On October 14th 1999, the first editorial board of The Monocle was assembled with a powerful shared vision; a Seattle society magazine to be handed out to rich people in all the snootiest apartment buildings, and the snootiest hotels.

The Monocle was an unqualified success, with its criticism of the arts in particular singled out praise. Indeed, the work of The Monocle’s long time television critic has been heralded as “incandescent”.

The magazine proved so popular among Seattle’s elite that word soon spread, and there was demand for such a publication in other cities. The Monocle itself expanded to Chicago on 13th May, 2004 and more recently to Boston on 12th October, 2023.

Today The Monocle continues to be a mainstay of the hospitality industry and its critic’s reviews of the TV show “Frasier”, published soon after each episode airs, are enjoyed around the world thanks to the paper’s on-line presence.