Six/Seven Lounge – Seattle, Washington, USA

As I walked down to pier 67 along Alaskan Way, I had to wonder what the management of the Edgewater Hotel thought of their most infamous guest-related incident and how much business they still got purely because it was the spot where (allegedly) Led Zepplin (and/or crew) helped a groupie get jiggy with a mudshark. Judging from the frat-boy bon(ham)homie I overheard from one of the balconies as I made my way down the long drive, the answer would seem to be “some”.

Setting aside puerile rockstar/roadie antics, I tried out the amusingly ‘classy’ Six/Seven lounge at the Edgewater for the first time during their late-afternoon happy hour (3-6pm). The décor is a pleasant 60’s chic meets industrial woodland, and the view is incomparable. The bar is perched over Puget sound, about 10 feet above the lapping tide during my visit, giving that sense of being at sea while actually sipping a cocktail on (somewhat firm, reclaimed) land.

While not the cheapest happy hour I’ve encountered by any means, it was decent for Seattle and a great deal for the food specials. A lovely malbec was $6 (reg $12) and a ½ lb of mussels in a cream, fennel and chorizo broth was only $5 (also reg $12). Anyone hoping to catch some celebrity high-jinx would have been disappointed, however – just the regular hotel-bar business talk. Time to listen to a story about a little street corner girl…

Visited: June 14, 2011

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Lobby Bar, Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

The picture says it all. Yes, the drinks are $15+. Yes, it’s overrun with tourists. Yes, it has that weird expensive-hotel ambiance. But one look at that “only found in Lake Louise” turquoise lake and all is forgiven. Sit back, hum a little Canadian Railroad Trilogy, and enjoy.

Visited: March 2009

Boules Bar at the Biltmore Hotel, Miami, Florida, USA

Built in 1925, the Biltmore Hotel is a hunk of old-school luxury plunked down in the middle of the Coral Gables neighbourhood of Miami, a toney locale that calls to mind 1998′s Wild Things (Who doesn’t love that brand of star-studded cinematic cheese? ) and the 1920′s heyday of the Florida land boom. Nestled in the colonnade along the biggest hotel swimming pool in the continental US, the appeal of the Boules Bar is definitely its impossibly posh setting. A Perez Prado tune and something tall and cool with a cherry should let you slip into the skin of the elite, if only until the ice melts.

Tiny bladder alert! Cascading water is the main sonic feature of this lounge, making whispered conversation difficult and a trip to the luxurious WC mandatory. Tiny wallet alert! Like most bars in Miami, cocktails start at $15 US (probably more by now). And, also common to Miami watering holes, the bar service is mediocre. If I’m paying $20 for a drink, I really don’t expect to have to tell the bartender how to make it, but such is life in the rarified vapidity of  South Florida.

Visited: December 2007