10 Places Every Grunge Fan Must Visit in Seattle

A bench in this quiet, contemplative park near Denny Blaine in Leschi is an unofficial memorial to 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.

The Museum of Pop Culture (FKA The Experience Music Project) certainly wasn’t around when grunge was in its heyday, but it is home to a ton of grunge history. Currently, MoPOP has an ongoing extensive exhibition dedicated to Nirvana, featuring 200 rare artifacts, photos, and oral histories of the germinal grunge band. They also have a Guitar Gallery that tracks the instrument’s evolution as it formed the basis of American popular music to round out your understanding of rock history. 

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.

Over in Pioneer Square, Central Saloon was 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 before the “Seattle Sound” hit wider audiences. Central’s stage hosted Nirvana’s first Seattle show in 1986, and it was also where Sub Pop’s Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman spotted the band, signing them shortly after.

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 the West Point Lighthouse and 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!

When KEXP was owned and operated by the University of Washington as KCMU, 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 the Seattle Center, where you can chill in the KEXP Gathering Space, sip Caffe Vita coffee, and maybe even slip into a live in-studio session.

Public art is important—just ask Soundgarden. 

The iconic grunge band got their name from an art installation created by Douglas Hollis, “A Sound Garden,” located on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Western Service Center campus north of Magnuson Park. Positioned next to the cold waters of Lake Washington, the sculpture is made up of 12 21-foot towers that have an organ pipe attached to a weathervane at the top—so when the wind blows, it creates a sound. You used to be able to access the sculpture with a government-issued ID, but currently, NOAA has closed the campus to visitors until further notice.

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.

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. 

Sub Pop Records played an enormous part in popularizing grunge to the masses, signing the likes of Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Screaming Trees early in their careers. For years, the record label’s headquarters were in a tiny space on the top floor of the Terminal Sales Building in Belltown. Although they’ve moved offices, the building is still a memento of Seattle music history.

(Want more Sub Pop? Check out their locations downtown and at the airport.)