After the recent bout of “gang” related shootings in the Puget Sound area, it seems that more people are aware that Seattle actually has gangs, not just “gangs”. The difference? According to Dictionary.com, a gang is a “group of criminals or hoodlums who band together for mutual protection and profit.” According to me, a “gang” is a “group of bored wannabe-gang members posturing and acting like big thugs who make really stupid decisions.” There is an apparent difference, a legitimacy that wasn’t there before. Well, I’ve done some looking around and have come to the conclusion that yes, Seattle really does have gangs, but not in to the extreme that say, Los Angeles has gangs. Or maybe that’s more my assumption yet again.

Gang Territories

While browsing through Seattle 911 (Seattle PI, a great reference source), I found this map showing gang “territories” in the greater Seattle area. It shows more official gang activity than I had previously thought. I’d like to say that I’m not typically this oblivious to what is going on. I lived for a few years in the Rainier Beach area, hung out in West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley, and other neighborhoods of the city that show up on the map as neighborhoods where gangs like to congregate. I’ve seen plenty of kids that likely could have been or likely were in a gang. I knew kids who carried guns. I continued to dismiss all of it as “gang” and not gang activity. The greater the occurrence of incidents involving guns, violence, and deaths, the more likely it is that Seattle does have a legitimate gang problem.

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photo by machel spence [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• the City Council sets a course for more streetcars, and step on it! Because the South Lake Union one’s been such a hit, right? [seattletransitblog]
• West Seattle Blog is about to turn three. (Holiday) Party in the Junction, etc. [wsb]
• More about Deborh Lawrence’s impeachment ornament. Now VIRAL! [arttogo]
• Perhaps you’d like to buy a condo on the cheap(er)? Auctions abound, signifying a the real estate cloud o’ doom has reached Seattle. [alexgarcia]
• Not afraid to be servicey, CHS & friends help a neighbor find a $50 date on the hill. [capitolhillseattle]

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As regular readers recall, we simply adore “best”, “worst”, “most” and “least” lists, which is why the instant I saw the “The Most Expensive Small Towns in America” headline at BusinessWeek I rushed to click it open and check to see if any local towns made it on the list only to discover that, sure enough, there was one: Clyde Hill.

According to its official website, Clyde Hill is located 1.5 to 2 miles east of the City of Seattle and is bordered by Bellevue, Kirkland, Medina, Yarrow Point and Hunts Point. Prior to looking at the Clyde Hill website I had no idea that Yarrow Point and Hunts Point were, in fact, towns and not simply neighborhoods, but to be fair I thought the same thing about Clyde Hill at first, too. Population of Clyde Hill is just under 3,000. The median home sales price is $1,466,093 and the median household income is $132,468,. Since two public and two private schools, town government, the gas station and the Tully’s represent 295 of the approximately 300 jobs in Clyde Hill, it’s a safe bet that most of the residents commute to work.

Clyde Hill follows Stinson Beach, CA, Water Mill, NY, Block Island, RI, Hidden Hills, CA, Far Hills, NJ, Sands Point, NY, Sullivan’s Island, SC, Stone Harbor, NJ, Kenilworth, IL, and Rancho Santa Fe, NM, on the list, making me wonder if there’s some connection between the number of words in a town’s name and its cost of living.

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photo by BrittneyBush [flickr]

I adore this foggy Space Needle shot from last Sunday.

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A couple years ago a stand-off between a menorah and a christmas tree resulted in eerie scenes of winter wonderland at Sea-Tac. This year, via the Seattle LiveJournal community [#], comes word of the latest pairing in winter icons. It seems that the baby Jesus has company this year at the State Capitol. The Freedom From Religion folks have sent a little sign to Olympia to sit along side the nativity scene. [times] My own perspective is that the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s are so drenched with holiday music, overwhelming advertisements, and inescapable decorations that it doesn’t seem too grinchly to suggest that an airport or government building free of “spirit” or “anti-spirit” could be more of a refuge than an insult. Your mileage my vary.

While we’re on the topic of holiday insults, it turns out that the Bush family doesn’t want to spend their last days in the White House being taunted by their tree. Seattlest brings us the story [#] of local artist Deborah Lawrence whose McDermott-loving, Bush-hating ornament nearly made it onto the official tree before someone took a look at the fine collage print. [komo]

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All of a sudden, there’s a reason to go to Greenwood besides doing jello shots at the Baranoff. Gainsbourg, partly owned by Hannah Levin and taking over the old Northside Grill space above 85th, is a dark and friendly little bar with decently-priced small plate of French inspired food. (Do like we did and class up your pitcher of PBR with the escargot, which is much better than it should be at $6.)

You’ll recognize the bartenders from McLeod Residence and The Sunset, and for being pretty small the space is nicely laid out–a few booths, a line of two-person tables, and one big table with hidden leaves and a large candelabra that is an accident waiting to happen. There’s also a pretty cozy couch by the window, near the fake fireplace.

The place is a little hard to find right now, tucked in a row of storefronts with no obvious signs, and for now they are waiting for a liquor license and so only serving beer and wine–you’ll have to go across the street for liquor, for now. Gainsbourg looks exactly like what it’s claiming to be: a friendly neighborhood bar.

It’s located at 8850 Greenwood Ave. N.

(Image via Invisible Hour.)

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photo via stephen malkmus [myspace]

Once upon a time there was a band called Pavement that gave college indie-rock geeks (before being an indie rock geek was a primetime drama character trait) something to obsess over in the nineties that wasn’t grunge. Now, of course, they have faded into the mists of record shop legend, but frontman Stephen Malkmus lives on with his merry band of heroes, the Jicks. Who, by the way, feature one Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney fame on drums.

They’ll bring their sprawling, noodling, rocking all the way from Portland to Neumo’s this Saturday night. You can buy tickets right away ($17 plus fees) or try your luck and win a pair by sending a note to seattle.metblogs @ gmail.com. (please include your name and mailing address, since the tickets are “real” and not “will call”). I’ll pick a winner by the end of the day. A winner was already chosen; thanks to all for entering.

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks + guests; $17; 6 December, 8pm, [neumos]

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photo by taylor hain [flickr] via our group pool [#].

• Eli Sanders tries to understand why the [student-funded] Daily is publishing offensive, right-wing, poorly reasoned, ill-informed, anti-gay editorials. [slog] Let’s try to not cynically compare the number of comments between that one, and this pro-Prop 8 one published the same day [uwdaily] and just accentuate the positive — it prompted Dan Savage to coin the term “douchesparkle“. [slog]
• Hell, with enough prodding, even articles about poetry can get comment-mobbed. [slog]
• The Northwest Film Forum is having a holiday party and your favorite film critic will be dressed as Santa. Every time I think of the awesomest possibility, I think of another more hilarious option. This is how they get you to show up! [seattlest]
• It’s rent-a-tree time. [ikea]
• Archie McPhee has a book! [myballard] So does 43 Things! [joshp]
• The City Market sign-making genius revealed, in Seattle magazine. [flickr]

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A quick review of the facts:

1. You live in Seattle
2. You go to Bumbershoot
3. You whine about ticket prices

Yes, these are pretty much defining characteristics that make you a true Seattleite. But it’s time to break the cycle. Right now you can buy tickets to Bumbershoot 2009 for the insanely low price of $60 for a three-day weekend. It’s the perfect gift for yourself, your friends, and anyone who likes music, art, theater, elephant ears, books, comedy, and a Labor Day overload. Plus, it’s easy to mail or carry home without incurring those pesky fees for hauling home extra luggage on your way home from holiday festivities.

Not absolutely positive that you’ll go? It’s fairly certain that you or someone you know will be able to make use of a ticket come next 5 September. All you need to do is join the Bumberfanclub to get the secret stimulating password.

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Photo courtesy of Wesa [flickr] via our group pool [#]

Nickelsville is likely to move again, after a vote by University Congregational United Church of Christ (UCUCC) to allow the homeless encampment use of their parking lot at 45th and 15th for the next three months. (#) This will be the fifth move for Nickelsville since September- they began near the Duwamish River, moved to a parking lot nearby, camped out at Discovery Park, and finally settled in the U-District at the University Christian Church (UCC). UCC needs to use its parking lot again- not surprising considering that UCUCC says that their parking lot would have earned them about $19,000 in the three months that they’ve allotted to Nickelsville. Fortunately for residents, the distance between the two camps is only five blocks, and will likely make logistics and transportation during the move a little easier for the residents.

And there soon may be more residents at the tent city. A local homeless shelter that provides 55 beds to homeless men may be out of funding, barring a Christmas miracle, according to the P-I. (#) CityTeam Ministries (formerly Peniel Missions, a 106-year-old ministry), will close on December 27th, unless they are able to raise $1 million by Dec. 4 to cover their $742,000 annual operating expenses for next year, as well as outstanding expenses from this year. If you’re interested in donating, you can read their director’s letter.

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SR 11, Chuckanut Drive rockslide by wsdot.

The smooth side of this wall is actually shotcrete, a spray-on concrete. Fascinating! I wasn’t aware that concrete could be sprayed on.

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The Space Needle disappears into the fog

If you’re thinking of running a half or a full marathon, I can recommend the Seattle Marathon series of events. Here’s a brief rundown of the event for anyone thinking about trying it next year.
Read more

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Foggy Sunday courtesy of the Shawnmebo[flickr] via our group pool [#]

I have a confession: Until today, I had never been to Discovery Park. Sure, it’s only 12 minutes from my place, and I love to hike. But somehow, I had managed to avoid it in favor of the I-90 corridor for nearly two years. When I mentioned that I was going to go today on Facebook, I even got incredulous remarks from out-of-towners who had been someplace I hadn’t been.

Of course, today might not have been the best day to decide to check it out, seeing as how the whole of Seattle got eaten by a fog monster, as pictured above. The beach was rather one shade of gray merging into another- sand into waves into fog. Which is not to say that it was a bad trip- now that I’ve ‘discovered’ Discovery Park, I will definitely be returning. It’s amazing that we have a park that large in the city, with 11+ miles of trails through all manner of wilderness.

But as I said- while the day was perhaps not ideal, I still saw something I’d never seen before: Harbor Seals! From my vantage point they looked like driftwood for a while, until the one I was watching deliberately dove underwater. We watched them play for a while, and then returned to our hike. But… seals! I knew that people had seen them out here; in fact, some of my friends have posted Flickr photos of seals out in West Seattle. I just assumed that I would never see them myself, and would have to settle for living vicariously through my friends’ occasional seal spotting. Of course, my general tendency during these moments is to immediately share the moment- to let someone else live vicariously through me, which usually includes calling the landlocked parental units, who allow me to spill my excitement without getting too annoyed. I’m still excited, though- seals! In Seattle! So close by! We are so spoiled to live in such an amazing city, where we can stumble across seals on a Sunday stroll.

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Alpine Self-Serve Restaurant, 1960 courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives [flickr] via our group pool [#]

While enjoying a cup of coffee and some live jazz at Zoka tonight, I ran into a self-described Seattle old-timer. He was more than happy to tell us about Tangletown’s history, and spent a long time musing about this place that no longer exists- at least, not near Green Lake.

Once upon a time, there was a place called Honey Bear across the street, and in the good old days, that was where everyone went. You’d run into people from Denmark and Sweden while getting $1 cinnamon rolls, and people talked to each other- it wasn’t unheard of for customers to just randomly ask if other customers wanted to go walk around Green Lake after their meal. According to our new friend, Honey Bear was world-famous, because it was so homey and cozy, and one visitor attempted to recreate it in his home country, but was unsuccessful. As these things often go, Honey Bear’s owners sold it, and the new owners weren’t engaged in the day-to-day management, and changed the staff and the atmosphere, leading to its eventual death.

Stories like this make me miss the Seattle I never knew. It’s hard to imagine a restaurant where Seattleites actually talked to each other, and hung out together after meals, though this gentleman’s personality made me believe that perhaps once upon a time, Seattle was the kind of place where these things could happen. Honey Bear has reincarnated in Ravenna and Lake Forest Park, so perhaps I’ll discover a similar community if I manage to venture up that direction; but it does make me nostalgic for this magical place this man described, that I won’t ever be a part of.

It does make me wonder if there are other places that have that kind of friendly following that I just haven’t discovered yet… and also, whether there are other places old-timer Seattleites get nostalgic for that I should know about, even if I won’t ever be able to experience them. So, those of you who have been here for a while, what am I missing?

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• After you’ve finished feeding your body with your Thanksgiving leftovers, head down to SIFF Cinema and feed your mind with Louise Bourgeoise: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine, an intimate look at a larger-than-life figure of the art world who has been at the forefront of new development for 60 years. Bourgeoise’s passionate nature leads to passionate, provocative works with an immeasurable impact on the art world.
• SIFF’s Saturday morning Films4Families selection is the delightful Mary Poppins in which a luminous Julie Andrews portrays the subversively charming nanny who effortlessly brightens the lives of everyone around her.
• NWFF offers up Frontrunners, an examination of the hotly contested election season at Stuyvesant, NYC’s high school for the “gifted” students. Alumni of the school include people like Tim Robbins, Jimmy Cagney, Thelonious Monk, Lucy Liu and a host of politicians, business people and Nobel prize winners. You just might be watching one of the future captains of industry grab his or her first brass ring.
• The Grand Illusion warms you up for the forthcoming George Bailey season with a second week of James Stewart, this time in the form of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, an endearing fantasy about a dreamer of a small town senator who finds himself pitted against the bad boys division of the good ol’ boys club. Contrary to the claims of many a candidate, there never really has been a true real life equivalent of Mr. Smith, but, boy will Stewart make you wish there was.

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