![]() ![]() The arcade section features neon florescent lights overhead that illuminate multi-colored Japanese fishing floats that are suspended from the ceilings in nets. It looks pretty slick in the photos and would be a great place to mix it up with friends. Although I did not go upstairs, there is an space called the Trophy Room that includes its own bar and arcade for private functions and special events. For those in search of equally noble pursuits, classics like Baby Pac Man, Beerball, Centipede and Joust also compete for your attention. *Again, this is just a small sampling of the pinball menu. Vintage games include (but are in no way limited to) Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle, Black Night Sword of Rage, Lost World 78, Munsters LE and Fireball Pro. So let’s grab our drinks and move over to the other side…įor you arcade worshippers, this is your mecca. It’s definitely a vintage vibe and would be cool even if there were not an arcade on the other side of the partition. ![]() The walls are decorated in carnival themes-clowns, stars, stripes, and other whimsy décor that contribute to the over-stimulating atmosphere. Booths with pac man and pinball glass tabletops serve as intimate space for conversation over food and drinks. If you get there early enough, you can park your keister on a classic chrome swivel stool at the bar. The back bar is quite busy, and features a slick vintage beer cooler stocked with local favorites. The copper bar top glistens in the arcade lighting and is a good refueling station for weary gamers. “Gourmet” hot dogs sizzle on the rotisserie and are pretty hard to resist once you start downing beers and man handle the machines. Overhead is a retro Coca Cola menu sign with prices much like the kind you’d see in an old school luncheonette. So we might as well begin the tour with the bar… The bar and food area is on the left and the pinball and arcade games are on the right. Upon entering, the lay of the land is easy to navigate. The building’s exterior is quaint and unpretentious-with brick, tile and a concrete deco façade framed by a red and white striped awning. ![]() It sets the tone for the carnival like atmosphere. I love the angry clown chomping on a cigar that’s illuminated on a separate sign. The marquee bulb lighting announces Shorty’s from afar as you stroll down 2nd Avenue. Apparently Shorty’s has a cult like following, and from the looks of things, the faithful have assimilated quite well in their new environs. The new joint is well worn, and you would never know that this is not the original. That’s right, movers dressed as clowns-according to my scrupulous research. After a long stint at a different neighborhood location, movers dressed as clowns packed up the belongings and moved Shorty’s down the block to its current location. Located in the once gritty Belltown section (pre Amazon headquarters days), Shorty’s is the definition of good, clean fun. I’ve been to bars in a laundromat, a vintage store, a pharmacy (in Ireland of course) and now in a pinball arcade at Shorty’s Pinball Bar in Seattle. If the Seahawks are playing a make-or-break game on Monday Night Football and you go to Shorty’s, you’re watching pro wrestling.I’ve always loved unconventional bars. Monday nights, the bar only shows pro wrestling. TV dinners aside, the bar’s only TV is so fuzzy you can’t read the score when the game is on, and there’s no guarantee that the game will be on. The pinball machines are kept in pristine shape by Vander Werf himself, a trained technician. Its Rainier is priced as Rainier should be. ![]() The kitchen serves three things: hot dogs, nachos, and “organic” TV dinners. Shorty’s presents perhaps a more sympathetic face-at least to an urbanist’s taste-to the argument that we have a right to love and protect the environments in which we build our lives.įor those who haven’t been, the bar is about as dark as a Coney Island-themed drinking hole festooned with punky clowns can be. In Seattle’s current debate between development and preservation, those on the latter side are often portrayed as stodgy, white-haired North Seattleites who stand in the way of progress for sometimes petty reasons. ![]()
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