Fun things in the park.

Pssst. Supergirl is showing at Cal Anderson Park tonight at 8:30. If you didn't know, now you do. Plus I think there's a music thing going on there tomorrow. I saw a flyer, and took a photo of it. It would probably help if I could find my camera. I failed blogging school.

Shinka!

Noticed this popped up on Olive Way very recently. Looks like it should be opening pretty soon. Shinka Tea already has another store in the U-District. I can't vouch for their tea, as I can't remember seeing it before. Perhaps my memory is just gone.

From the looks of the website, I'd say that it's going to occupy a different niche for tea drinkers than Remedy Teas. I'm excited.
It's a good summer for the Olive-Broadway area.

Fuck Red Balloon, Fuck Light Rail (but not as much as Red Balloon)

I made a stop at Twice Sold Tales today, and the very nicely dressed man behind the counter mentioned the problem that their lovely store is having: they are being shoved out by the government for a new light rail station, and they don't know what they are going to do about it! They were clearly hoping to move into the former Rainbow grocery but the big bad corporation obviously moved in on the turf and overbid them or something.

I wasn't really that sad about the Red Balloon, mostly because it's on 15th and I didn't go to Rainbow, but now I'm mad. Where will Twice Sold Tales go now? This question needs an answer, and soon.

Park or P-patch?

Exciting things are happening in Capitol Hill. As J of Capitol Hill Seattle mentions, there's a parking lot at 16th and Howell that's going to either be turned into a park or a p-patch, as part of the wonderful Pro-Parks Levy. The other day I saw signs mentioning that the same thing is going to be happening to a parking lot at John and Summit. I don't really know much about the 16th site, but as far as the one on Summit goes, I vote p-patch. There's already Thomas Street Park about a block away, and I don't really see that many people there, really. All that matters to me is that the parking lot go away. But I'm aggressively anti-car. What do you think? Maybe half patch and half park?



Parking lot, your days are numbered.

En Route to the Hill

So I'm walking up Pine. Then, all of a sudden, I'm attacked! By horrible public art.



I guess it's not finished yet, but I can't imagine a context in which this shit looks good.

Ugh.

Page Turning

Everyone knows the best way to look smart without actually being smart is to carry around lots of books with impressive looking titles. And the quickest way to the heart of an intellectual (or pseudo-intellectual for that matter) is through the battered paperback that you keep in your messenger bag.

But where do you pick up said paperback? Or if you're in it for the long haul, a hardcover?

Clearly the best bookstore in Seattle is Elliott Bay Book Company. There's not really a contest, in my mind. But Pioneer Square can't always be on the itinerary of the Capitol Hillian. So I thought a nice rundown of the fine booksellers in the Broadway area might be a little helpful, just in case you're in a jam and need to find a copy of, oh, I don't know, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, or Life of Pi.

Directly on Broadway you have Baily/Coy books. Mostly new books, but they have a few used ones too, and they intersperse them with the new ones. Separate but equal doesn't apply here. This place is pretty nice, and the staff seems to know their stuff.

Just off Broadway on John is Twice Sold Tales. The draws here are clear: cheap used books, late night sales, and cats. And they are open super late on Friday nights, and you can get a quarter off the price then too.

On the other side of the 'Way just off Olive on Belmont sits the corporate behemoth that is Half Price Books. While I normally try and stay local, sometimes the prices here sway me to cross over to the dark side. The fiction section in the basement is not often beat, in my book. (pun probably intended)

I guess those are the big players. But don't forget The Spine and Crown on Pike, and the Occult bookstore over there as well. These are super little stores with great staff.

Broadway's bibliophiles will probably agree that it's impossible to pick a favorite bookstore. But if it weren't it would SO be Twice Sold Tales.

Stage Fright Slam

I love the Richard Hugo House. And I love free entertainment. Wednesday in the Cabaret* is a free slam for writers aged 14 to 24. And it's free.

You should go. It's probably better than what's at Elliott Bay that night, and you don't even have to leave the hill.

*Why can't my house have a Cabaret?

EDIT: Forgot the time. It's at 7.

Spotted on Bellevue

I think I found where the Seafair Pirates buried their treasure. Personally I would have picked a less conspicuous spot.



Anyone up for a dig?

Hopefully not brought to you by Geiko

Say, hypothetically, that the corporate-sponsored Capitol Hill Block Party didn't completely satisfy your need to feel like being at an actual block party, to actually be a part of your neighborhood, and instead made you feel part of a herd of cattle. Well, there's a solution. I heard about it from Chumley:



A flyer on a neighboring street filled me in. Apparently it's a pot luck. And music and entertainment will be provided, though there's no telling what that might entail. Probably not Spoon though. Oh well. Seems fun. I don't think this technically is my neighborhood, because I live on the other side of Olive. But I'm seriously considering going. I haven't decided if my cooking is up to "pot luck" standards yet.

Tuesday August 7 at 5pm, on Howell Street between Bellevue and Olive.

A Start.

Unlike a lot of streets in Seattle, Broadway is bigger than the sum of its parts. It has a mythology, and it has a reputation. It feels a daunting task, stepping up to blog about this place. But I'm going to give it a go.

Just a small bit about me: I'm not from here. I have an outsider's perspective. In fact I've only been in Seattle for 10 whole months. Whether my views will be at all unique, completely slanted, or even remotely correct remains to be seen.

Who knows what will happen? All I can guarantee is that I'll try and make it interesting.