Businesses

Crafty Caravan pulls in to Roosevelt TODAY

September 20, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson Leave a Comment

The group of crafters last seen at Boulevard Grocery are bringing their wares to Roosevelt’s Wayward Coffeehouse (6417 Roosevelt Way NE #104) TODAY, September 20, and again on October 18, from 9 AM – noon.

Nicole, of Frankie Says handmade jewelry, sent along the crafter line-up for the upcoming shows:

Susan (This Charming Candy) – Gourmet Lollipops “This Charming Candy is Seattle’s luxury lollipop boutique specializing in sophisticated flavors, bright colors and elegant packaging.”
Shino (Uzura) – Eco-friendly Organic and Hemp Products
Marin – Vintage Jewelry
Amy – Paper Goods
Nicole (Frankie Says) – Gold & Silver Gemstone Jewelry
Stephanie – Paper Goods/ Art/ Face Painting
Seiko – T-shirts/ Bags

For the October Show we will have two additional crafters:

Yuko (Sazanka Design) – Jewelry made from vintage kimono remnants
Sydney (Chavas Garden) – Watercolor Vegetable Portraits

Charming Candy’s Greatest Hits flavors / photo by Heather Immoor

Filed Under: Businesses, Events, Roosevelt

Mini-craft fair at Boulevard Grocery

August 12, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson 1 Comment

The reincarnated Boulevard Grocery (2007 NE Ravenna Blvd) is holding their second mini-craft fair this afternoon, Sunday, August 12, from noon-3 PM, in front of the store.

A selection of vegetable portrait postcards by Chavas Garden.

Some of the vendors and their wares include:

Gemstone, wire-wrapped jewelry from Frankie Says Seattle
Beautiful abstract art and paper goods from Amy’s Artworks
Great vintage and modern jewelry from ReDeFind Vintage
Watercolor vegetable portraits from Chavas Garden (shown above)

There will also be face painting for the young (and young-at-heart).

Another great opportunity to check out the little store, too, if you haven’t already!

Filed Under: Businesses, Events, Families, Food, Kids, Ravenna, Ravenna Park, University Park Tagged With: Ravenna Kale Festival

Café Racer grand re-opening this Friday, July 20

July 18, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson 3 Comments

We receive a lot of press releases from various organizations. This one is our favorite to date:

“No one needs to be reminded of what happened at Café Racer on May 30, 2012.

Each day the grief of losing our loved ones lessens, but not our love for them or the love they brought into our lives. Drew, Joe, Kim, Don and Gloria were people who gave more of themselves than they ever received. This is why the community was so devastated by their loss. This is also why that community of which they were a part of will carry on.

The outpouring of love and support from this community was astounding to me. Not only for the loss of our loved ones, but for the love and concern for Café Racer itself. It became clear to me that the café is more than just a place to pick up a coffee, food or have a drink, but it is a part of the community. The love didn’t just come from the ones we lost, it comes from everyone.

This is the main reason that I’ve decided to keep the cafe open, to forge ahead with the vision that is Café Racer by providing a place for diverse people and groups to come together and have a loving, safe place to gather. There may be some physical changes to the cafe, the main ingredient which makes Café Racer unique will remain the same, Love.

There is no way I can express my thanks to the hundreds of people who gave me, and everyone who is involved with the café, their love and support.

YOU make Cafe Racer what it is.” – Kurt Geissel Owner, Café Racer

We’ve been told that today and Thursday are both soft opening days for the reborn cafe. You should stop by.

Filed Under: Events, Food, Restaurants, Roosevelt

Flue fire gets the works on the fourth

July 5, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson Leave a Comment

A full Seattle Fire response filled the streets near the intersection of 25th Ave NE and NE Blakeley St shortly before noon on Wednesday, July 4.

Photo above taken from the east side of 25th Ave NE looking north. Photo courtesy Thomas Field.

A small fire had started in a cooking flue extending from the roof of the multi-story, multi-use building at the northwest corner of the intersection.

Kyle Moore of the Seattle Fire Department shared the details (via email):

At 11:45 a.m. a 911 call came in to the Fire Alarm Center reporting smoke coming from the roof of a building in the 5100 block of 25th Avenue NE. Dispatchers sent a full-response which involved 6 engines, 2 ladder trucks and a medic unit, an aid unit and other apparatus.

University District’s Ladder Company 9 arrived first and ran an aerial to the roof to investigate the source of the smoke. Firefighters used thermal imagers to detect the fire was confined to a flue at the roof. Crew used water from their pump cans which are basically large fire extinguishers to knock down the fire.

After some investigation, firefighters learned that residue had built up in the flue and caught fire. The owners of the flue were advised to clean the pipe regularly.

Filed Under: 911, Photos, Ravenna, Restaurants, Seattle Fire Department, University District

Plastic bag ban (and paper bag fees) headed to EVERY retailer near you

June 13, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson 6 Comments

You’ve got even more motivation to remember your own shopping bags now: Plastic bags will soon be banned, and paper ones will start to cost you, beginning Sunday July 1.

Why ban single-use plastic bags? Seattle Public Utilities has your answer (from this Bag Ban for Shoppers FAQ):

Lightweight plastic carryout bags are commonly found in litter and escape into our waterways where they remain as a pollutant forever. Fish and other marine animals commonly mistake pieces of plastic and bags for food. When plastics break down into smaller and smaller pieces, those microscopic particles may also be consumed by small animals in the oceans and enter the food chain. Because of plastic’s persistence in the environment, the City believes the use of throw-away plastic products should be minimized.

The Seattle City Council unanimously passed Ordinance ordinance number 123775, banning single-use plastic bags and imposing a 5-cent fee on large paper bags, on December 19, 2011.

The fee will not be collected from customers using vouchers or electronic benefit cards from state or federal food assistance programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC) or the Washington State Food Assistance Program (FAP).

A similar bill passed by the City Council in 2008 was repealed by voters in 2009. This earlier version of the bill charged a 20-cent bag fees to retailers, the proceeds of which would have gone to the city. The new 5-cent fees go instead to the retailers.

Seattle Public Utilities has a series of FAQs about the ban that should answer any question that you may have about the impending bag ban.

Just don’t forget to *WASH* your reusable bags occasionally. Nobody likes the norovirus.

Filed Under: Businesses, City Council, Food

Sunday evening Cafe Racer/shootings events, and beyond (UPDATE)

June 3, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson 2 Comments

You can’t throw a rock these days without hitting a memorial or benefit for victims of last week’s/this year’s violence, and that is exactly how it should be: So much love and support in the community right now, the very air is thick with it.

Tonight there are a number of events around town that we mention below. For events beyond this weekend, we urge you to bookmark this post on Roosiehood (“Benefits and fundraisers for victims of Cafe Racer shootings”), and/or join the Cafe Racer Benefit Facebook group.

UPDATE: There is also the newly started website, Cafe Racer Love, keeping track of events and benefits.

Interfaith Prayer and Procession for Healing
Saint Mark’s Cathedral (1245 10th Ave E)
6 PM
Service begins at the Cathedral Nave

The Church Council of Greater Seattle, Saint Mark’s Cathedral, and St. James Cathedral invite you to an Interfaith Prayer and Procession for Healing. The service will begin at Saint Mark’s Cathedral at 6 p.m. We will then proceed in a peaceful procession to St. James Cathedral (9th Ave. and Marion St. – downtown Seattle), where the service will continue and conclude shortly after 8 pm.
We invite all to come to join in prayer, song and community for any part of this gathering. Please bring a candle which will mark the light of hope in which we walk.

Sunday Night Folk Review
Pies and Pints (1215 NE 65th St)
8 PM

Tonight’s regular Sunday Night Folk Review will also be a benefit for the victims and families of the shootings.

Racer Sessions
Alley behind Cafe Racer (5828 Roosevelt Way NE)
8 PM

About the Racer Sessions (website):

We collectively organize weekly sessions for new, experimental music. The purpose is to give musicians of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to interact and inspire each other, while establishing a community-accessible home for our music, which would otherwise only exist in classrooms, basements, outer space etc.

Every Sunday, at Cafe Racer, the curator of the week will debut a piece of new music, which will be followed by a free improv session based mostly, partially, or not at all on the music that was presented.

No curator this week, but the Sessions go on.

Filed Under: Events, Restaurants, Roosevelt, University District

Video and impressions of Thursday night’s “Walk for Love”

June 1, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson Leave a Comment

We were able to catch a bit of last night’s “Walk for Love,” organized by Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders. Below is video of the walk as it traveled down 12th Ave NE from the starting point at Cowen Park (5849 15th Ave NE), and a bit of the music heard in one section of the walk (“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in the style of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole).

As we joined the walk, we took to twitter to share the walk route, pictures, and our impressions. (Forgive us our misnaming the event occasionally.) Seattle P-I photojournalist Josh Trujillo was also present, and we have included some of his pictures as well.

Filed Under: Cowen Park, Events, Restaurants, Roosevelt, University District, Video

Cafe Racer community remembers, and celebrates (PHOTOS)

May 31, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson 3 Comments

Last night, as people started to gather at Cafe Racer (5828 Roosevelt Way NE) to mourn and to celebrate, we asked one of our Ravenna neighbors, Steve Sorbo, if he wouldn’t mind heading over there to take some pictures and share the experience. (Steve also worked with us on the Steve Jobs tribute posts last October.)

We are leaving his photo collection here for the neighbors and friends of Cafe Racer who could not be there last night, and to honor those whose lives were lost.

Peace be to their memory.

Filed Under: Events, Photos, Restaurants, Roosevelt Tagged With: Cafe Racer, Roosevelt, shooting

Annual cycle-to-dinner fundraiser set to ride on June 26

May 7, 2012 by Rebecca Nelson 1 Comment

Spoke & Food, the annual fundraising “evening of dining and bikes” is back this year, and scheduled for Tuesday, June 26th from 6-10 PM.

Ride your bike to one of the participating restaurants listed here, and 20% of your bill will be donated to an area not-for-profit.

This year’s event benefactor is the Seattle FamilyWorks food bank and resource center.

There are no Ravenna restaurants participating at this time, but you eat here all the time anyway, right? Use the event as an excuse to hop on your velocipede and check out an eatery in another neighborhood.

Filed Under: Fundraiser, Restaurants