Tina’s celebrates 30 years

If there’s such a thing as a destination fabric store, Tina’s on Madison surely fits the category. In its three decades as a mainstay of Madison Park’s “Village” the store has become known to many Northwest fabric aficionados as the place to get what you need. And it’s not just fabric you’ll find once you wade into Tina’s, it’s also tassels, trims, ribbons, beads, and sewing supplies. It may not be everything, but it’s pretty much everything that’ll...

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Real Estate Report: August/September 2010

The market’s turned, but not by muchThere’s really no getting around the fact that as we head into the fall the Madison Park real estate market is doing no better than just holding its own. Although the late spring and early summer months seemed to augur a resurgence, the late summer numbers show a decline in sales, an increase in the days on market for sold homes, and higher discounts being accepted by sellers.It probably doesn’t help any to know...

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Did Madrona arsonist make an attempt here?

Seattle Police are reportedly investigating whether the suspect who burglarized and then burned a house in Madrona last week was responsible for an earlier attempt to do the same thing in our own neighborhood. That’s the word, at least, from a victimized Madison Park homeowner who wishes to remain anonymous. His story provides us with one of those yes-it-can-happen-here wake-up moments.Our informant reports that he and his wife returned to their...

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Short takes No. 10

Madison Park Conservatory: getting closeSince neighborhood favorite Sostanza went dark in July, many Madison Park gourmands have been waiting with eager anticipation for news about its replacement, Madison Park Conservatory. Co-owner Cormac Mahoney added to the buzz last week by making the rounds of Village shops and charming the owners—or at least several of the female ones. We heard all about it, of course, and that prompted us to go direct to...

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Bush School loses out on MLK Elementary bid

It may come as a bit of a shock to some Seattle taxpayers to learn that the School District, which is currently asking voters to approve a new $48 million tax levy, is planning to turn down several million dollars that it could have realized from the sale of the Martin Luther King Elementary School site in Madison Valley, located just on the doorstep of Madison Park (3201 E. Republican Street).As we reported this summer, the school was closed in...

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Police beat, an update

Columbus Day burglary foiled by alarmMcGilvra’s Bar & Restaurant was on the receiving end of an unwelcome early morning visit by one or more burglars on Monday. At 4:40 am the perpetrator(s) removed the pins from two of three hinges and then ripped the back door from its frame. Apparently intent on liberating cash from what they thought was a safe near the bar, they entered the pub and quickly found and cut the wires to the alarm system. But...

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“Gateway to Chile” opens this weekend

Though it clearly has a ways to go before it becomes the “eye-catching display of colorful Chilean plants” that it’s ultimately intended to be, the Arboretum’s newest installation, Gateway to Chile, is about to get its official public unveiling. On Sunday, October 17, the public is invited to the inauguration of what’s certainly the most ambitious replanting project undertaken in the Park for several decades. This garden represents the first phase...

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Halloween in the Park begins early

It’s apparent from the emails we’ve been receiving and the Google searches that have been landing on our blog recently, that parents want to know what’s up with Halloween in Madison Park this year. The spooky day occurs on Sunday, October 31, but here’s everyone’s big question: when, exactly, are our friendly neighborhood shops going to be forking over treats to all our little tricksters?To get the answer, I went straight to the top, asking Madison...

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Pit bull attack gets a reaction

This is Madison Park, a great walking neighborhood. A place, in fact, where residents and visitors expect to be able to stroll on a lovely summer’s day without fear or concern. So when an incident occurs that shows us our tranquil little community is not always as safe and comfortable as we’ve complacently believed, it’s a bit shocking. And it’s definitely a story.The recent report of multiple attacks by a neighborhood pit bull on unsuspecting passersby...

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Police Blotter 10/9/10

It’s always somethingThose who were wishing for a reprieve from neighborhood crime simply because summer was ending have yet to see those hopes realized. We continue to have our share of break-ins (of both homes and cars), stolen autos and, of course, the occasional death threat. More on all that in a minute.First, however, here’s an epilogue to a crime we told you about on our last Police Blotter where the whole thing was captured on the homeowner’s...

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Madison Park Pit Bull attacks three women

but is returned by Animal Control to its ownerOn the afternoon of August 21, on a quiet street in the Washington Park neighborhood of Madison Park, two women were attacked by an unleashed Pit Bull. Both of the women were bitten, one badly enough to require a trip to the emergency room. Later that afternoon, another woman, while walking with a friend on the same street, was viciously attacked by the same roving dog. She too ended up in the emergency...

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Madison Park Hardware is being sold

Lola makes it officialTo many of her longtime customers and friends, it’s been an open secret for many months that Lola McKee was in the process of selling the suspended-in-time neighborhood hardware store that she and her family have owned and operated here for the past 54 years. But as anyone who knows Lola knows, she likes to do things in her own way and in her own time. So we’ve held off on reporting the story until Lola was good and ready to...

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