New micro-independent bookstore open on Broadway

I noticed a new, rather generic sign for “BOOKS” outside the Alley on Broadway tonight, and popped upstairs to see what was stirring. There I found Summer, the charming owner of Pilot Books, a new bookstore specializing in journals, poetry and other small-run or small-publisher volumes.

The collection is diverse and fascinating, covering the edges of the alterna-mainstream (i.e., quite a few McSweeney’s volumes and authors) all the way through to the unimaginably obscure. I’m no expert on this area of the book publishing world, but the only other place I can remember seeing books like this in Seattle is Open Books on N. 45th near the University.

Summer used to have books for sale in the Anne Bonney, and she’s popped up here and there a few times since, but this is her first time running her own show. She’s only been open for a week and a day, and doesn’t have a web presence yet that I can find, but word is already burbling on the internet… it’s neat to have another sort of book available on the Hill, and my hat is off to Summer for braving this wintry economic climate by opening a new business.

She also has a lending library upstairs. Go take a look!

Capitol Hill… is Hilly!

But just how hilly? I still haven’t found a good website to tell me how steep any individual street is, or even a good topological map of downtown + Capitol Hill. (I need to know this stuff because I’m starting to bike to work… ooooof!)

But here’s something I’ve found that is handy: Bikely.com! You can browse around to see other people’s bike routes, make your own, and most importantly, check the elevation changes on a route! Google maps has this info, but you need API fanciness to extract it; Bikely exposes this for us.

To see it in action, take a look at my Cap Hill –> P-I building route, or the reverse. Once it’s up, click “Show”, then “Elevation Profile”.

One more fun link: Seattle DOT has a map of the 20 steepest streets in the area. If anyone can suggest a good browsable topo map of the area, please chime in!

 

A Capitol Hill bus map

Do you find Seattle bus maps confusing? I sure do. I mean, I’m no Massimo Vignelli, but neither are the Metro map designers, you know?

So I spent a little time with Illustrator making the map you see below. I don’t know if it will be very useful for long-time Cap Hill residents, but new people might like it.  I’ll make another post soon about how to use the cool “Mybus.org” site from your cell phone, but for now, let me know if you have any suggestions on the map.