Having nothing to do on a Friday night except sulk and think about piles of homework can be easily solved with $10 in your pocket.
On 1618 Hewitt Ave. right in downtown lies Lucky Dime, a local venue, art gallery, bar and event space. However, this venue bears a unique trait compared to other local nightlife — it’s all-ages.
Many young adults in Everett, especially those under 21, have a hard time finding things within the city to go out and do on the weekends.
Tula Warrick-Ross, Everett local, EvCC student and Lucky Dime frequenter, relates to this issue, “I’ve spent my fair share of time standing outside of fences and beer gardens of places I wasn’t allowed into because I wasn’t old enough. … one thing better than that is being actually allowed in those spaces and being able to experience it with your friends and peers.”
Lucky Dime fills a niche, allowing locals a chance to connect with their community. It provides younger students a night out, artists a place to share their work with a wider audience and young journalists an excuse to go to Drag Bingo Night for research.
Owner and bartender, Alex Vincini, said Lucky Dime is “for artists, by artists.” Colorful paintings rotate out for expressive collage. When asked to describe the atmosphere of the place, Vincini said it is like an, “eclectic, psychedelic cafe of nostalgic art explosion.” The decor is inspired by punk venues, classic Americana, and the bars in Capitol Hill. The checkered floors draw you to the dance floor and the bathrooms are drowned in red light and charmingly crude drawings all over the walls. With a new line-up of local and touring bands, the place is constantly changing.
Established in 2021, Lucky Dime was created and renovated by Vincini as a space that, “is an event space that serves alcohol, it’s not an alcohol establishment that has music.” When it comes to its purpose, “It’s really about bringing music to the people, bringing art and making community space where people feel comfortable to be themselves and come together,” said Vincini.
Vincini has spent the majority of his life working in creative spaces whether they be house shows, venues, galleries or places that are all of the above. Once running a t-shirt company and even as a past member in a local band called Johnny Hoffman & The Residents (still playing to this day), he goes as far as to say that being so heavily involved in these spaces has, “always been my lifestyle” and “I didn’t know anything else.” All of this led him to take on starting his own venue that became an amalgamation of everything he wanted and more.
The big question is, how can college students here at EvCC make the most out of what Lucky Dime has to offer? “You can see a lot of career paths … sound engineering; you can see art; you can see being a business owner,” Warrick-Ross said.
A student attending the venue at any event can see people sharing their interests and making something special out of it. Ranging from making a profit off their work to just putting it out there for all to see, seeing others succeed at the things that you’re passionate about is a sort of inspiration that is hard to match.
Vincini’s take on the matter is as follows, “When you can, like, see somebody and … see how your work affects them … in the moment that it’s happening in real time, real life, I think that changes a lot of peoples perspective on what their art is, how powerful it can be. … Try it outside of your safe setting in college, academic settings, … find a place like this … and find a night that appeals to your interests and tastes and roll that dice, take a risk and find out if you like it or not.”
Maybe you’re not out for the purpose of inspiration or artistic reflection, there’s still more to consider. A lot of what going to local events is about is connecting with a community and exploring and expanding one’s horizons. Both Warrick-Ross and Vincini are passionate about this matter.
Warrick-Ross thinks attending local events for students is pertinent, “especially in a time where people are increasingly spending time alone.” She then went on to say, “I think it’s such a cool way to … explore the place you’re in … seeing local music.” She describes the Pacific Northwest as an extremely influential place for music, making it one of the best scenes to watch and a great experience for foreign or non-local students. “Every scene, whether it’s in different places in the U.S. or other countries, they’re so different from each other.”
On top of this, Warrick-Ross doubles-down on the concept of technology usage and habits of isolation. She said, “In a time where we’re so stuck on tech and social media, there should be a space to have a break. … I think Lucky Dime is such a good place to have that. To experience art of different kinds and music of different kinds is such a great way to take a break and meet people….”
Vincini takes a more vibrational call to action. “We’re electric beings, ya know? We radiate vibes and feelings, smells and sounds and all that stuff, you can’t experience that all at home.” As for how it feels to experience that connection and environment, Vincini said, “It gets you excited, you feel empowered.”
The one issue remaining is the real terror of going to an event by yourself and the pressure of meeting new people. Fortunately, Lucky Dime is an accepting and open environment to all kinds of people. Vincini wants the Lucky Dime to be a place, “that people be people’n” at, going on to say “show up and you’re part of the community automatically”. With a goal to showcase art from all walks of life, “Expression is really what it comes down to,” Vincini said. “Everybody is different and we build the tapestry of our community.”
“Whether or not you like electronic music, you make music, you’re a graphic designer and you have graphic design[s], find any platform in a physical setting that you can go and share because there is a big difference, kind of in a humanity sense. Definitely a different level of connection you can get,” Vincini said. “It can help fuel your next project, your next idea.”
When it comes to how to even get started being involved, Warrick-Ross relates to the nervousness that follows. As someone self-proclaimed to not be the most confrontational, she said, “I have made quite a few friends just from hanging around Lucky Dime, people are outgoing and inclusive. You walk into Lucky Dime, and if you’ve been there a few times you kind of know at least one person who’s there, and may know other people that are there and you just start meeting people through the chain of friends.”
Especially since EvCC students include a younger demographic amongst a whole range of ages, Warrick-Ross feels it’s important to take the time to go out. “To support local music and let local music thrive is letting the youth see it, it’s how it will continue on. …You want small, cool businesses like that to thrive. No matter what you’re into, if you want a punk show, if you want bluegrass, if you want collaging…, they have everything. They’ve got something for everybody, and it’s such a friendly space, I’ve found…. I don’t feel unsafe when I go there,” she said.
She also wants all-ages crowds to be more prominent within the local scene. “At times I’m still the youngest person there. It would be nice to see more peers out there,” Warrick-Ross said. “It’s sort of a hidden gem. Once you find it, you’re gonna keep going, you’re gonna wanna come back.”
Vincini believes that college-age attendees have many unique things to add to the community by just showing up and participating. College students and all-ages communities can bring “New ideas, … new ways of approaching art and conversation, political ideology, philosophical [ideology],” and in regards, especially to international students, “sometimes you can get stuck in a bubble in America … real easily, so internationally bringing these things to the table can really broaden somebody’s views.”
Lucky Dime, as a whole, has been locally deemed a place where people can come together and be themselves. Genuine love for music and art flows through the veins of the establishment, with an owner invested in preserving that liveliness and young audiences anticipating each event. As Warrick-Ross said, “[Lucky Dime is] where you should be if you’re a young person into music.”
To see upcoming events, Lucky Dime has a website under the domain luckydimewa.com with a calendar featuring all upcoming shows, karaoke nights, Drag Bingos, collage nights, open mics, the list goes on and on. Lucky Dime and its attendees implore EvCC students to participate and find a place within the local art scene and community.
Asking Vincini for any final remarks for the student body, he left off with this, “Go read ‘Catching the Big Fish’ by David Lynch. … If you need something to empower your art and just your life in general, go read that book.”
