Pioneer Square Seattle
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"We've got birds so many different ways in this show!" Spike Friedman told me the other weekend, sitting on the patio of a Pioneer Square bar, enjoying the last little bit of sun during our uncharacteristically warm March. "We've got a bird that's a burrito, maybe..."
Caitlin Sullivan, who was sitting at the table next to me listening, grinned a bit sheepishly. "I may have cut the bird that's a burrito," she said with a chuckle. "Sorry."
"Imagine that!" Friedman responded sarcastically, as Sullivan,
- www.delicatusseattle.com
It's called Delicatus. If you like sandwiches—that is, if you are a human being—prepare to freak out.
Delicatus—open right now at First and Yesler—is the product of "the simple concept that people in the greater Seattle area deserve a better sandwich." It seeks to correct what its founders see as a regional misrepresentation of the Amer-European delicatessen tradition, using mainly local/artisan/sustainable ingredients. (Rumor has it one of the owners, Mike Klotz, used to
From staff reporter Brian Rosenthal
A car speeding along First Avenue downtown Friday night left the northbound lane, struck a tree in the median, slammed into a parked car in the southbound lane and ended up on its side.
The man driving the red Volkswagen Jetta apparently told police he had been drinking before the crash, Seattle Police Department officer Jonathan Young said. The driver was taken to Harborview Medical Center with minor injuries. Nobody else was hurt.
The crash occurred just before
Do This Tonight:
When you go down to the Pioneer Square artwalk, you should show your gratitude for getting into all those museums for free (and also re-up your karma points) by stopping into the Pioneer Square Cafe Vita for a “laptop rally” put on by 4Culture.
4Culture is King County’s main arts and culture organization—most of their projects involve rehabilitating historic buildings for community and arts purposes and providing support for arts organizations and community groups. Well, they’re looking
Do This Tonight:
ARCADE magazine, issue 28.3 Launch Party
ARCADE is the Pacific Northwest’s architecture magazine, published by the Northwest Architectural League. It’s everything an architecture magazine should be—it has lean, ultra-modern design, it goes serious into the economics and environmental science of design and development (this last issue contained a feature on “technological metabolism”), and it’s written by a who’s-who of local enviros and architects (including this article about recycling
Do This Tonight:
ARCADE magazine, issue 28.3 Launch Party
ARCADE is the Pacific Northwest’s architecture magazine, published by the Northwest Architectural League. It’s everything an architecture magazine should be—it has lean, ultra-modern design, it goes serious into the economics and environmental science of design and development (this last issue contained a feature on “technological metabolism”), and it’s written by a who’s-who of local enviros and architects (including this article about recycling
Charles Mudede on City Council Member Tim Burgess's plan to crack down on solicitation:
Many of us see nothing in all of this but the continued criminalization of poverty. Problems of poverty and mental illness are, once again, being solved not with improved social services but with increased law enforcement. But what our lawmakers and upstanding citizens must understand is that the police are not the solution to all of our problems.
Cienna Madrid on kicking out artists to make office space in Magnuson
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Do this tonight:
Jarrod Gorbel, from Brooklyn, and Fences (Chris Mansfield), from Seattle, are both tattooed barroom balladeers who sound alternately like recovering addicts grateful to be alive and incurably love-ridden sad sacks waiting forlornly for death. They are formerly-bad dudes with salvaged hearts who seem to be brimming with sad stories.
The songs are rough-edged and confessional in a basic way, but that’s the appeal. The show is at Vera, and although the ideal setting for this show
Another from the Blotter:
On February 27th at approximately 11:39 p.m. officers responded to an assault in the 300 block of 1st Avenue South. A group of friends and acquaintances were in a nightclub, but one of them was thrown out by bouncers due to intoxication and starting trouble.
The female victim tried to calm down the ejected member of the group, the suspect, who was looking for a fight. Unable to find anyone else to fight, the suspect turned and slapped the victim
From the SPD Blotter:
On February 28th at approximately 1:49 a.m. officers were flagged down by an adult female victim in the 150 block of South Washington Street regarding an assault. The victim and her friends had been inside a nearby nightclub where they had seen the suspect. Once outside the club, the suspect initiated contact with the group of women.
The suspect was told that the women were not interested. The suspect then backhanded one of the women for her perceived disrespect.
On February 27th at approximately 11:39 p.m. officers responded to an assault in the 300 block of 1st Avenue South. A group of friends and acquaintances were in a nightclub, but one of them was thrown out by bouncers due to intoxication and starting trouble.
The female victim tried to calm down the ejected member of the group, the suspect, who was looking for a fight. Unable to find anyone else to fight, the suspect turned and slapped the victim across the face, knocking her to the ground. The suspect was detained by bouncers until officers arrived. The adult male suspect was booked into King County Jail for assault.
Something interesting happens in a number of stories about Seattle's downtown safety crisis yesterday. See if you can spot it in this KOMO story, "Downtown street crime scaring away visitors":
A survey by the Downtown Seattle Association found that panhandling is a concern among 66 percent of those polled, while open-air drug sales are a concern to 75 percent. Nearly 40 percent said they simply do not feel safe downtown.
And statistics show their fears are not misplaced. Police records show a 22 percent
Many Americans have felt the impact of the recession, but the hardest-hit have been the nation’s poor and unemployed citizens, who have seen conditions worsen in recent years as resources and opportunities dwindle. However one Seattle University club is working to change this, providing workshops and educational seminars to help disadvantaged citizens gain employment, and find work in a challenging economy.
The Seattle Department of Transportation’s restoration work has been extended until Friday, February 19 on the north sidewalk and north side of S Washington Street between Occidental Avenue S and Second Avenue S. A flagger will direct traffic past the work site. The work hours will be 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The restoration is in follow-up to utility work by Seattle City Light.
For information: Melissa Marangon, (206) 386-1218
Media contact: Marybeth Turner, (206)684-8548
Don't have a clue what Contra dance is? Neither did I, so it intrigued me when I stumbled across a listing for the Lake City Contra/Old Country dance night. For those not in the know, a contra dance is similar to square dancing; although I'm sure purists would kill me for writing that. According to the LC Contra Dance history:
In November 1974 a great country dance revival began in Seattle. Sandy Bradley and The Gypsy Gyppo String Band (Warren Argo, Jack Link, and Jerry Mitchell), started it with participatory old-time square dancing at a tavern in Pioneer Square. he dance moved to its present location at the Lake City Community Center in 1998. Over the years many other contra dances popped up in Seattle as well as in surrounding communities such as Olympia, Bellingham, and Tacoma.
Dances are held every Thursday at the Lake City Community Center from 8pm to 11pm. Free introductory dance classes are also held weekly at 7:30pm and admission is only $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and...
Caffe Umbria is selling a limited-run Haiti Hope Coffee Blend online and at its cafes in Pioneer Square and in Portland's Pearl District. It's contributing $5 from the sale of each $10 bag to Mercy Corps, a leader in Haitian relief efforts. Jesse Sweeney at Umbria said its goal is to sell 1,000 12-ounce bags for a donation of $5,000 to the cause.
For something more nostalgic and less affordable, check out Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie's $375 Wet Whisker Finca El Gato. It's a limited-run coffee from
All you Hyun Bin fans should be on the lookout. Those big trucks and trailers lined up along Broadway are part of the production crew for the South Korean big budget movie Late Autumn. According to crew hanging around setting up the scenes, the Broadway shoot will be confined to the Bonney Watson funeral home across from Seattle Central and will continue through Wednesday. The crew has also been shooting scenes across Seattle's neighborhoods including our neighbors in the Central District, Pioneer Square and Queen Anne.
On Wednesday and Thursday, February 10-11, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crews will be restoring the north sidewalk and north side of S Washington Street between Occidental Avenue S and Second Avenue S. A flagger will direct traffic past the work site. The work hours will be 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If need be, the crew will return and finish the project on Tuesday, February 16. The restoration is in follow-up to utility work by Seattle City Light.
In addition to the string of home break-ins around the neighborhood, a review of police reports shows that robberies of people on the street continue to be an issue as well. Here's four we found in the month of January:
On January 23rd a man implied that he had a gun and tried to rob a victim as he walked home:
V/ was walking S/B on the East side of 28th Ave towards his house which is located at 1 28th Ave when he observed and unknown black male, in his late teens to early 20's, approximately 5'11" -6'3" thin build, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt (with the hood up), black pants and dark colored shoes approaching him walking N/B on the same side of 28th Ave. Before the unknown suspect reached V/ W/ observed the suspect reach into his shirt pocket and move a bulky object around. The suspect waited until V/ passed him and then he reached out and grabbed V/ by his left shoulder and spun him around. The suspect told V/ to give him all he has while he was moving his hand in his pocket as if the suspect was...
In addition to the string of home break-ins around the neighborhood, a review of police reports shows that robberies of people on the street continue to be an issue as well. Here's four we found in the month of January:
On January 23rd a man implied that he had a gun and tried to rob a victim as he walked home:
V/ was walking S/B on the East side of 28th Ave towards his house which is located at 1 28th Ave when he observed and unknown black male, in his late teens to early 20's, approximately 5'11" -6'3" thin build, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt (with the hood up), black pants and dark colored shoes approaching him walking N/B on the same side of 28th Ave. Before the unknown suspect reached V/ W/ observed the suspect reach into his shirt pocket and move a bulky object around. The suspect waited until V/ passed him and then he reached out and grabbed V/ by his left shoulder and spun him around. The suspect told V/ to give him all he has while he was moving his hand in his pocket as if the suspect was...
My, but what big louvers you have!
The palatial piece of work in the photo below that looks like something out of the movie Brazil is a ventilation building for the Ted Williams tunnel in Boston. You have to move some big air to ventilate a tunnel full of cars.
[ Ventilation building for Boston's Ted Williams tunnel; click image to enlarge ]
As Erica noted earlier, initial plans for Seattle’s proposed deep-bore tunnel locate ventilation buildings near each portal. In the sketch below—looking SE across
During a presentation last week about the impacts tunnel construction will have on Pioneer Square, city and state transportation planners described proposed new tunnel as an “amazing” chance to redevelop the area into a dense, urban, transit-oriented community. Steve Pearce, viaduct program manager for the city’s transportation department (SDOT), called tunnel construction “a major opportunity … to really reshape a part of the city and create a more urban place, a more habitable place… while meeting
1. In case you missed it, late yesterday afternoon Erica published a slightly troubling story—confirmed by Mayor Mike McGinn’s office—about McGinn adviser Chris Bushnell: In his work as a chief economist at King County and at his polling firm Constituent Dynamics, Bushnell falsely claimed he had a PhD. Bushnell went as far as to print the false information on his business card.
Weird stuff.
2. Just one day after she “secured a comittment” (she says) from her adversary, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner,
Seattle police are investigating reports of a man armed with a shotgun in Pioneer Square.
The call came in at 12:36 p.m., according to police. Officers have responded to the area and are searching, but thus far have not found the armed man.
Times staff reporter Sara Jean Green is on the scene and we'll update this post as soon as we know more.
Much of the support for the bored tunnel under downtown Seattle relies on the assumption that it would make the cars disappear on one end of downtown and reappear on the other. But the tunnel must emerge from the ground somewhere, and recently released plans show it ain’t pretty.
As designed by the Washington State Department of
Police are investigating a possible stabbing this morning after man in his 50s or 60s was attacked in Pioneer Square.
Police received a call at about 11:40 that a man was down on street. Officers arrived and found the man, who had cuts on his face. Police initially believed he'd been assaulted with a knife.
Medics arrived and treated the man. We haven't heard whether he was taken to the hospital or released from the scene. No word on any suspects. We'll post more info when we get it.
1. Are Democrats in Olympia willing to get behind new taxes this year?
We will know soon enough. Spokane Rep. Timm Ormsby (D-3) is collecting co-sponsors today so he can drop a bill as early as Monday that would triple the hazardous substance tax—from 0.7 percent to 2 percent—on companies that produce dirty stuff like petroleum.
The haz mat tax—passed by voters in 1988— is supposed to go to pollution cleanup, but Rep. Ormsby’s legislation would dedicate 70 percent of the money to core general fund
Today’s picks:
1. Tonight is inaugural installment of the Washington Bus’s “Olympia in a Can” series will kicks off with a video of the State of the Union address, followed by a video conference with a selection of state legislators.
The Bus has booked Rep. Deb Wallace (D-17), chair of the House higher education committee (and current candidate for the U.S. Congressional seat being vacated by Brian Baird); and Reps. Bob Hasegawa (D-11) and Scott White (D-46), both of whom sit on the higher ed committee.
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One Pioneer Square bar closes, another reopens. Details on Line Out.
Kazys Varnelis, a historian and architecture theorist who teaches at Columbia, sees this in the future:
Some cities are simply doomed, but if we're lucky, some leaders will turn to intelligent ways of dealing with this condition. To me, the idea of building the world's largest urban farm in Detroit sounds smart. Look for some of these cities—Buffalo maybe?—to follow Berlin's path and become some of the most interesting places to live in the country. If artists and bohemians are finding it
Artists are invited to submit proposals to ARTSPARKS — a program designed to enliven Pioneer Square this summer by bringing art in all its forms to Occidental Park to create a public space where art and life entwine and art serves as a vehicle for positive and social change.
ARTSPARKS is a collaboration between the Office, 4Culture and Seattle Parks and Recreation and is part of the Downtown Parks Renaissance Initiative, an effort to make downtown Seattle parks lively, safe and welcoming public spaces. Home to a high concentration of art galleries and artist studios, the Pioneer Square neighborhood has a special role in the cultural life of Seattle.
All creative proposals are sought including, but not limited to, street theater, dance, temporary sculpture, environmental installations, music and visual art.
Applicants must have demonstrated experience in producing public arts events or installations. Maximum available funding is $2,000 per week for a 10- to 15-week program...
Tasing In the New Year: When you ring in the new year by getting punched in the face in a nightclub and then Tasered by police, things can only get better, right? According to a police report, officers in Pioneer Square were standing outside of the Last Supper Club won New Year's Eve hen they saw a man walk out of the club bleeding from his mouth and nose. He "did not appear panicked or upset," Officer Thomas Burns wrote in his report. Police say the man looked at officers, walked up to a man
A new partnership will bring fresh energy to Pioneer Square and its art scene, taking art outside the walls of the galleries and into the public realm in summer 2010.
ARTSPARKS – a collaboration between 4Culture, the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and Seattle Parks and Recreation — will bring art in all its forms to Occidental Park to create a public space where art and life entwine and art serves as a vehicle for positive and social change. A call for artists was issued on Tuesday, Jan 5.
The curatorial panel selecting the artists includes experts from a broad range of artistic and community-based endeavors.
Home to a high concentration of art galleries and artist studios, the Pioneer Square neighborhood has a special role in the cultural life of Seattle. ARTSPARKS expands upon that role, bringing the fresh experimentation and creativity of the arts community beyond the confines of gallery and performance spaces....
Every time I'm downtown near the Viaduct, I try to take a picture because there will be a Viaduct post coming up soon enough that needs illustration. This is a can't-lose proposition. Ever since 2001, in the aftermath of the Nisqually quake, the Viaduct's fate has provided more or less daily fodder for journalists.
It's touching to see the naivete on display, June 28, 2001, when engineers officially declared the Viaduct unsafe to let stand: The "risk is greater than acceptable--we have to act now,
This is very short notice, but there’s going to be a Sound Transit-transit blog meetup tomorrow evening, from about 5pm to 8, at the Elysian Fields in Pioneer Square.
The meetup is being put together by a few Sound Transit employees in their off time, and there are likely to be quite a few ST officials dropping by, particularly in the first hour as they leave work and head home. This is not an official Sound Transit event. My understanding is that it’s more of a social event than something
Just got a press release from Mayor-elect McGinn spokesman Aaron Pickus:
SEATTLE — Mayor-elect McGinn today announced the members of the Police Chief Search Committee. The search committee will hold an organizational meeting on January 13th. A recommendation is expected to the mayor by May.
As previously announced, the co-chairs of the search committee are Downtown Seattle Association President Kate Joncas and Charles Rolland, board president for Community and Parents for Public Schools of Seattle.
Just got a press release from Mayor-elect McGinn spokesman Aaron Pickus:
SEATTLE — Mayor-elect McGinn today announced the members of the Police Chief Search Committee. The search committee will hold an organizational meeting on January 13th. A recommendation is expected to the mayor by May.
As previously announced, the co-chairs of the search committee are Downtown Seattle Association President Kate Joncas and Charles Rolland, board president for Community and Parents for Public Schools of Seattle.
A very intoxicated man, visiting Seattle with the express purpose of getting hammered in Pioneer Square bars, caused a multi-person brawl after he micturated within close proximity to a woman whose boyfriend took umbrage with the man's close-peeing.
Differing accounts were provided by both parties involved in the December 17th brouhaha, but according to the enraged boyfriend, his girlfriend and a few friends were enjoying a cigarette in an alleyway near Occidental Ave. S and S. Washington St., when
Remember this blog-post? The one in which I reported that "Papa" Dany Mitchell(i) planned to shutter the long-lived Pioneer Square trattoria that bears his name? Well, he managed to limp along in the Square since then by (as he puts it) "partnering with the IRS." Today his partners are breathing down his neck, he says, and seeing as he's "a little long in the tooth" -- and decidedly short in the pocketbook, after 32 years in business, it's time to call it quits.
Dany Mitchell at Trattoria Mitchelli<
City Attorney-elect Pete Holmes
Phil Brenneman, the head of outgoing city attorney Tom Carr’s civil enforcement division, has left the city attorney’s office at the request of City Attorney-elect Pete Holmes, according to an email automatically generated when PubliCola contacted him at his city address. (”I am no longer with the City Attorney’s Office,” it says).
Ted Inkley, an assistant city attorney under Carr, is also leaving when Holmes takes office, multiple sources confirm. In 2002, Inkley argued<
Mayor-elect Mike McGinn's "open-source" transition encourages the public to tell him their top ideas for Seattle, and so far two ideas have shot to the top, garnering the most votes on his web site: "Expand as much light rail and subway as possible" stands far and above at No. 1. Lagging behind at No. 2, "legalize marijuana and tax it."
McGinn is in favor of both. Speaking on the public radio station KUOW today, he said that within two years, his administration will put together a proposal for expanding light rail to present to voters. And he said he supports a state bill to legalize pot for people over age 21. House bill 2401 was pre-filed last week by six House Democrats: Mary Lou Dickerson and Scott White of Seattle, Roger Goodman of Kirkland, David Upthegrove of Des Moines, Mary Helen Roberts of Lynnwood, and Sherry Appleton of Poulsbo.
"I think the public sees that it’s just not a sensible set of laws," McGinn said of current pot laws. Marijuana should be "regulated," not considered...
1. Dow Constantine is paying Northwest Passage—his political consulting firm during the King County Executive’s race—a $30,000 win bonus according to the most recent campaign finance reports.
2. Now that Mike McGinn is going to be mayor, is he going to oppose the tunnel? Morning Fizz doesn’t know. But we hear the city council—which supports the tunnel—is worried about it.
Watch for some drama between the council and McGinn when the council tries to formalize the city’s 2010 lobbying agenda in Olympia.
So I'm sitting in the Elliott Bay Café in Pioneer Square, interviewing Vittana co-founder Brett Witt (hobbies: iPhone hacks, djing) and their international partnerships guy Nick Cain (skateboarding, water polo).
In quick succession we hit on Amazon's personalization (though Witt and CEO Kushal Chakrabarti don't work on Bezos' farm no more), Seattle's microfinance start-up scene (not to mention heavy hitters like Grameen, Unitus, Global Partnerships, too), and social media--and I realize I
