Way back in the mists of time (the 1990s), life and business partners Joe McDonnal and Virginia Wyman opened a private supper club they called the Ruins. They already ran a catering company called Market Place Caterers, and by putting together a list of people who attended their events, they found around 30 initial members in 1993. The buzz around the club was such that a couple years later, when the Seattle Times wrote about the Ruins, membership had ballooned to 780.
Seattle at the time was known for grunge and dampness, but the Ruins was lavish, over-the-top, almost circus-esque. Though the building it occupied in Queen Anne “looks
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