The versatile actor, who used to live
in the Emerald City, swears Seattle isn't as rainy as
everyone says. And even if it is, who cares, when it offers
such eye-popping landscape, so many attractions, and, oh
yeah, a coffee shop on every corner.
"Seattle is where I came of age, it's where I grew up," says
Brendan Fraser, the 6-foot-3, 34-year-old actor whose roles have
ranged from comedy (
George of the Jungle) to adventure
(
The Mummy) to drama (the Oscar-winning
Gods and
Monsters). The son of a foreign officer for the Canadian
government, Fraser was born in
Indianapolis and lived in Holland
before settling in Seattle at age 11. Interested in theater, he
enrolled in the city's Cornish College of the Arts, and began
interning and appearing in plays at the local Intiman Theatre. In
1991, the movie
Dogfight, starring River Phoenix and Lili
Taylor, came to Seattle and put out a casting call for extras.
Fraser won what would become a one-line part as a Vietnam-bound
sailor, and, as they say, he was on his way. He moved to L.A. and
began his slow but steady ascent, appearing in films such as
Encino Man, The Scout, and
The Quiet American. This
month, he's back on the big screen in the live
animation remake of
the famed Warner Bros. cartoon series
Looney Tunes. We
caught up with Fraser and asked him to take us back to the old days
- and the new ones - in his former hometown.
When did you first arrive in
Seattle?
"In 1979, when our family moved to a little-known suburb called
Redmond. It had two stoplights at the time, and one of them was for
a bridle trail. When you pressed the button, it would stop the
traffic. So I amused myself endlessly with my naughty friends,
waiting for at least five or six cars to come down 148th Avenue and
pressing the stoplight and watching them all stop as we strolled
across the street. Then it became Redmond,
Washington, the home of
Microsoft. I think
Bill Gates was in a garage around there
somewhere. In 1979, he probably had a soldering iron and a pair of
Converse high-tops. That's about it."
Where do you like to stay?
"The Four Seasons [now The Fairmont Olympic] is where I usually
like to hang my hat. It's special to me because when I was a
student I used to perform there as an entertainer at fundraisers.
I'd do anything from mime to juggling acts. It was me and my
starving student friends. We would go and raid the costume
department. They'd deck us out in, I don't know, whatever fit.
Usually some sort of atrocious Renaissance garb. We'd go and
perform and they'd give us like $25. It's a beautiful hotel. It's
right across the street from the new W hotel, which is cool. If you
want to get out of the center of town, nothing beats the Sooke
Harbour House in nearby Sooke,
British Columbia. Great food, great
rooms, and a great view of the sea."
Is Seattle as rainy as its reputation?
"That's a misnomer. I mean, there are bumper stickers that say,
'People in Seattle don't tan, they rust.' That's not true."
If you only had one day in the city, what would you
do?
"I would go to Pike Place Market, because that's where everything
happens. First and foremost, they literally throw the fish around
there. I don't know the actual name of the place, but everybody
calls them the Flying Fish Company. It's the one right in the
corner of the market. They have their own vernacular there, like
when you buy a salmon, they go, 'You want that reading?' That means
filleted. Book filleted. If you get to the market early enough in
the morning, you miss all the tour buses. You can feel like you're
a local. You can get a cup of coffee and just hang out. You can
look out over the bay and watch the ferryboats come and go. The
pier is just down below."
Where do you like to start your
day?
"There's a place in Queen Anne called 5 Spot. It's a great place to
get breakfast. It's a diner, you know. Good portions, friendly
atmosphere. And the neighborhood is cool. Wallingford has what used
to be a massive old schoolhouse that's subdivided into the
Wallingford Center, which has little stores and galleries and
things like that all under one roof. One of the city's best
bookstores, Wide World Books & Maps, is there. And don't forget
the University District, which is called the U-District, for the
University of Washington. That's a whole other world in and of
itself."
What's your favorite outdoor
attraction?
"The Washington Park Arboretum is wonderful. It's got trails for
riding bikes, or pushing your baby cart, or walking your dog, or
running, or whatever. They wind for miles and miles and miles.
There are beautiful specimens of trees. The Japanese Gardens inside
the arboretum are well-attended. It's a great place if you're going
to chill out. Another is Shilshole Bay down by the Ballard Locks.
The Ballard Locks is a marvel of engineering. They bring ships in
and you can watch the water slowly rise and move forward. The locks
are a smaller version of the Panama Canal."
Where can you get a great meal for under
$10?
"Dick's Drive-In, which is a burger place. It's an institution. No
offense to Dick, but they have great French fries and burgers [that
we] called gut bombs. Man, they went down well."
Where are some other great places to
eat?
"You can't get a bad meal, really. I mean, it's a foodie town. Just
as good as New York. And the best seafood. If it swims, they've got
it. If you can dig it up out of the sand, they can cook it for you.
Shuckers is a good oyster house. I like that place. They have
chalkboard specials every day, and the waiters know a lot about
what they sell and what's fresh. Everything is right there packed
on crushed ice. You can see what you're getting."
What are the sights no Seattle visitor should
miss?
"Clearly Pike Market. We talked about that. And the Space Needle.
You've got to do it once or twice. Usually the tourists go, but if
you're going to live in Seattle, you know, be in Seattle. You've
got to be able to say, 'I've been to the top of the Needle' at
least once. Like the people in
California who never go to
Disneyland. There's an amusement park at the bottom of the Needle.
I think it was opened in '67 for the World's Fair."
Where do you always go when you return to the
city?
"I like to just drive around the old neighborhoods I used to live
in. Like Capitol Hill, where I went to college. The Capitol Hill
area is quite a diverse community. The main strip would be Broadway
Avenue East, which houses restaurants, boutiques, all kinds of
bookstores. It's also not too far from East Pine Street, where the
Egyptian Theatre is. That's an institution. Today the Egyptian is a
movie house, the nucleus of the Seattle Film Festival, which has
grown in the last several years."
Seattle is famous for its music. Where can you
hear some great tunes?
"Every
Labor Day, Seattle hosts an event called Bumbershoot. A
bumbershoot is a short umbrella, and Bumbershoot is a big festival
of food and art and music. It's just grown and grown. It's a great
way for you to stroll around on the grounds of
Seattle Center and
take in some culture and see some fun stuff, buy handicrafts, or
what have you."
Seattle is also known for its coffee, isn't
it?
"You can't turn a corner in Seattle without finding a place to get
a cup of coffee. And that's a good thing. Because people get
jittery in so-called rainy weather, which I already told you we
don't have a lot of. People want a cup of coffee. When I was a
student,
Starbucks was sort of a shunned thing. We chose to support
the local bean burners and independent coffee shops. Not that
Starbucks doesn't make a decent cup of coffee. The original
Starbucks opened in 1971 in the Pike Market, and it's still
there."
Where do you like to shop?
"REI. They used to have just this old warehouse full of gear that
they sold. Then they built this big, amazing complex where you can
go and actually test the gear. It's a great place to get everything
from wax-tip matches to a sleeping bag that you can nail to a
frozen waterfall and sleep in overnight. You know, bear repellent
or whatever. Or, you can just kick around and buy a cheap pair of
wool socks."
Speaking of clothes, what should ALL Seattle
visitors know before they pack?
"Dress in layers. Just as people change their minds, the weather
changes its mind."
Where would you eat for a special
occasion?
"Seattle's best French restaurant is Le Pichet. Great food and
really good atmosphere. For fish, there's the well-named Flying
Fish, which has just about everything that swims. Then there's
McCormick's Fish House, the first restaurant of what has become a
coast-to-coast chain, McCormick and Schmick's. Wild Ginger is the
pioneer for Pan-Asian in Seattle. The restaurant with the best
view, as well as great seafood, is Ray's Boathouse. You can see
everything from
Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains. Go for sunset
and stay through dinner."
Where should we stop for a cocktail or
two?
"There's a good place called The Pink Door where I used to hang
out. It has a pink door and a lot of character. It has lighting
that kind of made everyone look a little bit mysterious. Maybe they
were just a little tipsy on the martinis, I don't know. There's
just something about the place. Also, if you go down to Pioneer
Square, you can't go wrong."
Isn't Pioneer Square where the whole microbrew
thing got started?
"Microbreweries are all over town. Pyramid is a great alehouse. I'm
not really a drinker anymore, but there was always a lot of
diversity and there were always these great choices. It's a good
feeling that someone actually made this and that you can see the
vats behind the glass in the establishment. It's not just going to
come out of a can or a bottle or whatever. There's one I like
called Ballard Bitter. But it's also fun to sort of sample."
What should every visitor know about
Seattle?
"That there's fantastic theater there, places like the Seattle
Repertory Theatre and the Intiman Theatre. The 5th
Avenue does big, big shows that travel. There are a lot of little
fringe theaters, too, sort of off-Broadway. There's
a thriving arts community in the Northwest. And they are very
supportive of one another."
Do you have a favorite LOCAL
spot?
"I used to live close to
Lake Union, which isn't far from the
Seattle Center. It's where they shot Sleepless in Seattle. Remember
those floating houses that sort of cluster around the shore? Lake
Union has a special little island that juts out. It's called Gas
Works Park. It used to be the old natural gasworks, but it's
defunct. The hulking remains are there, and there's a park there
now. In particular, nautical activities are very popular in Seattle
because people are really in touch with the water and taking
advantage of being outdoors. Like kite flying. Going to Gas Works
Park is something I remember I liked doing as a kid. I liked it
because it was always really windy there."
What do you love THE most about
Seattle?
"What makes it special is that it's very progressive, but at the
same time it hangs onto the special qualities that make people
unique, and it celebrates that. If you look for it, you get a feel
for the heritage. It's always been a port. Goods came to the
Northwest from all sorts of places and landed in Seattle. It's also
a diverse city. That's why you have so many choices of cultures and
styles [in food], the type of people you will meet, and the new
architecture that's boomed in the last 10 to 12 years. Downtown is
an exciting place. It's a good walking town and it's the kind of
place where you feel safe. People are friendly. You always feel
good there. You feel like, 'I'll come back here.' It's a cool town.
You feel refreshed. It's like a breath of fresh air."
he said...
these are the sights ex-seattleite brendan fraser
cherishes.
lodging
the fairmont olympic hotel seattle
very expensive
(206) 621-1700
sooke harbour house
sooke, british columbia
expensive
(250) 642-3421
w seattle
very expensive
(206) 264-6000
dining
5 spot
diner, moderate
(206) 285-7768
dick's drive-in restaurant
burgers, inexpensive
(206) 632-5125
flying fish
seafood, expensive
(206) 728-8595
le pichet
french, expensive
(206) 256-1499
mccormick's fish house & bar
seafood, moderate
(206) 682-3900
ray's boathouse
seafood, expensive
(206) 789-3770
shuckers
seafood, moderate
(206) 621-1984
starbucks (original location)
coffee/pastries, inexpensive
(206) 448-8762
wild ginger asian restaurant & satay bar
asian, expensive
(206) 623-4450
shopping
rei
(206) 223-1944
wallingford center
(206) 547-7246
wide world books & maps
(888) 534-3453
nightlife
the 5th avenue theatre
(206) 625-1900
egyptian theatre
(206) 323-4978
intiman theatre
(206) 269-1900
the pink door
(206) 443-3241
pyramid alehouse
(206) 682-3377
seattle repertory theatre
(206) 443-2222
sights
ballard locks
(206) 783-7059
bumbershoot
the seattle arts festival
(206) 281-7788
gas works park
(206) 684-4075
pike place market
(206) 682-7453
pioneer square
(206) 667-0687
seattle center
(206) 684-7200
space needle
(800) 937-9582
washington park arboretum
(206) 543-8800
we said...
here are some of the places we savor in seattle.
lodging
the gaslight-inn
moderate, (206) 325-3654
the victorian frills at this b&b are kept to a minimum, the
locale is in quiet capitol hill, and behold, there's a heated
swimming pool out back.
watertown
moderate, (866) 944-4242
a nonsmoker? you'll love this new totally-cig-free urban escape in
the u-district. equally attractive are the chic nautical-inspired
rooms with extras like free high-speed dsl access, voicemail,
microwave, and aveda toiletries.
dining
arosa cafe
inexpensive, (206) 324-4542
we debated even telling you about this super neighborhood spot, but
the staff is so friendly and the waffles are so out-of-this-world
that we simply couldn't keep it to ourselves.
uptown espresso
inexpensive, multiple locations
in a city known for its
java, it's hard to go wrong, but at the
"home of the velvet foam," we're especially fond of the decaf
steamed milk with almond.
shopping
alhambra
(206) 621-9571
free cups of hot tea soothe as you scour alhambra's slightly
frenetic goods, which range from velvet yoga pants to crystal
glasses handmade in turkey.
fremont sunday market, (206) 781-6776. you might need an extra
suitcase to make room for all the goodies you find at this
european-style street market.
sights
bainbridge island
www.bainbridge
island.com
we want to pack up and move here every time we visit this
charming-as-they-come community a short ferry crossing from seattle
proper. on-island activities include picnics in the park, kayak
rentals, winery tours, and gallery visits.
smith tower observation deck(206) 622-4004
before the space needle, there was this 42-floor skyscraper and
its scenic, panoramic views of elliot bay and mount rainier.