Wally Pets (Paul “Brownie” Brown) is moving two doors down into the former Wide World Books & Maps. The move is scheduled for the end of this month. Regular customers need not be alarmed about a “For Lease” sign or the upcoming flurry of moving activity. The store is moving over, but not out! By the time you need a new case of dog food or bag of cat litter, you can welcome Paul into his new and improved space. Over…
On May 16, 1942, seventy-five years ago today, Gordon Hirabayashi, a student at the University of Washington, was arrested by the FBI. Five months earlier, Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, finally drawing a reluctant United States into World War II. Two months later, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, leading to the evacuation and internment of more than 110,000 Japanese people (more than two-thirds of whom were United States citizens.) "As an American citizen," he told scholar Ronald Takaki, "I wanted to uphold…
Did you know that B.F. Day Elementary School in Fremont is the oldest, continually operating school in Seattle? They are celebrating their 125th Anniversary this month! B.F. Day opened on May 2nd, 1892 and has served the neighborhood ever since. The school was originally built to accommodate the growing number of children from railroad and lumber families coming to Fremont and Wallingford as the industries grew around Lake Union. The first year the school had 185 students in grades 1-6. On…
If this past weeks' weather wasn't enough to convince you that Winter has finally surrendered to Spring, turned in her sleet and shivers, and seen them bagged and tagged, then tucked in the safe where she can claim them in the Fall, if Wallingfordians frolicking about the May Pole in Gas Works Park left you still not entirely sure we had transitioned from the cold wet season to the tepid wet season, then get yourself to Meridian Park this Wednesday for…
I'd like your opinion on something. Let's call it the "Sidewalk Squeeze". Your typical Wallingford sidewalk is three squares wide, each square measuring 2' across. That adds up to a healthy 6' of breadth, enough that someone stumbling home from a late night at the Leny's or the Grizzled Wizard can do a bit of weaving without trampling anyone's lawn. But, of course, Wallingford is home to many a healthy garden and a bevy of bushes, many of which encroach on…
The saga of the old house at 41st and Meridian has a new chapter: this morning, bulldozers showed up and knocked her down. The house itself has been unoccupied for as long as I can remember, at least a decade if not two. For a long time, the lawn was carefully mowed and hedges trimmed (although they were allowed to slowly consume an old 1950's era car, creating an unintentional bit of yard art), but the interior was hidden behind curtains.…
Today (May 10) is the Seattle Foundation's annual GiveBIG event, a one-day online charitable fiesta. Over 1,700 non-profits are participating, with over 600 having secured $1:$1 matching funds for donations made today, so it's a great opportunity to double the impact of your donation. Visit GiveBIG's website to find an organization that is working on issues you care about. In honor of the day, we invited Joey Ashenbrenner, Development and Resource Manager for Wallingford's FamilyWorks to share some stories about what that organization is doing to…