in

Last night, Matt and I decided to get out of Ballard and head out to Lower Queen Anne and Belltown to barhop.

We started the night at Ozzie's. Not only was it a meat market, it was a sausagefest. Some beautiful ladies were there, but they were outnumbered by guys at least 5:1. Those numbers weren't working for us, so we rolled after a couple drinks.

We walked to Belltown and caught up with Jeanna and her friend Vanessa at Spitfire. The service at Spitfire was on the terrible side, but we grabbed drinks and chatted with Jeanna while Vanessa kept herself surrounded by an Ozzie's ratio of guys.

We trekked back to Queen Anne and stopped at a bar in Belltown called Rendezvous along the way. We sat at the bar.

"What are you having tonight?" asked the bartender.

"I'm having a Blue Moon and he's having a gin and tonic," I replied.

"Are you two together?" asked the bartender.

"Yep," I replied, and handed him the my credit card. "You can leave the tab open."

Matt and I were immediately impressed by the bar. The service was good. Chicks were making out in the corners. The girl to guy ratio was better. This was awesome!

However, we couldn't help but notice that something was amiss. The guys were only sitting with the guys and the girls were only sitting (and making out) with the girls. We looked above the bar. The wall was lined with framed pictures of transsexual entertainers.

"I think this might be a gay bar," said Matt, stating the near obvious.

"Let me double-check," I said, grabbing my phone.

I Googled "Rendezvous, Seattle" and came up with some Web sites for a "Bears Club" and a couple directories for gay and lesbian clubs and bars. I looked toward my large, bearded friend.

"Yep. We're at a gay bar," I confirmed. "Check, please!"

Another bartender approached us to hand-off the check. She had a significant Adam's apple.

Laughing out of embarrassment of our naivety, Matt and I left the bar, set on going somewhere far from gay. We were hungry, too.

So we went to Dick's.

in

Apparently this is a landmark -- the former dwelling of folks looking for cheap breakfasts at all hours, often to battle impending or incumbent hangovers.

According to a Seattle Times article, "A city board stunned developers, preservationists and Ballard residents Wednesday by voting 6-3 to designate the boarded-up Denny's Restaurant at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest a landmark — based largely on the visual punch the structure's Googie-esque roofline delivers to passing motorists."

Property owner Benaroya Companies acquired the site in 2006 for more than $12 million and intended to sell it to a condominium developer. Now they're screwed because the city board rejected its own staff's recommendation and proclaimed the old Denny's a landmark because of the building is "an easily identifiable visual feature of its neighborhood" and contributes to the identity of Ballard.

A local historian told the Times, "Ballardites proudly called it the Taj Mahal of Ballard."

I'm a Ballardite. I call it the shitty Denny's on the corner, but whatever.