Reader Ryan emailed this evening to tell us about a film crew at work on the Jose Rizal Bridge, one of the best sites in Seattle to film skyline views. The crew turns out to be filming a promo for the upcoming Seattle Film Festival, and told the BHB they’d be filming “once it gets dark.”
Category Archives: Life on the Hill
Jefferson Park earth wall coming down on Spokane Street
Joel Lee writes:
“Great progress is being made every day on Jefferson Park and I know these photos don’t look like much, but they are significant because today they started taking down the looming former earthen dam that paralleled Spokane St. For those of us that live near by it feels a little like the Berlin Wall is coming down!”
First the blue wall, now this — feels like things are starting to happen, doesn’t it?
Blue wall removal begins; schedule and details announced
“As early as Tuesday, March 31, Sound Transit’s contractor, Obayashi Corporation will begin removal of the blue noise wall that surrounds the site of the Beacon Hill light rail station.
“The first phase will include the removal of the blue noise wall starting with the northernmost sections along Beacon Ave S., 17th Ave S and S. Lander Street… The second phase will include removing the remainder of the blue noise wall on the south end of the property. The second phase is currently scheduled for the middle of May to early June. Once the blue noise wall is down, the site will be secured by a chain link fence. As a result, residents may experience increased noise from construction activities.
“Pedestrians should use caution while using the sidewalk on the eastside of Beacon Ave (that borders the blue noise wall) as pedestrian access will be moved safely around the work site.
“The noisier activities (such as jack-hammering) will take place during the day, and will be restricted to the hours of 7:00 am to 5:00pm.
“Construction activities expected between the hours of 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm include the installation of brick veneer, site and roadway (S. Lander St.) restoration, plaza paving and landscaping.
“No surface-level construction activity is expected between 10:00 pm and 7:00 am.
“Sound Transit will continue to monitor construction noise levels and any activity whose noise is outside of acceptable limits will be restricted to the hours between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm.
“If you have any construction-related concerns, please call Sound Transit’s construction hotline at 1-(888) 298-2395.”
A map of the affected area is located in Sound Transit’s PDF.
Some portions of the wall already seem to be coming down, as seen in Jason’s photo above.
BeHi Bonsai on safari
See if you can spot your block, and put BeHi Bonsai in your bookmarks or feed reader to stay abreast of the best in Beacon Hill greenery.
“Bonsai” blogging on Beacon
“The Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle has some funky bushes. I’m not sure exactly where the aesthetic comes from, there is an obvious Asian aesthetic but I think that it goes much further than that and seems to have a funky Seattle twist. This blog is dedicated to exploring the excessive and amazing topiary designs of this area.”
Visiting one of Beacon Hill’s smallest parks
The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department has a collection of histories about most of the city’s parks, including one that gives us a fragment of information about this most tiny park. The original improvement, it tells us, was financed by the Beacon Hill Lions Club. Unfortunately, it gives no date. (Anyone know when? Do we even still have a Lions Club on the Hill?)
Next time you walk past the Red Apple, take a moment to visit McClellan Place, and enjoy a bit of one of the Hill’s — and Seattle’s — smallest parks. Perhaps next summer it would be nice to bring a lawn chair and a hibachi out there and have a picnic.
Broadstripe cable TV & internet provider files for bankruptcy protection
Broadstripe (formerly Millennium Digital Media), cable television, internet, and telephone provider for a large portion of Beacon Hill, the entire Central Area, and parts of Capitol Hill and Queen Anne (inside the dashed red lines), has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The City of Seattle Office of Cable Communications notes:
The local Broadstripe office confirmed the filing and will send us formal notification. We will meet with them as soon as is feasible. Broadstripe also confirmed its commitment to continue providing service to Seattle customers with no interruptions during the financial restructuring. We will monitor customer calls to the Cable Office to confirm that service does not suffer.
This action was apparently taken back at the beginning of January, according to the city website.
I wonder if this might light a fire under the development of a municipal cable or fiber deployment like Tacoma has with their Click! Network. A city task force concluded in 2005 that “in order to remain competitive, Seattle needs fiber-optic lines to the home.” As of last spring, the city was still looking for a partner to help build and run such a system.
Beacon Hill resident honored for raising awareness of WWII internments
In March 1942, a P-I photographer captured a photograph of a bewildered, apprehensive, and yet determined-looking Japanese mother, holding her baby girl while waiting, guarded by soldiers with bayonets and guns. They waited for a ferry that would take her from her Bainbridge Island home to Seattle, where she, her family, and the rest of Bainbridge Island’s 227 Japanese-Americans would board a train car to the Manzanar War Relocation Center, an internment camp in California. The photograph became a classic image of the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans.
The mother in the photograph, Fumiko Hayashida, just celebrated her 98th birthday, and lives here on Beacon Hill. On Saturday, the Japanese American Citizens League honored her for raising awareness about the internment.
In 2006, Hayashida testified before the United States House of Representatives in support of the proposed Bainbridge Island Nidoto Nai Yoni memorial at the former Eagledale Ferry Dock. The law establishing the memorial as part of the national park system was signed by President Bush last May.
You can read interviews with Fumiko Hayashida here, and here (with part 2 here).
MLK Day planting party at Hanford Steps
Party participants are encouraged to bring gloves, shovels, trowels, raingear (just in case), and snacks!
If you can spare some time and labor sometime between 10am and 5pm (particularly between 2 and 5), the Steps and your neighbors near them would be mighty appreciative.
The original invitation mail from Jorji and a map is after the break.
Thanks, Jorji!
Bungalow renovation blog
Follow along at beaconhillbungalow.blogspot.com as new Beacon Hill neighbors Laura and “Labor Foreman” (does that make her Laura Foreman?) utterly disassemble and then put back together a 1920 bungalow to their own design. They’ve been doing mostly demolition since getting started just over a month ago, and are now gearing up for rebuilding. Everything from plumbing to insulation to counter tops is just beginning to come together now.
It saddens me a bit to see the house with so much original craftsmanship be completely gutted. Here’s hoping their plans are not only perfect for them, but are also well-suited to the bones and character of the house.
Welcome, Laura and “Labor”! (I think his name is actually Justin.)