Yes, the world is finally figuring out that E Union Street’s 20/20 Cycle is an awesome corner of the world, whether you are looking for affordable bikes and repairs or want to see a local band in an intimate setting.
Seattle Weekly recently featured 20/20 and its owner, CD resident Alex Kostelnik, focusing on the space’s impact on the music scene:
20/20 Cycle’s cozy decorating scheme draws equal inspiration from the average college guy’s dorm and a 1970s living room. Pinned to the wall of the Central District bike shop is the cardboard album cover of Heart‘s Dreamboat Annie, and the taxidermied head of a pronghorn antelope looks down over a computer. A table holds a coffee cup filled with fresh flowers and a pile of books (among them, Twilight: Breaking Dawn and All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora) advertised as free for the taking. Atop an olive-green wooden platform sit a few bikes for sale and a lot of toys—Battleship, Hot Wheels, and a metal Tonka truck that the shop’s owner, Alex Kostelnik, was given as a child, in 1972.
“There’s a couple neighborhood kids that choose me over the library,” he says, “which is a real source of pride.” Bands are also known to choose Kostelnik’s space over traditional clubs—that green platform isn’t just a place to store toys, it’s a stage for live music, which Kostelnik books sparingly yet deliberately, making this increasingly a favorite venue of local musicians.
Sitting in a chair in front of his stage, Kostelnik, 45, has salt-and-pepper hair and a matching beard and exudes a loud and smiley persona that fits the space’s homey vibe. His left thumbnail is painted sky blue with a tiny, sparkly silver microphone—a souvenir from a trip to a nail salon with his wife of four months, Sasha Morgan, who works at Sub Pop Records. His ensemble—flannel T-shirt and a wide gold wedding band, imprinted with images of dolphins, starfish, and sand bubbles, made of recycled gold from circuit boards—is a Northwest uniform for a most Northwest guy.
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