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Kate Dulemba, who has been organizing Saturday's Eastlake Movie Night, says she's received many requests for copies of Mary Hansen's great poster for the event. Yes, Kate says, they will be available at the event and they will be free ... but donations are always welcome. So, don't be cheap! Help make this event happen by giving them a few bucks for your poster. Which reminds me: I don't think I've said it for a while but this whole event is FREE! Thanks to the Eastlake Community Council and the sponsors (Melissa Ahlers of Lake Real Estate, Video Quest, Lake Union Mail, the Eastlake Community Council and EastlakeAve.com) who help make it possible. Event Details:
Today's "Groundhog Day" trivia (courtesy of the Internet Movie Database):
The Eastlake Movie Night 2009 doesn't just happen by itself. Numerous volunteers help set up the screen, arrange for a projector and sound system and a power supply, and see to it that everything is in place and ready to go by dusk on Saturday. There are also sponsors who help with expenses for the event. This year's sponsors are:
Be sure to let the sponsors know how much you appreciate their generosity. Eastlake Movie Night is this coming Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Rogers Playfield. It starts at dusk. The feature is "Groundhog Day." Be there! "Groundhog Day" Trivia (courtesy of the Internet Movie Database):
The Second Annual Eastlake Movie Night is coming this Saturday. This year's feature is "Groundhog Day," the classic comedy with Bill Murray. The show starts at dusk on the grass at Roger's Playfield. Bring your blanket or low-slung lawn chairs and settle in for a great evening. Or bring dinner and make an evening of it. There are a few tables around the edge of the playfield if you feel the need for a stable surface to dine on. One note: The playfield does get watered so it's likely to be a little damp. Bring something to sit on that will stay dry. Kate Dulemba is organizing the event. Mary Hansen did the movie night poster (which is reproduced here). See our recent post about Mary. Today's "Groundhog Day" trivia (according to the Internet Movie Database): The movie wasn't actually filmed in Punxsutawney, Penn., but in Woodstock, Ill. The IMDb says there's a plaque in Woodstock that says "Bill Murray stepped here" and marks the place where he constantly steps off the curb in the film.
One of their most visible projects is producing a newsletter every other month. Each edition of the newsletter has numerous articles on people, places and issues in the neighborhood. It's always interesting and informative and worth checking out. It takes a lot of work to put out a publication like this. The ECC needs writers, editors and photographers to help with the production of the newsletter. If you'd like to help out, contact them at newsletter@eastlake.org or info@eastlake.org. 
This year’s Eastlake Movie Night is just a little over a week away. “Groundhog Day” will be screened at Rogers Playfield starting at dusk on Saturday, Aug. 29. You may have seen the posters for the event in the neighborhood. The artist was longtime Eastlake resident Mary Hansen. Hansen created the poster by hand in color pencil. The whole thing is hand drawn with no digital assist. “I’m not much of a computer person,” Hansen says, adding that she feels she should do more work like the Movie Night poster (yes, we agree!). Hansen has lived in Eastlake since 1985 when she was a student at Cornish. She studied painting there. One of her instructors was the legendary Northwest painter Bill Cumming. She does interior design work at Mary Hansen Design, some commercial but mostly residential work, including houseboats. She also loves to garden. And, she’s a member of the Eastlake Community Council Board. “I just love our neighborhood!” she says. Thanks for the great poster, Mary! See you all at the Movie Night. 
Today is the final day to fill out the Seattle Planning Commission's questionnaire on the City's neighborhood plans. The number of Eastlake residents who have filled out the survey has gone up from 15 to 28. Good work! These plans help guide the city in matters of growth, planning and providing services. The Planning Commission is asking people to provide their input on changes that have occured in the neighborhood since the plans were adopted in 1998 and '99. Go to the SPC's web site, watch a short video, review the draft report, and then answer the questionnaire.
How did I miss this one? There's an Eastlake group on Flickr . Lots of cool photos there from all over our neighborhood. There are many contemporary images and also some from the Seattle Municipal Archives , including the image of houseboats at Fairview and Newton from 1962 that I've placed here. I just joined and will be posting some neighborhood photos there. What do you like taking pictures of in Eastlake? Do you post them on Flickr or somewhere else? Share you online images with us! 
Eastlake had two Night Out Block Parties this year: One on Franklin Avenue E., where neighbors have been gathering for several years, and a new event on Yale Avenue E. The block parties are part of the national Night Out Against Crime program. The goal is to help neighbors get to know each other and to learn about safety and crime prevention.
Cecilia Grevson and Randy Wright organized the Yale Avenue block party. Terrie Johnston, the crime prevention coordinator from the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct, and officers Anthony Gaedcke and Paul Gracy stopped by to express their support for the neighbors' efforts at crime prevention. Seattle Firefighters also visited and brought a fire truck, which was a big hit with the younger crowd. Two neighbors were organizing signatures on petitions to improve the Parking Zone regulations in the area. On Franklin, Jules James and Pandora Eyre and Erika Lim helped organize the block party. Talk centered around neighborhood issues and the announcement today that NOAA was moving its Seattle base to Newport, Oregon. Steaks and hot dogs were grilled, as were s'mores. Last week's heat wave was discussed and it was agreed that this week's weather was a great improvement. It was a casual, cool summer evening and a chance for people to meet neighbors they didn't know. Just what the Night Out organizers intended. Night Out Block Parties are beginning in a few minutes. This is a great chance to get out and meet your neighbors on a beautiful (and cool) summer evening. In Eastlake, there are two parties that I've heard of:
I'll be out at both, shooting photos and meeting people. Stop by and say hi!
A friend of mine is trying to help a friend-of-a-friend who will be in Seattle getting a stem cell transplant. This family of four needs a place to rent and a babysitter. Veronica thinks that, given their need to go between the Hutch and the UW, Eastlake might be ideal and I agree. If you know of a place to rent and/or a babysitter, get in touch with me and I'll connect you up with them: curtmilton (at) comcast.net. Thanks! Here's what they're looking for:
The deadline to register your Night Out Against Crime Block Party with the Seattle Police Department has been extended to Monday morning at 9 a.m. Click here for the SPD web page. If you're north of Lynn, you'll register in the East Precinct. South of Lynn and you're in the West Predinct. For the Night Out event, the SPD allows neighbors to get a permit to block off a street for a party for free. The idea is that neighbors will get to know each other better at these events and that will help in crime prevention.
There are at least two Night Out events in Eastlake that I've heard of:
Are you having a Night Out Block Party? Let me know and I'll add it to our list: curtmilton (at) comcast.net. The Eastlake Community Council needs help with the filing of its back archives. A work party has been scheduled for Monday, July 27, from 10 a.m. to noon, to work on this project. The ECC has an archives/board room at Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave. E., by the north courtyard just off Roanoke. Betty Gard, an experienced librarian and archivist, is donating her time to help the ECC get its files in order, but she needs assistance. Chris Leman, ECC vice president, says they may work outside in the shaded courtyard. Beverages, ice and fans will be provided. Night Out for 2009 is coming on Tuesday, Aug. 4. You have until Friday, July 31, to register your block party event with the Seattle Police Department. We'll put up a post late this week with details about any local Night Out events. I saw a poster for the Franklin Avenue block party yesterday. Sounds like fun! The block parties are part of the national Night Out Against Crime event. The idea is to help neighbors get to know each other and their neighborhood, and to celebrate their anti-crime efforts. If neighbors know each other, the idea goes, they will work more effectively together to help prevent crime. When you register at the SPD web site, remember that if you live north of E. Lynn, you're in the East Precinct. South of Lynn and you're in the West Precinct. Send me your info: curtmilton (at) comcast.net.
UPDATE: Miles has been found! Hal reports that he found Miles tonight (Saturday, Aug. 8), stuck under a low crawl space under the neighboring building's deck. "He seems relatively healthy and has been purring nonstop since he returned home," Hal e-mails. That's great news! Miles is a black and white domestic short hair. He's 8 years old and is neutered. He disappeared from the 2700 block of Franklin Ave. E. early on the morning of Thursday, July 23. If you find him, please call 206-328-2147 or 206-755-4779. There is a reward.
Outdoor movies used to be simple affairs. You may remember. The first one I ever attended was the Fremont Outdoor Cinema, back in its heyday, when the movie was shown on a real film projector and people brought their lawn chairs and the occasional sofa to a scruffy parking lot on a warm summer's evening. It was spontaneous, silly and lots of fun. Then, everyone discovered outdoor movie-going. That Fremont parking lot, home of the original outdoor movie, now sits under a PCC, and cinema au naturale has, for the most part, gone corporate. On Aug. 29, you'll have a chance to turn back the clock and enjoy a movie outdoors the way it was intended when you and your neighbors gather at Rogers Playfield at sundown for the Second Annual Eastlake Outdoor Movie Night. No big corporate sponsors, just a bunch of movie lovers, a large expanse of cool, green grass and a classic film. But which film? That's the question. Do you have a favorite you'd like to see? It needs to be something that would be OK for most ages to view. Scary would probably be good, but not too bloody. Funny but not too naughty. Not too heavey. It's summer ... something fun! I'm going to nominate "Houseboat," starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. I don't think I've ever seen this 1958 comedy, but this is Eastlake and we've got lots of houseboats. How could you go wrong? Cary's a widower trying to raise his three precocious kids. They think Sophia is the new maid, but she's actually an Italian socialite trying to get away from her overly protective father. Or there's that other floating home movie, actually set on an Eastlake houseboat: "Sleepless in ... " something. What's it called? You may have heard of it. That might be nice. What do you want to see? Put your suggestions on the comments and maybe your movie will be picked. And then come on the 29th and enjoy the show! As we noted in a recent post, Seattle Police Department crime statistics for Eastlake are almost useless for those of us who actually live here because we get mixed in with other parts of the city (Capitol Hill, for instance). This isn't true of the statistics on population, housing and employment. The City's Department of Planning and Development, in it's Draft Status Report on the Eastlake Residential Urban Village, gathers up stats from the 2000 Census and the Washington Employment Security Department to give a look at Eastlake by-the-numbers. And, what turns up may surprise you (keep in mind that these numbers are slightly out of date):
Interesting stuff and worth checking out. The complete report is here. Thanks to Tim Ahlers for sending along the link to the City's report. 
A familiar site at Lake Union Mail was anchored to a new position this week and polished up with a bright new cover. The metal bench that has been sitting in front of the Eastlake store for 15 years now sports a new coat of bright red paint and a new location directly in front of Lake Union Mail, just to the right of the door. Owner Jules James says the bench comes with a historic pedigree. At one time it was part of the ladder guard at the top of one of the smokestacks on the Lake Union Steam Plant (see our previous post). When the crumbling stacks were removed in the late 1980s, James came into possession of one of the ladder guards. And how did that happen, asks a visitor? "They were just sitting on the sidewalk," he says with a smile. Construction personnel at the power plant said, "We don't know anything." Sheryl Sirotnik, owner of the building that houses Lake Union Mail and Louisa's among other businesses, found an artist who fashioned the ladder guard into a bench. And there it sat on the sidewalk...
Once a year, the City of Seattle allows neighborhoods to barricade a street and hold a block party without requiring a permit. This year, the event is on Tuesday, Aug. 4. It's part of the national Night Out Against Crime event. The idea is to help neighbors get to know each other and their neighborhood, and to celebrate their anti-crime efforts. If neighbors know each other, the idea goes, they will work more effectively together to help prevent crime. From the Seattle Police Department's web site:
To register your neighborhood, go to the SPD's web site. You'll find a registration link on the right hand side (Eastlake north of Lynn is in the East Precinct; sound of Lynn it's in the West Precinct). Also, there are downloadable posters and signs to help out with your block party. 
Next Tuesday is Bastille Day and what better way to acknowledge French independence than with a community work party to clean up the Eastlake Bouledrome for the season? A group of neighbors gathered Friday evening at the Bouledrome, located in the street end park at Fairview East where East Louisa would intersect (if only Louisa went through). It was a great chance to help the neighborhood and find out a little history of the park and the Bouledrome (and learn how to play petanque). Linda Furney, Carsten Stinn and their son, Enzo (Teamenzo), were instrumental (with the help of many neighbors) in getting the project done in 2006. According to a blog post from Teamenzo in 2007, it took about six months of working with various City departments and local businesses to create the Bouledrome and petanque court. The site had previously been parking for a dock and boat repair business. When the business was closed and the dock replaced by houseboats, the street end became available for development. Teamenzo and other neighbors sprang into action to make the park and petanque court a reality. Dirt for the court came from Safeco Field. The special clay soil used on the pitcher's mound is rotated every two months, Carsten said, and he was able to get some for free. Granite curb stones removed from Pioneer Square were obtained from the city and form the edges of the court. Linda wrote the explanation of petanque that is on a plaque next to the court. I'm not going to go into all the details of how you play petanque, mainly because I don't know them. You can read more about the game on the Petanque America web site (they also sell equipment). It's the French variation on the Italian game of "bocci." In brief, the small orange ball you'll see in the photos is called the "piglet." The idea is to roll the large silver balls as close to the piglet as possible. Beyond that, you're going to have to ask Linda and Carsten. Helping out with the clean up party Friday were Teamenzo (Linda, Carsten and Enzo), Marsh and Sue Bugge, Canek Gordillo and Kate Milenba, Tim Ahlers and yours truly. The Bouledrome is always looking for new players and for people willing to help out. One concern is getting enough water to plants around the court. If you'd like to help out or play, wander down in the evenings and there's likely someone around who can show you the game or talk to you about volunteering. Check the Petanque America web site for more information, including more photos and a story about the Eastlake Bouledrome. If you're free tomorrow (Sunday, July 12) between 1 and 3 p.m., the Eastlake Community Council needs your help. They'll be having a work party to help with a backlog of filing in their archives. The work party will be at Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave. E., in the archives/board room just off the north courtyard.
Chris Leman, ECC vice president notes:
We ran into Curt and Tim yesterday at the Bouledrome. Turns out all 3 of us shutterbugs had our cameras at the ready. I think we have a photo club in the making. It's been a lovely summer in Eastlake. Hope you enjoy the pics. If the full-screen feature isn't working, you can get them bigger at http://tinyurl.com/lgzy3m
I was talking to some soon-to-be Eastlake residents the other night and realized that they (and, I presume, others) didn't know the history of the Lake Union Steam Plant. Indeed, they didn't even know that the ZymoGenetic's building had been a power plant in its past life. That evening, I happened upon the Flickr stream for the Seattle Municipal Archives. And there was a photo of the plant taken in the 1920s (right). There was apparently some construction work under way at the time (note the wood covering an entrance). A quick trip to HistoryLink.org found an entry on the history of the steam plant that is part of a cyber tour of Lake Union. According to HistoryLink, the original power plant on the site, built in 1912, employed hydro power. Water coming down from Volunteer Park turned the turbines. The building was known simply as the "Power House." The original Power House is the small building on the south with a red roof. Over the years, the plant was expanded in three phases. Originally intended to produce power for peak loads, it eventually ended up generating electricity for base loads. In the mid-1980s it was shut down (I saw it in operation exactly once). The original plan was to convert the steam plant to condominiums, but that fell through. ZymoGenetics bought the building in 1993 for $1.6 million and, according to HistoryLink, spent 20 times that much renovating it. It was accorded historic preservation status in 1994. The plant's seven original smokestacks were in bad shape and were removed in 1991. Six replacement stacks were installed during the renovation in 1994 (federal standards, HistoryLink says, discourage exact replicas). In the meantime, new condos had sprouted on the western slope of Capitol Hill. Condo owners had grown accustomed to the view unemcumbered by smokestacks. When the replacement stacks were installed, residents of those condos screamed to the Seattle Times that their views were being destroyed. Another photo of the plant, this one from the Seattle P-I archives from 1937, is available on King County Snapshots. A piece of one of the original smokestacks will soon become a permanent part of the Eastlake landscape. We'll let you know when. Thanks to the Seattle Municipal Archives for use of the photo.
A weeding and clean-up party has been scheduled for Friday evening, 5:30-8 p.m., at the "Eastlake Bouledrome" at the street end park where Louisa would meet up with Fairview if Louisa connected. The Bouledrome was created by Eastlake neighbors a couple of years ago. Chief activity at the park is the playing of petanque, the French variation of the Italian "bocce." Carsten Stinn says:
Tim Ahlers says the cleaning will be followed by games of petanque and, appropriately, wine and cheese. Everyone is welcome. Consider yourself invited! Tres bien! 
What do you think? Were the crowds on the Fourth of July as nutty as you'd feared? Or were things OK? Or somewhere in between? Sound off in the comments on this post. I know the Seattle Police Department wants to hear what we thought and what we experienced so they can plan better for next year. One thought I had: Maybe access on Fairview Ave. E. needs to be restricted earlier than 6:30 p.m. It's a narrow street and there were lots of people walking along it, heading for a favorite viewing spot, plus a number of cars trying to make their way through. There aren't sidewalks there and it can be cramped and potentially dangerous. But that's just my thought. Go for it! What did you think? What worked? What didn't? What should be changed?
It's almost 4 p.m. and the temperature stands at 83. Isn't the Fourth usually colder than this? What an amazing day! The Eastlake Block Party (not sure if it has an official name) is happening on Minor Ave. E. between E. Lynn and E. Louisa. The 75-foot water slide is in operation (I got soaked taking the photo), Tako Truk is grilling up wonderous things, and the house DJ is playing music. The mechanical bull will begin bucking unsuspecting cowgirls and cowboys at 5 p.m. And there are two bands that will be playing later today. Around the neighborhood, other businesses are open (Louisa's has lots of balloons out front to let you know they are there) and I see people setting up barbecues and grilling. Or just hanging out and enjoying the day. Fireworks begin at 10 p.m. |
