Thursday in the Park with Snow

Ravenna snow picture post! (UPDATES)

My favorite thing about snow falling is how it makes the neighborhood look — which calls for a picture post!

Sunday

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Adam Merrill sent us "Snowman-Henge" from the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center playfield.

Joel Magalnick caught the Snowman-Henge makers in action.

Saturday

Somebirdy out there has cold feet. (Ravenna Community Garden)

Snow on the ground? Swiss chard don

A Snow Family appears! This is 3/4 of the clan. Rock Head is the character on the far right. (7000 block of Ravenna Ave NE)

Patriarch of the Snow Family, Cowboy Bob.

Ben the Dog! Awww.

And this is Theo the Cat. I believe the red bit is the tail.

Normally located in the tropical rainforest belt of north Ravenna (7000 block of 23rd Ave NE), these two palm trees were unprepared for the sudden change of weather.

The palm trees

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David Washington was

My neighbor

This guy looks a little cold.

Have any good shots of your own to share? We’d be happy to help show them off to the rest of the neighborhood here. Send them to rebecca@ravennablog.com, or link to them in the comments.

Burglar(s) along NE 65th Street shatter glass, take nothing (UPDATE)

UPDATE (Friday, December 9): Wedgwood Top Pot Doughnuts (6855 35th Ave NE) was hit the same night and in a similar fashion (door glass smashed in, store rifled through, little to nothing taken) as the other two break-ins, an employee of the store told us today. We were also told that the estimated cost to replace the broken, super-thick all-glass door is $3,000.

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The alarm at Bagel Oasis (2112 NE 65th St) was tripped Tuesday morning around 3 AM. When owner Peter Ryan arrived, the double-paned safety glass of one of his front doors was found scattered all the way to the bagel case at the other side of the store.

Someone had entered the store, but nothing was taken.

A couple doors down, at the Crepe Cafe (2118 NE 65th St), a pane of glass in the door was found broken, as someone had made an attempt to unlock the door from the outside.

But the door remained shut. And nothing was taken.

Cheryl Olmstead, general manager of the Crepe Cafe, didn’t seem too surprised by the burglary attempts. December turns out to be popular month to break into businesses in the area, she said, citing many examples.

But one specific Christmastime burglary attempt in particular stands out to Ryan: Five years ago, when he and his son arrived at his store to find the burglar still on the premises. They could give Phoenix Jones a run for his money, in our humble opinion.

Should anyone have information that leads “to the arrest of knucklehead who threw a rock through the front door and broke in last night,” Ryan is offering up free bagels per week for a year. Call the Seattle Police Department’s non-emergency line at: (206) 625-5011.

Ravenna’s Candy Cane Lane set to open December 10

We’ve heard from one of the homeowners on Candy Cane Lane (NE Park Rd) that their annual holiday light extravaganza is set to start on December 10 this year.

Looking festive now — Imagine what it will look like at night!

Here’s a story on the history of this annual neighborhood tradition from the Seattle Times last year.

Occupy-related vandalism hits Roosevelt U.S. Bank branch

The U.S. Bank branch in the Roosevelt neighborhood (1023 NE 63rd St) was the target of Occupy movement-related vandalism in the early morning of Saturday, November 26.

Photo by Dominick DiGregorio/Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog. Used with permission.

Our friends over at Roosiehood have the story (and more pictures).

Should you need to access another U.S. Bank branch in our area, there are four others in Northeast Seattle. Click on the map for location information.

Rally and march near Montlake, University Bridges this afternoon (updates)

This afternoon, the 99% are coming north of the cut.

A rally and march are planned for the University of Washington area, starting at 3:30 this afternoon.

From Working Washington’s facebook page for the event:

On November 17, people from across the area will converge at the functionally obsolete Montlake Bridge to demand our political leaders build bridges to good jobs, not make more cuts. This is part of a national day of action for jobs that’s happening in dozens of cities across the country.

The schedule of events today appears to be:

3:30 PM – Gathering at the grassy area just west of the intersection of Montlake & Pacific

4:00 PM – Rally

4:30 PM – March

One possible route the march could take we’ve gleaned from the website The Stand, a project of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO (WSLC) and its affiliated unions. The Stand describes the march route as starting near the Montlake Bridge, but ending at the University Bridge to the west, due to “safety concerns cited by the Seattle Police Dept.”

A call to the front desk at the North Precinct reveals no final march route plans in place at the time of this writing; however, the officer on the phone said “they’re having a big summit on it right now.”

Capitol Hill Seattle echoes the march route move to the University Bridge, citing a Thursday Day of Action itinerary (at the bottom of the post).

UPDATE (12:14 PM): The Seattle Times’ Today File confirms the move to march to the University Bridge instead of to Montlake, citing the information on The Stand’s website that we mentioned earlier.


View November 17th rally and march in a larger map

UPDATE (12:21 PM): The Seattle Department of Transportation has sent out the following traffic advisory (via email):

SEATTLE  An Occupy Seattle rally and march today has the potential for creating major delays on all arterials leading to and from Ship Canal bridges during the afternoon commute.

The rally is scheduled to take place between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on the University of Washington campus and then is expected to march west on NE Pacific Street to the University Bridge at roughly 4:30 p.m. The demonstrators plan to block the bridge during the afternoon rush hour so their presence will likely cause traffic delays throughout the afternoon commute until after 6:30 or 7 p.m. Demonstrators may also block the Montlake Bridge during that timeframe.

Seattle Police Officers will be on hand to minimize traffic congestion but the blockage of any one bridge could impact other nearby Ship Canal bridges. Commuters should allow additional time for detouring to another route. Motorists who must get to the University or Children’s hospitals should plan for extra time to reach their destination.

The protests could be very disruptive to transit service this afternoon. For information or questions about transit service, please call Metro Transit customer service at 206-553-3000, and sign up to receive Transit Alerts at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/alerts.

UPDATE (2:44 PM): The Seattle Department of Transportation has a network of traffic webcams across the city, and there just happens to be one at Montlake Blvd NE @ NE Pacific St (first picture revealed after you click the camera indicated by the picture below).

This rally and march is part of a larger “Mass Day of Action” planned for today, with events happening all around the country.

S. Germany comes to Ravenna – Heidelberg Haus menu revealed!

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We’ve been doing “drive-by tweets” of Heidelberg Haus progress (2122 NE 65th St) for a few weeks now, but today we have something even better…

…the MENU.

Heidelberg Haus menu (click to make FULL SIZE)

WE were SO excited to see the offerings that we forgot to ask about an opening date. Please forgive us. We’ll try and rectify that error tomorrow.

There is a website for the new restaurant listed on the menu (Seattle-Eats-German.com), but it’s not alive as of yet.

Say hello to new Ravenna Blog staff!

We apologize for the lag in posting lately. We’ve been adding to our staff in order to serve you, the Ravenna community, better.

This is Oskar Nelson, the newest addition to the Ravenna Blog staff. He was “hired” on Sunday, October 9.

Here he is with the publisher and the junior editor, at his first company meeting.

Everyone is doing well, although the junior editor is rather besotted with him and needs to be told to get back into his bed and stop helping already because the night shift is not his beat to cover.

Steve Jobs remembered at University Village Apple Store (PHOTOS, UPDATES)

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, passed away today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56 years old.

While Steve Jobs himself was far removed from our neighborhood, the reach of his work, vision, and passion most certainly is not. And it was with that thought that I went down to University Village’s Apple Store three times after Jobs’ death, to see what folks were doing to mark the occasion:

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Evening of Wednesday, October 5

Lots of news trucks. This is just two of the four that I could see.


Cameras and reporters queuing up for live shots.


A few people were leaving messages on the black film currently covering the windows — the store is in the process of getting a makeover, and is set to reopen on Friday, October 7.

A few bouquets of flowers, some personal notes, and a single lit candle had been left next to the entrance.


And the iconic logo’s lights had been turned off.

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Morning of Thursday, October 6

I noted at the time (on twitter): Small but constant stream of folks walking by the @UVillage Apple Store. Stopping for a few moments, in silence. Taking pictures.

GeekWire was by the store after I was, and captured more of the comments left on the store windows.

The SunBreak also stopped by. Editor and Publisher Michael van Baker shares his thoughts on the memorial here.

The Seattle P-I’s Big Blog has a post up, which includes a photo slideshow.

The Seattle Times has posted a video of some Seattle residents visiting the store and sharing their thoughts (verbally and on the black windows).

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Evening of Thursday, October 6

Old University Village appreciation post

With the news yesterday of the Miller-Pollard store at University Village closing (and a Microsoft store opening in its place), there’s been a lot of chat on twitter about University Village and the other stores that used to be there.

University Village in 1962 (from the Seattle Municipal Archives; click to view a larger version)

And, as much as I tire of hearing about all the cool things that USED TO BE in this area, I thought I might open up a post so we could remember the good old days of Ernst, Lamonts and the Village Lanes that used to be down the street.

To get things started, here are some of the things that the Ravenna Blog tweeps (“twitter peeps”) have had to say about both the old and the new University Village  (I’m updating it through the day):

  • maggim Miller Pollard was awful enough, now we have to have the blight of a Microsoft store on our precious village? #bahhumbug
  • SarahSchacht Oooh! The drama! Apple & Microsoft Stores to face off, glaring at each other from across the U Village parking lot in Seattle.
  • RavennaBlog I can’t wait for the rumbles in the parking lot a la West Side Story! #MSFTvsAPPL
  • maggim When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your first MacBook Pro to your last iPod day. @sarahschacht
  • NorthESea Yep. I will miss Miller Pollard for sentimental reasons. I remember wandering around that store as a kid.
  • lukobe Oh no! The transformation of University Village is nearly complete…. now all they have to do is get rid of the Ram
  • CamanoCommunity I remember Lamonts. Hell, I remember Rhodes. Geez…
  • SivPrince I still miss Lamonts and Ernest hardware. #olduvillage
  • NorthESea Yes! When I went to Roosevelt HS you used to be able to take bowling, at Village Lanes, as a gym credit. And I’m not that old!
  • arrrmin Yeah, the U-Village bowling alley was where Office Depot is now…and Lamonts department store is where QFC is now!
  • pokano QFC used to be where Restoration Hardware, etc. is. There used to be a wonderful little plant store across from it.
  • pokano @arrrmin No, QFC bought the old Carnation dairy. The old Lamont’s is where Barnes & Noble & Eddie Bauer are now.
Neighborhood: What do you remember about the early days of University Village? Leave your recollections in the comments.