Seattle musicians not only shaped a genre, but they also shaped the Emerald City itself. Alternative rock and grunge were largely born within its boundaries, and I spent a day retracing where that legacy resides, from quiet park benches to world-class exhibits. This is not a typical tour. It’s a path for those ready to don their best ’90s attire and explore the messy beauty of the spirits of rock and grunge.
These iconic memorials are spread all over the city, with a few in the suburbs, but you can fit them all into a single day trip. Having a car helps since some locations aren’t easily accessible by foot or public transportation. End the night at The Crocodile, a historic grunge venue. The lights are low, the volume’s high, and it’s where the echoes of the city’s musical heritage still resonate today.
Pay tribute at the Jimi Hendrix Memorial Park
Jimi Hendrix is buried at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton, about 25 minutes south of downtown Seattle. Hendrix had deep family ties in Renton, which is why he was laid to rest here. I arrived during an actual funeral service on the property, which reminded me to move respectfully and quietly through the space.
Head to the park’s center and you’ll spot the domed memorial engraved with lyrics and graphics of the famed musician. Fans leave guitar picks, flowers, and love notes in tribute to the legend we lost all too soon. You’ll also notice nearby graves of his relatives, a reminder that although Hendrix toured the world, his roots never left the Northwest.
As a bonus stop, be sure to visit the Electric Lady Studio Guitar sculpture, a bronze reproduction of Hendrix shredding on a Stratocaster while bending back in a state of ecstasy. It’s located in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, a musically inclined region of the city teeming with indie music venues and vintage record shops.
Finding Kurt Cobain’s “Under the Bridge” sanctuary
To get inside Kurt Cobain’s mind, you have to leave Seattle and go back to his origins. Aberdeen, Washington, is about two hours Southwest of Seattle. This is where he grew up, penned his earliest songs, and cultivated the pain and poetry that became Nirvana. A town once hesitant to make Cobain one of their own finally created a small memorial, Kurt Cobain Memorial Park.
The park is adjacent to the Wishkah River and the Young Street Bridge. This is a part of Cobain’s story, not just a symbol. Cobain spent time under that bridge in his teenage years, escaping a frantic home life, writing lyrics, and listening to the river. Nirvana’s live album From the Muddy Banks of Wishkah took its name from this exact location.
The park houses a metal stand in the grass that holds Kurt’s imaginary air guitar, and I chuckled at the sight of it. There are also lyrics carved into a stone nearby. These landmarks felt a bit eclectic and fully grunge with their artistic and irreverent tones.
But under the bridge, there is a weightiness. I stood for a few minutes in the gray drizzle, enveloped by damp and mossy concrete. Names and lyrics are scratched into the wall. A few wilted flowers were crammed into the cracks and the ground was peppered with empty cans, and cigarette butts. It is not busy. It is not garish. This is merely a solemn place to remember the kid behind the icon.
Standing in silence with Chris Cornell’s life-sized sculpture
Chris Cornell, lost to us in 2017, has been immortalized in bronze near the entrance to Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture. He’s stationed with his guitar, eyes squinting, mouth wide open, belting the one-of-a-kind note he alone could recreate. Crafted by special effects artist Nick Marra and gifted to the Museum by widow Vicky Cornell in 2018, the statue highlights Chris’s raw human energy and near-mythical voice.
The statue is located in the heart of downtown, so I did have to contend with the tourist crowds when making the stop. Nonetheless, grabbing a quick picture with the late legend is fun and easy. Just ask a passerby to take a quick photo of you as you pull off your best air guitar stunt beside the famed rockstar.
Next, it’s time to head into MoPOP for a deeper dive into the history of Seattle musicians.
Exploring rock history at the Museum of Pop Culture
If Seattle had an official shrine to honor its sound, it would be the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). What began in 2000 as Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project has grown to be one of the country’s most immersive pictures of rock history. The building, a crushed, colorful mash-up by architectural legend Frank Gehry, looks like someone dropped a busted guitar onto the Seattle Center and it melted.
The museum’s flagship exhibit is “Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses,” which chronicles the band’s triumphs and cultural chronology in great detail. Visitors can explore over 200 original artifacts, from Kurt Cobain’s high school drawings to setlists and demo tapes.
Around the corner, the Guitar Gallery leans into the mythology of the instrument itself, with guitars once owned by Bo Diddley, Jerry Cantrell, and other famous Seattle musicians. The wall of guitars is one of those rooms where you look a little longer than you planned.
MoPOP also features a magnificent Hendrix exhibit, a reminder that the layers of Seattle’s rock roots run deeper than just flannel. Diehard alternative rock fans will feel like a kid in a candy store, and likely agree with me that it’s one of the best tourist attractions in Seattle.
Coffee and vinyl: The KEXP gathering space experience
Don’t leave MoPOP without visiting KEXP, one of the radio stations famously credited with bringing alternative rock and grunge to the masses during the 1980s. It’s part cafe, part record store, part live music hub. First, it’s a communal space warmly decorated with local art and decor. You’ll find visitors plopped on comfy sofas or working remotely, sipping coffee alongside the on-air DJ.
You can see the station’s massive record collection from the outer sidewalk. Not just a few rows, but entire walls of vinyl stacked from floor to ceiling, spanning vast decades and genres. You can’t peruse them, so I felt like a sad puppy-dog gazing into the window. If you want a record of your own, you can find it in the Light in the Attic Record Shop, nestled as a pop-up within KEXP’s coffee house.
I took a trip down memory lane, flipping through dozens of genres of albums. Surprisingly, I lingered on the assortment of cassettes, feeling the impulse to buy one or two, despite not having a device to play such a thing on for the past 20 years. Naturally, they sell tape players, too, perfect for reliving the good old days or grabbing one as a souvenir.
