Hi-Life

Hi-Life
5425 Russell Avenue NW
Research Assistants: Rad and Lynn

Being as Ballard Bars is all about the high life, it seemed appropriate to start this project at one of Ballard's new joints, the Hi-Life.

For many years Ballard's brave firefighters worked out of this grand brick pile. You can still see the firepole they used to get from the living quarters upstairs to the trucks below. Those big doors are replicas of the originals the fire trucks used to scream out of.

Inside, it's a big, yet comfy space. There's lots of brick, wood, and iron, but it doesn't get obnoxiously loud. Another obnoxious thing you won't find at the Hi-Life is cigarette smoke. The friendly staff much appreciate that. So do we.

The Hi-Life is both a restaurant and a bar. That means one thing for Happy Hour hounds like ourselves: Good Eats! We enjoyed tasty small pizzas and nice salads for $3 apiece.

The Hi-Life reflects the New Ballard, gentrifying and moving upscale with each glass of Laphroaig. Now, some of us won't say "Laphroaig" unless at gunpoint, which is where Research Assistants Rad and Lynn come in so handy. We have no taste nor interest in the hard stuff, so we turn to them for an evaluation of the bar's offerings.



Rad apologizes for the admitted Philistinism of single malt on ice, but it had been a warm day and, really, is it our place to question a man's pleasures? He deemed it most acceptable.

Sadly, we were too concerned with drinking the pint of Elysian Brewery porter to remember to get a picture of its dark and sultry charms. It may take us a while to get our journalistic chops back from the limbo into which they've been cast.

We left as the place grew crowded with folks too late for happy hour. Imagine paying full retail!