Category Archives: Other Neighborhoods

Arts, Local Events, Other Neighborhoods, Recreation

Georgetown Carnival this weekend

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Georgetown Carnival 2015Just down the hill from us, the Georgetown Carnival will happen from noon to 10 p.m. this Saturday, including four separate stages featuring a variety of music and entertainment, plus the ever-popular power tool races on Airport Way South. The event is free of charge and all ages are welcome.

The carnival will mark the first use of Georgetown’s new “festival street,” similar to Beacon Hill’s Roberto Maestas Festival Street next to Beacon Hill Station. SDOT Director Scot Kubly will speak briefly at 1 p.m. to dedicate the street and thank those involved.

Find out more info at the Georgetown Carnival website.

Food and Drink, Other Neighborhoods, Volunteering and Giving

Dine out in SE Seattle to help your community

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This Thursday, April 25, Lifelong AIDS Alliance’s Dining Out For Life returns to raise money to fight illness and hunger in our community. During the event, when you dine at a participating restaurant on Beacon Hill or elsewhere, a portion of your bill will be donated to Lifelong.

Restaurants in the Beacon Hill/Columbia City/Mount Baker neighborhoods that are participating include:

Besides the benefit of contributing to your community, if you dine at one of these establishments you’ll also be entered to win two domestic airline tickets from Alaska Airlines. Tweet photos of yourself participating, and you’ll have a chance to win a Dining Out For Life prize package.

See the restaurant locations in this interactive map:

Other Neighborhoods, Recreation

A walk through seven hills and Seattle history

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This 1909 photo shows the Denny Regrade in progress; the regrade is the reason we no longer have a Denny Hill. Photo courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives.

Beacon Hill’s Jose Rizal Park is the grand finale of Saturday’s Seven Hills Walk, a guided 6.5 mile walk through Seattle (and local Scandinavian) history across the city’s seven past and present hills.

The walk is based on a traditional 20-mile hike in Seattle’s sister city of Bergen, Norway. Seattle’s shorter version starts on Queen Anne Hill at the Kerry Park viewpoint, 211 W. Highland Dr. Walkers and history guides will then visit Denny Hill (at least, what remains of it — including Denny Park and the Denny Park Lutheran Church, as well as the former Sons of Norway Hall), Capitol Hill (Cal Anderson Park and Seven Hills Park), Second Hill a.k.a. Renton Hill (Fred Lind Manor, a retirement home which features historical pieces from the old downtown Swedish Baptist Church), First Hill (lunch at Swedish Hospital), Yesler or “Profanity” Hill, and last but not least, Beacon Hill and Rizal Park.

The walk will start at 9 a.m. at Kerry Park and run until about 3 p.m. It is free and all are welcome. Walkers can purchase lunch at Swedish (there is a limited lunch menu) or bring their own lunches. Metro buses will return walkers to Kerry Park; bring a bus pass or money if you wish to ride.

The event is sponsored by the Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association and Sound Steps.

Neighborhood Pride, Other Neighborhoods

New Facebook group forming for South Seattleites

White Center residents Craig and Sara Williams have set up The South 206, a Facebook group to share event and activity information with those of us who live in “the various southerly neighborhoods of Seattle.” That includes Georgetown, Beacon Hill, Sodo, and more. All south Seattleites on Facebook are welcome. The group is a “closed group,” which means you have to ask to enter, but this may change in the future.

Current activities mentioned in the group include a community pancake breakfast in South Park, the Georgetown Art Attack, a “Battle of Burien” breakdancing competition, and a tap show in Rainier Beach.

Find the group here.

Getting Around, Other Neighborhoods

Airport Way South Viaduct Construction to Begin November 28

The Airport Way South Viaduct in neighboring Georgetown, just north of South Lucile Street, will be closed to all traffic beginning on November 28 for up to 14 months while the bridge is rehabilitated by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).

Vehicles and pedestrians will be detoured to Fourth Avenue South via South Lucile and South Industrial Way, and bicycles will be detoured all the way west to First Avenue South via South Lander Street. (Which seems like a heck of a long detour.) Denver Avenue South and South Dawson Street between Lucile and Fourth will be used as a northbound truck detour route. See a map of the detour routes here.

Crews will work from 6 a.m to 5 p.m. weekdays, as well as on some nights and weekends. Expect traffic delays in the area.

The rehabilitation project includes seismic retrofitting of the 83-year-old bridge just west of Beacon Hill and I-5. The viaduct bears 13,000 vehicles daily.

The project website is here.

Arts, Other Neighborhoods

Beacon Hill artist featured at SAM Day of the Dead

Beacon Hill artist Fulgencio Lazo (mentioned earlier this week) will have a tapete (sand painting) on display at the annual Day of the Dead celebration at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, tonight, November 4, from 6-7:30 p.m. The park is located at 2901 Western Ave, near Pier 70 and Myrtle Edwards Park.

Banda Gozona, an 18-piece brass band, will perform Oaxacan music at the event. There will be also be art activities for all ages, and Mexican food catered by Manjares Seattle.

This video shows the process of creating one of Lazo’s sand paintings:

Arts, Local Events, Other Neighborhoods

Food, arts, and film Saturday evening at Chinatown-ID Night Market

Just a few minutes down the hill from North Beacon this Saturday evening is the annual Chinatown-International District Night Market. The Night Market is a street fair on South King Street and in Hing Hay Park that will feature local vendors of crafts and international cuisine. There will also be live performances including Chinese lion and dragon dances, Brazilian and traditional martial arts, live painting demonstrations, and a free outdoor showing of the new Karate Kid movie at 8:45 p.m.

Restaurants participating include Jade Garden, Sub Sand, and Oasis Tea Zone. Food trucks will also take part in the event, including Fusion on the Run and Lumpia World.

Admission to the Night Market is free, and the event runs from 6-11 p.m. on Saturday, August 27. For more information, see the event website.

Lion dancers at last year's Night Market. Photo by Wendi.
Neighborhood Pride, Other Neighborhoods

Beacon Hill vs. Ballard: the battle is on!

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Publicola asked people from Beacon Hill and Ballard to explain “why their neighborhood is the best place to live in the city“ yesterday. Peggy Sturdivant, a columnist for the Ballard News-Tribune, represented the one-time neighborhood of bungalows and old Scandinavians that has since sprouted condos, townhomes, and trendy shops. Beacon Hill was represented by Craig Thompson, author of the Beacon Lights blog at seattlepi.com.

Both writers found many reasons to support their neighborhoods. Sturdivant bragged about Ballard’s farmer’s market, hospital, music venues, and sunsets, while Thompson touted Beacon Hill’s affordability, accessibility, diversity, and feeling of community, along with Jefferson Park and other green projects. (BHB would like to point out that one thing we have that Ballard will not be able to match for many years was overlooked — Link light rail.)

What do you think? We know which neighborhood we prefer.

Getting Around, Other Neighborhoods

Biking on Beacon: Family biking to Columbia City

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I was at The Station the other night having a drink with some friends (Thanks Luis!), and we got to discussing Columbia City and how much it has changed over the past 10 years.  Today, there are a number of great destinations there including Empire Espresso on Edmunds (best latte in Seattle, though they can’t touch The Station’s Mexican mochas); Columbia City Cinema (now playing: Black Swan and a couple movies about hornets); Tutta Bella (a stopgap until we get our own brick oven pizza place); Full Tilt (old school video games and small batch ice cream… ’nuff said); a bakery, bar, toy store, etc.; and—of course—Bike Works!

Bike Works was established in the mid ’90s with the goal of promoting cycling in the underserved communities of Southeast Seattle.  When the bike shop went in, it was the only one between Capitol Hill and Renton!  They currently run the earn a bike program for kids and are generally bicycle angels in our midst. I biked there with my kids a few months ago to get some hand grips for Kai’s bike.  It was Malia’s longest ride and she did great (we took the light rail to get back).  The key to getting to Columbia City safely on a bike is Renton Ave. S. which runs between MLK and Rainier.  You can see our mapped route with videos here.

There are many reasons why Columbia City has changed so much while Beacon Hill has not (topography, demographics, arterial access) and I am sure the next 10 years will bring similar change to our community. This will, of course, have complex ramifications: some good, some bad.  One good one, that my kids will appreciate, is that our bike rides will get a little easier.

Beacon Hill to Columbia City (SAFE ROUTE) at EveryTrail

Meetings, Other Neighborhoods

Meetings planned for Thursday to discuss Nickelsville location

A few days ago, Mayor Mike McGinn proposed that a city-sanctioned homeless encampment (the tent city previously known as “Nickelsville“) be operated on the site of the old Sunny Jim factory, west of Beacon Hill on Airport Way South between South Adams Street and South Snoqualmie Street. The city-owned Sunny Jim building was recently destroyed by fire. In his blog post about the encampment, McGinn said “A suitable site should accommodate on-site services geared toward moving residents to self-sufficiency… We would seek a nonprofit or other organization to manage the encampment, providing services to residents and data to the City.”

The City is holding two community meetings this Thursday, November 18, to discuss the proposed encampment location. Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith will lead the meetings, and he and other City staff will be available to answer questions.

The first meeting is for adjacent businesses, and will run from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the City of Seattle sign shop, located on the south end of the Sunny Jim site at 4200 Airport Way South. The second meeting is for the general public, and will run from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Showbox SODO, located at 1700 First Avenue South. For more information about the meetings, contact Elliott Day at 206-233-2664 or elliott.day@seattle.gov.

Over the next few days after McGinn’s proposal was announced, reactions to the announcement on the Beacon Hill and BAN neighborhood mailing lists were mixed. Some neighbors raised concerns about the suitability of the site, given its location just across I-5 from the Beacon Hill greenbelt, and the “Jungle” problems happening elsewhere in the greenbelt. Some commenters were concerned about the potential for accidents from pedestrians running across I-5 between the encampment and the greenbelt. Other commenters wanted to discuss ways that the project could do a better job to help the Nickelsville residents, and the types of structures that might enhance services for the encampment residents.


View Former Sunny Jim site in a larger map