Seattle
A neighborhood club for Montlake
A few hundred houses between the Arboretum, the Cut and the freeway. $49 a month, and everything inside at a 10% mark-up.
Montlake is small, bounded by the ship canal, the Arboretum and State Route 520, and crossed by one bridge that everybody north and south of it needs. The commercial frontage amounts to a handful of storefronts. For a neighborhood this compact, a Montlake club would effectively function as the living room.
What going out in Montlake costs
Almost all going out from Montlake happens elsewhere, usually Capitol Hill or the U District, both close enough to walk to and far enough that it becomes a decision. The costs are the standard city ones: eight dollars for a latte, mid-teens for a cocktail, twenty-plus for dinner, times however many nights a week. Members pay a single monthly fee and then near-cost prices, which makes a Tuesday out cheaper than the groceries would have been.
| 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 Montlake
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 Montlake
Montlake is residential, stable and quiet, and bridge traffic is the main thing passing through. Households are a mix of long-time owners and university-affiliated renters, and the neighborhood is small enough that people recognize each other without necessarily knowing each other. What is missing is anywhere to stop. Regular hours, a membership list and a monthly volunteer shift give the recognizing somewhere to go, which in a place this size would be noticeable within a month.
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 Montlake 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. Montlake opens when enough people here are on the list, which is the only thing that decides the order.
Landmarks inside or bordering the radius: Montlake Bridge, Washington Park Arboretum, Montlake Playfield, Interlaken Park, Montlake Cut.
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 Montlake list together.
Near Montlake
Other Seattle neighborhoods
Questions
- Is there an IRL club in Montlake 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 Montlake list is what decides whether and when a club opens here.
- How much does the Montlake 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 Montlake 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 Montlake 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 Montlake 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.