Skip to content

Seattle Culture

The Pulse: May Keeps Ghosting Us

Crabby Dogs are back and Barbie hits the symphony

By Sarah Stackhouse May 16, 2025

A city street at dusk with wet pavement, steam rising from a vent, cars driving, and tall buildings illuminated by streetlights and office lights.
Photo by Josh Hild / Unsplash

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:

Instagram comment from adventure.altruism reciting lyrics from "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley, ending with "Lol." Display includes small profile photo.

We see you, Rick Astley of the 206. Never gonna stop loving this comment.

Follow Us

The Pulse: Choppy Waters

The Pulse: Choppy Waters

Teeth made of beads and transit-themed fashion

It’s a heavy time in the country. ICE raids in L.A. continue. Trump has federalized the National Guard — a move a federal judge has called illegal. A military parade in D.C. this weekend feels more about power than patriotism. The House just passed a bill to defund public broadcasting, targeting NPR, PBS, and local…

June in Seattle Delivers

June in Seattle Delivers

The city’s in-between season has its moments

The season is starting to turn. Lawnmowers are buzzing, the air smells like barbecue, and suddenly the herbs in the garden are out of control. Here are a few things to love before summer officially begins. Fresh flowers from the farmers market Buckets of peonies, poppies, sweet peas, and snapdragons line the stalls — just…

How to Celebrate the Sea on World Ocean Day

How to Celebrate the Sea on World Ocean Day

Numerous events across Seattle mark World Ocean Day on June 8

Seattle and Western Washington are inseparable from the ocean. Maybe you fish or forage from it, kayak or sail on it, surf its swells, hike and camp along its coast, or simply enjoy the sight of the water on a regular basis. The ocean is intertwined with our way of life here. And sometimes it’s…

How to Celebrate 'Ferris Bueller’s Day Off' in Seattle

How to Celebrate ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ in Seattle

June 5 marks 40 years. Call in sick like you mean it.

It’s one of the greatest movies of all time. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, written and directed by John Hughes, gave us the blueprint for playing hooky: a couple of phony phone calls, some light auto theft, a baseball game, a parade with the best lip-syncing scene in cinematic history, and a near mental breakdown. Hughes…