Author Archives: CHS Intern Makena

Edie’s Shoes ties up 15 years on Capitol Hill, ready to try on many more

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The Edie's crew with Dolan, far right (Image: Edie's Shoes with permission to CHS)

The Edie’s crew with Dolan, left in blue clogs (Image: Edie’s Shoes with permission to CHS)

With some signs that the downtown retail core is seeping up the Hill, a neighborhood longtimer is celebrating an important — surely, comfortable — milestone.

Edie’s Shoes owner Erin Dolan says she recognizes the challenges of being surrounded by construction, but is optimistic about the future of E Pike. “Construction puts a damper on street life for sure,” she said. “Scaffolding, noise, no parking and construction trucks and crews blocking streets, it all changes people’s shopping patterns, but everyone is doing their best to get through it and we are excited about the future of this street. It will be a great shopping/restaurant/entertainment corridor. In a year’s time East Pike Street will be completely transformed.”

It’s a good time to be optimistic. Edie’s is celebrating 15 years of business this week. You’ll find deals and special events starting this week to celebrate the anniversary. Continue reading →

On the List | Memorial Day weekend brings Garden Party Theater to Cal Anderson, free burgers to Li’l Woody’s

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GardenPartyTheatreJpegArtist Paul Kuniholm Pauper believes firmly that the value of art is thoroughly misrepresented when cost is a factor. He cites the sale of highly priced works like Picasso’s $139 million piece,“Le RĂŞve,” in 2013 as an example of how thinking of art in this way is a “closed loop.”

SIFF 2015 continues this weekend and includes a set of films depicting the lives and issues inside the changing Yesler Terrace neighborhood. The Faces of Yesler Terrace film set includes Even The Walls, "an elegiac journey inside the homes and memories of nine Yesler Terrace residents as they wait to see what will become of their neighborhood."

SIFF 2015 continues this weekend and includes a set of films depicting the lives and issues inside the changing Yesler Terrace neighborhood. The Faces of Yesler Terrace film set includes Even The Walls, “an elegiac journey inside the homes and memories of nine Yesler Terrace residents as they wait to see what will become of their neighborhood.”

Thanks to the Seattle Office of Arts, citizens of Seattle have access to art events Pauper finds much more valuable: free ones. This Friday his work will be displayed — and worn at Cal Anderson Park during the Garden Party Theater:

Providing dozens of wearable sculptures for attiring of attendees, snacks will be provided and the community is encouraged to mingle and move as whims dictate. No formal organizing principles other than nurturing community interaction, contact with art and a group food experience sum the parameters of Garden Party Theatre.

Save room. Free burgers again this Memorial Day at Li'l Woody's

Save room. Free burgers again this Memorial Day at Li’l Woody’s

The event will start at 6 PM and feature Pauper’s wearable sculptures that attendees can put on themselves, as well as snacks that encompass his themes of tea parties and outer space.

The event gives attendees the rare opportunity to “become part of the artwork” according to Pauper.

“No other effort in my life has been as excellent as making art. It has the singular effect of supplying beauty and provoking thought,” he said.

Pauper said the garden party is for everybody — almost. “The joy and happiness of my artwork can be experienced by any warm-blooded animal, but humans with a heartbeat are my target audience. Birds, fish and reptiles will not enjoy my artwork.”

For more things to do this Memorial Day weekend, check out the CHS Calendar. Continue reading →

The Central District crowd rallies to help E Union pop-up Pocket Bakery build a permanent home

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Grunig makes another sale (Image: CHS)

Grunig makes another sale (Image: CHS)

Screen Shot 2015-05-19 at 2.36.09 PMEvery Saturday for the past nine months you could find Josh Grunig selling a changing array of treats. He sets up shop from 10 AM to 1 PM in Magpie on E Union and 20th in the Central District and uses this very direct interaction with customers to hone his menu and get it “to a truly exemplary place.”

These Saturday morning “pop-ups” have been an opportunity for Grunig not only to expand his menu while helping raise his newborn daughter but also to create relationships with the businesses and residents of the Central District. He wants to give back to the “extremely supportive” neighborhood by providing a delicious food made from sustainably-grown, nutritional, local ingredients.

IMG_8154-600x400But frequent customers want access to his vegan sourdough, croissant-donuts, pistachio shortbread and cinnamon rolls for more than three hours a week, so Grunig has started a fundraiser to put his bakery in a brick-and-mortar home in the Central District.

CHS talked with Grunig last fall as he started his pop-up service. At the time, he was hoping to find a location within a few blocks of Magpie — possibly in new construction coming to the area. “There’s a huge amount of opportunity around Union,” Grunig said. “It’s really an opportunity for me to be in a real neighborhood.”

There appears to be plenty of support for the campaign based on the Community Sourced Capital system of crowdfunding in which investors can provide a no-interest loan to small business owners and organizations $50 at a time. The Pocket fundraiser launched on May 15th, and has already raised more than $8,000 of its $10,000 minimum goal.

The ultimate goal, Grunig says, is to raise “$50k for bakery equipment, furniture and all the small things needed to get open. Every little investment is one step closer to our goal.”

For more information on how to help Grunig get his bakery up and running, visit the Pocket Bakery Community Sourced Capital page.

Central District’s Jimi Hendrix Park expected to open after summer construction

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(Image: Murase Associates)

(Image: Murase Associates)

(Image: Murase Associates)

(Image: Murase Associates)

In 2006, what was once the Colman School parking lot on the corner of 25th and S Massachusetts Street was turned into a simple grassy field with a tall wall hiding it from the community.  Now, nine years later, the project to renovate the park and dedicate it to Jimi Hendrix has begun.

What once was hidden will become a source of pride among the neighborhoods that surround the park according to Kim Baldwin, Seattle Parks project manager.

In fact, one of the main focuses of this project is “connection to the community.”  Baldwin expects it to become a gathering place for people to “celebrate the neighborhood.”

(Image: Murase Associates)

(Image: Murase Associates)

The park’s rock and roll design is inspired by Hendrix, who grew up near the area.  For example, the park’s entrance and main path will be alongside a long guitar-like structure.  The Jimi Hendrix Park Foundation also hopes to host music events at the park as well as cultural events and activities for the community. They hope to, through the park, “beautify Seattle, motivate youth and others to achieve in music and art, and strengthen the cultural pulse of the Emerald City,” according to the group’s website.

The renovations are already underway with construction starting earlier this spring.  April marked the beginning of underground utility work, and above-ground demolition will be the next step.

As construction begins, the Jimi Hendrix Park Foundation continues working towards its fundraising goal of $1.5 million. The first stage of construction will not include the wave wall feature and canopy structure — future stages of construction will follow. Without issues in construction or funds, the park is planned to open with its first wave of features in September 2015.

You can learn more and support the park effort at jimihendrixparkfoundation.org.

(Image: Murase Associates)

(Image: Murase Associates)