Parts of downtown Seattle made me more nervous that the dicier sections of New York. The wide avenues can be desolate on weekends, the crazy people crazier, the panhandlers more aggressive and seeming to be working scams in pairs.
The Turf Restaurant & Lounge is an apt expression of this edginess. You don't want to mess with this place, which takes up the corner of a parking structure on Third Avenue and Pike, and offers "Burgers Fries Shakes Teriyaki." The interior is sketchy, the patrons sketchier. Past the diner counter is a back room, the bar, which was open for business in the morning and already had claimed a few elderly barflies. As a Yelper said, the people here are "full of crazy"; even one guy who loves the place said it was "scary." I agree, and I saw it in broad daylight
I was born and raised in Brooklyn and moved to Seattle when I was already 35+. I lived there for 8 years and I never saw crazy nor skanky nor dicey in NY like I saw in Seattle. On one of my parents' visits to me in Seattle, the 3 of us were on a bus from Queen Anne to downtown and this behemothic older gentleman wearing hot pants and a tank top lumbered on to the bus with a cane, and after taking a seat proceeded to holler his life philosophy--something about "all you pieces of shit can go to hell"--to everyone within hearing. My father said, "Give me the A train any day of the week." Truly. You think you've cut your teeth on dicey and skanky? Forget it. 3rd Ave in downtown Seattle at 6 PM on a Wednesday beats 2 AM in the gutter anywhere in the 5 boroughs.
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