A catalog of Seattle ads
Seattle's independent newspaper, The Stranger, is nationally famous for Dan Savage's column. It is irreverent and a bit "edgy." In reflecting on the differences between North Carolina and Seattle, the Independent Weekly is the closest North Carolina equivalent I can think of. However, the Independent is not very close. To demonstrate, here's a list of all the advertisements in the Stranger vol 28 no 13 (Feb 13, 2019).
Table of Contents
The ads
These ads are listed in order. I typed these in by hand. I made up these categories. I don't know much about most of these so I made guesses e.g. that "The George & Dragon Pub" is more alcohol than restaurant.
| Ad | Category |
|---|---|
| PCC Community Markets | Grocery store |
| Oleum extracts | Marijuana |
| Ruckus recreational cannabis | Marijuana |
| Real estate broker | Real estate |
| Seattle Drum School of Music | Summer camps |
| Bud light | Alcohol |
| The Reef cannabis | Marijuana |
| King County charter review | Government |
| Eyes on Fremont | Eyeglasses |
| Distilled organics | Alcohol |
| Natural American Spirit | Tobacco |
| Seattle Sounders | Sports |
| Seattle Warehouse | Clothes |
| Bedrooms & more | Mattress |
| Sodo vision care | Eyeglasses |
| LiveMatch.com | Sex |
| Zymurgy | Alcohol |
| Underdog sports leagues | Sports activities |
| The Grange | Gas station ?? |
| 99 tunnel | Government |
| Bikecitement | Bicycles |
| Moisture Festival | Cultural |
| Heritage distilling | Alcohol |
| Timothy De Clue | Drinking glasses |
| Chophouse Row | Restaurants |
| gilmansmith | Metal shop space |
| Cloud lift cellars | Alcohol |
| Plate of Nations | Restaurants |
| Fluffybutts | Pet sitting |
| Highline | Restaurants (vegan) |
| Feminist Karate Union | Sports activities |
| Barberella's barbershop | Haircuts |
| The Stranger | The Stranger |
| Dockside Cannabis | Marijuana |
| Urban Animal | Veterinarian |
| Champion Party Supply | Party supplies |
| The Ballroom | Restaurants |
| Beer Star | Alcohol |
| 3W | Healthcare |
| Orange Dracula | Dime store |
| Livible.com | Storage |
| Events & Adventures | Social clubs |
| Transportation Security Administration (TSA) | Government |
| Barleywine festival | Alcohol |
| Herb(n) Elements | Marijuana |
| 365 Recreational Cannabis | Marijuana |
| Oz. | Marijuana |
| Satori | Marijuana |
| Margie's Pot Shop | Marijuana |
| Holy Smoke | Marijuana |
| Katie Herzog | The Stranger |
| Canna Republic | Marijuana |
| Seattle Fantasy Maid | Sex |
| MegaMates | Sex |
| Livelinks | Sex |
| Seattle Erotic Festival | Cultural |
| Guyspy Voice | Sex |
| Trichome | Marijuana |
| Pan Eros Foundation | Sex |
| Rock of Ages | Musical |
| A + P Quarterly | The Stranger |
| Frame Central | Picture frames |
| Seattle Art Museum | Cultural |
| Autobiography Company Wayne McGregor | Cultural |
| The Salem Witch Orgasms | Cultural |
| Batsheva Dance Company | Cultural |
| Mercer Island Thrift Shop | Shopping |
| Emerald City Comic Con | Cultural |
| Early Riser by Jasper Fforde | Books |
| A. I. M. | Cultural |
| The Showbox | Music |
| Nectar Lounge | Music |
| Bites of Bangkok | Comedy |
| Meryhew Law Group | Lawyers |
| The Central | Music |
| The Stranger's Geek Issue | The Stranger |
| Seattle Opera | Cultural |
| Hard Rock Cafe | Music |
| Mike Thrasher Presents | Music |
| The Point Casino & Hotel | Casino |
| STG Presents | Music |
| Columbia City Theater | Music |
| Neptune | Music |
| Century Ballroom | Sports activities |
| Century Ballroom (again) | Sports activities |
| McCaw Hall | Cultural |
| the triple door | Music |
| Parlor Live | Comedy |
| Moore Theater | Comedy |
| Tractor | Music |
| Neumos | Music |
| Stranger Tickets | Cultural |
| The Crocodile | Music |
| Club Z | Sex |
| Cocktails at the Ruins | Social clubs |
| Pony | Sex |
| Balkan Night | Cultural |
| The Coathangers | Music |
| The Stranger | The Stranger |
| Classic Seattle Watering Holes | Alcohol |
| Highline | Music |
| Sea Monster Lounge | Music |
| Trinity | Night club |
| STG Silent Movie Mondays | Movies |
| Scarecrow Project | Movies |
| The Stranger presents Spliff | The Stranger |
| SIFF Cinema | Movies |
| Grand Illusion Cinema | Movies |
| Central Cinema | Movies |
| Gluten Free food/alcohol | Restaurants |
| Cutting Board | Restaurants |
| The George & Dragon Pub | Alcohol |
| Sisters and Brothers | Restaurants |
| TNT Taqueria | Restaurants |
| Zeeks | Restaurants |
| Happy hour on Capitol Hill | Alcohol |
| El Camino | Restaurants |
| Athenian | Restaurants |
| Uncle Eddie's | Restaurants |
| South Town Pie | Restaurants |
| Elephant & Castle | Alcohol |
| Biscuit Bitch | Restaurants |
| Sansei seafood restaurant | Restaurants |
| The Stranger's food & drink | The Stranger |
| il Bistro | Restaurants |
| Stellar pizza | Restaurants |
| Pacific Inn Pub | Alcohol |
| University Seafood & Poultry | Grocery store |
| Little Maria's Pizza | Restaurants |
| Uncle Ike's | Marijuana |
| Twice Sold Tales | Bookstores |
| The Joint | Marijuana |
| Herban Legends | Marijuana |
| Cannabis City | Marijuana |
| Herbs House | Marijuana |
| Curved Papers | Marijuana |
| ponder | Marijuana |
| Have a Heart | Marijuana |
Totals by category
| Category | Count |
|---|---|
| 20 | Marijuana |
| 18 | Restaurants |
| 15 | Music |
| 12 | Alcohol |
| 11 | Cultural |
| 9 | Sex |
| 7 | The Stranger |
| 5 | Movies |
| 4 | Sports activities |
| 3 | Government |
| 3 | Comedy |
| 2 | Social clubs |
| 2 | Grocery store |
| 2 | Eyeglasses |
| 1 | Veterinarian |
| 1 | Tobacco |
| 1 | Summer camps |
| 1 | Storage |
| 1 | Sports |
| 1 | Shopping |
| 1 | Real estate |
| 1 | Picture frames |
| 1 | Pet sitting |
| 1 | Party supplies |
| 1 | Night club |
| 1 | Musical |
| 1 | Metal shop space |
| 1 | Mattress |
| 1 | Lawyers |
| 1 | Healthcare |
| 1 | Haircuts |
| 1 | Gas station ?? |
| 1 | Drinking glasses |
| 1 | Dime store |
| 1 | Clothes |
| 1 | Category |
| 1 | Casino |
| 1 | Bookstores |
| 1 | Books |
| 1 | Bicycles |
For anyone interested in how I built this summary table
Grand totals produced by copying the org-mode table that has the raw data and then running
pbpaste | perl -F\\\| -lne '$_=$F[2]; s/^\s+//; s/\s+$//; print $_' \ | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | pbcopy
and then pasting the result back into Emacs and building a macro with C-x ( .. C-x ) to convert the result into a table. There's probably a way to do this in Emacs.
Qualitative differences
Besides the counts, there are some other key differences from the Independent:
- Many of the "sex" items are about sex-positive culture rather than just 900 numbers.
- Federal, state, and local government are advertising in the Stranger.
- The Feminist Karate Union runs activities all over town.
- No car/car repair advertisements.
- Fewer bookstore advertisements than I'd expect; there is a strong independent bookstore network here.