“Destiny is something we’ve invented because we can’t stand the fact that everything that happens is accidental.”
– Annie Reed (Meg Ryan), Sleepless in Seattle

 

Beside Starbucks, Seattle has been famous because of the film “Sleepless in Seattle”. The 1993 romantic comedy-drama film starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and was co-written and directed by the late Nora Ephron. It’s obvious that it’s a must for me to visit some of the spots that the movie was taken.

And there are just two of them…

First is the Athenian Seafood Restaurant and Bar located in Pike Place Market. This shop has been serving food since 1909.

In the movie, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) and his friend Jay (Rob Reiner) had their lunch in this restaurant.  Here Sam seeks advice from Jay about the mystery of the ‘tiramisu’. He worries that “some woman is gonna want me to do it to her, and I won’t know how to do it.”

It was lunchtime when me and my friends went to the Athenian restaurant. I ordered the breakfast burritos coupled with hashbrown as they looked appetizing. The food is decent and the servers are nice. After eating, I’ve asked the waiter where is the chair that Tom Hanks sat in the movie. He pointed it to me and of course, like any other tourists, I did a photo sitting on the famous stool. It was amazing that despite more than 20 years that the movie was released, the Athenian restaurant remains to be a tourist spot in Seattle.

My Japanese professor told me that there is a bar where the film also shot a scene. It was called the Dahlia Lounge. However, the bar was relocated from 1904 Fourth Avenue (where a scene in the film was shot) to 2001 Fourth Avenue in Virginia Street, Seattle. In the film, this is where Sam took Victoria, the lady with the hyena laugh, for a date.

I don’t have any plans to go to the Dahlia Lounge on our short Seattle trip. However, luck was on my side when while going to see the movie “Martian” at the cinema, we passed by the bar Dahlia Lounge. As we have a short time to kill before the movie starts, we decided to have a drink there. My small “Sleepless in Seattle” tour was accidentally completed.

Cheers!