Talk:Last Exit on Brooklyn
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Nice article. Who wrote it? The Last Exit was an important part of my life, as I am sure it was for many of us. Is there a way to communicate to former Exiteers? Margie Cain Walker Edwards
Yes, A great article. Come on over to LastExit.tribe.net and join us in a last exit thread. Bones
I enjoyed the Last Exit while I was stationed at Ft Lewis, I would run up there on the weekends and play go, eat, Chess and was introduced to Shogi. Great place, Im 43 now and was planning a vacation to WA and wanted to go back. I was real sorry to hear it closed. I was last there in summer of 1985, great place. It was once on the cover of the USCF (United States Chess Federation) mag. I always wanted to thank the guy who taught me Shogi, great game fun playing there. I remember the food not being to bad. But that is a lot of years. Gary Newman
Great article. I was a regular in the early 80s and remember how the waitress (my favorite was named Andrea) would sometimes come over to the regulars (who would hang out there for hours on a mug of coffee) and whisper that Irv had arrived in a bad mood and everyone should order something... Jack
I hung out at the Last Exit for years. I remember hearing that the tables (marble topped) came surplus from the “girl’s reformatory”. I do not know if this is true. Can anyone say for sure? - Stan
- Not true. The tabletops were the stall dividers in the old King County Courthouse. No joke. - Jmabel 03:31, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
From time to time, Miriam Rader and the whole "Magic Mountain" crowd could be seen at the "Last Exit". Does anyone know what became of Miriam? Miriam's father, Melvin Rader, was a noteworthy UW philosophy professor:
Miriam is currently living in Palma de Mallorca, where she does some cello teaching. She retired a few years ago from her job as cellist in the Orquestra de las Islas Baleares. -- Dick Edelstein
"The story {of Melvin Rader} is one that should be retold frequently, for it is a reminder of how, even in America, good citizens can be falsely persecuted under the guise of patriotism." --Wenatchee World, Nov. 13, 1969
Suggestion: An article on the "Magic Mountain"? (The Magic Mountain was Miriam Rader's large three-story house which she operated as a politically aware commune located in the heart of university housing. Hundreds of mostly young people stayed there over the years.) "Magic Mountain" could make an interesting article. And there are certainly enough people out there with memories of it to generate its share of article contributions. - Stan
I thought the connection of the name to the novel was because Irv was a closeted gay and the book had something to do with gay subculture. I was almost denied a job by a homophobe when I put the Last Exit on Brooklyn down on my resume.
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[edit] Photo ban / Hot apple pie
I visited the Last Exit frequently while attending UW from 1978 - 1982 (I lived in the nearby dorms). I'm surprised to read about the ban on photography -- Irv let me shoot a short dramatic film there one night, complete with camera, mic boom, and lights. We were there shooting for hours and it was crowded as usual. Maybe some time I'll scan some frames and post them, as I have good shots of the inside full of people.
Also, I'm surprised there's no mention of the hot apple pie with ice cream (I think it was also available with melted cheddar cheese on top). That's what I ate there nearly every time, and at least in my memory that was the "signature dish."
- Adam
More or less nothing seems worth doing, but oh well. I just don't have anything to say now.
As a chess player, I hung out at the Last Exit from the time I was a teenager (about 1975) through long years as an undergrad and at the law school. It introduced me to espresso, long before espresso entered the popular culture. But I too thought the signature dish was the hot apple pie, with either cheese or ice cream.
The day the UW closed it down was a great tragedy. Definitely the most treasured eating/cultural spot in my memory, bar none.
Matt71.231.163.219 08:18, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
[edit] great article!
this article rocks. i'm totally new to wikia but know a bit about wikipedia. do you guys think it needs some section headers? i was gonna put some in but thought it might damage the flow
Bridgipedia 23:50, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
I take proud responsibility for the Eno music...never did find that tape when I finally quit. Irv and I really didn't see eye to eye on the whole music issue, but at certain times it was up to the cook's discretion what got played there, and I pushed Eno and the Talking Heads as much as Vivaldi or those wonderful chanting monks. ````maddog 01:39, 17 October 2008 (UTC)maddog
[edit] old exiter
Great to know there's folks who still remember the place. Spent a great deal of time in the district, and the Exit was a real oasis. 1968 was when i washed dishes there, anyone remember concertina cathy. My name is Doug, and they were truly memroble times.
[edit] I was a waiter at the Last Exit
during the school year of 85 to 86 and the school year of 86 to 87. I don't know if it was me or several of us in the wait staff that decided to make the Apple Pie ala mode, apple pie ALA MODE by piling on huge amounts of the soft ice cream on the apple pie. Anyway, I know that there were several people who liked it so much that they would make a point of sitting at one of my tables just to order the huge apple pie ala mode. Fun times. I really enjoyed working there most nights (except on weekend nights when the place was just a madhouse). I thought the university did a disservice to the community by not renewing the lease after Irv's passing. At least that is what I heard happened. I think there might have been strained relations between Irv and the Univeristy because of the some of the "activities" that would occur there during business hours:-) There are many fond memories of the place, I met a lot of great and intersting people and some friends. Good times and fond memories of the place for me except for the cigarette smoke:-)
What a wonderful article. Thanks so much. -jon
[edit] I used to play chess there
Played there for many years, old opponents included "Unkle Vik" Victors Pupols, Dave Zik, Alvin Lofton, Al Walker Sid Clark and many others, including the occasional mismatch with titled players, like Georgi Orlov. Great times. At one point virtually all my friends were from there. I think my longest day there was 14 hours!
We had the phenomenon of "chess widow", one earmark of which was the call home to the girlfriend: "Honey, just a couple more games then i'll be right home." which was seldom believed and less seldom honored.
Those are great memories.
My name is Michael Grondin, and i welcome chat from fellow Exiteers.
[edit] fond memories of the last exit
I discovered the Last Exit in 1968 and went there fairly regularly for a year or so. I met a lot of wonderful people there: colorful characters of all descriptions including an early computer geek named Dorsey, lots of the original people who founded the Helix underground newspaper and KRAB FM like Paul Dorpat and Walt Crowley, a strange man named Ralph who looked like Prince Valiant, and "Silky," who had a hit album in Europe but was really Dave Miller from Bellevue. I particularly liked the licorice tea, which I would sip with my friend Sylvia Eaton, who never spoke above a whisper. I was supposed to be going to the University of Washington, so I lived a few blocks north on Brooklyn with a roommate. We had some wild times, to be sure. I remember some of the poetry readings, especially John Edge, as well as a friend of Van Blacklock's who wrote miraculous poetry, but I cant remember his name! The hippies were in their heyday, and strange costumes and hairdo's were the rage. We used to sit, drink tea, smoke cigarettes, and "rap" about all the weirdness in the world for hours. Years later, probably just before the Exit closed, I went there in the middle of the day and found old friends. It was almost eerie. One day I stopped for lunch, parking in the back, and walked down the steep back stairs, and sitting there was Silky! I still have probably the only copy of his hit album from Europe, as well as some recordings of his concerts there in safe keeping for him. Another time I took a young friend to the Exit. I had been telling him about the wonderful variety of human beings to be found there, and when we walked in, there was Ralph, sitting at one of the big round tables in the center of the room, as if twenty years had not passed, and he was still the Prince Valiant of the Last Exit. I remember Cathy Chamberlain well also, whose wild personality lit up the room. She was the first person I knew to have a tattoo, and she would hike her skirt to show anyone: seems like it was a little dagger high on her hip. John Edge told me she became a performer in New York, and I would love to talk with her, or any of the people mentioned above, as well as Ron Glassett, Ed Rhoda, and anybody else who was young and free back in the day!--67.142.130.32 16:22, 7 June 2009 (UTC)kristin jensen, camano island, wa
[edit] Reasons for the move
The UW had wanted to close the exit for years. In his last lease Irv agreed to a clause that he later told me was a huge mistake. This clause allowed the U to close the Exit if the building were to be used for an "educational" purpose. They were required to give a one year notice. When Irv died we got the notice and the new owner banned me from letting anyone know about the problem. He was afraid of not being able to find a new location because others would jump in and take any available locations.
I am sure that we would have had a large group of well connected people argue for our continuation had I been allowed to leak the information. Oh well. 97.113.79.89 01:17, 14 June 2009 (UTC)David Johnson
[edit] Magic Mountain for ´´Stan´´
This is Miriam Rader at miriamrader75@gmail.com. I would like to hear from people active in sixties in Seattle. I have been living in Spain since 1970.
[edit] Oops, misprint
I have been living in Spain since 1973.
Magic Mountain for ´´Miriam´´. . . . . . Hey wow! Great! Good to hear from you - this is Stan the Man. I sent you an email. Check you damn Yahoo email account girl! Or search for me on the web.
- -)
[edit] Leroy Capili
A very good friend of mine, Leroy Capili, pulled espresso's at The Exit. He and Irv were good friends. We would visit Lee and have the over-stuffed tuna fish sandwich, followed by the apple pie ala mode. A food tripper's delight. When Lee wasn't pulling cups of espresso and bussing tables, he was was designing restaurant menu's and hanging out with local Seattle artist's. His secret passion was to jump with his old Airborne Ranger friends from Ft. Lewis. He would show up in his old uniform and parachute and they would let him jump with them on the weekends. He always kept his parachute rig just inside the front door of his house waiting for the phone call. He and Irv later set up a small Italian restaurant down on Eastlake overlooking Lake Union. And yes, Lee talked about the marble table tops coming from the court house.
