Here’s another house cheerfully decorated for Christmas. This one caught my eye with its Virgin Mary with a shining neon blue halo. It’s in the 8000 block of Beacon Avenue South. (Know of more brightly-lit houses? Please tell us.)
Here’s a map showing this house’s location. If you click on the map and scroll around, or zoom out, you can see all of the houses we’ve featured so far:
Don’t have a lantern to carry? Fear not. This Saturday is a free lantern-making workshop to prepare for the solstice event. Bring a large tin can that has been filled with water and frozen solid. (Rumor has it, it’s going to be cold this weekend. The freezing part might be easy.) The workshop is open to all ages, and it’s from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 South Alaska Street.
For more information about this event, contact Abbey Norris, Public Art Manager, norris@seedseattle.org, (206) 760-4289.
The SPDBlotter reports:
On December 6th at approximately 11:30 P.M., multiple units from the South Precinct responded to a large disturbance involving over 150 juveniles at a event in the 7000 Block of 32 Avenue South. … A short time later, officers responded to Harborview Medical Center where a gunshot victim had been taken. The victim stated he had been shot in the 4600 block of S. Othello and gave a suspect vehicle description of a white American car. Officers responded to 4600 S. Othello and located shell casings as well as damage to a residence and the victim’s vehicle.
It’s believed the two incidents are related. The Seattle Times has a bit more.
Here’s another house with some holiday lights, in the 5400 block of Beacon Avenue South. Know of any decorated houses? Email us so we can feature them here!
And here’s the updated version of our map of decorated houses. Scroll up and you’ll see the location of yesterday’s house:
An information meeting about the variance extension is on Tuesday, December 16, 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South.
When I was very young, the local newspapers used to host a Christmas light contest each year. People would decorate their houses in amazing ways, and the newspapers would publish the list of competitors. My parents would then drive us around to see the decorated houses.
Then came 1973, and the oil shortages. Suddenly it was irresponsible to have holiday lights. The contests went away, and the city because a lot less festive. It was years before we started seeing a ton of lights again. And I missed the light shows of my early childhood.
Now, we’re back to the 1973 state of things in many ways. It’s not “green” to waste that much energy. But I still enjoy the lights anyway, at least for a few weeks each year in Seattle’s terribly dark winters. They brighten up our evenings and make the darkness easier to bear.
We’ll be featuring Beacon Hill homes with lights and decoration periodically until Christmas. Do you have some cool decorations? How about your neighbors? Please write and tell us, so we can post a picture.
Our first featured home is on the 1500 block of South Atlantic Street. (See the map at the bottom of this post.) Tons of lights, a countdown clock to Christmas, and Santa in a helicopter!
Here’s a map to help you find the house. We’ll add other holiday houses to the map over the next few weeks.
View Larger Map
At sunset today (just after 4:00 pm — gah) I had the good fortune to be at the 12th Avenue S Viewpoint park, armed with a camera. Here’s some of what I saw:
Pretty nice for December in Seattle, hmm?
SPDBlotter brings this news:
“The Seattle Police Department is pleased to announce the arrest of the suspect in the September 11th, 2008 murder that occurred at 12:52 A.M. near the I-5 and I-90 interchange. Suspect Van Hoa Truong, a 53-year-old male, was arrested by Seattle Police SWAT team officers in the City of Renton on December 4th at approximately 6:15 P.M. Suspect Truong was subsequently booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Homicide and narcotics violations.”
Areas affected will be:
Need more information? Contact Eric Stewart at 206-255-2349.
*The city press release said the 3200 block, but the block bounded by Stevens and Winthrop is the 3000 block.
Here’s a map of the Beacon Hill locations affected:
View Larger Map