exactly swanky clothes felt okay dancing in full view of everyone.P-I file
Before this Capitol Hill corner was Neumos, it was Moe's Mo' Rockin' Cafe in the '90s and a great place to see shows.Google Street View
The Palm Room was a 1950s Polynesian-themed lounge in the basement of the Trade Winds restaurant at 1st and Wall. It was where the gin and tonics glowed in the black light and piano player Lou Bianchi sang his famous "Summer of '62," an ode to the World's Fair in Seattle. Bianchi died in 2005. Photo courtesy Louis Chirillo.
Old-timers will remember this corner at Third Avenue and James Street as Spin's Friendly Tavern, a favorite bar across the street from the King County Courthouse.
Before this non-descript Eastlake building became music club El Corazon, it was the Off Ramp, a stuffy, sweaty, gritty place to see punk bands.Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Charlie's:
The Broadway mainstay closed after Pride weekend 2015, then was reborn under The Lodge Sports Grille family of restaurant that December. The new arrangement didn't last long, as Charlie's shut its doors for good in January 2017.
Google Street View
After more than 20 years in lower Queen Anne, Tini Bigs served its last cocktail at Denny Way and 1st Avenue in March 2017.GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM
Tini Bigs' sister bar, the tiki-themed Hula Hula, relocated to Capitol Hill.Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
After 40 years, F.X. McRory's held an Irish wake for its final day in its original Pioneer Square location. It will be reopening in a smaller nearby location.
GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM
A bartender reaches for a whiskey bottle at F.X. McRory's goodbye party on Sunday, June 11, 2017, the bar's last day in its historic Pioneer Square location.GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM
In a story as old as Amazonia, a beloved University District bar will be replaced by high-efficiency apartments and live-work units.
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Dante's, at 5300 Roosevelt Way Northeast, closed in August 2015 after an on-the-nose fire heavily damaged the home of the Jell-O shot syringe.
The bar announced at the time that it would work to re-open as soon as possible -- and that message remains on its website -- but popular Facebook and Instagram account Vanishing Seattle pointed out Sunday that it was not to be.
Dante's was a college bar that indeed packed in bros filling up on cheap shots, but took on different personalities, sometimes nearly empty for patrons to watch Monday Night Football in peace with affordable drinks or stuffed with twentysomethings celebrating a birthday with some karaoke.
Whatever the occasion, it was an institution.
Overheated electrical wiring caused the fire on a Tuesday morning.
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Has this news put you in the mood for some maudlin reminiscing? Our gallery includes a reflection of Seattle bars we miss. Give us your stories.
