Edward Landon.Cleveland High School students and alumni will gather on Saturday, June 29, at 11 a.m. for a ceremony officially dedicating the school’s library to the late Edward Landon, who spent his entire career (1948-1973) teaching history and coaching football, basketball and baseball at Cleveland. Landon’s 4-year-old great-grandson, Dilon Hagedorn, will unveil the plaque honoring his great-grandfather, who died on January 15, 2013, aged 98. The event will take place at 11 a.m. on the second floor of the main building.
Landon, a World War II veteran and former minor-league pitcher, was known by the nickname “Mr. Cleveland” for his dedication to his students. He wrote the first Seattle Public Schools curriculum on African-American history, as part of which he invited members of Seattle’s Black Panthers to sit in on his history lectures and provide feedback.
Landon was previously honored by a scholarship fund in his name, managed by the school’s alumni association. Donations may be sent to Ed Landon Scholarship Fund, Cleveland High School Alumni Association, PO Box 94004, Seattle, WA 98124-9404.
Last June, a giant chicken visited Beacon Rocks! Photo by Wendi DunlapThis Sunday, June 30, it’s “back to the bean” on Beacon Hill for this summer’s first Beacon Rocks! event at Roberto Maestas Festival Street from 1 to 5 p.m. As in previous summers, Beacon Rocks! is a free, all-ages street fair with music, dance, and vendors.
4:00 Mister K and the Rhythm Rockets: Je Bongo Busch drums, Kent Stevenson keyboard
Other activities include a bean bag toss for prizes, a haiku contest, making bean necklaces, and more.
This year, a new addition to the event is a flea market. For $25, you can rent a six-foot space to sell or trade your stuff. Find the application here.
Rep. Eric Pettigrew.Beacon Hill residents in the 37th Legislative District will have a chance to talk live with their state representative, Eric Pettigrew (D), in a telephone town hall this Wednesday, June 26, from 6 to 7 p.m.
Here’s how it works: On Wednesday evening just before 6, thousands of 37th District constituents will receive robo-calls to their homes. By pressing *3 on the phones, residents can ask questions for Representative Pettigrew to answer live, or if they prefer, they can simply listen to the conversation.
If you do not receive a call, you can participate by dialing 877-229-8493 and entering the ID code 18646#.
Today is a good day to get out of the house! (But don’t go too far — unless you’re running in the Rock and Roll Marathon! The Marathon will run on South Jackson Street and Rainier Avenue South until 3 p.m., which means you should avoid driving in that area.)
First, The Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool is holding a rummage sale from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at 1720 South Forest Street with lots of goodies to purchase from your neighbors.
Then at 1, head over to Lewis Park for a “Thank You Beacon Hill” party from 1-5. You can chow down on delicious barbecued hot dogs, including vegetarian and vegan dogs. The good eats are sponsored by Hilltop Red Apple, Field Roast, and The Station.
There will also be tours of the Lewis Park Natural Area offered hourly so Beacon Hill neighbors can see the progress that has been made in restoring the park.
You can find the party at the Pavilion at Daejeon Park and the south end of Lewis Park, on the corner of 16th Avenue South and South Judkins Street.
The Neighborhood Greenway is one of the topics on the agenda for next Thursday’s Beacon B.I.K.E.S. meeting. Photo by Wendi Dunlap / Beacon Hill Blog.A Beacon B.I.K.E.S. meeting is coming up next week. Here’s the info from co-chairs Ryan and Christine:
Beacon Hill and Friends –
Summer is fast approaching and Greenway completion is hot on its heels. If you think it ends there, allow us to prove your thoughts incomplete! Because it’s time to celebrate, take a peek into the future of how we move around Beacon Hill and get to the soul of the transportation picture up here. These aren’t pipe dreams; this is what draws us out to meet friends on the street, get to where we want to go, and invites us to go further with active transportation. It’s simply better living.
Join us at the Beacon Hill Library Resource Center from 6-7:45pm on Thursday, June 27th to discuss:
Greenway updates and improvements
BeHi walking plan update ideas
Beacon Rocks! (July 28th concert is transportation-themed)
(PARK)ing Day
El Centro Plaza Maestas walk and bikeability audit
As always, we promise light refreshments and good company. We can only make this happen together, Beacon Hill, so we look forward to seeing you on the 27th!
Tippe and Drague Alehouse (3315 Beacon Ave. S.) is hosting a fundraiser for the Denise Louie Education Center this Saturday, June 22, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The folks at Tippe and Drague tell us about it:
Come enjoy 16 rotating taps of regional craft beer, a great wine selection and local, sustainable and healthy bar food items while supporting our preschool neighbor next door, the Denise Louie Education Center (DLEC).
For over 35 years, DLEC has provided high-quality multicultural early learning and family support services so that Seattle kids will be ready to succeed in school and life. Most of the 300 children and families DLEC serves are low-income immigrants and refugees, and over 80% speak a language other than English at home. DLEC is in the process of cutting 5% of their budget due to automatic federal spending cuts known as Sequestration. Approved cuts include eliminating five Early Head Start slots and starting classes two weeks late. There is still $60,000 to be cut from the budget over the next four months and $130,000 to be cut from next year’s budget.
On Saturday, June 22nd from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tippe and Drague will be donating all profits, collecting monetary donations and holding a silent auction to benefit DLEC and the over 300 low-income and immigrant children and families they serve in the Seattle area.
Owner Melissa adds, “We’re going to end the silent auction at 10 p.m. but the full fundraising day will end when we close.”
Lawn bowlers enjoy a world class view. Photo by Kat Marriner.
Jenny Mears, a member of the Jefferson Park Lawn Bowling Club, sends this invitation:
How’s this sound for perfect summer Friday night: you and your family
and friends + sunshine + incredible views of the city, mountains and
sunset + a fun new sport? Welcome to Friday Night BBQ and Bowls at
Jefferson Park Lawn Bowling Club! While most events, leagues, and
tournaments are members only (for information on membership, see the
JPLBC website), Friday Night BBQ and Bowls is open to the public for a
suggested greens fee of $5. Members are on hand to teach you the game,
the barbecue is hot (bring your own grillables!), and you can enjoy a
Friday night in one of the most beautiful parks in the city while
learning how to lawn bowl with your family and friends. For more
information, check out the Jefferson Park Lawn Bowling Club website or stop by any Friday night from June 21st through August 30th.
The club house and greens are located at 4103 Beacon Ave. S.
Children’s books photo by Svadilfari via Creative Commons/Flickr.Kids need something to do this summer? Neighbor Dayna writes to tell us about a summer reading club that kicks off tomorrow, June 18:
A few Orca K8 parents have started a summer reading club that will meet in both the Beacon Hill and Columbia City Libraries over the summer. Schedule is below. Meeting times will be in both the morning and evening, 2 times a month. Our primary goal is to provide a space for friends — old and new — to gather and read together!! Our secondary goal is to provide a place for Orca parents to read with kids who may be struggling and will benefit from extra summer reading help. The Reading Club is not officially sponsored by Orca K-8 or by the Seattle Public Library. We are just a few moms of Orca kids who love reading, and love our children. Many of us have spent time in the classroom reading with our kids’ classmates, and we want to continue supporting them throughout the summer. We also want to keep up the culture of reading that our fabulous Orca educators have instilled in our kids!
What will we do?
Since the moms starting the reading club are moms of incoming 2nd graders, many of the readers will be that age. However, older and younger siblings will also be there, all reading together. Students will be reading together in groups or by themselves, and Orca parents will be there to help emerging readers. We will keep track of the books we read on the SPL Summer Reading program chart, and after 10 books the library will give us a prize! Prizes from SPL will include a book and entries into a raffle for a lunch with the mayor! All kids are welcome, from all schools and all grades. Please join us, and spread the word!
A possible design for the entrance to the plaza at Plaza Roberto Maestas.We wrote on June 7 that the Plaza Roberto Maestas design review meeting had been delayed. Unfortunately, it’s been delayed again. Kate Gill de la Garza of the Beacon Development Group wrote to tell us:
It turns out that our DPD planner is now on vacation for the date that we initially rescheduled our new meeting for (July 23rd). Because it is in the neighborhood’s, project’s and Owner’s best interest to have the same land use planner throughout the design review process (makes for continuity and better tracking of feedback), we have to reschedule once again to August 13th at 6:30pm at Wellspring Family Services, 1900 Rainier Avenue South..
We want to apologize in advance for any confusion that this has or will cause. This change was beyond our control and we will do everything we can to maximize neighborhood notice for the August meeting. Because this is a substantial project with a variety of programs and design approaches to both the private (residential) and public spaces (plaza, etc.) we fully expect that we will have at least two, if not three, design review presentations – so there should be ample opportunity this fall for people to weigh in if they cannot make this initial meeting in August. As always, we welcome feedback via e-mail or telephone calls as well for anyone that cannot make the meeting.
Again, we apologize for this mix-up and hope to see people in August! Please let me know if you have any questions.
Gretta Harley performs with Mitch Ebert and Fiia McGann in These Streets. Photo by Charles Peterson.Among many other creative lifetimes including co-founding the Home Alive organization for women’s self-defense and graduating from and then working for Cornish College Of The Arts, Beacon Hill’s Gretta Harley co-created (with Sarah Rudinoff and Elizabeth Kenny) These Streets, a rock musical derived from interviews with women on the Seattle rock scene. She graciously took a few questions over email.
Beacon Hill Blog: How is Beacon Hill like, and unlike, Long Island, where you grew up? How long have you lived on Beacon Hill and what are your impressions of the place? How, if at all, does it influence your work?
Gretta Harley: I bought my condo on Beacon Hill at the height of the market, 2006 — so I am “stuck” here. I love Beacon Hill. It is a neighborhood, with small businesses and a lot of families, and diversity. Tree-lined streets are an easy place for me to walk my dog. Fantastic views! Jefferson Park is awesome! I know a lot of my neighbors. There are block parties and neighborhood watches. Long Island was suburban, so the tree lined streets and neighborhood feel are similar in that way.
There were no good views on Long Island. It’s completely flat with lots of concrete and fewer parks, but the beach was a stone’s throw away. The Atlantic Ocean is beautiful and the beaches where I grew up were gorgeous (before Hurricane Sandy).
“I was never a fan of Ken. I thought he was a dweeb.”
Long Island is a very very different culture. Where do I begin? Long Island is a trip. The people are a little harder on the outside… very direct with their opinions (which I like), and not as PC as in Seattle. I like the liberal ideals of Seattle. Several famous hip-hop artists from my generation come from my section of Long Island, but the Island was extremely segregated when I grew up. A bit of white, macho, braggadociousness. I still have a lot of connections and love over there though. Ya know, this is a conversation over a martini…
I am not sure if I can identify specifically how the place I live influences my work, but I do believe that any environment does. I did say Beacon Hill has a neighborhood feel, but I live on the main drag, so the energy of movement and city is always right outside of my windows. It’s not quiet. I like that.
Beacon Hill Blog: You mention in your bio that your Barbie dolls gave rock concerts. What were their favorite jams?
Gretta Harley: Ha ha. When I was a little kid playing with dolls, I listened to The Beatles, Grass Roots, Argent, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Carol King, Elton John — so those were the jams those dolls’d be jammin’. I got most of the records by stealing a mailer for a Columbia Records offer. “Buy 10 Records For A Penny.” I thought that sounded good. And I had a penny. I went through the catalog and checked off my records (largely by liking band names and record artwork), and put my choices and a penny in an envelope.
When the box of records came, my mother was furious. She got on the phone immediately and chewed out the person who answered the phone from Columbia (because the deal was that you got charged every month after the first delivery for the 5-10 records they’d send you every month, at full price). My mom let me keep the records I ordered, and thus began the merging of my pastime of doll weirdness, with music.
I recall building a stage for the dolls out of spare wood blocks my dad would bring home from his shop, stored in an old refrigerator box for my using. Those blocks were a constant source of re-building “sets” I designed for my pleasure.
Ya know, back in the 60s, we weren’t scheduled like kids are today. We made our own entertainment. I spent a lot of time alone. I didn’t have a ton of toys, so I made do with what I had. I never felt like I was missing anything. My turntable was as much my joy as the “characters” I created out of my Barbies and “Little Kiddles.” I also remember making clothes for my dolls, ’cause I didn’t like the ones they came with. And I cut their hair and drew on their bodies.
I was never a fan of Ken. I thought he was a dweeb.
