Seattle
A neighborhood club for Ballard
An old Scandinavian fishing town turned dense apartment district next to the Locks. $49 a month, and everything inside at a 10% mark-up.
Ballard changed faster than almost anywhere else in Seattle. The historic brick blocks on Ballard Avenue are still there, surrounded now by six-story buildings full of people who arrived in the last five years. That combination of density and newness is the case for a Ballard club with regular hours and a fixed roster of members.
What going out in Ballard costs
Ballard Avenue and NW Market Street are the whole night out, and on a weekend they are busy enough that you wait. The arithmetic is unforgiving: a seven-dollar latte in the morning, an eighteen-dollar entree in the evening, two drinks on top. People do this three or four nights a week because the alternative is sitting alone in a studio. The IRL version costs $49 a month and then two dollars for drip coffee and eight for dinner.
| Per week | In Seattle | At IRL | Saved / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday coffee (5 a week) | $7 | $3 | $87 |
| Lunch out (2 a week) | $19 | $6 | $113 |
| Drinks (4 a week) | $17 | $4 | $225 |
| Dinner out (1 a week) | $28 | $8 | $87 |
| Monthly total | $732 | $270* | $462 |
*Includes the $49 monthly membership. Menu prices only, before tax and tip in the Seattle column, which is where the real gap gets wider. Annual difference: $5,543.
Nothing on that list is extravagant. Five coffees, two lunches, four drinks and one dinner is a quiet week. At Seattle prices it still comes to $732 a month, which is $5,543 a year more than the same week costs at cost plus ten percent.
Join the waitlist
Get a club in Ballard
Join the waitlist. We open a neighborhood once enough people nearby are on the list, and memberships open in pairs or groups, so bring someone.
One quick thing —
You are on the list.
Memberships open in pairs (or more). People referred together join together, and bigger groups move up the list.
$49/month when we open. No card now. Leaving the waitlist is one click.
Making friends in Ballard
Ballard has a high share of studios and one-bedrooms, which means a high share of people living alone. The Seattle Freeze gets blamed for the rest, but the mechanism is simpler: there is nowhere to go repeatedly where the same people also go repeatedly. Bars reshuffle their crowd every night. A membership club does not. There is also a volunteer shift and a park day each month, which is a better way to meet someone than standing near them.
The mechanism matters more than the intention. A club has opening hours, a membership list, and a monthly volunteer shift, which means you end up in the same room as the same people on purpose and without scheduling anything. More on that in how to make friends in Seattle.
Where a Ballard club would sit
We draw a walking radius, not a city boundary. A club only works if getting there is a short enough walk that you go without deciding to go. The first Seattle club is planned for Wallingford. Ballard opens when enough people here are on the list, which is the only thing that decides the order.
Landmarks inside or bordering the radius: Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, Ballard Avenue, Golden Gardens Park, Ballard Commons Park, NW Market Street.
The short version
- $49 a month. That is the whole membership. No initiation, no minimum spend.
- Everything at a 10% mark-up. $2 drip coffee, $3 latte, $4 cocktails, $6 lunch, $8 dinner.
- A 3-hour shift a month, if you want to. Plus one park day. Not mandatory, and it is the fastest way to actually meet the other members.
- Memberships open in pairs or groups. Anyone who joins through your link is in your group, and bigger groups move up the Ballard list together.
Near Ballard
Other Seattle neighborhoods
Questions
- Is there an IRL club in Ballard yet?
- Not yet. Every neighborhood starts as a waitlist, and the first Seattle club is planned for Wallingford. We open a neighborhood once enough people who live nearby have signed up, so the Ballard list is what decides whether and when a club opens here.
- How much does the Ballard club cost?
- $49 a month, the same in every neighborhood. Inside, the menu runs at cost plus a 10% mark-up: $2 drip coffee, $3 lattes, $4 cocktails, $6 lunch, $8 dinner. There is no initiation fee, no minimum spend and no card required to sit on the waitlist.
- How much would a Ballard member actually save?
- On a normal week of five coffees, two lunches, four drinks and one dinner, Seattle menu prices come to about $732 a month. The same week at IRL is about $270 including the membership, a difference of roughly $5,543 a year before tax and tip.
- Do I have to live in Ballard to join?
- No, but it helps your position. Clubs are built around a walking radius, so we weight the list toward people who actually live close enough to drop in without planning it. You can join the Ballard list from anywhere and tell us whether you live locally.
- What is the volunteer shift?
- Members are asked to work one three-hour shift a month, and to join one park clean-up day a month. Neither is mandatory. Both exist because they keep the cost base low enough to sell a cocktail for $4, and because working a shift next to someone is a faster way to meet them than standing near them at a bar.