Tag Archives: willie weir

Beacon Bits: Anime, biking in Portland, local remixes

Anime collection photo by Paul Fisk (CC BY-SA)
There is an Anime Club event at the Beacon Hill library on the second Tuesday of each month (that’s tonight!) from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The club is free and open to all, with no registration required. Each month there will be new anime episodes along with old favorites, and guests will also enjoy new manga comics and Japanese snacks.

The Beacon Hill Branch is located at 2821 Beacon Avenue South, a block south of Beacon Hill Station. There is a free parking lot behind the building. For more information, call the branch at 206-684-4711.

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Beacon Hill neighbor Willie Weir of Yellow Tent Adventures, along with his partner Kat Marriner, recently did a “week-long, fully-loaded bike trip within the city limits of Portland. We’re talking tent, stove, sleeping bags. No reservations. No hotels. An urban adventure at its frugal finest!” Willie will discuss the trip in a lecture, “Portland: An Urban Adventure,” tonight at 7:00 pm at REI, 222 Yale Avenue North. More information on Facebook (login required), or see the REI page. (The REI page has conflicting information about the event’s cost — it’s either free or $5.00.)

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Two nice shots of the downtown cityscape view from the PacMed/Amazon building were recently tweeted by MarkPrivett and lassielas.

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Two remixes of Helladope’s “Just So You Know” by Blue Scholars’ Sabzi, including the “Beacon Hill Slumlord” mix. — Matson on Music, the Seattle Times

Rocking, cycling, and gardening: Beacon Hill sights

A guitarist tries out the music space at ROCKiT space. Photo by Bridget Christian in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
A guitarist tries out the music space at ROCKiT space. Photo by Bridget Christian in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
The new ROCKiT space non-profit music and art organization on Beacon Avenue held their grand opening this weekend. Bridget Christian was there, and has posted a great set of photos from the event on Flickr. She says, “GREAT place for kids… all kinds of art stuff to do, books, instruments to mess around on.”

Jesse Vernon, of The Stranger, recently discovered the Chief Sealth Trail, which, he says, starts on Beacon Hill and then “transports you to Kubota Garden via Ireland. Or New Zealand. Or some other place with rolling green hills I’ve never been.” However, some commenters on Vernon’s post complained about the trail’s hills, and one commenter, Kinkos, suggested that the best way to ride the trail is to “take light rail to beacon hill, ride to the trailhead, then ride downhill on the trail to near the end – to the rainier beach sta. catch the train back to beacon hill, and repeat.”

Willie Weir has been photographing his Beacon Hill garden all year as part of an “exercise in extreme local travel” — enjoying the sights close to home that we often overlook. He’s posted a gorgeous video collection of last spring’s photos on YouTube.

Beacon Bits: Dancing, cycling, volunteering

9730_249249265463_201662010463_8456550_3375460_nAmerica’s Best Dance Crew started with nine dance groups at the beginning of the competition. On Sunday night, local heroes Massive Monkees made it to the top three. See them “Tearin’ Up My Heart” here. This week was extra-special for at least one of the group — Samnith Ly, otherwise known as Lil’ Lazy, married Lianna Kalyanei on 9/9/09 at 9:09 pm. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

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Neighbors Willie Weir and Kat Marriner are on a bicycle adventure… to Portland. Willie writes in his blog Yellow Tent Adventures, “what if rather than having a city as a starting point, the city WAS the adventure?… We have visited Portland before. But how will our experience differ while pedaling around the city on a couple of fully-loaded touring bikes?” Willie and Kat won’t be sleeping in a hotel, but instead, they are bringing their camping supplies and planning to camp in the city — somewhere. How are they getting the bikes to Portland? By train, of course.

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Anthony B. Robinson writes about the experience of volunteering at a Beacon Hill food bankCrosscut

Beacon Bits: sidewalks, hot dogs, and cool adult beverages

Street food finally comes to Beacon Hill with a new hot dog cart outside Beacon Pub. Photo of NYC hot dog cart by high limitzz.
Street food finally comes to Beacon Hill with a new hot dog cart outside Beacon Pub. Photo of NYC hot dog cart by high limitzz.
Willie Weir talks sidewalks in a new posting at his Yellow Tent Adventures blog. Specifically, about inverting the relationship where sidewalks yield to the street, and instead the street must rise up to sidewalk level –elevating the pedestrian, physically and metaphorically, to primary status, to match their position under the law for right-of-way. This sort of idea is being discussed and planned for the block of Lander just north of the light rail station. (By the way, there’s a great overview of various traffic calming practices hosted by the Project for Public Spaces. And Willie has posted several responses received from his challenge to our political leaders and candidates to “give it up” and go carless.)

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Michal spotted a new feature in the neighborhood: a hot dog cart!

Last night when I went to the Beacon Pub, I noticed there’s a new late night weekend dining option in Beacon Hill, right outside the Beacon Pub. Serves tacos, hot dogs, and burgers, they said they planned to be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and weekend mornings to serve breakfast items. There were a surprisingly large number of customers coming from seemingly nowhere, and not just from the pub.

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An afternoon round of chasing a little white ball around and hitting it with sticks is commonly accompanied by the consumption of a cool adult beverage. It is illegal to drink such beverages in Seattle public parks, unless there is a permit. So, is it legal to drink in a municipal golf course, such as Jefferson Park? Yes, as long as you buy the alcohol on siteSeattle 911

Beaconian tells of bicycle journey through Thailand and Laos

Beacon Hill resident and KUOW commentator Willie Weir and his wife Kat spent three months in 2006 bicycling in Thailand and Laos, enjoying amazing travel experiences while discovering the differences and unique challenges of each country. Weir will present the story of their journey, A Tale of Twos: Cycling Thailand & Laos, at the REI flagship store on January 22 at 7:00 pm.