Story by Dominique Sabins, special to the Blog
Perryn and I sat at Gainsbourg, a delightful French bar and restaurant in Greenwood straight across from the now closed Teachers Lounge.
I asked Perryn, “How would you describe Desiree’s presence at Teachers Lounge?”
Perryn turned his head towards the bartender, “Duncan, how would you describe it?”
The bartender turned towards me and said, “Magic.”
If you walk around Greenwood now, you might get lucky and catch a glimpse of one of the many stickers posted on street signs or windows featuring Desiree. One sticker shows her smiling with a purple hue overlaying her face and stars glowing in the background. Another features her with black sunglasses, purple hair, and pendant earrings. After 3 fights with cancer, Desiree passed this summer on July 14th, 2023 at Virginia Mason Hospital, the same place she was born.
Teachers Lounge rested North of 85th and Greenwood. It was the passion project of Perryn and Desiree Wright, industry experts who spent decades serving up drinks across Seattle from Zig Zag Cafe, La Carta de Oaxaca, Copper Gate, and more. Perryn admits that while he is a confident bartender with plenty of experience, Desiree was the one who really made Teachers Lounge sing. She was a phenomenal server with a knack for creating community. People came to the bar because of her.
Desiree was born and raised in Seattle. She began working in the service industry during high school and found her home there. She landed a highly sought-after gig at the Zig Zag Cafe where she worked with Murray Stenson, the restorer of The Last Word cocktail which received international recognition. She once joked that she wasn’t quite sure how she got the job, but much of her cocktail-wielding genius began at Zig Zag Cafe.
Reflecting back on their history, Desiree and Perryn crossed circles many times before they began dating. Perryn was originally from eastern Washington but moved west to Seattle for college. During this time, he and Desiree danced around each other, always narrowly missing an encounter. In one instance Perryn recalls that Desiree actually attended a college party hosted at his house. They had numerous mutual friends, but always seemed to just pass by. That’s until one night Perryn saw Desiree at a bar with a mutual friend and asked about her. Unfortunately, at that time, she was dating someone else. The pieces finally clicked in 2000 when they ran into each at a bar and decided to share a drink, this time Desiree was single. Over a couple rounds they found themselves chatting away and laughing. From that night on their relationship grew and never went back. They married on September 4th, 2005 at the Woodland Park Zoo.
The couple had been developing the idea of their bar for years before the inception of Teachers Lounge. They tested out working together at Copper Gate, where Perryn was the bar manager. Shortly after marrying, he hired her to work as a server and bartender there in 2006. This is where they really decided if their dream was feasible, mainly to see if they could actually work 40-50 hours a week together while also being married. It was here that they hammered out their dynamic and learned how they would run their bar.
“Together we were like 3 people- we barely needed to talk while working, we were so in sync that we just knew what the other one was doing.” -Perryn
While they both loved Ballard, they knew they needed to find somewhere else to grow. Ballard had become too over-developed; there wasn’t any room for them there. When they stumbled upon Greenwood, they could see a space to grow. The neighborhood felt like Ballard had 10 years ago with local businesses, modest prices, and tons of potential.
When Perryn first found the space on 85th and Greenwood, Desiree was hesitant.The location was previously the Skin Division of the Greenwood Hair Academy with pony walls throughout the space and didn’t exactly scream “themed cocktail lounge.” But Perryn convinced her to trust him. It wasn’t until Perryn knocked down all the walls that Desiree saw his vision.
The beginning of Teachers Lounge held a mixture of challenges and joys. The biggest initial challenge was getting the money to start the bar. Despite attempts, no banks would give them a loan to get started. However, this didn’t deter them for long as they found a couple of friends to invest and raised enough funds to build out the space and get started. Before Teachers Lounge even opened it had built a community of supporters eager to see it succeed.
One of Perryn’s greatest joys was building the bar and back bar, which he did mostly by himself with the help of a few friends. This space posed an interesting challenge: the wall where the back bar is now was not level and required Perryn to creatively build a diagonal framework for the back bar. If you wander into The Dark Room, the establishment that replaced Teachers Lounge, you can still see some of Perryn’s original design. They’ve changed the shelving to accommodate their needs, but the framework is still in place.
The theme was entirely Desiree’s idea. After working in the service industry and experiencing her fair share of challenging customers, she wanted to create a “Bar 101” where people were taught how to act in a bar. The theme evolved into a fun scholastic spin that mimicked a school room with nostalgic staples from elementary school. At its core, it was a neighborhood watering hole, a place to relax, escape, and enjoy a delicious drink.
To round out the scholastic theme, the wall behind the back bar was a chalkboard and they hired an artist to write on the wall. Together, the bar and backbar looked like a teacher’s desk. The space featured cute touches such as math equations written on the cooler, a globe perched on a shelf, books, maps, and those little painted planet figurines we all made back in elementary school hanging from the ceiling. The space was packed with decor to transport patrons back to elementary school.
The bar officially opened on June 25th, 2013. Perryn and Desiree largely ran the bar by themselves, taking only Mondays off together. Perryn typically ran the bar while Desiree served the floor and made snacks. The menu touched on school lunch classics like grilled cheese, baloney sandwiches, and lunchable plates with high quality ingredients. The first few months were slow, but within a year, Teachers Lounge had amassed a strong community of regulars fondly called the “Homeroom Homies.”
“When things were slow at the bar, particularly when we first opened, Desiree would whip up some drinks, put them in to-go cups, and walk around the neighborhood to other shops and businesses. She just wanted to talk to people and get to know them, she was just like that. She gained the reputation of being Greenwood’s very own ‘shot fairy’.”
It didn’t take long for Teachers Lounge to become a Greenwood staple for folks to gather and connect. Perryn attributes this largely to Desiree’s fun and vibrant personality. She was easy to talk to and could serve up some of the best cocktails. Their small, intimate space fit perfectly into Greenwood’s charming collection of laid back bars and restaurants. Running the bar as a solo duo was equally stressful and wonderful. Many nights they were so busy they barely had a chance to talk to each other. On these nights, Perryn’s favorite moment was after they closed, when he and Desiree would sit together, have a drink, and talk about the craziness of that evening.
Naturally, their thoughtfully-themed cocktails gained recognition in local media such as Seattle Eater and Seattle Met. Teachers Lounge’s signature cocktail, “Ed Rooney” landed them on Seattle Met’s list of the top 25 best cocktails in Seattle. The cocktail pays homage to the principal from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The cocktail aptly mimics its namesake as an equally bitter yet light drink with a slightly peaty scotch. This is just one glimpse into Perryn and Desiree’s ingenuity when creating high quality cocktails with a lighthearted, scholastic spin.
Of course, their dream bar wasn’t without its fair share of struggles. Teachers Lounge soldiered through so many challenges: financial troubles, a collapsing ceiling, The Greenwood Explosion, break-ins, Covid, and cancer. Through all of these struggles, their community showed up with resounding support.
Desiree underwent 3 battles with colon cancer, which frequently took her away from her beloved “nerd bar.” On December 7, 2017 Desiree received her first diagnosis with colon cancer after struggling with mysterious pain and illnesses. She began her first treatment in 2018 which had mild success. Desiree’s grace and personality shone bright, even while undergoing treatments. Perryn fondly remembers that Desiree would call herself the “Real Housewife of Chemo” and regularly wrote on social media to share updates with her community. She was an extremely talented writer, on top of her many other strengths, and could effortlessly combine humor with the very real tragedy of what she was experiencing.
Desiree took 6 weeks off following her diagnosis to recover from surgery while Perryn ran the bar with the help of a few friends. She came back shortly after this, but had to pull back again after her second diagnosis in 2019. The bar was never the same without Desiree’s heart and soul. She wanted to return to the bar and continue serving up her signature cocktails, but her illness mostly kept her at home to recover.
Unfortunately, her cancer returned in 2019, which led to her having surgery in April of 2020. In some ways, the Covid pandemic was a blessing in disguise for Perryn and Desiree. Perryn shared that while the shutdown was of course challenging, it actually came at the perfect time for Perryn to care for his wife. Desiree had surgery right as the lockdown was happening. When businesses were forced to close, Perryn was relieved to be by Desiree’s side as she recovered from a massive procedure. They were closed for 2 months before restrictions loosened. They slowly reopened by doing take-out only with clever pre-mixed cocktails and fan favorite dishes. Business was very slow at this time and contained a lot of concern about Desiree’s health as she was immunocompromised and still steadily gaining strength back. Things looked optimistic after her second round with cancer and chemo treatments. Perryn ran the bar while Desiree slowly recovered and helped when she was able.
Perryn and Desiree began planning the sale of Teachers Lounge at the beginning of 2022. Covid changed so much about the industry and it never really returned to how it once was. Perryn felt that the pandemic brought out so much conflict between people that running a bar became exhausting. He would often have to deal with folks coming in without masks, which was especially alarming for Desiree’s health. After nearly 27 years in the industry, they decided it was time they found a new, more sustainable future. For Perryn, this meant more time with Desiree as she continued to battle cancer. After years of long nights alone at the bar while Desiree was at home, he wanted to find a career that allowed him to be home more to support her.
Her cancer came back again in September 2022. This third time around was much different for Desiree; she found she was not handling treatments as well as in the past. Ever the optimist, she continued on with treatments until, eventually, the time came where she decided to let things run their course. She passed peacefully, surrounded by loved ones on July 14th, 2023.
Following Desiree’s passing, her images began popping up around the neighborhood on stickers. Many folks weren’t sure the origin of these photos. However it was soon revealed that towards the end of Desiree’s life, she began sending pictures of herself to a close friend, Andi. Some of these photos were edited using a program that overlay tones and graphics by both Desiree and Andi. After Desiree had passed on, Andi requested Perryn’s permission to begin placing them around the neighborhood.
It first started with Andy placing the stickers near Teachers Lounge and the surrounding blocks. Now, it is growing more everyday. You can walk into nearby bars, such as Gainsbourg, and see Desiree’s stickers placed on the bar. If you find yourself waiting for the bus on Greenwood, chances are you will catch her lovely face at the bus stop with you.
Perryn didn’t know that his wife had been doing this up until her passing. He doesn’t know her exact reason, but he feels it was Desiree’s attempt to (jokingly) haunt people. Her attempt to be remembered alongside her nerd bar in her community. At first he was worried about the effect it would have on him to see her photo around town. However, he quickly became an advocate for spreading her image as much as possible to keep her memory alive.
Consider these stickers a memorial to Desiree’s everlasting light on our community. When you see these stickers, remember to give your loved ones a hug, a kiss, or a kind note. Remember to stop by your favorite local bar, try a new cocktail, and support your neighborhood businesses. With someone as profoundly wonderful as Desiree, it will be easy to remember her, but let’s go a step further and emulate her kindness towards others.
Few bars and restaurants are talked about long after their closing, but Teachers Lounge is clearly an exception. Teachers Lounge closed its doors nearly a year ago and our neighborhood continues to remember Desiree, Perryn, and their weird little nerd bar. A physical establishment may close, a life may pass on, but the feeling of community does not budge. When you see Desiree’s stickers, pass this feeling on to others.
