All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
Local Events

Plan a walkable city with Feet First

The folks from Feet First want you to know about their upcoming planning meeting:

On Saturday, February 21st & Sunday, February 22nd, Feet First will embark on the first strategic planning meeting designed to develop a new framework to guide us in the next three years. Feet First needs to hear from you.

When: Saturday, February 21, 9am-5pm and Sunday, February 22nd, 9am-2pm
Where: EOS Alliance, 650 South Orcas Street, Suite 220 (Georgetown neighborhood)

Your participation in both days is encouraged. Lunch will be served both days.

RSVP to Atsuko Murota, by emailing atsuko@feetfirst.info or by calling 206-652-2310.

Feet First is a non-profit advocacy organization founded to promote walkable communities and to advance pedestrian interests.

History of the Hill

Beacon Hill past and present: movies on Beacon Avenue

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Beacon Avenue South, just north of Bayview, facing south.
Beacon Avenue in October 1949, just north of Bayview, facing south, near the current location of Baja Bistro. Courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives, item 41958.
The same street, almost 60 years later in February 2009.
The same street, almost 60 years later in February 2009.

Some of the sadder losses to Seattle are the neighborhood theaters that used to exist in just about every part of the city, including Beacon Hill. On the left side of the “past” photo, you see the Beacon Theatre at 2352 Beacon Avenue South, then showing a double bill of Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal in The Fountainhead, and Glenn Ford and Ida Lupino in Lust For Gold.

The Beacon was previously the Grey Goose Theatre, and featured a pipe organ, installed in the 1920s to play music with the motion pictures of the day. The theater was demolished in 1964.

The 1949 photo looks very different from the modern scene on the left side of Beacon Avenue, but the right side is remarkably unchanged. The house with the vertical stripes still exists, as does the retail building to its left (though it has had changes to its façade). McKale’s service station is now a 76 gas station (just beyond the edge of the photo), but sadly, full-service gas stations have also gone the way of the old-time neighborhood movie theater.

Local Events

Sukiyaki Dinner March 7 at Blaine Memorial

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Sukiyaki. Photo by Mari.
Sukiyaki. Photo by Mari.
Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church is having their annual benefit Sukiyaki Dinner on Saturday, March 7, and all are welcome! Dining hours are 4:00 – 7:00 pm, and tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for children. Takeout is also available earlier in the day; details are on the event flyer. Rumor has it there will also be a bake sale, so there will be no shortage of tasty edibles, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Beacon Avenue Food Bank and the El Centro De La Raza Food Bank. Blaine Memorial is located at 3001 24th Avenue South.

Edited to add: Blaine Memorial UMC mentions in the comments: “During the month of March, we will also be holding a food drive to benefit the Rainier Valley Food Bank.”

Edited again to correct the name of the Beacon Avenue Food Bank.

Help Wanted

Are you able to help a neighbor?

Kerrie Carbary of Volunteer Chore Services writes:

“An extremely independent 87 year old who lives near the VA Hospital on Beacon Hill is very proud of how energetic and capable she is, but during the cold last month she fell, and now she realized that she could use a bit of help to be able to stay in her own home. Her house is charming and lovely, and she loves to keep it nice. Would you like to visit with her for an hour or two a month, and help her with the chores she can no longer do, such as bending over, lifting, and light housework? During the summer, she has a beautiful garden, so some gardening may be in the future for the right volunteer as well. She has no family in the area to help her out, and until now has been the helper for her friends, who are mostly older than her. She is full of wonderful stories, and would love a visit from you!”

To volunteer, go here or email Kerrie at kerriec@ccsww.org. Volunteers are required to complete a registration packet, provide three personal references, pass a background check, and attend an orientation.

Education, Weather

Seattle Schools 2 hours late today

The announcement just went up on the Seattle School District website:

“All Seattle Public Schools will start two hours late today and buses will operate on snow routes.

“Due to weather concerns, all schools will start two hours late today. Buses will operate on snow routes. There will be no door-to-door service, no Head Start and pre-school, and no half day a.m. kindergarten or half day p.m. kindergarten. Full day kindergarten classes will be in session with a two-hour start delay. There will no before school breakfast service available.”

We aren’t hearing about any Metro delays on Beacon Hill yet, but things are apparently dicey for the 3 and 4 on Queen Anne at the moment. Allow yourself lots of time for today’s commute just in case.

Weather

It’s baaaaaaaack

It’s snowing! But it’s awfully wet snow, and the high temperature today is supposed to be 43, so it should be gone quickly. No sign so far of any school closures in this area. Some other districts are opening late, however, so keep your eyes on schoolreport.org for local school announcements.

Here’s what it looked like on North Beacon Hill around 4:30 am this morning. All photos by me, in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr:


Continue reading It’s baaaaaaaack →

Getting Around

Notice anything different on Beacon Avenue?

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Bright shiny new Beacon Avenue street sign. Photo by Wendi.
Bright shiny new Beacon Avenue street sign. Photo by Wendi.
Sometime in the last couple of weeks, the city replaced all of the street signs on Beacon Avenue South with the new and bigger signs that are gradually being installed throughout the city. The new ones are much easier to read from a distance, and on dark and rainy nights; they are really reflective and glow brightly in a car’s headlights. The font has changed as well. (The new one appears to be FHWA Series C, as far as I can tell. You can get a version of that font here.)

The sign replacement program is now planned to run through 2016, and the old signs are being sold to the public. You can see more of the old street signs here — and, of course, there’s one in the header graphic of this page.

Old worn-out Beacon Avenue street sign. Photo by Wendi.
Old worn-out Beacon Avenue street sign. Photo by Wendi.
Getting Around

Bus route changes raise objections

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If you thought the latest batch of bus route changes were a done deal, you might want to think again. The proposed changes include elimination of the 39 (which serves the Veterans Hospital here on the Hill) and removal of part of the 14 route in Mount Baker, both of which are controversial.

Folks in Mount Baker are definitely not happy, and at least one reader of the Rainier Valley Post is campaigning to have the 38 route removed completely, to save the electric loop of the 14.

Another commenter has pointed out that the 38 serves a useful purpose for people who live on the unusually steep east slope of the Hill near McClellan, particularly the elderly and disabled, even if the 38 does follow the same route as the light rail from McClellan up to the Beacon Hill station.

The question is, then, should Metro nuke the 38 in favor of the 14 loop, thus requiring people who need to get from Rainier to the top of the hill to walk to the Mount Baker rail station near Rainier Avenue? Or should Metro stick with the current plan? (If you feel strongly either way, you might want to email your comments to metro-feedback-se@kingcounty.gov or call Metro’s message line at 206-684-1146 now. Comments are due today.)

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: A hero, neighbors, and greenery

Photo by supafly.
I love how these look good even in winter. Photo by supafly.
Food and Drink

Bourbon Bar Night and Beacon Hill resident discount at Culinary Communion

Bourbon photo by Tom Parrott.
Bourbon photo by Tom Parrott.
Culinary Communion is hosting a Bourbon Bar Night tomorrow, Friday, February 6 from 9:00 -11:00 pm. Here’s what they tell us:

“After our Bourbon Tasting class, we’ll open up to the public and have our first bar night serving bourbon elixirs from $8 each and wine by glass for $5. We’ll offer a sampling of appetizers, as well.”

They would also like to announce a Beacon Hill Resident discount for their hands-on cooking classes. To get the 10% discount, use promo code BHN10 when calling the office to register for a class. The Culinary Communion house is located at 2524 Beacon Avenue South, and their phone number is 206-284-8687.