Deano’s was a notorious convenience store and bar (later renamed Club Chocolate City) on the last rough stretch of E. Madison St, between Capitol Hill and Madison Valley. There were always dealers, addicts, and their respective clienteles getting into trouble inside and out, and even with seemingly constant police presence, something would inevitably go down. Like the rest of the city, it is being replaced by shiny new condos, apartments, and retail.
While I agree with the general opinion of “good riddance”, as it really was a problem spot, I’m a little sad to see it go. That may sound hypocritical, as we’ve always lived in gentrifying neighborhoods, and hence contributed to its demise, but like the old Bimbos/Cha-Cha/Bus Stop block on Pine St, Deano’s was part of the last vestiges of old Seattle which I held sacred, and which had lasted through so much of the asepticism of the city.
When we lived on Madison, I’d happily walk past Deano’s on my way to work, or to the Twilight Exit, the neighboring hipster bar, for an evening drink and some Ms. Pac-Man. I guess in a lot of ways, it reminded me of being back in Baltimore. No matter the situation on the sidewalk, we would invisibly pass by, the crowd wanting about as much to do with us as we wanted to do with them.
I’ll always have fond memories of shopping in the sparse convenience store, where half the shelves were empty, half the fridges were broken, and it always appeared freshly robbed… Of sending my out-of-town friends up there the night before our wedding, so they could get their supply of malt liquor and MD 20/20… Of cans of Sparks and loose cigarettes… R.I.P. Deano’s.
( Photo from &y’s Flickr )
