Seattle Culture
The Pulse: May Keeps Ghosting Us
Crabby Dogs are back and Barbie hits the symphony
By Sarah Stackhouse May 16, 2025

It’s warm. It’s cold. There’s rain. The sun is out.
Spring is strange no matter where you are, but especially here — where the moment the sun blinks at us, we’re in flip-flops at Green Lake. My kids are already in shorts. I’m still turning on the heater every morning and wearing sweaters. Welcome to May in Seattle.
Here’s what’s going on around town.
Sound Transit’s running a special train for Kendrick and SZA. Thank you, infrastructure.
Crabby Dogs return to Olympic Sculpture Park on May 23. Still the best meal with a view.
Public school budget cuts are the absolute worst.
Flying Bike’s new strawberry lemonade seltzer clocks in at 6.5%. Wear a helmet.
The Seattle Symphony is screening Barbie with a live orchestra in June. Still not over Ken in that fur coat loving on horses. Lol.
Camp Kilworth is safe for the next generation. Love this.
Public safety ambassadors just started in the Chinatown–International District.
Chateau Ste. Michelle’s summer concert series starts next weekend.
Pop Pop Pizza’s taking over Northlake Tavern with a pizza lab. We’re listening.
A group of friends built an apartment building so they could all live together. Extremely Seattle behavior and we love it.
A 20-mile saunter across the city takes eight hours. Let’s do it! Hit all the coffee shops, see the beauty of spring.
Seattle’s long, weird love affair with Bartell Drugs is fading. If you’ve ever been to the U District location, you get it. There wasn’t a single item on this Earth I couldn’t find there.
Washington lawmakers passed new LGBTQ+ protections. Appreciate you.
Bill Gates wants to give away 99% of his wealth.
Axial Seamount is inflating again. That’s the name of an underwater volcano off the coast of Oregon. Also a pretty good band name.
And, Dr. Joan Sung has the coolest résumé in the city.
Reader Comment of the Week
On our story about Seattle’s 206 area code:
We see you, Rick Astley of the 206. Never gonna stop loving this comment.