An Uncertain Future

On Wednesday, the owner of Open Books released a letter discussing the future of the business.  More than a business, Open Books is a shop that curates a community of poets, readers and literature lovers. It’s a place to sink deeply into the perfect reading chair with a stack of books by your side and transform your afternoon. The letter, posted below, details how Open Books is looking for a new home upon learning that their lease expires on March 1st with no option to extend.

Owner, Billie Swift, was a customer just completing an MFA in …

For those of you who didn’t make the rounds in the neighborhood, we wanted to share that Halloween is alive and well in Wallingford. More trick-or-treaters roamed the streets and more residents handed out candy. While some brave Wallyhood dwellers encouraged the old fashioned door-bell ringing of years past, others maintained the innovative delivery mechanisms born of the pandemic, like the candy cannon, the candy tube and the candy zipline.

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Hokkaido-Style Soft Serve Opens on 45th Street

They say “hunger is the best sauce.” After an enjoyable 40 minutes in queue waiting for Hokkaido-style soft serve at Indigo Cow, this is proven to be true. Like the old days of waiting for concert tickets, a new album to drop or a limited release craft beer, being in line for ice cream was almost as great as the final product.

Ready for a treat, folks came from all around the greater Seattle area. Standing in a line that wrapped around the building, we shared stories of what getting ice cream felt …

On Thursday, the jury in the Lita Byrnes murder trial reached a verdict in King County Superior Court. The jury found:

– Guilty on First Degree Premeditated murder
– Guilty on Second Degree Felony Murder
– Yes on Use of a Deadly Weapon
– Yes on Deliberate Cruelty

These charges make the defendant eligible for a life sentence. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 10th, and anyone may write a victim’s impact statement as long as they send it to the victim’s advocate by November 24th.

For those who don’t feel comfortable writing a full statement, the justiceforlita group …

A report from The Urbanist of the imminent demise of the pedestrian and cyclist crossing at NE 45th over I-5 is overstated. Ever since 2015, we’ve been working to improve the crossing for cyclists and pedestrians, including getting the project funded as part of the Levy to Move Seattle. We’ve also gotten the project voted to the top ranks through “your voice, your choice”, and as the top priority for district 4 of Seattle Greenways. Through all these community actions, SDOT has complained that working with WSDOT is too hard, so they have chosen to fritter money away on their …

While just about everyone in our neighborhood—and in the city as a whole, for that matter—has experienced some sort of property crime, real acts of violence are thankfully rare in Wallingford. However, one of note in the latter category that did happen here, and hit close to home for many in the community including the editors of Wallyhood at the time, was the tragic murder of Lita Byrnes in 2018. People who knew and loved her have not forgotten, and we heard from some who have been following the trial of the accused murderer. They are asking for support as …