HistoryLink Tours

2200 2nd Avenue

On the site of the old Athens Café, Seattle attorney Stephanie Dorgan and a few partners launched a three-room restaurant/bar/mosh pit, the Crocodile Cafe & Live Bait Lounge, on April 30, 1991. The timing was perfect: the Seattle rock scene was boiling over with talented young bands, and within six months the world would discover Grunge rock via new albums from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Mudhoney, who all played here. Among the other legendary Crocodile shows were those by touring acts the Beastie Boys, Beck, Cheap Trick, Dinosaur Jr., Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Green Day, Hootie and the Blowfish, Los Lobos, REM, the Strokes, and Yoko Ono. The room closed in 2007, and reopened under new ownership in 2009. The “Croc” had earned an international reputation as an icon of the Grunge era, and was featured in movies (1992’s Singles and 1995’s Georgia), and hailed by the Washington Post as “the CBGB of grunge.” It was noted by England’s New Musical Express as a “central meeting place for Seattle’s world famous music scene,” by Rolling Stone as one of the “best clubs in America,” and by The Associated Press as “a destination for grunge rock pilgrims from around the country.”

Our final tour stop is a block south of the Crocodile at 2035 2nd Avenue.