...we are. Maybe hit Bumbershoot if you can afford the $40 ticket.
Speaking of, crowds are smaller this year, in part because of the economy, the ticket prices and the thinner lineup than in previous years. But Death Cab For Cutie is playing Monday night, which will boost attendance.
Happy Labor Day!
Custom fashion designer Michael Cepress, who tailors his clothes to fit the man, is planning a show for a new collection Sept. 27 at the McLeod Residence art gallery and lounge.
He's working on a collection with a British/Nepal/Indian flair. He described the collection as having "shirts with red and metallic accents, paisley ascots under the shirt, and double-breasted vests."
The new fashions will then go on sale at Michael Cepress Studio Showroom, 417. E. Loretta Place, on Capitol Hill.
Marjorie, located in the MGM Building mentioned in the post below, has lost its lease after nearly six years and is looking for a new location.
They'll wrap up at their current location Sept. 6 with a wine dinner, details TBA.
The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board recently gave preliminary approval to historic status for the MGM Building at 2331 Second Ave.
Just to the south, the Spanish-Mediterranian themed building known originally as the Lorraine Hotel and more recently as the low-income William Tell Apartments, is up for review. It's also up for sale.
Even if both low-rise buildings are granted historic status, their preservation is by no means a sure thing. Look no further than the demolition of the Ballard Denny's, which also received historic landmark preservation status.
Workers are cranking out the finishing touches on Kushibar, 2319 2nd Ave., putting it on pace for a mid-September opening.
I didn't see a menu, but I understand it, Japanese street food usually means grilled stuff like yaktori, or fried/baked dumplings and perhaps noodles. There's plenty of sushi to be had in Belltown, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some of that on the menu as well.
The restaurant includes enclosed seating looking out on 2nd Avenue on one side, and a parking lot on the other.
A little to our south, the Four Seasons & Private Residences is taking shape and you can see pictures here of the view from a $15.8 million condo with separate quarters for the staff.
Real Estate agent James Stroupe took the pictures at 99 Union St.
The Belltown tie-in is that Kerry Sear, owner of Belltown's Cascadia Restaurant, will be the executive chef for the new Four Seasons ART restaurant.
It's Macrina's 15th anniversary on Wednesday and they're giving away free brown sugar shortbread cookies to customers at their Belltown and Queen Anne shops.
They'll also be selling their crusty Italian-style Giuseppe bread for $2.15 for a week starting on the 27th. Their Belltown location is 2408 1st Ave. Given there's something free to be had for the first 600 customers, look for the line out the door.
If you're planning on making the rounds Wednesday, the Queen Anne one is located 615 W McGraw St., which I had to hunt down on the Internets, since as far as I can tell, it's not listed on their site.
Update: I stand corrected. As Macrina Fan points out, it's on their Cafes & Catering tab. My bad.
...or at least the company that will help you locate that former high school friend/flame.
Classmates.com is moving its headquarters and about 240 employees from Renton to a new office building at 333 Elliott Ave. W. early next year.
Classmates is known for those nearly inescapable ads of people with regrettable high school photos, or the improbable combination ads of a hunky guy with an aforementioned photo asking, "They got married?" Well, that "couple" in this photo only got as close as working together at Classmates a few years back.
The Monorail is running again after a leaking air valved was replaced, but the PR black eye will take a while to heal.
Yesterday's shutdown forced emergency workers to remove people from the train, some via fire ladders. The Seattle Times print editions had a headline that fairly screamed, "200 rescued from monorail." Ouch.
Speaking of rescue, if you feel a riff coming on about the monorail vote, insert it here.
Some sort of mechanical or power problem stopped the Monorail in its tracks at 5th and Lenora this afternoon.
Firefighters using ladders helped passengers from the Red train, the same one that had been idled for a week for ... wait for it ... an electrical problem.
It'd probably be a bigger deal for those of us who live around here if not for the fact that no one who lives around here uses the tourist short line.
A woman says she was raped - for hours - in an alley near Pike Place Market as she was on her way to a job interview Saturday afternoon. WTH is going on in Belltown? Where are the police? Where were the good Samaritans? Unbelievable.
... at Belltown's Karma Lounge from 6-10 p.m.
There will be drinking, dancing, and dessert. DJ Darnell Sue will spin tunes and there will be drink specials as well as happy hour pricing and gift bags for the first 50 people.
Tickets are $20 at the door (cash only) which includes two drink tickets. Or you can buy tickets online.
Several local designers and businesses have donated items for a $1 raffle, of which a portion of the proceeds will go to a local charity.
Urban Fashion Network's goal is to feature up-and-coming designers, bridging the gap between independent designers, boutiques, events and consumers.
After the tragic pedicab accident that happened in Belltown on August 6, many people blamed the driver. New information in an article in The Stranger is revealing however, that the pedicab company may be at fault. A former employee of the Cascadia Cabs company says in reference to the company's owner, Ryan Hashagen, "I've been reading what Ryan has been saying to the media and I want to say the other side of it... He's blaming the driver when I think that there are poor management practices that are actually to blame for the accident."
The former employee who asked to remain anonymous goes on to say that the company doesn't provide enough braking mechanisms on its pedicabs, relies on inexperienced bikers, and is insufficiently thorough in safety training. Not only that, but apparently the pedicabs have only a simple braking mechanism which is a metal bar connected to a leather strap. There are no hand brakes on the pedicabs.
When the owner of Cascadia Cabs was told of the former employee's complaints, he said, "Our company policy is safety first. We have a motto. That is, 'Be safe, have fun, and make money.' ...[Drivers] are not allowed to leave the shop with nonfunctioning brakes."
He also went on to say that drivers are told to avoid hills like the one that played a role in the tragic crash. Hashagen explained that all their drivers receive extensive training and are told, 'If you can't go up it, don't go down it," However the company's former employee insists, "They do do a very short training, but they never tell you not to go down hills."
What do you think?
This is great news. It sounds like our neighborhood crime complaints are being heard. The PI is reporting that today councilman Tim Burgess will preview plans for a broad "Safer Streets Initiative". The initiative would target graffiti offenders, prostitution, open air drug markets, aggressive panhandling and business owners who knowingly permit crime on their property. Tim plans on discussing these ideas during the City Council's Public Safety Committee meeting today.
Although a spokesman for Mayor Nickels said he had not yet seen the Safer Streets proposal and could not comment, let's hope he puts these ideas into action once he does see them and that this is the first step in changing things around.
A residential tower planned for 2116 Fourth Ave. may include a rooftop cinema that will project movies onto a rooftop screen.
"We took our inspiration from the great Seattle tradition of outdoor movies in
Fremont and the Seattle Center," Hal Real Estate Investments President Dana Behar is quoted as saying in a press release.
It's an interesting ammenity, considering the parcel is next door to Cinerama.
One other thing. Perhaps given the uncertainty in the real estate market, the company has not decided whether the roughly 360-unit building will be apartments or condos.
First-degree manslaughter charges have been filed against two men suspected of a fatal beating that occurred on 3rd ave. in Belltown back in May. The victim, 51-year-old Vance St. Clair, was found semiconscious with head injuries on May 20. He died soon after on June 2. Witness accounts and video surveillance led police to determine that the two suspects chased, tackled and beat St. Clair.
17 year old Rory Koerber, and 23 year old Donald A. McKnight, are being held in King County Jail on $250,000 bail and will be arraigned in King County Superior Court Aug. 28.
Sad news. I've had it with all the violence.
Forget Hempfest, tonight is "Methfest" at the Rendezvous Jewelbox theatre. Says the Seattle Weekly of the event, "Methfest is not a drug binge, but a collection of bands that provide the perfect soundtrack to inhaling noxious chemicals into your lungs. Unlike Methfest's herbal brother, there are no wafts of patchouli or dancing, tie-died flower children. Consider Methfest to be Hempfest's worst nightmare."
Sounds like something I just might miss myself, but if dark heavy tweeked out tunes are your kind of thing, the party starts tonight Thursday August 14 at 10:30pm.
Click here for more information.
Local filmmaker and city council candidate Grant Cogswell and a friend were attacked on 3rd ave. in Belltown last Friday August 8 in what appeared to be a gay-bashing. Although Grant and his friend do not consider themselves gay, Grant's friend was dressed in drag for an event at the Free Sheep Foundation which led to a verbal attack from a group of nearby men. Grant says the men called them "F*cking faggots". This led to a string of insults exchanged back and forth between both groups and eventually to a physical confrontation. Grant and his friend were taken to the hospital where Grant received five stitches in his cheek, and doctors found that one of the bones around his eye socket had been fractured and his front teeth badly chipped. Grant's friend only suffered scrapes and bruises.
Grant says the man who kicked him was about 5'8 and Hispanic, wearing a white T-shirt. He says the attacker was accompanied by two tall black men, one of whom was wearing a blue jacket, and a tall white man with brown hair. Grant, who used to live in the neighborhood, says he's never seen anything like this happen.
It seems these days it doesn't matter if you're gay, straight, black, white, short, or tall. People are getting beat up in Belltown. Most of the beatings seem to be happening around that magical hour of bar close. My advice? Once you leave a bar at night, avoid conversation with anyone in the street and just go straight home.
The sign of the old Mojito Cafe on Western Ave. that closed down a while back is selling on Craigslist for 100 bucks.
Daniel Stoy, the out of towner who was beaten severely on July 27 outside of a Belltown bar has returned to his home, Fargo. His father, Patrick Stoy, said in a news release Monday that his son's recovery has been "nothing short of miraculous." Stoy does not seem to have lost any physical abilities other than some sense of balance, his father said. His mental abilities are steadily improving, which has amazed doctors, who weren't sure if he would recover.
This is good news. We're glad he's made it home and that his recovery is going well.
"In Belltown people are under siege by drug-addled panhandlers, thugs who throw punches and rampant drug peddling. A man whose job it is to bring convention dollars to Seattle tells me he steers out-of-towners away from the heart of Belltown." reads Robert Jameson's latest article entitled "Where are city leaders as violence rages on?" I was saddened to hear that Belltown's reputation is officially going downhill.
In a comment left in response to our post, Belltown, the wild wild west? one Belltowner shared their idea of how to put an end to Belltown's current state:
"close down the clubs that attract the bridge and tunnel crowd, and the problem will go away. drugs have nothing to do with it. the example you gave about the guy that fell down in front of the father and daughter is unfortunate, but really how traumatizing will that experience be in the long run? the dip sh*t frat boy types that come from the burbs and try to start fights with people in belltown actually are dangerous."
I think Belltown's problem isn't caused by one "breed" of person at all. It's not just the "Crackheads" it's not just the "Bridge and Tunnel crowd" it's a lack of police attention in general. I think the idea of a neighborhood march demanding a change in Belltown sounds like a great start. Anyone interested should send an email to: safebelltown@gmail.com.
Seattle's beloved Pike Place Market is celebrating 101 years of age this upcoming Sunday August 17. In honor of this big birthday celebration, Seattle celebrates what is known as Sunset Supper at the Market this Friday August 15. More than 70 first-class restaurants, wineries, breweries and beverage companies serve their delicious creations in a buffet style setting right on the cobblestones of Pike Place. The event also includes live music and a chance to win prizes in raffle contests.
The official website says that tickets are now closed for the event. But those who wish to find tickets may still have luck on Craigslist. Here is one set of tickets I found you may be interested in.
Happy Birthday Pike Place!
A male and female were arguing outside of their Belltown home yesterday when the 86 year old male stabbed the woman in the eye. Police say that the woman was taken to the hospital, and will most likely not lose her eye.
Wow.
Perhaps yesterday's tragic collision was just an isolated incident, or perhaps pedicabs are unsafe all together - that's what the city is currently trying to determine. Unlike cabs or horse-drawn carriages, pedicabs don't undergo inspections. In Seattle, all an owner needs is a business license. The driver can use it anywhere in the city.
Yesterday's accident occured when the pedicab driver was unable to stop, causing him to collide with traffic. Our hearts over here at Belltowner go to those involved in the accident. If we're going to keep these pedicabs around, the proper precautions should definitely be taken so something like this never happens again.
This cool photo of a Blue Angel doing stunts over Belltown's skyline was snapped over the weekend during the Seattle Seafair celebration.
This is terribly tragic news that happened last night on the corner of Cedar and Western Ave. in Belltown. An older married couple in their 60's were going on what they thought would be a romantic ride on one of the waterfront's famous pedicabs when the driver of the pedicab collided with a scooter and then a van. All three were trapped underneath the van. Emergency responders had to lift the van to free the three accident victims. Sadly, the husband died at the scene. The woman and the 20-year old pedicab driver were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with non life threatening injuries.
Very sad news.
Daniel Stoy, the out of town visitor who was beaten unconscious by an unidentified group of 6 men in Belltown last week has been released from the hospital. He was in the hospital's neuro-intensive care unit until Wednesday, and was eventually released from the hospital late Friday.
He will stay with his parents in a Seattle apartment until he is well enough to travel home. Let's hope he is able to make a full recovery.
We've all watched as the old Crocodile Cafe has sat around lonely, gathering dust after it's abrupt closing in December. There was talk of Groupee Inc. buying the place until they withdrew their liquor license application. Then there was that crazy rumor swirling around that Johnny Depp was going to buy the place. Now it seems there is a new hope for The Croc now that couple Marcus and Sheila Charles have applied for a liquor license attached to the club. The Charles couple are a limited partnership called "Foodie 1," which applied for the license July 8, said Washington State Liquor Control Board spokesman Brian Smith.
Apparently it's about a two month process once the application for a liquor license has been submitted. The license is then granted assuming the board's background check and investigation of the applicants is uneventful and Seattle city authorities have no objections
There is no word yet as to what Foodie1 plans to do if the license is granted. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
This may very well be a big step in the right direction towards coming together to solve our safety concerns. Tonight (Tuesday August 5) is Belltown's Night Out event. The purpose of this free event is to foster a viable social and safety network among Belltown neighbors.
There are several blocks that are participating including Regrade Off-Leash area at 3rd & Bell (commonly known as the Belltown Dog Park). Starbucks will provide refreshments, and watermelon is being donated for human consumption and dog biscuits for the canines. Glow-sticks will be distributed to attendees for wearing on limbs, leashes, and collars -- creating a visual spectacle as the participants "Take a Chomp out of Crime". The timing there is from 8-11pm. Other participating blocks involved are all on Vine Street, from 1st Ave on down to Elliott.
A 1/2 block of Vine Street (from Post Alley to Western) will be closed to traffic from 7-10pm. There will be a canopy tent at the Beckoning Cistern (right in front of 81 Vine)...that is where neighbors and safety officials can gather and meet, and where the prizes, give-aways, entertainment, informational materials, and refreshments will be concentrated. Attendees can start from there and go to the P-Patch and Cottage Park for tours of the gardens from 7-9pm. Generally speaking, the festivities will be ongoing rather than programmed (potluck, raffle, live music, visits by public safety officials, group walks, etc.).
Sponsors, underwriters, and donors so far include: Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods "Small Sparks" grant (will match up to $250 in donated supplies, volunteer labor, and cash contributions); the Belltown Business Association ($250 cash donation), El Gaucho (3 - $100 gift certificates); Cherry Street Coffeehouse (on-site coffee and pastries, etc.); Bellino's Coffee ($50 gift certificate); Exofficio Travel Clothing (4-gift bags, valued at over $300); Platinum Co. (auto detailing, valued at $400); Lava Lounge (merchandise, $15 value); Belltown Feed & Seed ($10 gift certificate); Mama's Mexican Kitchen ($30 gift certificate); The Home Office (printing of flyers and posters, etc.); Casuelita's Caribbean Café (food platter, $50 gift certificate), Mars Hill Church (canopy tents); 81 Vine Homeowners Association (stage platform); and the Sunset House Tenants (volunteer labor, tables & chairs). The Millionaire Club is supplying bottled water.
Additional assistance is welcomed, and you are asked to spread the word to patrons, friends, and neighbors. Click here for more information.
You may recall us quoting an article by the PI's Robert Jameson last week which voiced his concerns about Belltown's ever increasing crime and drug problem. Today he touched on the subject again, announcing that Mayor Greg Nickels "ignores problems as obvious as a hand slammed in a door." Who is to blame for these shootouts, beatings, and drugs in Belltown? Yuppie revelers? Drug dealers? Hostile panhandlers? People high on drugs? Gangbangers? Invisible cops? Belltowner Constance Rodman's answer is, "It's a combo. Everyone knows they can come here and get a free pass, for driving drunk, for disturbing the peace, for dealing."
I've been a little torn on the subject. I've found myself questioning whether the problems in Belltown are all that bad, and if open air drug use and aggressive homeless people are expected when living in a downtown area. My doubts were diminished when over the weekend I was enjoying a dinner near 2nd and Bell. A little girl and her Dad were skipping around playfully on the sidewalk when a man approached them with a cloth in one hand which he was "huffing" (probably paint thinner or something that has similar effects) and a can of alcohol in the other. He started aggressively mumbling jibberish to them, and fell to his knees blocking their path.
Now that's just not cool. A parent shouldn't have to worry about his kids getting confronted by people with eyes rolling in the back of their head. It was a disturbing scene. I think more police attention is definitely called for. Belltown should have the reputation of being a place where people come to experience nightlife, fine dining, art, and culture, rather than a reputation of being a dangerous "wild wild west" where anything goes.
Belltowner Katie wrote me an email today which suggested Belltown residents come together and take action towards catching Mayor Nickels attention.
"Has anyone thought about doing a "Take back our Streets" march in Belltown? Maybe if we shout loud enough and more news reporters in the area were able to see how serious residents are about getting rid of the crime in the area, Mayor Nickels might hear us. We could all wear plastic bags on our heads so we could get his attention.
I think you should use your blog to start a dialog on this.
Katie
Resident of Belltown"
The plastic bags idea is rather clever. What do you think about this idea of a march?
After Microsoft employee Daniel Stoy was punched unconscious several days ago, police are seeking witnesses to help identify the people responsible for the violence. "We don't have very many witnesses and we have very general, vague descriptions of the suspects," Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said.
Stoy is still in Harborview Medical Center in critical condition after his slam to the head over the weekend
Anyone with information is asked to call the police Homicide Unit at 206-684-5550..
Tomorrow Saturday Aug. 2, the Bravo channel is holding open auditions for their show Make Me a Supermodel. If you think you've got what it takes to be reality tv's latest and greatest star, show up at The Triple Door between 11am and 3pm.
The winner of last season's Make Me Supermodel won $100,000 and a New York Model management modeling contract.
There is no height requirement, but you must be at least 18 years old. No modeling experience is required, though if you are a model currently represented by an agency, you're still eligible to try out. For more information go here.
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