10 Places Every Grunge Fan Must Visit in Seattle (2024)

📸 Adam Kubota

A bench in this quiet, contemplative park near Denny Blaine in Leschi isan unofficial memorialto Nirvana frontman and grunge legend Kurt Cobain. Situated under a giant tree in a clearing, Nirvana fans come to Viretta Park to pay their respects by leaving flowers, stickers,merch, candles, photos, and knickknacks. Just to the north of the park is the residence where Cobain spent his final days, though it’s a private residence not open to the public.

📸 Adam Kubota

TheMuseum of Pop Culture(FKA The Experience Music Project) certainly wasn’t around when grunge was in its heyday, but itishome to a ton of grunge history. Currently, MoPOP has anongoingextensive exhibition dedicated to Nirvana, featuring200 rare artifacts,photos, and oral histories of the germinal grunge band. They also have aGuitar Gallerythat tracks the instrument’s evolution as it formed the basis of American popular music to round out your understanding of rock history.

📸 Adam Kubota

Established in 1907, The Moore Theatre is the oldest operating theater in the city. And while it’s seen its fair share of all kinds of performances, it’s a recurring character in Seattle’s grunge scene. On June 9th, 1989, $7 would have gotten you a ticket to the raucous Sub Pop Lame Fest, a showcase for early-in-their-career Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Tad. Famous acts like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains have recorded live albums and music videos on The Moore’s hallowed stage.

📸 Adam Kubota

Over in Pioneer Square,Central Saloonwas also a hotbed of grunge activity in the 1980s with its dark interiors and a new call for live music. Lots of bands, like Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, The Melvins, and Soundgarden, played regularly at The Central beforethe “Seattle Sound”hit wider audiences. Central’s stage hostedNirvana’s first Seattle showin 1986, and it was also where Sub Pop’s Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Ponemanspottedthe band, signing them shortly after.

📸 Adam Kubota

In 1991, the grunge supergroup Temple of the Dog was formed to honor the passing of Andrew Wood, frontman of Mother Love Bone. For their music video “Hunger Strike,” the band filmed around theWest Point Lighthouseand on the grassy beach at Discovery Park. It’s angsty, gray, and soooo grunge. 26 years later, another iconic Seattle band, Chastity Belt, parodied/paid tribute to the music video with their own equally melancholic track “Different Now.” Two for the price of one!

📸 Adam Kubota

When KEXP wasowned and operatedby the University of Washington asKCMU, they were the first radio station to air grunge bands over the airwaves in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. In the decades following, KEXP has continued to support Seattle musicians past and present through their radio programming and blog. The station is now at theSeattle Center, where you can chill in the KEXP Gathering Space, sip Caffe Vita coffee, and maybe even slip intoa live in-studio session.

📸 Adam Kubota

📸 Courtesy Linda’s Tavern

At this spot, you can slurp down an ice cold beer while basking in some grunge lore. Linda’s Tavern—a beloved Capitol Hill dive bar—is supposedly the last place Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was seen alive before his death on April 5th, 1994. Following the news of his passing, his friends and loved ones gathered at the tavern and barred news crews and other looky-loos from filming inside the joint. While the history of the place is cool, Linda’s is still very much a local hangout. If you decide to roll through, remember to be respectful.

📸 Courtesy Ray’s Boathouse

Over in Ballard, the seafood restaurant Ray’s Boathouse was where Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell clocked in as a sous chef in the 1980s. In a Seattle Times profile commemorating Cornell’s time at Ray’s, his former colleagues remembered him as a quiet, down-to-earth guy with “a wicked sense of humor” who liked to play music and pull pranks. In March 1997, at the height of Soundgarden’s fame, he actually returned to Ray’s to attend the retirement party of his old boss, Chef Wayne Ludvigsen. Go feast on sustainable seafood in Chris’s honor.