Category Archives: Life on the Hill

Arts, Education, Life on the Hill

Beacon Hill teens: Street Stories application deadline is today!

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Screen Shot 2013-03-29 at 2.55.56 AMBeacon Hill 6th – 12th graders, this is your chance to participate in a free 5-week after-school digital video storytelling program, but you’ll need to work fast — the deadline to apply is today!

In the Street Stories program, Beacon Hill youths will create video stories of their experiences living and walking in the neighborhood, using provided iPod Touch devices to create and edit the videos. Students will also receive training including video technology and storytelling techniques. The finished videos will be shown at community events, displayed on local websites, and used to build a new kind of walking map for the Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Eligible students are:

  • 6th-12th graders living or going to school on Beacon Hill
  • Able to participate at Jefferson Community Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-6 p.m. from April 2 though May 9.
  • Able to do a minimum of four hours of independent research

The program is limited to 20 students, and the deadline to apply is today, March 29. To apply, fill out this application form along with this E-13 Participant Information and Authorization Form and drop both forms off today at the front desk of Jefferson Community Center, marked “attention: Jean Lee.”

Selected students will be notified on Monday, April 1 (no fooling) before the first workshop on Tuesday.

Life on the Hill

Blue pheasant visits Beacon Hill

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Photo of a blue pheasant by Bob Mac Innes via Flickr/Creative Commons.
Neighbor Beth reported a found bird to the Beacon Hill mailing list yesterday. The bird turned out to be a male blue pheasant, but unfortunately, went away before Beth could return with chicken feed for it. Have you seen a blue pheasant like the one pictured here around North Beacon lately?

Health and Safety, Life on the Hill

Coyotes seen in the neighborhood

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Neighbor Vinna wrote with a warning:

“On Tuesday, Nov 20th around 1:30 a.m. I was driving home and on the corner of College and 21st Ave South I believe I saw a coyote. It was dark and I was able to take a picture. The next day I learned that my neighbor of four cats was missing one and found another half eaten.

“I want my fellow neighbors to be aware and thought this might be the best way in case others had pets that may be outside.”

Coyote sightings were also the subject of some discussion on the Beacon Hill mailing list this week, where neighbor Waldene wrote:

Around 9:30 pm Monday evening a coyote was on the SE corner of 12th and I believe Lee Street right across from PacMed. He acted like a scared, lost dog. I didn’t know what to do so I pulled up next to him/her and blew my horn. I was hoping to scare it back into Lewis Park but instead it ran across 12th. It looked confused.

Coyote sightings aren’t unusual on Beacon Hill. We also see raccoons and possums visiting our yards sometimes. Please keep your pets safe.

Photo by Vinna Nanola.
Arts, Life on the Hill, Neighborhood Pride

Beacon Hill Library reader wins a Kindle

Photo by owenfinn16 via Creative Commons/Flickr.

The Seattle Public Library has announced the winners of 20 Kindle e-readers through the recently-completed 2012 Adult and Teen Summer Reading Program. Readers in the program entered to win a Kindle for every three books they read and reviewed.

Shirley Xu was the winner from the Beacon Hill Branch library. Congratulations to Shirley!

Life on the Hill, Local Events, Photos

Late summer on Beacon Hill

The last Beacon Rocks! of 2012, a neighborhood Peach Party, the Neighborhood Night Out, and more, all captured in photos from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Thanks to those who have contributed! Do you have photos of life on Beacon Hill? You’re invited to add them to the pool, too!

Neighbors enjoy themselves at the recent Beacon Hill Peach Party. Photo by Bridget Christian.
Annabella of Lushy claps to the beat at Beacon Rocks! Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
Neighbors took part in a “Backyard Barter” at Beacon Rocks!, trading homemade and homegrown food and veggies. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
Some neighbors took over a neighborhood street earlier this month for the Beacon Hill Night Out. Photo by SergeyS87.
Grilling peaches at the Peach Party. Photo by Bridget Christian.
Dancers from Splinter Dance perform at Beacon Rocks! Photo by Beacon Hill Music.
More fun at the Peach Party. Photo by Bridget Christian.
Enjoying Tumbuka at Beacon Rocks! Photo by Beacon Hill Music.
Arts, Education, Life on the Hill

Little Free Library comes to 16th Avenue South

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The side of the Little Free Library says, “Take a Book / Share a Book.” Photo by Wendi Dunlap,.

A new library — a very tiny one — sprouted this weekend on 16th Avenue South, near Jefferson Park. It is, as far as we know, Beacon Hill’s first Little Free Library, part of a movement to build small library structures in communities around the nation. Little Free Libraries are usually small boxes or cupboards mounted at streetside like mailboxes, and typically built and maintained by neighbors to promote literacy, community, and the enjoyment of reading.

Neighbor Levecke Mas told us, “I saw one of these Little Free Libraries last summer while walking around with my sister in Victoria. I have been wishing to do this ever since. My husband and I put this together this weekend using all materials found in our basement treasure trove!”

The Mas family library is charmingly built from what looks like a former kitchen cabinet, roofed with plexiglass, covered with a collection of foreign stamps, and opened with a vintage doorknob. Inside are two shelves of books, some bookmarks to borrow, a request list, and a guestbook for visitors to sign. Books are free to borrow.

The library is located on 16th, just north of South Spokane Street. Just west of Beacon Hill, there is also a Little Free Library on South Orcas Street in Georgetown, operated by a family with the wonderful name of “Bookwalter.”

The inside of the Little Free Library has a request sheet, bookmarks to borrow, a guestbook, and — oh yes — books! Photo by Levecke Mas.
Crime, Life on the Hill

Van vs. light pole on Beacon Avenue

This light pole was knocked down by a van Thursday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Angela Castañeda, Beacon Hill Merchants Association.

Reported yesterday (Thursday, June 28) on the Beacon Hill Merchants Facebook page:

Unneighborly neighbor, potential tragedy averted: At approximately 3:10pm this afternoon a group of summer camp kids and another smaller group of middle school boys were walking toward the library when this once lovely light pole was knocked flat behind them by a large camper van. One boy said he felt the swoosh of air as it fell behind him. The man and woman were said to be hanging out there for a while, possibly arguing and drinking, before they rammed the pole as they pulled away from the curb.

Your dear Merchants staff gathered data, provided details to SPD and reported to City Light. In no time Dan and Scott from City Light’s emergency crew were onsite to disconnect wires and make the sidewalk safe again. Thanks guys!

(Thanks to Angela Castañeda for the scoop!)

Life on the Hill

Lockmore neighbors have a blog

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It has come to the BHB’s attention that Lockmore, a neighborhood within Mid-Beacon Hill, has its own neighborhood blog.

Beacon Hill actually contains quite a few neighborhoods — the Hill is huge, and really isn’t a neighborhood so much as a meta-neighborhood, like West Seattle. (This was the subject of some discussion in the early days of this blog.) Are there other blogs for the Hill’s neighborhoods that we need to know about?

Life on the Hill

Owl on the prowl?

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Have you seen one of these around Beacon Hill lately? Photo by mybulldog via Creative Commons/Flickr.
Neighbor Paul Zilly writes:

My brother and I were taking our morning run a couple of weeks ago, and my hat was snatched off of the top of my head mid-stride by what I believe to be a great horned owl! The incident took place at 6:30 AM on Cheasty Blvd .S. at the southeast end of the golf course. Neither of us saw the perpetrator at the time—we just heard a faint swooping sound behind us. I felt something glance off of the side of my head, and my hat was gone. We initially thought it was a crow since we had seen a family of crows at that same spot a couple of days before. But yesterday, we saw the marauder close up. It was huge—a beautiful owl, two-feet tall. It had just flown into a tree directly behind us, perhaps ready to strike again? I’m wondering if anyone else in the neighborhood has had a similarly eerie and quite wonderful experience.