What’s in your Valpak?

If there is a geographic divide on Capitol Hill, the folks at Valpak are trying to exploit it.  I’ve been getting very different coupons ever since I moved over the top of the hill to 19th / Republican.  Back when I lived near Broadway it was all pizza and other random little stores.  Now I get coupons for The Maid Brigade, 1-800 Maids and various eco-friendly home improvements like a “green” lawn mowing  service.  They have clearly over estimated my status and spending power!  Luckily there are still a few pizza discounts and the much anticipated  Mirch Masala coupon.  So, how well targeted is your geographic marketing? 

Hill venues to watch this afternoon’s UW B-ball?

It’s only been an hour but I’m already thinking of places to escape my work for some beer and B-ball (no, watching online is just not as fun).  Redwood sounds good but I don’t think they open unitl 4:00 and UW plays at 2:00.  Anyone out watching somewhere already? Ideas for a place on the hill with decent TV and open at 2:00? 

Home bargain hunters out in force near the fancy pants

Despite the blustery weather yeasterday, an open-house around the corner from me was attracting a lot of attention.  Looks like some motivated sellers are lowering prices and creating a lot of interest by offerering a detached Capitol Hill home for well less than $500k.  Redfin tells us it is a pretty good sized property: 2600 sqft on a decent 4000 sqft lot.  It’s currently used as a duplex but could probably be brought up to fancy pants single family standards.  Why do I sound like a salesman?  I’m really not…just wondering if we might be seeing the beginning of some lower prices on hill homes. 


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All about urban cottages

I’ve decided that my favorite Seattle  / Capitol Hill building style is what you might call the “cottage courtyard” development.  There are two examples next door to each other on my old block of 10th Ave E.  One is a condo called “The Bungalows” and the other is a rental called “Broadway Court.”  I  also like “bungalow court” as a generic name for these things, although I’ve seen many other terms used in ads like “Hollywood style bungalows”.  I understand they’re quite common in LA but I won’t hold that against them. 


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So these things have become a recent obsession of mine and I’ve done a little research. The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods has some cool historic info on single story cottage buildings  at 1801 18th Ave and 406 Summit Ave E.  There are also some cool multistory buildings that might be seen as hybrids of the cottage style and flat style apartments, like 1516 E Republican. This is one of many developed in the ’20s by the Anhalt company. Assessor’s information shows that some units are multi-story townhouse style and others are single story flats.


Another variation is the cluster of small detached cottages, a famous example being the Pine St Cottages just across Madison in the CD.  Ms. Final and I saw a craiglsist ad for one recently and wanted to move in really bad. One blogger makes a good case for their “living small” virtues. 

I also dug up this document that Seattle Planning Department produced around 2003 in which they considered promoting cottage style development.  Tall 4-pack townhouses won out in the last building boom but maybe we should reconsider the cottage style for when the development activity someday starts up again.  They don’t have the square footage of the modern townhouse but I would have to say they make for a much nicer streetscape. 

So I’m wondering what these things are like to live in…This one at 13th and Mercer might be my number 1 fantasy pick of a place to live on the hill. 


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Cobble Challenge

Hillku has inspired me to undertake a mapping adventure:  Locate all the cobble paved blocks on Capitol Hill

Here’s my first attempt.  I’ve made it editable to anyone so feel free to add at will.  I know there are some North of St Mark’s that I’ve left out.  So far, Miller Park and I-5 shores dominate, with cobbles especially popular between 18th and 19th Aves.  


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 I suppose this could be useful to cyclists trying to avoid them. On the other hand, my euro-cycling obsessed brother rode all over them when he visited and compared to them to a “Tour of Flanders.”  Also, do people living on these blocks enjoy the sound or does it get annoying?  And as a geographer I wonder why these block and only these blocks?