Bye-bye, Boeing Surplus Store

Gather ye air tools while ye may. The Boeing Surplus Store is closing on December 21.

That's where we got this classy-looking container, the new home of our little raspberry patch.

Extreme Makeover Crew "Super-Nice"

On Friday I talked to my friend who lives on the Extreme Makeover block in Kirkland, and I asked him what the crew was like, and he said that they're "super-nice." Yes, they applied gentle peer pressure in trying to get him to allow them to park trucks on his waterlogged front and back lawn (without offering to fix any damage afterward), but they didn't push him at all about it.

For the record, I think it's a good thing that this woman is going to get a new, safe house for her and her kids in 7 days or whatever, and that the folks who work on the show are nice, and that everyone is rooting for this good cause, and everything. I've never seen the show, but from what I've read, it does seem that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a very fortuitous match of product placement and charity.

I guess it's too bad that something so good also seems a little unsavory.

This Smoking Gun article from last year shows a chirpy internal ABC memo about the types of stories they're looking for on EM:HE. It says they'd love to find a kid with "little old man disease" or congenital insensitivity to pain ("There are 17 known cases in US--let me know if one is in your town!"), an "amazing" kid with muscular dystrophy, or multiple kids with Down syndrome ("either adopted or biological").

At the time, they were also looking for "MADD / Drink Driving -- Family turns tragedy into triumph after losing a child to drunk driving."

I'd bet that families who have lost a child in a drunk driving accident are no longer being sought out. A few months ago host Ty Pennington pleaded no contest to a drunk driving charge after registering a blood-alcohol level of 0.14 percent, nearly twice the legal limit.

Pirates of the Caribeacon at Beacon Pub Tonight

Parking Strip Planting on Beacon Hill

My future sister-in-law (hurray) planted this parking strip outside her house at one of the intersections on 15th. Thank you! I love this.

Hawthorn Tree Outside City Hall

A coworker of mine is a smoker, and I've started hanging out with her when she goes outside to smoke because I like her and I like outside. Yesterday I talked her into walking across the street to City Hall to light up, and she asked me what this tree was. I told her I didn't know but that I would take a picture so I could find out.



But then we noticed that the fine City of Seattle folks tagged it for us. English Hawthorn.



Then we went back to work.

Fall Morning in the U-District

This morning I went to the Farmers Market in the U-District, my first Seattle neighborhood.





I miss all the hippie yards.



I'm a peaceful and cowardly person, but I think if I saw a person spray-painting a tree, I'd want to kick their ass.









Doesn't "Sweetbread" mean brains? I'd never heard of this little local vineyard before. I gambled on the cheapest white and red.



Then I went to Esquin Wine Merchants and lollygagged in the Loire whites section before finally settling on Cheverny. What I really wanted was a Sancerre, but apparently Cheverny is another steel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc wine from the Loire Valley, and it was $10 cheaper than the Sancerres. Hopefully it will have that minerally taste that I love so much in Sancerre -- we'll see.

Then I suddenly decided that I also wanted a Niagara ice wine for dessert, so I grabbed one from Jackson-Triggs, a vineyard that I blogged but didn't name back in July.

No More Hangar Cafe

They were too good to be true (for long, anyway). I will miss them.

Unless one of you wants to buy it?

In other local business news, the ownership of Yoga on Beacon is changing hands. The former owner is moving to California.

Quick Rainier Cold Storage Update

Looks like the Architectural Review Committee of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board wants to explore the idea of having Sabey rebuild the western wall of the Stock House (an idea I dismissed as stupid a couple of days ago).

You'll probably see more details on this morning's meeting from Dan at Seattlest, who was also in attendance, before I'll get a chance to write more.

Neighbors of Extreme Makeover

Yesterday I found out that a friend of mine in Kirkland is getting a close look at how reality TV shows really operate. My friend lives by this nice Kirkland woman who's getting her house rebuilt for free on national TV.

Apparently the caterers, contractors, TV people, whoever, pressured my friend to let them park all over the lawn, with explanations like "All the other neighbors were fine with it, what's your problem?" I think my friend worked out some sort of deal with them, and I'm sure everything is fine now, and I'm sure they're all lovely people, but it is kind of funny to look at this P-I story and consider the viewpoint of close neighbors who would also have been very surprised on Wednesday to hear about their neighbor's good luck.

The Highlands Park neighborhood of north Kirkland will be the focus of some highly intensive gawking for the next few weeks. There'll even be tour buses lined up to shuttle the curious.

I don't believe they offer to "whisk" neighbors out of town:

The project, at 10203 116th Ave. N.E., began Wednesday when Chapin was informed of her good luck. She and her children were then whisked out of town so the work can begin.

I don't know. It just seems a little unfair that the people getting the free house are relaxing in some fancy hotel somewhere out of town, while the neighbors have to put up with not just the construction noise, but also tour buses full of hooters and hollerers until 9 o'clock every night.

Kirkland officials have cordoned off the area around Chapin's home, and some streets will remain closed while the project is under way.

Spectators are encouraged to hoot and holler as only a TV network can encourage a crowd. But they must use a free shuttle bus to get there, a service that doesn't begin until Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily through Oct. 3, from Kirkland's Everest Park, 500 Eighth St.

Tempranillo + YouTube

And yay, new Kelly video!

Pictures of Pygmy Goats

Per Chuck's request, (stolen) pictures of pygmy goats:

Rainier Cold Storage, Landmarks Preservation Board -- Sept. 28

As The Paper Noose recently noted, this Friday the Architectural Review Committee of the Landmarks Preservation Board will review Sabey's response to ARC's request that they estimate how much it would cost to preserve the west wall of the Stock House, or replace it brick by brick.

Sabey's estimate is $8-11 million to save the wall, and they note it may be dangerous, irritating to neighbors while work is done, and potentially impossible.

(They also came up with a figure for how much it would cost to replace the wall brick by brick. But I don't really care about that, because that's a stupid idea.)

(They also came up with a figure estimating the amount of money they would lose if they preserved/replaced the wall because the lack of windows would make it a less desirable space for tenants. But I don't really care about that, because they bought the buildings with the intent to preserve them if possible, so that particular figure does not represent any change from their original plans.)

As enamoured as I am with my own ideas about what could replace the Stock House, of course I'd rather see it preserved.

Since I work right across the street, I may try to make it to the 8:30 a.m. meeting at the Municipal Building on Friday and see what goes down in this round. Join me? Come here: Friday, September 28, at the Landmarks Preservation Board's Architectural Review Committee (ARC) at 8:30 a.m. in Room 4070 of the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Avenue, 40th Floor.

Pirates of the Caribeacon This Saturday

Guerrilla Masquerade Party will be invading Beacon Hill this Saturday night. Where will the Dread Ship GMP land -- the Red Apple, Beacon Pub, Baja Bistro, Inay's, Jefferson Park? If you know, don't tell. Pirates rely on the element of surprise.

Avast ye scurvy Guerrillas!

Shiver me timbers! September be the month fer Pirates! And unless ye want to spend eternity in Davey Jones' Locker, we urge ya to channel yer inner Pirate and get yer self aboard.

On September 1st, the month o' Pirates kicked off with a very special BaconStrip, then on Wednesday, September 19th, it be 'International Talk Like a Pirate Day' - http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html and http://www.talklikeapirateday.com/.

And then we Guerrillas be roundin' out the month on September 29th by pillaging new territory - crashing on the beaches of little island known as Beacon Hill - for PIRATES OF THE CARIBEACON!

The Dread Ship GMP will be needin' a hearty crew of Old Salty Dogs, Peg-legged Pirates and Lusty Wenches, as well as plenty of Sharp Witted Parrots, of course. And it wouldn't hurt to have some extra Pirate Ships around. Be sure to bring your treasure chests full of booty, in case ye be needin' more grog or rum. And if you don't have yer own treasure, bring along a treasure map and we'll find some adventure.

Perhaps during our journey will run across Mermaids or Sea Monsters, Sharks or Sea Hags. Or we could just see plenty of fish, dolphins and whales swimming amongst the seaweed in the deep blue waves of the briney deep.

The exact location(s) we'll be invading will be announced when we be approaching the day o' the party, so until then get yer pirate gear gathered and practice yer 'Arrrrrr!'s. If ye be needin' some inspiration, check out the movies 'Ice Pirates', 'Pirates of Penzance', 'Peter Pan', 'Swiss Family Robinson', 'Treasure Island', 'Muppet Treasure Island', or those 'Pirates of the Carribean' flicks. Or check out photos from the GMP Pirate party, "Guerrillas at Sea!", way back in 2003.

Pygmy Goats in Seattle

Looks like the pygmy goat proposal passed at City Council yesterday--the animals have been added to the list of small animals allowed to be kept as pets.

The cranks over at Crosscut (who didn't edit out any of Jean Godden's three uses of variations of the word "wry" in her recent article about Walt Crowley, I noticed) managed to find something to complain about in the new law -- though I'm not exactly sure what exactly that something is.

Hell, as long as they don't bark or bite, who cares?

Starbucks in South Park?

KUOW's doing a series about Seattle's Duwamish area, which includes the neighborhoods of Georgetown and South Park, this week. In this morning's installment, An Immigrant's History of South Park, local residents' complaints about the area were similar to mine about Beacon Hill (though we do have banks):

LIKE MOST LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES, SOUTH PARK SUFFERS FROM A LACK OF BASIC SERVICES. THERE'S NO POST OFFICE, NO BANK, NO DRUGSTORE.

But, yeah, they have it much worse. Check out this "South Park Business Association" anchor link on the "All About South Park" website. (Yep -- it's blank.)

In fact, most of the rest of the city doesn't even know that South Park exists.

EVER HEARD OF SOUTH PARK?

WOMAN 1: "Yes."

THE NEIGHBORHOOD?

WOMAN 1: "No."

MAN 1: "The TV Show?"

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THERE?

WOMAN 2: "Ummm, I don't think so."

Personally, I love Muy Macho and this cool basalt sculpture and Second Use and their pretty new library and all that, but it really is true that most of Seattle has never even heard of South Park.

So I was surprised at the end of the story to hear this quote:

"Then Starbucks is coming down here, on the corner, there's a rumor about that, and Washington Mutual. I mean, there's progress right there."

Wow. Is little South Park really going to get a Starbucks before Beacon Hill does? Will Beacon Hill be the last neighborhood in Seattle without a Starbucks? The last neighborhood in urban America?

Seriously Nau?

I consider myself an opportunistic environmentalist; I take public transit when it's reasonably pleasant and convenient. Before I moved to Beacon Hill -- when I lived in the U-District/Eastlake/Capitol Hill -- I took Metro all the time. And when I lived in Europe, I rode the subway/train/tram or hitchhiked all the time.

Even though I have a free bus pass and there's a bus stop just a few blocks from my house, I can't bring myself to deal with the 36 every day. Instead, I waste money, gas, and carbon emissions by driving north every day and paying for parking outside downtown.

The city doesn't seem to care whether I take the bus or not; they don't provide any express buses from Mid Beacon Hill. If you want to catch the bus to or from downtown, you are going to have to stop on every block in Little Saigon, which takes for-freaking-ever. In unsurprising contrast, most other neighborhoods seem well-served by express transit.

But it's not just the slowness that bothers me. The 36 just sucks. Even though I rarely take it on weekdays, when I do take it, there's usually some shit going on.

Last time I took the 36, I had to wait and wait, because the buses were so overcrowded they stopped picking up passengers. Nice.

Last winter when I took the bus home from work, some asshole harassed me. We were standing up front because, as usual, there were no seats to be had. He started talking to me, and I said some noncommital "hi" back so he wouldn't get mad. Anyway, he just kept on making rude remarks to me, and I couldn't move away (we were all jammed in the aisle). Right before he got off the bus, he put his arm around me. Eww.

And the other night I was talking to a friend of mine who has to ride the 36. She said she had been riding the bus home from work at 5:30 p.m. recently, and she managed to find a seat in the back. She said some people around her were passing around a pipe and smoking crack. They kept saying loudly, "I hope no one knows what we're doing." She said she felt really awkward and had to try to not look around. She just sat there trying not to draw any attention to herself, pretending that her iPod was on.

Hey, Metro folks -- Have you ever thought that running such clogged routes encourages people to break your "Viaje Bien" rules? (I can't think of what they're called in English because I always read the Spanish version for fun.) If the service on the 36 were a little snappier, maybe people could wait until they got home to start smoking crack!

Anyway, I know it's lame that I'm contributing to global warming by driving my car every day, but I just don't want to deal with 45-minute commutes each way (longer if the bus passes you by, of course), having strangers put their arms around me, pretending I don't notice people smoking crack, etc. It's not that I'm afraid to take the 36 every day; I just don't want to.

However, I do take the 36 on weekends. Then it's not so crowded that you have to be crushed next to perverts, and you can get downtown fairly quickly. It's too expensive to park downtown on weekends; it's just easier to take the bus (even if you have to take the 36). Plus, I get to feel like I'm doing the right thing, enivornmentally speaking.

Anyway, lately I've been noticing ads for this new clothing store called Nau, "an outdoor clothing company dedicated to challenging traditional business paradigms and creating positive change." They make a big fuss about how hard they're working to save the environment. In fact, they don't even want to sell you clothes in their store. They provide a 10% discount if you're willing to have your clothes shipped to your home because it's more ecologically efficient for them to keep their inventories in warehouses rather than shipped out to individual store locations.

Their stuff looked cool, and I wanted to check them out. But then I realized that their only store in the area is in a mall on the Eastside. (Oh, excuse me, Nau doesn't call them stores; they're "web fronts.")

If they're so gung-ho about limiting carbon emissions, why would they set up shop in a mall that encourages people to drive by providing stories and stories of free parking? Why not open a store in the public-transportation hub of the region: downtown Seattle?

Sometimes I wonder if these sorts of companies, which claim to be founded on environmental principles, end up doing as much harm as good in the end. I mean, yeah, I'm sure their packaging is totally politically correct and everything, but should people really be feeling good about themselves for driving their SUV to the mall to try on clothes at the Nau web front? They shouldn't necessarily feel bad about doing so, but I hope people don't think they're helping to save the planet by shopping at Nau, or buying carbon impact credits or whatever. (Everyone should feel guilty about their choices, like I do!)

If you're interested in lefty marketing, this is a surprisingly telling little interview with a VP at Nau, published in DowntownBellevue.Net (a "Downtown Bellevue News Blog [with] all the latest news on local construction, condos, shopping, entertainment, living and more"):

db: What type of people buy nau clothing?

JZ: Our target customers are artists, activists, and athletes. Most companies might look for accomplished athlete in each of those areas. Our heroes are those looking to be active in social and environmental change.

They want the brand to be associated with artists/activists/athletes, so people who buy Nau clothing can feel good about themselves. OK, makes sense.

And here's a question whose response seems a little more frank than VP probably intended it to be.

db: Why not put your product in a national chain?

JZ: Well, we'd lose control over our message. We like the control we have over the design and delivery over the clothing. This allows us to meet a good price point and still hit our margin.

So it's not about the philosophy of sustainability, it's really about the perception of it. Which I want to believe is a good start -- because it seems like corporate environmentalism, with stores like Wal-Mart switching to CFCs, can only be a good thing -- but I also hope no one's kidding themselves that they're saving the world by driving to an Eastside mall to shop for overpriced active-modern clothes. Because we can't save the world until we can shop for overpriced active-modern clothes right here in Seattle, damn it!

Walking Taco

We spent the weekend with our cutest but moodiest friend. Laughs were shared, tears were shed.









We were given this beautiful painting, which I admired back in July.



And we ate Frito pie (a.k.a. "walking taco").



Want some? They serve it in Georgetown.

Two Words

Van fire.



Porter night.



Manny, Quynh.



Local drunks.



Pharmaceutical weapon.



Falafel truck.



Outdoor movie.



Fantagraphics kid.



Georgetown Records.



Calamity Jane's!



G-town Sandwich.



Cranky neighbor.



And again.

Those Backyard Photos I Promised to Bore You With

Happy heather.



Sad heather.



Despondent heather.





I can't tell if this is going to look cool-weird (like the Cryptomeria) or shitty-weird, this planting-grasses-in-rocks thing.



I guess we'll find out.



That Euphorbia had self-seeded in the front.



The spouse wanted this zebra miscanthus. In general, I'm not crazy about variegation on leaves.



I can't get enough of the Autumn Joy type sedums right now. The unseasonal colors, the weird leathery texture. They seem primordial.







This Point Reyes Ceanothus has had no complaints yet.



I'll spare you from individual portraits of the Cryptomeria this time.



OK, just one.



A lot of plum crisps have gone unmade this year.



I want these Julia Phelps Ceanothuses to grow into a hedge-type barrier. Should I try to move them father apart or let them be this close? They're already touching, and they're only to about 3 feet of their eventual 7 feet.



Wow. Look how little they were just 6 months ago. You can barely even see them in this photo.



May I show you a couple more photos from back in March?

My Red Dragon on March 18:



My Red Dragon on March 21:



My Red Dragon in mid-September:



I know real gardeners are probably all done freaking out how much plants can grow in one season, but me, I'm still astounded. If these things that we take to our homes can grow 100 times their original size in 6 months, what the hell else might they do when we're not looking?

Another thing that happened when I wasn't paying attention. Bars started projecting pro-drinking messages on the walls. Last night at Chop Suey.



I was there to see Editors, my second-favorite band from Birmingham, England. (DD 4-EVER!)



I'll sign off with a couple of photos of things for sale at the Columbia City Farmers' Market today. (I bought 5 pounds of heirloom tomatoes, 8 Skagit Valley Farms pork chops, and some goat cheese from Bainbridge Island.)

Nine Pound Porter

From Manny of Georgetown Brewing:

Beer People -

Some of you have heard that we are brewing a porter this year. It is
ready! When? This Thursday. That's right, two days from today we are
debuting the Nine Pound Porter at the Nine Pound Hammer in
Georgetown. Beer goes on tap at 6:30PM. Come and say hello to the
Georgetown Brewing crew...you may even get a Nine Pound Hammer shirt.

I know this is incredibly short notice but the fact is... brewing is
not an exact science -- there is an art to it. In other words, we got
lucky. Usually when we brew a new beer, we brew it once, taste, make
adjustments, brew it again, taste, make adjustments, and then wah-
lah! We have our beer. This time... we brewed a new beer, tasted,
tasted again, poured a pint, tasted some more, then called Scott at
the Nine Pound and said "Hey Scott, when do you want your keg?" Now
I'm typing this email. burp. Mmmm.... porter.

Join us at the Nine Pound Hammer 6009 Airport Way S. Seattle at 6:30PM
this Thursday.

If you can't make it to the Nine Pound, we'll be pouring Nine Pound
Porter at the Fremont Oktoberfest this weekend and also at our retail
shop at the brewery.

Cheers!

-Manny

Blurry Photos of Our Weedy Front Yard

The reason I hardly ever post photos of my yard, even though this blog is supposed to be about "snapshots of plants," is that it's so not there yet. This year in the front we did nothing except build a small wood screen, and the back, well, the back is something we're just beginning to tackle. The lot is basically 10,500 square feet of neglect. Well, OK, maybe only 10,000 square feet of neglect and 500 square feet of somewhat gardened space. Anyway, you were warned.

The smoke tree that I will always love.



Barberry, cannas, the clematis I hate.



At some point I'm going to have to dig up these cannas in favor of the bird's nest spruce.



Japanese maple, blue oat grass, the viburnum whose growth I've stunted by never giving it any compost.



Feather grass, mondo grass. Clearly we need more ground cover.



Look -- we bought some.



The parahebe that Chuck told me was too small for its huge container (which I recently took it out of). He was right.



Yeah, not only do we have plastic lawn furniture in the front yard -- we have two totally different, totally ugly colors of it. There goes the neighborhood! There's an off chance that I'll give these unicorn plants enough water to live.



The echeverias were a container success story this year.



Raspberries in a container? Why not? They're happy enough -- they're berrying right now.



I like this little fir way better than my miniature pine.



This rosemary would probably be a lot bigger is I gave it some nice compost. Everyone else in Seattle has monster rosemary.



The little parking strip planting, post fennel massacre.



This is a happy little plant, whatever it is.



When we planted this ground cover, I don't think we realized it would turn into a fluffy pink cloud. I have to say, I sort of love it, though. Not there, but somewhere else.



The monster red dragon.





The new smoke tree. I love little purple smoke trees on top of piles of rocks.



The black elderberry, which you can hardly see but which I have high hopes for.



It's a work in progress. Gardens take a while.



I'll show you the backyard tomorrow.

Another Attic Find

Perhaps not as cool a find as the cover for the January 1959 issue of The Dude ("The magazine devoted to pleasure"), but we found this sign up in the attic today.



If this is a sign for your house and you want it, let me know. I'll hang onto it for you. (We also have a big old rambler, so we have room.)

Bridge Motel

Last night pretty much everyone in Seattle crowded into my friend Eve's brother's motel for an art party celebrating the motel's last days of existence. We picked up our friend Will on the way. He shut the door in our faces, which seemed weird; I later found out he thought we were dressed up, so when he saw us he wanted to change his clothes really fast. So I waited outside and took pictures of his yard (where The Stranger's "public intern" did some weeding for him month ago).











OK, these townhouses are right by the Bridge Motel, which is being demolished to make room for a row of similar three-story townhouses.





Here's the motel, where my husband's parents stayed on their first night in Seattle in the '60s.



Later on we saw some friends of ours, and they said they also stayed here years ago. They said the clerk asked them to confirm that they were a married couple. But that's no longer one of the rules here.





I ate some of the art.











I like this carpet, though I'd like it a lot more after a steam cleaning.



Despite having examined the state of the carpet at the motel, I did crawl around this black-light exhibit.



































Speaking of Eastern Europe, I saw a guy who lived on the same train line as me in Czech Republic in the '90s. My stop was Cernosice Mokropsy, and his was farther down, in lovely Zadni Treban.







Behind the bar, these two played Rock Paper Scissors endlessly, and each time the loser had to dance and swig bourbon. They looked like they were getting sick.





I took 16 seconds of shaky video of it.





















It started getting crowded, and we left.

The Corson Building

For the record, I am not in the know, at all, about Georgetown (or Beacon Hill, for that matter). I don't attend monthly community meetings with the legitimate activists, and I don't run with any of the cool kids, either. I'm flattered that other blogs have started linking to mine as if it were a real neighborhood blog, but I just thought I'd take the opportunity to remind you that my only qualification is that I always have my camera on me. I'm so out of the loop that I'm practically a tourist. (In fact, today I am wearing a shirt that I got at the Space Needle gift shop.)



So when one of Food and Wine's top 10 new chefs of 2007 started setting up shop in Georgetown this year, of course no one sent me the memo. Today over at Smarty Pants I finally read about it, three days after the rest the city did, in an article in The Stranger.

Matthew Dillon had a busy summer. He's been killing pigs, cooking for heroes, keeping bees, and secretly planning his new restaurant. He was also named one of Food & Wine's 10 best new chefs, based on his existing restaurant, tiny Sitka & Spruce (first raved about insanely in these pages). If Sitka & Spruce's location--in a strip mall on Eastlake Avenue, next to a Subway--is improbable, the location of Dillon's new restaurant is, in many respects, absurd. It's very nearly under a freeway off-ramp, very nearly on a set of active train tracks, and directly beneath the flight pattern for a nearby airfield. The name of the building--and the name of the restaurant, in a stroke of good sense that would've eluded many--is right on it, in capital letters: THE CORSON BUILDING. It's in Georgetown, a less absurd place for a destination restaurant than it used to be, but still unlikely. To make what might seem like a rash prediction (but isn't), it will be absurdly great.

But I'm happy to illustrate this old news for you. This is going to be a fancy restaurant open two days a week, reservations only.



I like that weird iguana thing on the window sill. Creepy.



I wonder if the lizard was placed there in the 1920s, when this building used to house an ornamental stone business. (I can't really tell in this photo from 1997.)

The original owner/ builder of this residence has not been determined. It is known that the house and grounds were the site of the Italian Architectural Art Company, a manufacturer of ornamental cast stone work owned and operated by Bernardo Germani. The property exhibits cast stone ornament indicative of this use which is assumed to have been added c. 1925 when the property was purchased and remodeled by Bernardo Germani.

They're going to cure meat here. I approve. And I assume they'll be making honey from these bees that they're keeping in the back.



I can't wait to check it out.

Ciscoe Morris Garden Bloom Day

Let's see what Ciscoe Morris's yard looks like in mid-September, a colorful time of year in the Pacific Northwest.





These flowers are dying beautifully.



The sedum is in its prime.



I'd hoped to find unusual sedums (S. cauticola) like this one at the plant sale today, but no. No heathers, either.















































I'll end here, with my camera's 9,999th photo:

Party with Cops

If you're a Seattle resident served by the South Precinct, you're invited to an annual celebration with police officers this Saturday. If you're a Seattle resident who hasn't had any reason to figure out what your local precinct is, then you should throw your own little celebration. I'll probably be skipping this shindig in favor of the Northwest Horticultural Society's Fall Plant Sale, the Bridge Motel installation, and a friend's end-of-summer mojito party, even though Mark Solomon, who has been known to hang out at the Beacon Pub from time to time, seems like he'd know how to throw a good party.

Dear Community Friends -

Please join us for our annual Picnic at the Precinct.

Saturday, September 15, 2007, 1-4pm at the South Precinct (3001 S Myrtle ST)

All South Precinct Community Members are invited. There is no cost to attend.

We will have food, music, magic performances, martial arts demonstrations, dance performances, raffles, activities for children and more.

Get a Precinct tour. Meet and interact with your South Precinct officers and members of our SWAT team, K-9 unit, and others.

We hope you can join us!

Mark

Mark Solomon
SPD Crime Prevention, South Precinct
206.386.9766

Ghosts and Politicians in Georgetown

Friends of Georgetown History are looking for your personal ghost stories that have taken place in the neighborhood. They're gearing up for their third annual Halloween tour, which I have been looking forward to since the moment that the last one ended last October.

The Friends of Georgetown History is gearing up for the 3rd annual Haunted History tour and we are in search of ghost stories.

Did you know Georgetown is one of the most haunted areas of the city? Two of our buildings are on the national register of most haunted places.

What can you do to help? Well answer the following questions - then hit reply and tell us about your experience.

Have you heard or seen anything in and around your house, studio or drinking establishment?

Have you heard an unexplained voice when you were alone?

Have you heard footsteps when you knew you were alone in your buiding?

We want to hear from you.....of particular interest is of the Rainier Brewery/ Georgetown Funeral Home and anywhere on Flora or Ellis.

Several people have already come forward to tell their stories - one of a voice which advised them not to paint over a particular color in a space which was being redecorated.

Another neighbor experiences a presence nearly every night at the same time in the same place upstairs in her house.

I took last year's tour with a city council staffer who was so impressed that she said she thought everyone on City Council should be required to attend. Maybe someone will invite this fall's city council candidates to come back for the Halloween tour when they all appear in Georgetown on October 2 for a South Seattle Candidates Forum. The details:

Tuesday, October 2
6:30 p.m. at the Georgetown Ballroom
5623 Airport Way S.

Kathy Nyland has said she'd like all the questions to be of interest to South Seattle residents and supporters, and I have a Beacon Hill question that I'm working on. If you have any questions you'd like addressed, send them to Kathy. I'm not sure she wants me to post her e-mail address here, but I will send it to you if you're interested. (Or maybe you can volunteer it up in the comments, Kathy?)

Scary Safeway, Part 2

Last month I posted about how the Safeway parking lot at Rainier and Henderson has a scary vibe to it, that a lot of people loiter there, and there have been a lot of reports of assaults and threats of violence there.

In today's P-I, reporter Brad Wong (the guy who incorrectly identified 2100 S. Graham as Rainier Valley yesterday) has an article with what I believe is a veiled reference to that parking lot.

Someone in the group thought Horton's killer frequented an area near a Rainier Avenue liquor store. So they drove to the spot, and the three men went to the liquor store. The 18-year-old was supposed to wait by the car, but he also went to the store, police said.

It's a complicated story, and you can go and read it if you want, but that part about "Someone in the group thought Horton's killer frequented an area near a Rainier Avenue liquor store" -- they've got to be talking about the Safeway parking lot. The liquor store is right in the middle of the complex, right next to the Safeway, and the whole thing is surrounded by a very busy Rainier Avenue.

Is the P-I not supposed to say "the Safeway parking lot"? Or did the reporter not know what "area" might be right outside the liquor store?

And speaking of "the liquor store," what's with the indefinite article used in the article: "a Rainier Avenue liquor store"? There's only one liquor store on Rainier Avenue. (The one in the Safeway parking lot.)

Note: On 9/11/07, I edited this post to make it a little less bitchy about Brad Wong, who is probably a really nice guy.

What the New Rainier Cold Storage Building Should Look Like

As I mentioned before, Sabey Corporation has been asking for ideas on what the replacement building for the Stock House portion of the Rainier Cold Storage complex should look like.

What do you like? What don't you like? What do you want to see and what should be avoided? What's important and what does the community value? What materials should be used? How should it look and feel? Are there examples of projects that you like? Why do you like them? Those are the questions and answers we are seeking.

OK, Sabey, I know that today's your deadline, so here are my ideas.

1. Clad the building in metal, not bricks.

2. Incorporate salvaged materials from the original building in interesting ways.

3. Create a plaza area in front, with plants.

4. Make the roof partially green, and provide access to the public.

5. Design for, and then court, a small grocery operation.

Let me explain them one by one.


1. Clad the building in metal, not bricks.


Jim Harmon has mentioned that the building will probably be a low-key brick structure that complements the neighborhood. I think that it's fine if it's low-key and complementary to its surroundings, but I think that brick is a huge mistake.

Don't get me wrong -- I love brick. But the neighborhood already has plenty of gorgeous brick buildings. In fact, this new building will be bounded by two of them. And the bricks won't match. It will look like this: old brick, new brick, old brick. And that will look bad.

Instead, the building should be clad in a material that openly admits it was built in a different era from the buildings around it, yet one that reflects its industrial surroundings. Metal. Specifically, they should use Cor-Ten, a steel alloy that includes copper so when it rusts, it forms a patina that protects the building.

Lately I've been admiring this extremely low-key building on 1st Avenue South. Its steel (I assume it's Corten steel) exterior rusts so beautifully unevenly.



This color would work well among the brick buildings on Airport Way. Clearly different, but not startlingly so.



And the huge picture windows are absolutely perfect.



I hate fussy, unnecessary, anachronistic window grids, like the ones that Johnson Architecture -- the firm that will be creating this building -- used in these ugly French doors in this loft project of theirs. The French country look does not work well in this modern loft space. They should have used a sleek sliding panel with exposed hardware instead.



The wash of rust looks especially good on the building sign.



Plus, the rust would be aesthetically evocative of the decay that necessitated the building's construction. (OK, that's a stretch.)



The horizontal wood slats on this door are perfect.



And of course I'm crazy about their steel planters.



Though not as crazy as I am about the ones that my friend Andrew welded together from scrap metal:



Can't you just imagine a line of rusting railroad cars slinking past a rusty steel building? I can think of nothing more appropriate.



Here are a couple more photos of industrial, low-key, perfectly imperfect Cor-Ten steel used as siding.





2. Incorporate salvaged materials from the original building in interesting ways.

Take every single thing that's cool in the Stock House now, and keep it onsite.

If you can reuse the beams, do it. Wood flooring, ditto. Interesting fixtures, doors, windows, whatever. But these things don't necessarily have to be reused in their original context. An interesting window, door, sign might make a nice dividing panel or tabletop or wall hanging.

And you could even encase things in ecoresin or glass to make one-of-a-kind paneling.

There's a company called 3Form that uses recycled plastic to make panels that can encase natural or artificial elements. This one encases bamboo, I think.



They'll do custom work and encase anything you want. Maybe if you have old newspapers with articles about the building, those could be used in a resin panel for the interior of the building somewhere? Or old signs, like this handwritten parking sign.



And this old danger sign.



Even this doughnut sign.



That sort of thing. See if you can collage it and keep it for people to look at.

You could also take a bunch of photos of the interior and transfer some cool shots onto panels and display them, possibly as focal points in and of themselves, like this.



Or you could incorporate them into a structure like this. Imagine that the red panels were pictures of the exterior brick of the current building, and the blue panels were, I don't know, a closeup of a green interior door. I love the idea of paying tribute to the original building in interesting ways, commemorating it within the very structure of its replacement.



I'm also crazy about backlighting in general.





And the softness of semi-translucent panels, especially contrasted with a hard, industrial exterior like steel.



3. Create a plaza area in front, with plants.

This is another opportunity for you to salvage the old building and incorporate it into the new. Take the bricks and lay a patio.

And set the building back a bit to give people some breathing room. The sidewalk is so inhospitable, that little narrow strip next to endlessly rushing trucks and cars. Give people a reason to linger on the east side of Airport Way for a change.

And please put in some gorgeous plantings. Airport Way is one of the least green areas in the whole Emerald City.

In fact, a green wall would be fantastic.



And some indoor/outdoor space. If there's a restaurant out front, give it window doors that open all the way up.





As I said before, steel planters would look great.





I bet you could find a local metal shop to make some beautiful railings. (This firm's in Portland.)



Horizontal wood slats are always gorgeous.



I love this combination of hardscaping and landscaping. I bet you could do something interesting like that.



A water feature would make patio seating a lot more inviting, given all the traffic noise.



4. Make the roof partially green, and provide access to the public.

A rooftop garden would be divine, seriously. I know the new Stock House wouldn't be as tall as the surrounding buildings, but this is the sort of view you would get.











Please let the public enjoy these views.

And plant a garden up there, possibly with part of the roof covered in sedums. This natural little oasis would be an incredible juxtaposition to the railroad, freeway, airport below.




5. Design for, and then court, a small grocery operation.

Of course, I would love to see a wine bar in Georgetown (especially if you could raise a glass in a rooftop garden!), but I'd also love to see a little grocery operation. Georgetown and Beacon Hill are both woefully underserved. I'd love something like a homegrown Trader Joe's or a mini Metropolitan Market or something, anything. Maybe a cafe/bistro that had a little market on the side, or vice versa. There's a place near University Park that's like this, right off 15th just north of the U-District.

Is that enough?

I took a look at some of Johnson Architecture's other projects, and they're OK. It looks like maybe their past clients have been a little bit boring/conservative, but Johnson might have some excellent work in them, just waiting to get out?

I love their Braille building. It's unlike any other building in the city. Those Art Deco lines are really distinctive, in a good way.



But then these other buildings are just blah.





So, Sabey, please be a good client, and demand some great work out of Johnson. I know there are plenty of Georgetowners (and at least one Beacon Hill resident) who would be happy to help you if you want.

Georgetown Storefront for Rent

There's an Airport Way space right by Jules Maes up for lease.



Interested?



Has anyone else noticed that Georgetown seems to attract a disproportionately large number of drivers who park on the sidewalk, or park in front of fire hydrants? I watched this guy look at the fire hydrant, look around, and then just park there. It's not beyond imagination that one of these 100+-year-old wood buildings might catch fire, and firefighters might need to use this hydrant. But I guess his drink was more important.



Also, has anyone else noticed that big spiders have started coming inside again?



This is my least favorite harbinger of autumn weather.

My First Trip to Skyway, Kubota Gardens

We got lost on our way to the Kubota Gardens plant sale today.

We drove down what must have been the old interstate highway before I-5 because we saw ancient motels and trailer parks.

I can't believe there are still trailer parks within Seattle city limits. (Actually, we may no longer be in Seattle at this point; I'm not sure.) With the light rail coming in close by, I bet this park is not long for this world.



Yep. Its demise is already being planned.

Mobile Home Park Update: Seattle has five mobile home parks remaining within its boundaries; a sixth, the Crest Trailer Park, closed last October. DPD has been contacted about changing the use of the Westward mobile home park, located at 9685 M L King Jr Way S., to a construction storage yard, although no permit application has yet been submitted. In addition, we have recently had an inquiry from a potential purchaser of a park in north Seattle just east of Aurora Avenue, the Jensen Trailer Court, located at 937 North 97th St. If either of these parks close, the actual closure is some way off since a 12 month eviction notice would have to be given after approval of a relocation report and plan.

This motel reminds me of an NPR interview I heard this morning, with the guy who wrote the book about what the earth would look like if all the humans disappeared. It wouldn't take long for the weeds to start taking over the buildings, he said.



It's really pretty out here, wherever here is.



Signs of life -- exciting.



Oh, so this is Skyway!



I've never known exactly where Skyway was. All I know is that it's unincorporated, small, relatively affordable, and there are a lot of shootings here.



I know it's supposed to be a bad area, but it looks kind of cute to me.





That burger stand is called "Basket Case"! See -- cute!



There's the bowling alley where some of the shootings have taken place.



I'm suspicious of a grocery store with a sign that says "grocery store." Also, there are no cars in front of it. What an intriguing neighborhood!



It's weirdly rural and serene.



These cars and houses look just like the ones on Beacon Hill.





You can see downtown Seattle in the distance.



And here we are.





I'll have to check this out sometime. I just want to go to the plant sale right now.







These look useful. Evergreens that top out at 8 feet.





We discover that they'll only accept cash and checks, so we have to go find an ATM. Hmm, back to Skyway?



I bet there'll be an ATM in the bowling alley / casino. (Yep!)



Skyway looks so quiet. This house is going to have an awesome view of Lake Washington.







Back to Beacon Hill. Vince's is an old-school Italian restaurant; we ate here our first night in the house.



The lovely East Duwamish Greenbelt.



This is the sister house to my house. Same weird bricks, windows, everything. I wonder what the story with that is.





Today some Crosscut dude was whining about the demise of white men's clubs like the Elks. Beacon Hill actually still has community clubs, like this Somali club.



Here's my neck of the woods.



I like what these guys are doing with their yard.



Our plant sale haul. I've always wanted some bird's nest spruce, but it's like $60 at Rosso. Just $18 at the Kubota sale.



Now I just have to figure out where to put it.

Photos of My Husband on the 4th Anniversary of Our Wedding

Today is my wedding anniversary. Tonight we drank at the same places we drank at on our wedding night.

Here a replica of a photo that someone was selling last night on First Thursday.



It's right outside the Alibi Room, where I drank margaritas on my wedding night. And tonight.



Arturo had a Manhattan.



I made him pose outside.





"Reach for the light, in your cute J. Lindeberg suit!" I said.





"Now stand in the light. And look at the light."



Then we went up to Il Bistro, where we got fucking trashed on our wedding night.



"You are my muse!" I said.





"Act like an ape, my love!"





Here's where we got drunk four years ago.



Next year we'll celebrate for real, like with a trip or something.





Not just with dinner in downtown Seattle.

First Thursday

Hi, I've been drinking, would you be so kind as to indulge me in looking at a bunch of photos I took on First Thursday tonight?









I once took a very similar photo:



Stop here if you don't like pictures of random strangers.

Welcome to the Jungle

This is what our yard looked like two years ago:



Today:



We took out bamboo, juniper, a couple of random trees, most of the ivy, and a huge, dying willow tree that was about to fall over. (The comments in the photo below are from a document I sent to the city when I was battling the neighbor over the arborvitae that he planted in our yard.)



We also took out some random metal poles that had been part of a gymnastics setup for the kids of the owners of the house in the 1960s.



We trimmed the massive laurel and the apple tree, which were reaching into the utility lines.



You can't see it, but there's a juniper under all that bindweed, ivy, and blackberry. (There was another one too, but I'd pulled it out by the time this photo was taken.) It used to cascade down over the rock wall, completely obscuring it.



This quince has been replaced by the Eucalyptus. Those weeds have been replaced by bare dirt.



We got rid of this stump too.



And this mess of bamboo and that other thing, which was too close to the house.



The yard looks very minimal now in comparison, but it will fill in and it will look good.

31 More Plants Today

We went to Rosso and picked up 31 more plants today, about the same number that we got yesterday at Steamboat. Most are for filling in crevices in the rock wall.

Here's what we got today:

5 Cryptomeria japonica 'Cristata'
3 Ceanothus 'Vandenberg'
5 Ceanothus 'Point Reyes'
4 hot pink heathers
4 lavender pink heathers
4 or so low-growing sedums
6 or so tall sedums, including Purple Emperor

The Cryptomeria:



Everything else:



Of our 60 or so plants from the last two days, everything is in the ground except:

1 smoke bush (Cotinus 'Grace')
2 compact strawberry bushes (Arbutus unedo 'Compacta')
3 corkscrew rush (Juncus effusus 'Unicorn')
3 Ceanothus 'Vandenberg'

Wanna see?

OK, here's a view from inside the house. Until a few weeks ago, we couldn't even see that little white house. Then the neighbor decided to clearcut his laurel hedge. Anyway, that row of plants going in are the Cryptomeria, a beautiful evergreen that's native to Japan. The row of evergreens at the top of the wall are Ceanothus 'Julia Phelps,' which I planted last year. Yes, I know they are going to get too big for that space.



And here are some sections of the side of the rock wall, which had no plantings at all a couple weeks ago. But we've learned that having nothing is not an option. Nothing = weeds. Next weekend we're going to put down newspaper and a shitload of barkdust on the neighbor's newly bare backyard to help prevent weeds from taking over. He was just going to leave it alone, but he's letting us take some preventive steps against a weed invasion.











We also planted a Eucalyptus. It may not survive the cold. It may get too big for our yard. Oh well. I really wanted one, and it was $14.50, so it's OK if it dies and it's OK if I have to kill it.



Now check out these Cryptomeria.



The new growth reminds me of coral.



And gingko.



And brains.



I love it.





And I dig the rock wall too.

Steamboat Island Nursery

Today I was inspired by this Seattle Times article to take a trip out to Steamboat Island Nursery.

There's quite a buzz about the exotic yet drought-tolerant plants being produced and sold by Laine McLaughlin and Duane Heier. The little "Steamboat Island Nursery" tag seems to garnish the pot of nearly every cool plant I find these days. But Steamboat's offerings are no overnight wonder. McLaughlin started the nursery more than a decade ago in this remotely beautiful spot on a skinny finger of land jutting into Puget Sound.

I was told that this blue-green plant would need some protection over the winter. But I haven't yet gotten to the point where I'm willing to baby any of my plants. It's still "love it or leave it" in my yard.





Here's that poisonous ricin plant that I love.



Banana is gorgeous but has no place in a lazy Northwesterner's garden.







This thorny little guy, a Rosa sericea pteracantha, was featured in the newspaper article.





It gets big.



I love Salvia.



I bought some of this weird donkeytail sedum for our rock wall. It meets all the prerequisites for that space: rosy-colored, sun loving, drought tolerant.



Our final haul. A bunch of sedum, a few unicorn plants, a couple of dwarf strawberry trees, a smoke tree, and a eucalyptus, which we'll plant where a quince used to be.

Photos from 9 Pound Hammer Last Night