The Crocodile (formerly opened as The Crocodile Café, and also known as The Croc) is a music venue in Seattle, Washington. The Crocodile has hosted many shows, including many grunge acts. This lead the Croc to become a major venue for the Seattle grunge scene.
The Crocodile Café was opened by Stephanie Dorgan on April 30, 1991. Soo after opening, Dorgan married R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who became a business partner. The music club's first shows were Love Battery and The Posies. With the rise in the popularity of grunge, The Crocodile soon hosted shows from many popular bands. Peter Buck would play their often with his band, Minus 5. After Dorgan and Buck's divorce, the music club closed in 2007, which lead to speculation over the reasons. However, Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains purchased The Crocodile and reopened it in 2009 under the name, "The Crocodile." The venue has since then garnered more popular bands. One notable show was JoJo's cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a song written by Nirvana that they never played at the venue.
Despite being called a cafe, the Crocodile is known for serving alcoholic drinks and foods that usually have an amount of cheese. They have multiple kinds of pizza, and they have special alcoholic drinks named after famous people or moments in the Seattle grunge scene, such as the "Courtney Love" or the "Nirvana Stagedive."
