While at the Seattle Art Museum I took a picture of the marquee at the old Lusty Lady peep show.

Seeing the empty facade reminded me of the time I did a film screening that nobody showed up for and one of my friends, an old-timer, said “ten years ago this place would have been packed. Seattle’s not that kind of town anymore.” Best compliment I ever got. And no, that screening was not at the Lusty Lady.

It costs $30 for an adult ticket to the Seattle Art Museum, which makes me wonder if they are deliberately trying to exclude people who are not rich. The price of admission at the Lusty Lady was a quarter.

The Seattle Lusty Lady (at this location from 1985-2010) was not all fun and joy. For starters, the claim that the place was “woman-owned” was bullshit. The daughter of the owner was technically the manager but she spent most of her time in Hawaii. It was staffed by radical feminists for a time – including the infamous Lamar Van Dyke.

The friend group I had that worked there in the 90s all turned out to have good lives with careers as diverse as mortician, photographer on a tropical island, Bay Area yoga instructor and well-regarded London-based circus performer. It probably didn’t turn out so fabulous for many other former employees.

Smart Supermarket Shopping for $100

Corporate Supermarkets are awful which is why I like to go to Renton sometimes for a trip to D.K. Market. They have the best produce section in the area and the largest selection of rice and every other grain you can think of too. People from a wide variety of different cultures shop there - always a good sign.

Scored six pounds of quality pasta for $1.59 a pound! Much cheaper than supermarket chain pasta that has doubled or even tripled in price since 2020. Got shrimp shumai, quality Polish sauerkraut … really good “Armenian recipe” yogurt. D.K. Market always has incredible eggplant (three varieties) and perfect cucumbers (three varieties). Got some dish towels for a dollar and some aluminum pans for future Nirvana Wok food donations. A corkscrew and a bottle opener were a dollar each. I like quality kitchen stuff but for two bucks we’ll live with these for now.

This bounty could last a few days or more for our family of four, if I threw a chicken or some fish into the mix. Either way, we spend a small fortune on food, and I’m well aware that many families don’t have $100 to spare, or transportation to a quality store, or the time to cook. Seattle is not that kind of town anymore.

—Alex