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Location Belltown - 2nd Ave. 2nd & Battery to 2nd & Blanchard (and from Bell St. & 1st to Bell & 3rd) ::: Attention Craft People of Seattle ::: The Seattle Founders Day festival is looking to fill some booths at the 2-day festival. It will be held August 14th & 15th from 10am to 10pm on 2nd Avenue between Battery and Blanchard and on Bell Street between 1st and 3rd. Vendor spaces are available for 150.00 for both days! Hurry while there are still spaces! Check out the vendor application here: www.seattlefounders.com/vendors.html DEADLINE TO SIGN UP FOR A BOOTH: July 31st The festival will be more than a street fair, more than a block party. With actors in costume roaming the street, history booths and organizations, live music, local crafts. Hope to see you there! If you have any questions please contact Ben at Ben@seattlefounders.com http://www.seattlefounders.com Location: Belltown - 2nd Ave. 2nd & Battery to 2nd & Blanchard, Seattle (and from Bell St. & 1st to Bell & 3rd) Seattle
"We really need to do better here..." "There are a host of ways to go with this..." "This will be a focus of whomever...." More about the tragic schooting can be found from the Seattle Times. 
We've often featured Seattle Cellars' Thursday wine night tastings as an easy way to meet your neighbors. The last couple of times I've been in the shop I've been a bit worried about the diminishing inventory. It looks like the downturn and Belltown drain is taking on another victim... This is getting depressing!
By LEE COPELAND MithunParks and open spaces are an integral part of the experience and quality of living in Seattle. The integration of nature with our lives in our urban environment is a biological necessity contributing to our healthy well being. From Greek and Etrusian times to the present, planners have included parks and open spaces as key ingredients for vital cities. Our new Olympic Sculpture Park and Millennium Park in Chicago are two outstanding 21st century examples of the continuing realization of this need and desire. In 1902, civic leaders demonstrated their desire to make Seattle a beautiful city by hiring an expert “who would arrange the plans for parks and boulevards that all work would be done in harmony with that scheme, whether done now or a hundred years from now” and “to answer the needs of a city of a half-million people.” You know when we post the Belltown Wine Tasting post - there's nothing going on. Bring your Seattle Cellars tasting glass and come join us tonight, May 27, from 5 - 7pm, as we present Wines of the Douro region! Centered around the Douro river in the Trás-os-Montes e Alta Douro region, it is sometimes referred to as the Alto Douro (upper Douro), as it is located some distance upstream from the city of Porto, sheltered by mountain ranges from coastal influence. The region has Portugal's highest wine classification as a Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC). While the region is associated primarily with Port wi ne production, the Douro produces just as much table wine (non-fortified wines) as it does fortified wine; the non-fortified wines are typically referred to as "Douro wines". The Douro winemaking region was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.
Not even remotely Belltown related, but if you're into video as an art form, you can't help but appreciate this work. Thanks to TheSunBreak (one of our neighborlogs news partners) for originally posting this.
Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo. 
I'm pretty far behind on putting together all the write-ups for the community-related meetings I've been covering, but I just got back from the last Bell Street Park planning meeting. Here's a synopsis of what the design team covered tonight. The design team had some pretty cool visuals and a nice Google SketchUp "virtual tour" through their design. I asked and I'll be working with one of the team members to get that available here. A lot of stuff should be made available online soon. I'll share it with you here when I find it. I shot a quick video on my phone as the design team gave us a brief recap of the last two meetings. Again, the quality isn't meant to be great, but hopefully this is some form of entertaining media since there is a whole lot of text to follow: [Note, YouTube may still be processing the video. If it doesn't work, come back and check it out later] Center City Parks Task Force Update 
This is a great example of a citizen identifying a problem, thinking of a solution, then picking up the shovel and getting to work. Thanks go to Tom Douglas for giving the community an example of how business and the community can make a difference without the dawdling support of local government.
Shallots Asian Bistro, located on the corner of 4th & Vine is apparently closing. I walked by yesterday and noticed that the restaurant was pretty much shuttered up except for a lone guy packing up all the chairs. He didn't have any inside information besides confirming that the restaurant is closing. Calls to the owner have gone unanswered. Shallots was up for sale this past October, so here's to hoping that they've found a buyer for the space instead of just adding to the growing vacancy in the neighborhood. 
Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson ponders whether Brasa is closing it's doors for a remodel, demolition, or?
Lydia Heard at the Seattle PI posted a great piece on the history of Belltown's Cottages. I'd recommend you swing over for a read.
You can file this away in the meaningless things Jesse likes category. Despite that, I would urge you as a digital friend to treat yourself to a heaping dose of visual and auditory sweetness. Enjoy. KIRO has the latest coverage of the arson at the "Ride the Ducks" tourist attraction.
Belltown restaurants are mid-way through Seattle Restaurant Week. 3 courses for $25. Don't miss out! I've underlined some of our Belltown favorites that are absolutely worth a try.
Downtown & Belltown
Real Estate agents will hate this post. Economists will probably agree. A lot of other people will continue sitting on the sidelines waiting for the dust to settle. One thing is for certain, no one really knows what they're talking about because it involves predicting the future. The New York Times published a great article today with some fancy "Should You Buy or Rent?" calculators. I would suggest using this feature as a tool to evaluate any of your own potential purchases. Lets run through an example together. 1) 2607 Western - 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath loft on the market today for $330,000.
I know that the rent for a comparable loft in this building is right around $1,750. The homeowners association dues rack up $341 a month for this amenity rich building. I am going to be a sunshine beaming optimist and assume (probably incorrectly) that the housing slump has been completely solved and appreciation has returned to a historical average of 3% Lets plug it into the calculator and take a look at the results....
In summary. If you're planning to stay put for 12 years - Buy. Otherwise, hold tight and rent. Use the money you'd save and invest in something like rare comic books or gold bullion.
Pouryourheartintoit posted some shots of Txori too gorgeous not to share.
LuuvuH posted a great little tribute to Txori's last Txoko dinner.
txoria txori from LuuvuH on Vimeo. Try not to lose too much sleep over Txori's departure from the neighborhood. A new Spanish Tapas bar called Pintxo is set to open up soon in the same space. The new owners are huge fans of Txori and promise to resurrect much of the same atmosphere with a few new surprises thrown in for good measure. 
I used to walk by The Wexley School for Girls each day on my way to work. First, I actually thought to myself that this must be some misguided effort at a reformative girls school. Then, I realized. It's another marketing firm. But wait, this isn't just SOME marketing firm. It's a brilliant, amazing, super hyper UNIQUE marketing firm! Amazing! The Seattle Times did a great job writing what should be the wikipedia entry for the Wexley School for Girls. It's great. You should read it if you're curious, perplexed, or just jealous of their decadent work environment.
W00tstock is an all-nerds gathering for every type of nerd be it computer, musical, scientific, artistically-based and so on. Promoted as three hours of geeks and music, w00stock attempts to link all breeds of nerd together in a mish-mash of songs, readings, comedy, demonstrations, short films, special guests and more. Famous TV geek Adam Savage, of MythBusters, will host the festival while film and television actor Wil Wheaton, of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stand By Me, will be on hand with music-comedy duo Paul and Storm. The special guests scheduled for Seattle’s stop include singer/songwriter Molly Lewis, musician John Roderick, sketch comedy troup LoadingReadyRun and Stephen “Stepto” Toulouse from Microsoft and Xbox Live. W00tstock 2.0 pulls into Seattle on Friday, May 7 for a 7pm show at The Moore Theatre. Tickets are $25 advance or $28 day of. A small price to pay to see Adam Savage in the flesh and likely setting off bizarre special effects. In 2009 the first round of w00tstock...
visit 2andbell.com for details
I've been introduced to essays back in secondary school when we were asked to write about how we have lived our lives so far. During my entire stay in secondary school, I've written countless essays on various topics and I've found them enjoyable and quite easy to do. But this has changed the moment I entered university. I had no trouble writing the personal statement essay as part of the application requirements. But the first time I was assigned an academic essay I was taken by surprise. The guidelines and rules were completely different from the style I was used to, it was too formal and structured which I found quite intimidating. Add to that, the amount of research necessary for the essay was quite staggering. I had to dig up a lot of obscure books and manuals which were, almost always, available only in physical form at public libraries. Also, the research entailed interviewing an old farmer living in a town which I've never heard of. Needles to say, that was when I started to hate writing academic essays....
Jesse asked me to put something together regarding the imminent doom of the McGuire building at 2nd and Wall. The McGuire is my first and current home after moving to Seattle, so I think I can offer a perspective somewhat different from what you will read on the news or in other blogs. I suppose I can walk you through what my experience has been the last few days.
Friday 6:00 pm--Meeting Announcement Letter The note stated that the firm had concluded their investigations...
We noticed a report on CapitolHillSeattle that TheLocalVine was opening up a new shop on 12th avenue. At first, we were alarmed that another restaurant was moving out of Belltown and heading for the hills. However, clarification from the owners came soon that the Capitol Hill bar would be intended as a second location and not a desertion of the neighborhood. Unfortuantely, it looks like the tables have turned and TheLocalVine is getting the boot from the McGuire along with several hundred residents and a few other businesses. I emailed the owner Sarah Munson this morning and confirmed that they were completely surprised by the news. "We are shocked and extremely disappointed. We’ve invested a tremendous amount in our 2 and vine location and in our Belltown community. It is difficult to believe we must vacate so quickly. At this point we are still working to understand our options with regard to our existing location in Belltown and new opportunities." If you've been to TheLocalVine, you'll know the build out within the McGuire is gorgeous. It would cost a mint to move the infrastructure and interior accents. I'm sure i'm not the only one who will be keeping my fingers crossed that Sarah will be able to find another downtown home soon. TheLocalVine will be open through June and they're promising a full tasting and events calendar up until the last day. 
The Seattle Times has the most comprehensive write-up of the recent news that the McGuire building will be torn down. If you live in the McGuire and would like to provide us with a first person account, just send me an email.
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