Bothell Built for Gathering
Urban energy and vibrant parks are calling
By ELLEN HIATT
At Bothell’s core is an urban energy with a sense of community, a bit of nostalgia and a clear taste for the finer things in life. Skirted by I-405 with convenient options for the traveler, the City of Bothell is easily found, and yet, somehow, easily missed.
Between Woodinville and Kenmore, it’s a vibrant place, where families are creating their own path, gathering at the local restaurants before Little League games or spending a day at the park, supporting entrepreneurs with pop-up locations, and fiercely loyal to the the produce stand that supplies the freshest in local berries, herbs and vegetables served in cocktails and meals.
Jump off that freeway, and pull into McMenamin’s Anderson School, a resort-size property complete with a community pool, a hotel, and a cozy theater where you can enjoy a meal with your movie. McMenamin’s model of breathing second life into historic buildings has created a magical place of whimsy, with its signature surplus of vintage lighting fitted with colorful bulbs, eclectic paintings lining the halls of the old schoolhouse, and courtyard conversations buzzing into the evening by fire pits stoked by McMenamin’s staff.
The private courtyard is surrounded by the resort’s restaurants and theater, where cocktails, brews and meals are served. The Shed, a whiskey and cocktail bar situated in a hobbit-sized building cattywampus in the courtyard corner with its own brick fireplace attached outside of it, fits a baker’s dozen patrons in its moody, rough interior, fitted with the same assortment of multifarious vintage chandeliers.
Visitors from across the Pacific Northwest gather here, groups of girlfriends, travelers who met on the train up from California and over from the Tri Cities. It’s worth the visit to stay the night, chill and chat by The Tavern’s fireplace on cozy couches, or walk the various themed and well kept gardens that embrace the environs.
Penny Galen recently visited from SeaTac and stayed at McMenamin’s while visiting her sister. The two grew up in Bothell. While long-time locals of any place often lament change, these two were quite pleased to see what Bothell has become: a town with a University of Washington campus, adding intellectual energy and opportunities; the vibrancy of families filling the Beardslee Public House with a cacophony of youthful energy any given evening, parents enjoying companionship over cedar grilled steelhead and a house chardonnay, the kids performing a perfected boardinghouse reach across the table to share fries and sodas.
“It’s changed for the better,” Galen said.
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MAIN STREET
Main Street here is just four-and-a-smidge blocks long, one of which is converted to a pedestrian pathway. There, Alexa’s Cafe welcomes a loyal line of customers willing to wait the hour for a coveted seat for eggs benedict. The portrait of the restaurant’s owner and her daughter Alexa hang in the halls of McMenamin’s, as many locals of historic and modern lore have been captured there.
Near Alexa’s is the latest storefront for Zulu’s Board Game Cafe, which has its original location just a block northeast. This town likes to gather in fun… burgers and fries are coming out of the kitchen while tables are filled with game boards and card decks of every variety, surrounded by families, friends, and game enthusiasts of all ages.
Main Street gives way to the busier boulevard, where less than a mile up Beardslee Public House draws the locals to the casual dining concept of celebrated steakhouse Chef Proprietor John Howie. A Sequoia from the original location was turned into custom tables, beer is handcrafted from Head Brewer and partner Drew Culey, and meals are created with locally sourced ingredients. On the ground floor is the restaurant’s sister company, Wildwood Spirits Co., where the spirits are made with barley, wheat, Douglas Fir and Braeburn apples grown in Washington, and sometimes apples from as close as the backyard of co-owner and Master Distiller, Erik Liedholm. An advanced sommelier and the wine director for Howie’s many restaurants, he distills each botanical separately for Kur gin, ages bourbon in hand-coopered artisan oak barrels, and leads sommelier courses for the staff.
Brew pubs, bakeries, cocktail bars and eateries abound within a few short blocks of each other here. The Cottage continues to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even the French toast comes with a pairing recommendation for a citrusy cocktail if you like. If you arrive with an appetite, the Cottage Burger is a must try, with candied shallots, garlic aioli and Beecher’s cheddar on a ciabatta bun. It’s prime season in spring, summer and fall when The Cottage is serving fresh made biscuits with local berries, sourced nearby, of course, at the 86-year- old Yakima Fruit Market, locally owned by Stuart and Karin Poage.
The market is so crucial to the town’s identity as well as their seasonal meals, that the locals rallied to defeat an eminent domain capture of a portion of the business’s property for light rail expansion. People were saying “‘this is part of my history.’ ‘I don’t want this to go’,” Stuart Poage told the late radio host Dori Monson in 2020.
“ I had no concept, really, Dori, that we meant that to the public. And it was overwhelming.”
That sense of identity, found from gaming tables in Zulu’s to parks filled with walkers and bikers, restaurants brimming with chatter and connection, is why families, techies, and retirees are all drawn to this urban hub.
Discover Bothell yourself. For more information for your exploration of Bothell, visit www.beginatbothell.com.
Bothell’s Parks:
Living Laboratories & Summertime Playgrounds
By ELLEN HIATT
Woodinville Drive curves round two bends in the Sammamish River, hugged by a network of trails and parks providing a multitude of ways to get outdoors in Bothell and connect with neighboring cities.
Construction of the shared UW Bothell and Cascadia College campus with the restoration of 58 acres of riverine and floodplain ecosystem, provide a regionally important living laboratory for students. The conserved ecosystem hosts a variety of bats, beavers, birds, insects and wildlife, many visible on a walk through North Creek Trail’s floating boardwalk.
The Park at Bothell Landing, the site of many summertime events, a playground, and wildlife, is the perfect place to rent paddle boards, kayaks and canoes from WhatsSup Stand Up Paddle and Kayak. Paddle under the iconic arched bridge that connects pedestrians to trails from Bothell to King County.
Cross the bridge and walk the paved Sammamish River Trail, stretching riverside for 10 miles from Bothell to Marymoor Park in Redmond as part of the “Locks to Lakes Corridor.” It connects to the Burke Gilman trail for another 18 miles from Bothell to Ballard. Both trails connect at Blyth Park, where 41 acres of greenery is perfect for a picnic or a game of 10-hole disc golf.
The final gift of parks for Bothell is the Former Wayne Golf Course, a once private 89-acre golf course converted to open space for habitat restoration, walking, bird-watching and bicycling.
