Category Archives: Local Events

Local Events

Happy Lunar New Year and more this weekend

The Year of the Rabbit is almost here! Photo by Bert Kimura via Creative Commons.
There are quite a few activities on and near the Hill today and tomorrow. Here’s the list.

Tonight, January 28, the Southeast Seattle Senior Center is hosting Burgers, Bingo, and Brews, an evening of fun with bingo (for money!) and the aforementioned food and beverages from 6:30-9:30 p.m. There will be soft drinks, too. Admission is a $15 donation. The Center is at 4655 South Holly Street in Rainier Valley. Call SESSC at 206-722-0317 for more information.

Tomorrow, January 29, local grassroots project Got Green will launch “Women in the Green Economy,” a new project to learn from women in Southeast Seattle what they need and want from the “green movement” for themselves and their families. Volunteers will survey women in the New Holly neighborhood about their needs and priorities for the Green Economy. The project is funded in part by a Neighborhood Matching Fund award of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

The project will launch with a reception at 10:00 a.m. at The Lee House at New Holly, 7315 39th Avenue South. At noon, volunteers will go out to collect surveys at various southeast Seattle sites. For more information, go here.

Also on Saturday, ROCKit space is holding a moving sale from 12 to 5 p.m. Betty Jean Williamson tells us “We have art supplies, office supplies, furniture, collectibles, music gear and reall cool stuff! We can use all the help we can get this weekend, Saturday-Monday, if anyone out there wants to give us a hand. Volunteers are very much appreciated. They might even get pizza! Call us at 206-323-7115 or email us at rockitspace@gmail.com for details.” ROCKiT space is, for now, at 3315 Beacon Avenue South.

And lastly, Saturday is also the day the Chinatown-International District celebrates the 2011 Lunar New Year (the year of the Rabbit). Our neighbors at the north foot of Beacon Hill will bring an expected 5,000 visitors to the area to enjoy cultural activities including calligraphy, Chinese yo-yo and games, and other activities throughout the district. Expect some streets in the ID to be closed all day, and potential heavy traffic in the area. (We recommend taking Link or the #36.)

The celebration will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Hing Hay Park, Maynard Avenue South and South King Street.

(While you’re in the area, consider visiting the City Hall Open House a few blocks north at Fifth Avenue and Cherry Street, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.)

Food and Drink, Local Events

Beer and wine opening night celebration at The Station

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The Station at their grand opening last summer. Photo by Wendi.
The Beacon Pub may be gone, but there is a new source for adult beverages on the Hill. The Station coffeehouse has recently moved beyond typical coffeehouse fare, and tonight from 7 to 11 p.m. is the opening night celebration of their new wine and beer bar. Owner Luis reports that they’ll be serving wine, beer, mimosas, sangria, desserts, and light fare. The Station is located at 2533 16th Ave. S., across from El Centro de la Raza and just north of Beacon Hill Station.

Arts, Local Events

ROCKiT space has plans for the New Year

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Photo by Jason.
It’s looking like a Happy New Year after all for ROCKiT space and the Beacon Hill music and arts community. Betty Jean Williamson tells us that the situation for ROCKiT space has stabilized, regular hours are being staffed by committed volunteers, and the volunteer base is growing. The group is forming a board, and seeking 2-3 more members. The board will oversee a lease extension through March in the current location, and consider a long term lease.

Last night ROCKiT space hosted a Tuesday Folk Night with Dan and Molly Tenenbaum and Red Dog performing to a full house. Folk night will be a regular monthly event.

Also upcoming at ROCKiT space:

  • The next music event is Jazz Night on Saturday, January 8, 7:00 pm.
  • Open Mic will skip January 1, and be back again January 15 at 7:00 pm.
  • Free Create Hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm, for all ages. This week from 3:00 – 6:00 pm there will be paper bead making.
  • Tots Jam continues on Wednesdays at 9:00 am. Betty Jean adds: “We have a request for tots play group on Monday at 10:00 am. We need to hear from folks if they would attend to determine if demand warrants increasing hours.”

ROCKiT space is located at 3315 Beacon Avenue South.

Local Business, Local Events

Tonight: Say goodbye to the Beacon Pub

Photo by Wendi.
Tonight is the last night of the Beacon Pub, and so it’s the Last Ever Beacon Pub Solstice Social, from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am at the Pub, 3057 Beacon Avenue South. The Pub is closing and moving to Hillman City. The current Pub site on Beacon Avenue will become a pizza parlor next year.

Here’s the email Beacon Arts sent out about tonight’s event:

That’s right: the Beacon Pub’s last night is this Wednesday. It’ll be too crazy to get any business done, and it’s not the time of year for business anyway! This will be a good night to get together with friends and remember the good ol’ days and think ahead to the ones on their way. Come have some cheer and a tear for our neighborhood pub! and Happy New Year!

Local Events

Dance performance this weekend at Yoga on Beacon

Choreographer Freya Wormus’ new work, hold, hold on anyway, go anyway, let go anyway, is completing a brief run this weekend at an unusual performance venue—Yoga on Beacon, at 3013 Beacon Avenue South. The four dancers climb and swing from the walls of the studio, using straps and buckles. Sandra Kurtz at the Seattle Weekly reviewed it favorably: “…When they use the wall as a partner, swooping down toward the floor and then rebounding off the end of their tether to swing back up again, physics adds an extra flourish to their dynamism.”

Saturday’s show is sold out, but tickets are still available for tonight’s performance at 8:00 pm. You can get them at Brown Paper Tickets.

Local Events

ROCKiT space raising money, remains open

Photo by Jason.
Betty Jean Williamson of Beacon Hill Music tells us that ROCKiT space will be open in January after all. The current lease runs through January 23, and the outlook for filling the labor and financial gap is positive, though continued support from the community will still be necessary if a new lease can be negotiated.

Here is a letter to the community from Beacon Hill Music:

Twenty-four folks came to the ROCKiT space community meeting on December 5. They voiced great support for keeping ROCKiT space open and developing more programs to make it more sustainable.

Part of the plan is to raise $2000 by January 1, for a rainy day fund equal to one month’s expenses. This will be used to cover the projected $100-200 monthly deficit until new income streams can come on line. Donations can be made at www.rockitspace.org—look for the paypal button on the home page.

ROCKiT space is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 11:00 am-6:00 pm and Saturday 3:00-6:00 pm. Volunteers are staffing these hours; you can sign up to help during business hours or contact Betty Jean Williamson at bjwlmp@msn.com or 206-658-0187.

ROCKiT space Events

  • Beacon Hill Music Songwriter’s Circle
    Beacon Hill Music is starting a casual and quite affordable songwriters’ group where people come together and play songs for each other. Sundays at 4:00 pm at ROCKiT Space, starting this Sunday, December 12. $5 per session to cover costs. Contact Paul Ray through email at beaconrocks@gmail.com or 206-658-3622 or show up at ROCKiT Space on Sunday.
  • ROCKiT Space Supporters Meeting
    Tuesday, December 14, 7:00pm. Reconvene the group that met last week. Updates on fund raising, events and community networking.
  • Open Mic
    Performers come from all over Seattle and even from parts unknown to share a diverse range of music, and audience members join in whenever the mood strikes. Any given session can feature artists of all ages and from all walks of life, making each Open Mic night a completely unique experience. Saturday, December 18, 7:00-10:00 pm. $5 minimum donation at the door.
  • Tuesday Folk Club
    December 28. 7:00pm house party music event features two old time/country bands: Red Dog, a popular trio, and Dram County, a brother sister duo and guests. Minimum donation $7 at the door, $5 in advance, available at Rockit Space starting Monday 12/13 during business hours.
  • Tots Jam
    Suzanne Sumi continues this music happening for the little ones every Wednesday morning 9:00-10:00 am at ROCKiT space.

ROCKiT space is located at 3315 Beacon Avenue South.

Getting Around, Local Events

Opinion: Biking and walking are viable options on Beacon Hill

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Map on Everytrail website, showing safe bicycle routes to MacPherson's produce market. The map includes videos with commentary about the route and reasons why certain paths were chosen.
Beacon BIKES! is excited about our upcoming community-wide biking and walking information event on Saturday, November 20 (at Beacon International School, 2021 14th Avenue South, from 10:00 am until noon)!  To celebrate biking as a viable option on Beacon Hill and in Seattle in general, I thought I would show how safe and easy biking can be in and around our neighborhood.

Many years ago I lived in Davis, California, which is known as the biking capital of the U.S. (Their city logo is even a bike!).  In Davis, biking is just the easiest way to get around, not only because it is a dense city and flat as a pancake, but because there is an amazing bicycle infrastructure to keep biking safe for everyone.  As a result, 17 percent of the population commutes by bike (compared with the less than 3 percent in Seattle).  I bring up Davis because what is interesting to see is that when that many people are biking, they stop identifying as cyclists—they are just people who happen to get around town in the easiest manner available, by bike.  So that is our goal at Beacon BIKES!, to make biking so safe and easy that even your grandma will want to hop on a bike to head to MacPherson’s for her afternoon errands. 

“If we get out of our cars more often, we become more neighborhood-oriented.”

We are not a bunch of spandex-clad aggro bike advocates, but rather neighbors who want to see you on the streets walking or biking to your local destinations.  If we get out of our cars (and yes, we all have cars too) more often, our options for what are viable trips change and we become more neighborhood-oriented.  We go to Red Apple instead of Safeway, The Station instead of Starbucks, and we see our neighbors along the way!

Part of what we will be doing on the 20th is providing maps for safe routes to schools (and other destinations) for you and your children on Beacon Hill.  We will have a bunch of blank maps; you show us where you live, and we draw you a safe route to your destination of choice.  In the spirit of this, I have begun to compile a series of virtual tours of routes that I use to safely get around and off of Beacon Hill, both by myself and with my family.  All the routes I map either start or end at the library or light rail station.

I use the program Everytrail to map all the routes.  Here are my preferred routes to MacPherson’s (family-friendly) and Lowe’s (mostly safe, but involves biking on South College Street for a couple blocks).  Clicking on these links will take you to the Everytrail website (click on the “View Full Screen” button on the bottom right of the map to get the best view of the route). For all the routes I use the following criteria:

  1. Whenever it makes sense, use non-arterial streets or multi-use trails
  2. Whenever it makes sense, take the least steep street possible
  3. Try to make all arterial crossings at signalized intersections

I also frequently take advantage of the light rail to get back up the hill after biking off the hill.  I have more routes already mapped and more planned for future posts.  In the meantime, let me know the destinations you would like mapped in the comments section.  Happy Biking!  See you on Saturday!

Local Events

Mermaids and nymphs, currently at The Station

The Station coffee shop at 2533 16th Ave South is currently displaying paintings by Angelina Tolentino. There will be an opening reception for the exhibit from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on Sunday, November 21.

The artist’s biography:

I am a designer, illustrator and painter. I was born and raised in California but have called Seattle home for fourteen years. I love to draw and I am happiest with a little paint in my hair. I am inspired by a great number of things: old cartoons, firecracker packaging, bicycles, photo-booths, Japanese packaging design, street art, windup toys, antique stores, gardens, high-fashion, 60s soul music, dinosaur exhibits, old signs, chefs, flowers, sea creatures… just to name a few.

I paint because it’s what I love to do. I describe my painting style as whimsical, colorful, and playful. I have been known to paint women with fantastically long necks who live on tropical islands. I am specifically inspired by the natural world especially the the worlds under the sea. I find water to be a unifying element in my work. I’ve been working lately with other materials like sand and creating three-dimensional altars, exploring death and rebirth, but in a colorful, celebratory way.

One of my most recent projects was a mural on the side of a bridge in the Southpark neighborhood of Seattle. This mural will live for another year before the bridge is taken down and replaced with a new one.

Gina is also the co-owner ofa partner in the Bar del Corso pizza restaurant, currently scheduled to open at the Beacon Pub site next June.

Here is an example of her artwork:

(Photos courtesy of the artist.)

(Ed.: Correction made of Tolentino’s involvement in Bar del Corso, 11/16/10.)

Local Events

Happy birthday, ROCKiTspace!

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Photo by Jason.
ROCKiT space, the community music and art organization located on Beacon Avenue, is having their First Birthday Party tomorrow, November 6, from 12 noon to 12 midnight.

They promise “family fun from noon to 6:00 pm,” including “SquashFest,” face-painting, music, games, and prizes. Grown-up fun (but kids are welcome) follows from 6:00 pm to midnight with more music, games, prizes, and surprises.

The ROCKiT space folks say “If you have any leftover Halloween pumpkins or squash that are still good, feel free to bring ’em and we’ll smash ’em up and put them in our soup!”

ROCKiT space is at 3315 Beacon Avenue South in North Beacon Hill.

Local Events, Meetings, Volunteering and Giving

Today and this week: Events on Beacon Hill

Don’t forget to keep your eye on the BHB Events page to see what’s coming up on the Hill. We’d like to draw your attention to a few of this week’s events listed there.

Tonight is El Centro de la Raza’s Día de los Muertos Opening Ceremony. This year’s theme is “A Tribute to Las Adelitas: Revolutionary Women of Strength and Courage.” Dinner is served at 5:30 pm, and the reception ceremony begins at 6:30. Admission and food are free. The Ofrenda exhibit will continue from November 2 through November 19, open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and on Wednesday from noon to 8:00 pm. El Centro is located at 2524 16th Avenue South.

At 6:00 pm tonight, Asa Mercer Middle School is hosting a School Superintendent Coffee Chat, one of a series of chats with Superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, open to all parents, grandparents and caregivers of Seattle Public Schools students. Mercer is located at 1600 South Columbian Way.

Splinter Dance Company performed at Beacon Rocks! this summer, an event organized by Beacon Hill Music. Photo by Erika Warner-Court in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
Then at 7:00 pm, Beacon Hill Music is holding an organizing meeting. They say “There are a lot of possibilities for music on Beacon Hill, including the brand new Jefferson Park with a beautiful amphitheater just waiting for musicians, possibly a beat walk, possibly almost anything. During the next few months Beacon Hill Music will need to pick what opportunities to pursue and determine the steps to turn those ideas into actual events. We are asking you to join in and make stuff happen on Beacon Hill.” The meeting is at 2900 22nd Avenue South (the green house on the corner of 22nd and Forest). For more information email beaconrocks@gmail.com or call Paul at 206-658-3622.

Later this week the monthly Café con El Centro returns on Thursday morning, November 4, from 8:00 – 9:00 am. Meet at El Centro for café, pan dulce, and a tour of the El Centro building and programs to learn more about the “Beloved Community.” RSVP by calling 206-957-4652, or email donor@elcentrodelaraza.org.

On Thursday evening at 5:00 pm, there is an Art in International Education fundraising event at Fisher Pavilion, 305 Harrison Street (Seattle Center), for Beacon Hill International School and the four other International Schools in the city. The event will feature silent and live auctions, as well as a dinner prepared by chef Kaspar Donier. Tickets start at $35; for more information, contact Dick Lee at rjlee@seattleschools.org or 206-252-0476.

Also Thursday night is North Beacon Hill Council‘s monthly meeting at the Beacon Hill Library. Watch this blog for the agenda when we have it.

The Beacon Hill Merchants group will meet on Friday morning, November 5, at 10:00 am at Inay’s, 2503 Beacon Avenue South. The group reports:

“At our last meeting we approved our bylaws, and as we approach the end of the year we must complete the work that is being paid for by our city grant. One large part of this is being primarily done by our graphic designer Nityia Przewlocki, as she finishes the logo design we’ll continue with the development of a brochure with a walking map, and then a website as well. Another portion of our grant is going for board development and training, and our board trainer Angela Powell should be attending this meeting. While we do have the minimum of five committed potential board members, having seven (or more!) would put us in a stronger position, so please step forward if you think could bring skills or resources to the table and help the Beacon Hill business community. The bylaws and some of the bios are up on the Google group site here. Anyone can join the Google group right now and we encourage members to do just that.”

Friday night the musical group Don’t Ask plays at Tasha’s Bistro Café, 2524 Beacon Avenue South, at 7:30 pm. Families are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Finally, Saturday is the Fifth Annual Green Seattle Day. Three forest restoration sites on the Hill will be hosting work parties that day from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm: Lewis Park, Cheasty Greenspace, and the Maple School Ravine. Register at the greenseattle.org website.