Best of Seattle Profiles >>

• Best Place to Achieve Bike Self-Sufficiency
  The Bikery
  On a Tuesday at 5 p.m., the Bikery, a one-room, not-for-profit bicycle workshop in the Central District, is already filled to capacity. Fletcher Christie, a blonde volunteer with a pixie cut and a bike tattoo on her shoulder, explains something in Spanish to a guy in a Mariners cap. Every inch... More >>
• Best Hope for High-School Freaks
  Richard J. Dalton
  Richard J. Dalton hated high school. Growing up in New Jersey, he shunned the rock bands like Guns N' Roses and AC/DC that his peers were listening to in favor of dance music like Front 242 and Jane Child. He dyed his hair blue and dressed weird. Consequently, his classmates teased and tripped... More >>
• Best Leap-of-Faith Inspiration (1 Comment)
  Diane's Market Kitchen
  "Did you have your whey shot? You can't have the ricotta if you don't do the whey shot, did I not make that clear?" It was a Sunday afternoon in the Pike Place Market during the Seattle Cheese Festival, and while other chef demos had onlookers staring uninterestedly, waiting for the free-sample... More >>
• Best Anti-Isolationist
  Randy Engstrom
  A decade ago, the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association started working to preserve the Youngstown School, built in 1907 to educate the children of steelworkers at the nearby plant. Unlike Capitol Hill or Queen Anne, Delridge isn't exactly known as a place where people walk freely... More >>
• Best Sweaty, Man-Hugging Electronica Impresario (4 Comments)
  Ramiro Gutierrez
  As any nightlife reporter knows, encounters with club promoters are generally unpleasant. Whether you're attempting to interview or introduce yourself to the dude—and it's almost always a dude—he will butter you up with pre-fab compliments and lame professions of interest, only to... More >>
• Best Sisterly Love in the CD (1 Comment)
  Hidmo
  Rahwa and Asmeret Habte were told many times not to open a business in Seattle's Central District. The neighborhood has its issues with crime, both small-time and serious, so friends and family members were concerned when the two sisters wanted to take over an Eritrean restaurant on 20th Avenue... More >>
• Best Oud-Strumming Auto Mechanic
  Dan Khali
  A good man is hard to find; a good auto mechanic is even harder to find. But how about a good guy who is also a fine auto mechanic and plays a Middle Eastern string instrument called the oud? Well, that's nearly impossible to find. Dan Khali of Community Automotive, 40, thrives on being exactly... More >>
• Best Cute Actor Never in a Leading Role (1 Comment)
  Mo Brady
  "I'm not one of those people who just sings in the shower," Mo Brady declares during a break from rehearsals. "I'm walking up and down Pike singing along to whatever's on my iPod. And doing it loudly. I sing all the time." Brady is like somebody out of a '50s family-oriented television sitcom.... More >>
• Best Right-Man-at-the-Right-Time
  Jamie Pedersen
  Surrounded by kids, many with gay and lesbian parents, Governor Christine Gregoire signed a bill on May 18 that extended to domestic partners all the rights granted by the state to married couples. The partner of a firefighter killed in the line of duty can now receive a death benefit, and... More >>
• Best Place for Kids to Meet the Producer
  Pike Market Child Care and Preschool
  One day at snack time, two preschoolers got into a discussion about where milk comes from. "Well, cow milk comes from cows, and rice milk comes from rice," the astute modern child noted. "But where does soy milk come from?" The second child didn't even hesitate: "Soy cows!" Their teacher... More >>
• Best Baker on the Rise (1 Comment)
  Quill Teal-Sullivan
  Baking can be a complex, time-consuming science experiment, and most coffee shops are content to outsource the skilled labor involved. Not so in the case of Linda Derschang's most recently launched Capitol Hill hot spot, Oddfellows Café & Bar, where the entire lineup of baked goods is... More >>
• Best Glamazon
  SoulChilde BlueSun
  Watching SoulChilde BlueSun perform is like witnessing a one-man cabaret. Typically shirtless, with glitter sprinkled over his chiseled physique and a feather boa wrapped around his neck, his presence is so dominant that it often overpowers everyone else onstage. Even when he's singing... More >>
• Best Amplifier Maker and Formidable Shredder
  Ben Verellen
  Opening a boutique-style guitar amplifier business is a risky proposition in any economy, but 29-year old Ben Verellen is defying the odds. In the last year, he's moved out of his bedroom workshop and into a commercial warehouse space on Aurora Avenue, steadily building an impressive client list... More >>