Back by popular demand for its fourth consecutive year, Seattle’s most DIY music festival, Porchfest, will bring the rock, folk, hip hop, punk, and even a little marimba to northern Wallingford (aka Tangletown) on June 15.

Wallingford Porchfest began in the summer of 2021, as Seattle was slowly creeping out of COVID lockdown. We the people were newly vaxxed but still a little wary of indoor crowds, so a group of neighbors opened up their porches to local musicians, providing concert lovers a much needed dose of the live music experience they’d been craving for the previous sixteen months. And …

Twenty months after shutting down due to the demolition of their previous location, Stone Way Cafe will rise again on May 15. The much-beloved cafe’s new space at 3525 Stone Way N is practically across the street from their old spot, whose next incarnation will be a five-story office/retail building. Longer term residents of Wallingford will remember Stone Way Cafe’s new location at the corner of 35th and Stone as the site of Daly’s Paint & Decorating, one of the many light industrial businesses that once graced this now booming corridor.

Walking down Stone on May 2, I noticed …

As reported in the pages of Wallyhood way back in February 2023, Magnolia mainstay Figurehead Brewing was planning an expansion to a new, second location at 3513 Stone Way. The owners had been hoping to open in October 2023, but issues with permitting delayed construction for several months. After some bureaucratic touch-and-go, the long wait is over and the new space will be rolling open their doors to the public on Tuesday, April 16 at 11:00am.

Co-owner Bob Monroe was kind enough to invite me to their soft opening this past Sunday afternoon. The build-out is impressive. The rugged gutted …

You’re likely not hearing it here first, but this news bears repeating: There’s a very good chance that Wallingford icon, Murphy’s Pub, could soon close.

The property at 45th and Meridian containing Murphy’s, Kostas Opa, Rugs of the World, and the old Fat Cat Records building will soon be put up for sale. A new developer would likely demolish the existing structures and build up to 150 residential units.

Prior to listing the entire property, the owners of Murphy’s came to an agreement with their landlord—they could buy the portion of the property their pub sits on for the low, …

An “early design guidance meeting” for the building proposed on the former site of the Guild 45th Theater has been scheduled for February 26. To hear a presentation on building design from the developer and comment on the proposal, go to this link or call 206.207.1700 on Monday at 5pm. The access code is 2494 358 9014.

You can also go here to make public comments on the design until Friday, February 23.

The project developer, Seattle architecture firm Clark Barnes, has provided a comprehensive document outlining the three design proposals. They describe the project as a five-story mixed use …

Since the company was purchased by Rite Aid in October 2020, the demise of Bartell Drugs locations in our region has been well documented. As dozens of stores closed (including “Store #1” in downtown Seattle in December) various locations seemed to be hanging on, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in hoping that the Wallingford Bartell’s would avoid the hit. Alas, it is not so. In the last week of January, “STORE CLOSING” and “ENTIRE STORE ON SALE!” signs appeared on the store’s facade and interior, their garish all-caps urgency a further kick to the gut.

On a recent visit, …

If you’ve walked, biked, or (hopefully rarely) driven along N 43rd and N 44th Streets between Stone Way and Latona Avenue in the past several weeks you may have noticed the “Wallingford Healthy Street Improvements Coming!” announcement signage.

Healthy Streets were one of the few positive things to result from the COVID-19 pandemic (others being takeaway booze and daytime pajamas). Keeping six feet from other people often meant giving wide berth on sidewalks and zig-zagging through the neighborhood like a drunken squirrel. More walking space was needed.

Far be it from car-dependent Seattle to actually pedestrianize some roadways, “Stay Healthy …