Teen Spirit

To get the inside scoop on how the entire family can explore like locals, we asked a Seattle teen to give us his spin on the Emerald City.

What’s your favorite thing about Seattle?

The diversity of opportunity here. Whenever I get into one thing, there are always a million places I can go to explore that. When I got into basketball, there were people who worked for the Storm (wnba.com/storm) that I could talk to. When I got into fashion, I went to Totokaelo (1523 10th Ave; totokaelo.com) and BAIT (915 E Pike St; baitme.com) and Recess (5235
University Way NE; recesspieces.com).

Where do you take visitors to show off the city?

I like to go to the Seattle Great Wheel (*1301 Alaskan Way, Pier 57; seattlegreatwheel.com) because it’s a Ferris wheel, and Ferris wheels are always fun—unless you have a fear of heights. I also like to take them to food trucks (seattlefoodtruck.com).

Favorite restaurant?

It’s either Maneki (304 Sixth Ave S; manekirestaurant.com) in the Chinatown-International District for sushi or Barrio (*1420 12th Ave; barriorestaurant.com) for Mexican.

Favorite museum?

I like the Frye Art Museum (*704 Terry Ave; fryemuseum.org) because I can walk in there after paying nothing and see really cool art. And I like Seattle Art Museum (*1300 First Ave; seattleartmuseum.org) because it’s one of the best-curated art museums I’ve been to, and the exhibits they have always seem cool.

Favorite stores?

I like Hunt (4910 Rainier Ave S; comehuntwith.us), a men’s consignment store in Columbia City, which is really cool, Crossroads Trading Co. (325 Broadway Ave E; crossroadstrading.com) on Capitol Hill, and Ebbets Field Flannels (119 S Jackson St; ebbets.com)—it’s two blocks from where I go to school.

Where do you like to hang out?

I like to take the 10 bus route to Capitol Hill and find something to do, like go to Everyday Music (1520 10th Ave; everydaymusic.com) or Elliott Bay Book Company (1521 10th Ave; elliottbaybook.com) or see what concerts are at Neumos (925 E Pike St; neumos.com). That’s all like within the space of a block, and that can take up four hours.

If visitors do nothing else, what should they do?

Go to the Northwest Film Forum (1515 12th Ave; nwfilmforum.org) or go to a concert. Also Nate’s Wings & Waffles (9261 57th Ave S; nateswingsandwaffles.com) in South Seattle. It’s really inexpensive with great-quality food and in great quantity.

*Visit Seattle partner