Review · Pioneer Square
Smith Tower Observatory Bar: drinks at 462 feet
By Kevin Edry · · 1 min read
The first time I rode the brass elevator up Smith Tower — a 1914 original, operated by an actual human — I assumed the bar at the top would be a tourist trap coasting on the view. I was wrong, and I’ve been back enough times to say it plainly. Seattle’s first skyscraper hides a wraparound observatory deck with a proper bar in the middle of it, and the view runs the full circle: Elliott Bay and the Olympics one way, the modern skyline stacked up behind you the other. For what a drink costs up there, I don’t know a better deal in the city.
The Prohibition angle
The cocktail menu leans into the building’s speakeasy history, and it’s done properly — recipes, not costumes. I’m a gin and tonic person almost everywhere else; up here I let the menu win, and it hasn’t lost yet.
When to go
Blue hour. I once watched the sun go down over the Sound, turned around, and the city lights were coming on behind me. The deck faces every direction, so you don’t have to choose.
Best time to go: 30 minutes before sunset, on a weeknight. The Saturday elevator line is real.
Photo courtesy of Smith Tower.