True Detective

The True Tale of Seattle's Sherlock Holmes

Luke May was a one-man CSI unit who solved crimes in the city’s most tumultuous era. In 1923, one wild case would take him into a world of murder, astrology, and secret codes.

09/09/2025 By Allison Williams

Feature

The Tree of Life Is Falling Down

How one death-defying spruce became the mascot, tourist trap, and spiritual center of the Washington coast.

07/02/2025 By Allison Williams Photography by Mac Holt

Feature

A Midsummer Nightmare 

How the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire turned into a nightmare for its volunteer performers.

06/03/2025 By Nathalie Graham Photography by Jovelle Tamayo

Essay

What It’s Like to Date a Serial Cheater

Jake seemed too good to be true. He was.

12/17/2024 By Haley Shapley Illustrations by Peter Ryan

Profile

Lily Gladstone’s Next Act

The Oscar-nominated star is making movies that reflect her Native heritage—and the Seattle film scene that nurtured her.

09/03/2024 By Chase Hutchinson

Feature

Cody Chhun Defies the Odds

Can the local son of Cambodian refugees become a pro wrestling superstar?

05/15/2024 By Dae Shik Kim Photography by David Jaewon Oh

Feature

The Treasure Hunters 

Can a mission that began with two adventurous teenagers in the 1980s end with the discovery of a sunken gold rush fortune off the Washington coast?

04/30/2024 By Benjamin Cassidy Photography by Grant Hindsley

Good Catch

The Underwater Guide to Seattle Seafood

02/16/2024 Edited by Allison Williams By Eric Nusbaum, Allecia Vermillion, and Allison Williams Photography by Sarah Flotard Styled by Suzy Bichl

Feature

Who Is the City For?

Elijah L. Lewis spent his life trying to build a better Seattle. Then a stranger shot him and his nephew in broad daylight.

01/30/2024 By Eric Nusbaum Illustrations by Richard A. Chance Photography by Meron Menghistab

Year in Review

Seattle Met's 5 Most-Read Longform Stories of 2023

These are the features our readers loved this year.

12/26/2023 By Seattle Met Staff

Feature

The Schism at Seattle Pacific University

How an anti-LGBTQ+ policy led to an existential dispute at a small Christian college, pitting students and faculty against the board—and placing the institution in peril.

06/08/2023 By Benjamin Cassidy Photography by Daniel Berman

Feature

Clouded Judgment: How a Former Amazon Employee Hacked Capital One

Paige Thompson engineered one of the biggest data breaches in history from her bedroom in South Seattle. Her trial exposed us all.

04/04/2023 By Benjamin Cassidy

Feature

Beside the Pointe: How PNB Navigates Parenthood and Ballet

A raw Instagram post resonated with many in the industry. But the full story was more complicated.

03/07/2023 By Karin Vandraiss Illustrations by Jordan Kay

Feature

Washington’s Great Taco Time Divide

Loving Taco Time Northwest might be the truest badge of being a Seattle native.

01/31/2023 By Allecia Vermillion Illustrations by Hawk Krall Photography by Chona Kasinger

Feature

The Endurance Trials of Rosalie Fish

A painted face and fleet feet made the runner a precocious advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women. But even as her public activism has gained traction, she confronts new tests of her resilience.

01/18/2023 By Benjamin Cassidy Photography by Lindsey Wasson

Year in Review

Seattle Met's 5 Most-Read Longform Stories of 2022

The longreads that attracted the most eyeballs this year.

12/27/2022 By Seattle Met Staff

Feature

The Day City Hall Became a Same-Sex Marriage Cathedral

Ten years ago, scores of couples descended on the municipal building after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Washington state. Pictures of the newlyweds went around the world. But their nuptial journeys didn’t end there.

12/05/2022 By Benjamin Cassidy

Essay

The Politics of Paying Real Rent Duwamish

Why a simple act belies a complicated history.

11/22/2022 By Colleen Kimseylove

Feature

The Ancient Spirit That Settled in Small-Town Washington

An hour south of Seattle, JZ Knight channels a god-like warrior named Ramtha. To outsiders it can look like a cult, a religion, a 40-year-long fake. Clearly, something otherworldly has come to a sleepy corner of Thurston County.

11/15/2022 By Allison Williams Illustrations by Jonathan Bartlett

Essay

Can We Ever Go Back to Junebaby and the Willows Inn?

Last year, a pair of newspaper investigations 86'd the reputations of two of the state’s most decorated chefs. But both of these restaurants are still open.

10/25/2022 By Allecia Vermillion Illustrations by Doug Chayka