Alphabet Soup Children’s Books announced it is closing after 15 years at 1406 N 45th Street.

The last day to shop there will be Saturday, December 28th, 2019, and everything in the store will be 30% off.

I’ve been to this small, independent bookstore many times, and always found the store well curated, well stocked, and very friendly.

So stop by tomorrow and wish them all the best in their next endeavors. You can also check out their online eBay store, alphabetsoupbooks.

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Tonight, December 23rd, Gas Works Park will be hosting the Grand Finale of this year’s Christmas Ships Festival. Seattle Parks and Recreation is organizing a bonfire, and Choir of the Sound will be singing Christmas carols starting at 8:45 p.m.

I have cherished neighborhood traditions for many different holidays, but one of my absolute favorites is the Christmas Ships.

When I have taken the family in years past the weather has been… less than desirable, to put it nicely. Last year it coincided with a 40 mph wind storm that knocked out power to a good bit of the neighborhood …

The U District is changing. There is the first new high rise since 1975, University Seafood is closing, and now WeWork is opening a co-working and separate office space at the Roosevelt Commons 4311 11th Ave NE on January 12, 2020. I must tell you that I’ve dreamed of branching out and creating my own startup. The Roosevelt Commons is a great location for me. I requested a tour of the space, and some very nice sales associates showed me around the 5th floor of the building which was literally a building site. The flooring was not yet installed. There …

A number of reports are circulating online, among them this from Connect Media, that the Bartell Building located at 1820 N 45th St has been sold. The building is one among a dwindling number of single-story buildings along 45th where zoning changes approved earlier this year allow buildings of up to 75 feet in height.

The space had been advertised online for a price of $6.875 million in a deal brokered by Newmark Knight Frank a local commercial real estate firm. The sale closed on November 21 for $6.095 million. A search of records at the King County Assessor’s office …

Reverand Tiare Mathison of the Wallingford Presbyterian Church (1414 N. 42nd Street) invites everyone to an hour or singing Christmas carols and other holiday songs, “favorites both sacred and not”, Thursday, December 19th at 7 pm.

Which reminds me, when I was growing up in New Haven, I remember a few times Christmas Carolers would go from house to house singing songs from the sidewalk. I’m pretty sure we shut off the porch light, leaving only our menorah lit in the window, but in my adulthood, the notion of people ambling from house to house throughout the neighborhood singing seems …

If you’ve walked to the southern part of Stone Way anytime in the past several months, you’ve likely seen the white land use action sign in front of 3542 Stone heralding the arrival of a new development and the demise of another one of our neighborhood’s old, low-rise buildings. While Stone Way Cafe will remain, gone will be Hashtag and Sea Ocean Books to be replaced by Living Stone.

The new building, plans for which date back at least as far as early 2018, will consist of a five-story office building with retail shops on the ground level facing Stone …

The holiday season traditions continue.  All the posts of the past week have reminded me just how many traditions there are in the neighborhood. (It is the holiday season so I am using an expansive definition of Wallingford).  Sadly, I normally remember these events when I inadvertently stumble into them on my way somewhere else.   The city has done a great job with this event, and they deserve some well earned credit.  The full details are below:

Pathway of Lights returns to Green Lake on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019
The holidays are upon us, and we’re getting into the spirit …