Published October 2022 | Updated October 2023
What to do when you’ve got a ton of work to do and can’t seem to focus at home, but you’re living on a student’s budget? It’s true that there aren’t very many places here in Seattle where you can just exist without spending money, and even fewer that have a chill enough vibe to get any work done. We’ve got a couple, though, with varying degrees of chill, both indoor or outdoor—whatever you’re looking for.
Where do you hit the books? 👊
We’re building study guides for every neighborhood. Here’s one for Capitol Hill. Tell us your favorite haunts at theticket@seattletimes.com.
The perfectly hip KEXP Gathering Space
472 1st Ave N, Seattle
📸: Meg van Huygen
So this is a bunch of things all in one: It’s a coffee shop inside a bright, sunny gathering space that also houses the inner works for local—and streaming worldwide!—indie radio station KEXP. And yes, there’s a lovely cafe with gorgeous, expertly pulled coffee and pastries for purchase. However, a purchase is not necessary! As long as y’all don’t sleep there, all are welcome to hang out during business hours to enjoy the strong WiFi, great live DJing, tons of seating, and just generally super-stylish space to hang out. There’s also a nice, treesy view of the adjoining Seattle Center grounds and a very tempting record shop in the corner. See below:
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While it’s free, we encourage folks to drop a couple of bucks on a coffee or just as a donation, since KEXP and Caffe Vita are both beloved local institutions that are responsible for doing a lot of good. We need them to stick around!
The Seattle Center Armory and all its snackholes
305 Harrison Street, Seattle
📸: Simon Astor
FKA the Center House, the Armory is your favorite Brutalist mall that used to be a tank warehouse, and it offers plenty of outlets and tables and free, powerful WiFi throughout. “The Center of the Center” also has lots of snackholes for your eating perusal, such as Mod Pizza, Premier Meat Pies, and a Skillet outlet with counter service.
There are sometimes events here in the evenings, but that’s why you brought your earbuds. And if there is one and you’re all charged up, actually, you can take your project inside or outside, since there are a handful of hot spots with posted login info on the Seattle Center campus—including Fisher Pavilion, the International Fountain, and the very Space Needle itself.
The very hangout-friendly Third Place Books + Commons in Lake Forest Park
17171 Bothell Way Ne, #A101, Lake Forest Park
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Third Place Books is the actual queen of this list, because not only can anyone sit in the cafe area indefinitely (well, until they close, heh), but if you take the escalator down one floor, there’s a branch of the King County Library where you can print up to 75 pages for free. Hell yeah. There are also bevs and sandos for purchase at the cafe.
This massive and marvelous bookstore is good to know about even if you’re not working or studying—it sort of melds into the Third Place Commons next door, all of which is the same contiguous community space that was pretty much designed for loitering, hence the name. Home is the first place, work is the second, the third…et voilà.
One of our pretty little Carnegie libraries
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In the early 19-aughts, Seattle was blessed with lovely Neoclassical and Georgian Revival libraries by Andrew Carnegie, once the richest man in the world, who got a wild hair toward the end of his life to start giving his wealth away. One was later demolished (now the site of the Central Library, also a good, if very different, studying experience), the Ballard one was turned into a mini-mall, and the others are still available today for your enjoyment.
Located in Fremont, Queen Anne, Green Lake, Columbia City, Admiral, the Central District, and the University District, the Carnegies are loaded with classic details like carved staircases and stained glass. They include both sunlit oases and blissful hidden nooks in equal measure. They all offer free Wifi, desks with outlets, complimentary printer access, microfiche, online workshops, job resources, and a host of other plush amenities. (You can obviously go to non-Carnegie libraries and get all this stuff too.) All the Seattle Public Libraries are spilling over with free resources and are invaluable community spaces, and you should use them all. But these Carnegies are also just plain beautiful.
The romantic old Parsons Gardens on Queen Anne Hill
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No Wifi here unless you have a hot spot on your phone, so this one’s more for reading textbooks or grading papers, but we can’t not mention it. Located on the south face of Queen Anne, along grand old Highland Drive, Parson’s Gardens is straight out an English fairy tale, and it has a quiet picnic shelter that’s perfect for offline studying—or just reading a book, analog-style.
This idyllic spot also affords you the privilege of fresh air, and there’s a stunning, sparkling vista of Elliott Bay and the Olympic Mountains right across the street. If you need a coffee fix before or after, the fabulous Caffe Fiore on Galer Street is just a few blocks away.
The spooky mall attached to the Seattle Municipal Building downtown
600 Fifth Avenue, Seattle
Hi, this is weird, but there is a vast, partially underground, mostly abandoned mall leftover from the ’90s inside of the Seattle Municipal Building in downtown Seattle, and it’s got free public WiFi broadcasting out of the Starbucks, along with acres of empty tables. There’s also a Mexican take-out counter down there, Bebas & Amigos, whose decor is seemingly inspired by a B-52s video, and they serve burritos and quesadillas but also…pretty good lasagna and meatloaf sandwiches? Plus it’s all eerily quiet and ideal for quiet studying. Like, Backrooms-level quiet. You might see another human being once per hour.
