The Tavern Named After a Scandal
In a frontier Seattle row of saloons and steamers, one establishment adopted a moniker that flirted with the risqué.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
VANITY FAIR! (SO-CALLED.) As good a glass of beer as can be had in the city for 10 cts. The best of liquors 10 cts. A good cigar 10 cts. Val. Wildman & Co.
“As good a glass of beer as can be had in the city for 10 cts.”
In the 1870s, 'Vanity Fair' was a loaded term—implying social satire, excess, and a touch of the illicit. Today, that irony remains; Seattle’s bar scene is still a 'vanity fair' of sorts, where the price of a drink has climbed from a dime to a small fortune, but the search for a neighborhood gathering spot remains the same.
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