Dispatches from Ravenna, a neighborhood in Northeast Seattle
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.
We received the following email from “The Zoo Keeper,” owner Bruce Stern, this afternoon, saying that The Shoe Zoo (2920 NE Blakeley St # B) is closing:
Well, I certainly hoped I wouldn’t have to write this letter, but I must. I was optimistic when we gave it one more try last year. I thought maybe we could survive with everyone knowing how tough of a time we were having. I am afraid to say it was a mistake. I just prolonged the inevitable. I couldn’t have imagined it getting so much worse, but it did.
I want to thank you for your support, not only during this last year, but for the past 24 years as well. It’s been very special watching your kids grow up over the years, from fitting your children with their first pair of shoes, then, in a blink of an eye, outgrowing our store. I felt a little bit more special than just your average retail store owner, maybe because you treated me that way. And for that, a heartfelt thank you.
Now, I don’t want to get into too much detail, but after the going-out-of-business sale last year, I had to re-stock the entire store. Let’s just say, The Zoo Keeper really needs your help. I have to try and pay for all of these shoes. So please come in and take advantage of some great savings on your shoe and boot purchases.
Starting today, everything in the store will be 20% off. Everything must go, so if you see something that isn’t marked, please make an offer. I will be selling stockroom shelves, which are perfect for your garage, classic children’s movies, stuffed animals, pictures, equipment, tools, benches, and much more. Over the next few months, I will be sending out email notifications with updates and such. I really hope to see you, it would mean so much to me.
Thank You,
The Zoo Keeper
Here are links to our previous coverage of The Shoe Zoo’s rebirth (May 21, 2011), and the first closure sale (January 30, 2011).
In the past we’ve mentioned events and workshops at Roaring Mouse Creative Arts Studio (7526 20th Ave NE), such as this weekend’s Annual Holiday Open House. *hint, hint*
And now, in the spirit of supporting all things Ravenna, we plug the other art school in the area, Thrive Art School (6329 NE 65th St).
Thrive has a couple workshops coming up that you and your offspring might be interested in taking together:
Drawing Together – A special parent and child workshop; ages 5-9 with parents
Sunday, December 11, from 1-2 PM and 2:30-3:30 PM
Local Artist Workshop – Create your own artwork inspired by Clare Johnson’s whimsical ink drawings; ages 8 and up with parents
Sunday, December 11, from 2-4 PM
Thrive Art School is located above Cafe Da Pino on the corner of Ravenna Avenue and NE 65th Street. They also have a location on E Madison Street, across the street from Cafe Flora.
The folks at the Meadowbrook Community Center were kind enough to alert us to the new Seattle Parks and Recreation Winter Brochure, available now.
This quarter, the Northeast edition includes the Laurelhurst, Magnuson, Meadowbrook, Northgate, and Ravenna-Eckstein community centers, plus the Meadowbrook Teen Life Center, Lifelong Recreation (for the Northeast only), and two pools, Meadowbrook and Helene Madison.
Click the happy couple in the snow below to download the brochure (8.4 MB PDF).
Armed robbery on the University of Washington campus, some local kids all grown up and touring the country’s Occupy areas, and some local shopping tips and deals in the week ahead.
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.
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):
President Obama’s motorcade heads down NE 75th Street through Ravenna and into Wedgwood for his Seattle Backyard Conversation.
Filmed from the corner of 23rd Avenue NE and NE 75th Street:
Front grill of Engine 38 - THAT'S HOT
Firefighter Story Time at the Northeast Library (6801 35th Ave NE) yesterday had everything you’d ever want in a Firefighter Story Time: Lots of firefighters (one of which was in his FULL GEAR), a HUGE crowd of enthusiastic listeners, a good story highlighting fire safety, and ACTION.
Lieutenant Milton, Firefighter/Storyteller
The crew of Engine 38 treated a crowd of over 200 parents and kids to a reading of No Dragons for Tea: Fire Safety for Kids (and Dragons) by Jean E. Pendziwol. But before he got too far into the story, Lieutenant Milton did warn the crowd about his pager:
If this thing goes ‘BEEP BEEP,’ we have to go.
We all laughed.
With so many eager listeners in the crowd, Lt. Milton had the rest of the crew spread out through the space with extra copies of the book so that everyone could see the pictures.
Firefighters Lt. Milton and John Paul Jones
Firefighter Becky Mathews turns the page.
Firefighter Dyer, not part of Engine 38's crew that day, was also on hand to help.
After the story, Firefighter Chris Hassel showed off his full firefighting ensemble.
Flash photography is NOT helping us out here, but still looks pretty cool. (Hassel on left, Lt. Milton on right)
A now helmeted and masked Hassel shows the crowd his position relative to a smoke-filled room.
At this point, the crew of Engine 30 headed outside to ready the truck for inspection.
Priority parking behind the library
Fire engine 38's cab section
One of many storage areas on the engine, opened up to reveal the equipment inside.
Doors to the engine’s cab were opened, and a multitude of storage areas were revealed all over the exterior of the engine. Kids and parents filed out of the library and surrounded the engine and her crew.
Then Lt. Milton started to talk about the differences between fire engines and fire trucks, and how this engine hooks herself up to a hydrant,
This engine carries its own 500 gallons of water all the time! Neat!
and then we heard:
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Lt. Milton looks at his pager, says, “‘Motor vehicle accident.'” Pause. “We gotta go.”
“AWWWWWWW…” said the crowd. What a bummer. But duty calls! What are you gonna do?!
The crew of Engine 38 rapidly closed up all the compartments and hopped in the cab as the crowd backed away to make room for the engine to head out.
Here’s a video of their all-too-soon departure:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7uxuTD-zT0&feature=player_embedded
I think the engine sounded really sad about leaving, don’t you?
But take heart, citizens of Northeast Seattle! There’s another opportunity to see a fire engine up close just this next week, as Firefighter Story Time heads to the Green Lake Library (7364 E Green Lake Dr N) on Wednesday, October 13 from 11:15-11:45am.
You can find the full schedule of Firefighter Story Times here, at the Seattle Fire Department Event Calendar page.
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EXTRA FIRE DEPARTMENT-RELATED TIDBIT: The NEW Fire Station 38 (across the street from the Sand Point Metropolitan Market) should be wrapping up construction around the end of December 2010. Stay tuned for open house dates, and information on how YOU could own the OLD Fire Station 38.
You’ve heard about it, you’ve walked through it, perhaps you’ve even gardened in it. But until now, you’ve never had the chance to DINE in it.
The Picardo P-Patch (NE 80th St and 25th Ave NE) is holding their first fundraiser dinner this Saturday, September 17. The meal starts at 6pm and ends at dusk.
The menu includes appetizers, wine tastings (supplied by a Picardo gardener and Roosevelt’s own Eight Bells Winery), followed by a grand Paella dinner (also provided by a Picardo gardener), and finished with a dessert buffet (ALSO provided by Picardo gardeners).
Why a fundraiser dinner for the garden? Well, mostly because of this beauty:
Have a seat!
It’s the Picaloo, Seattle’s first composting toilet (read about its grand opening back on Saturday, April 3rd here). This fundraiser dinner is designed to help retire the last of the composting toilet debt, as well as provide funds for other Picardo projects (among them: new hose holders and more blueberry plants).
Tickets for the dinner are $30/individual or $50/couple, and there aren’t many left. Contact Sandra Schaffer (sandras [at] nwlink.com, or 524-1320) to reserve your tickets and/or get additional information.
If tickets for the event are sold out or cost more than you like to contribute, I’m sure Sandra could give you information about other ways to help the garden out.
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