Our neighborhood Starbucks gets a nod from the New York Times (no less)

Starbucks achieved some great free "product placement" yesterday when the New York Times published a profile of the company's Madison Park store in a article headlined, "There's One on Every Corner, But None Like This."  The editorial motivation for the piece is the fact that our locally-based, global Mega Coffee Purveyor is experimenting in Madison Park with something new: wine and beer. What we already knew, the world now knows. Describing...

Read More

Belle Epicurean gets the doors open

They're having a "soft opening" at Belle Epicurean starting today, one which will extent through Labor Day.  After that, according to co-owner/chef/creator Carolyn Ferguson, it's full speed ahead.   The neighborhood's latest food purveyor took on the space vacated by Island Video in March, but getting the new location up and running has taken a bit longer than planned.  Today was the day, however, and they're ready for business....

Read More

This and that

Floating bridge to close againThis weekend the SR 520 bridge will be closed for the third time this summer as work crews finish up construction of a fish culvert near Yarrow Point and shift traffic lanes near Evergreen Point Road to create a median work zone.  So no work on the bridge itself, but plenty of activity (including night work)  to disrupt those living near 520 on the Eastside.  The bridge will be closed from 11 pm on Friday...

Read More

When it comes to crime, vigilance is better than the other thing (getting ripped off)

[We have never recycled a posting on this blog--until now.  The recent spate of criminal incidents in the neighborhood, break-ins in particular, makes this particular posting from December 2009 (when we had about a tenth of our current readership) a particularly timely reminder to Madison Parkers.  As an aside, my wife and I installed two strategically placed video cameras on our property before heading off on vacation this summer.  Also...

Read More

glassybaby founder up for award

Lee Rhodes, who ten years ago founded her highly successful glass candleholder business in the garage of her Madison Park residence, has been nominated for Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur of 2011 Award.  She’s the only woman nominee in the Established Entrepreneurs category this year.Rhodes is a three-time cancer survivor, whose battle with the disease provided the inspiration for her product.  From the beginning, glassybaby has donated...

Read More

A sad passing

Barbara Washington, who with her husband Ed owned and operated Madison Park’s Scoop du Jour for almost three decades, passed away earlier this month after a battle with pancreatic cancer.   Barbara was known to several generations of neighborhood kids for her pleasant good humor while scooping out the ice cream and for her cooking skills in dishing up the fabulous burgers she created in the back of the shop.  Ed and Barbara started the iconic ice cream parlor 27 years ago, making it one of the most successful and long-lived businesses...

Read More

More August events

Two Dog Island, founded 15 years ago by former Nordstrom executive (and Madison Park resident) Galen Jefferson, will be previewing its new fall line with a trunk show at Ropa Bella this week.  Two Dog Island’s focus is on “high quality casual separates for women,” beginning—but not ending—with comfy sweatshirts.  The show will be underway from 2 until 7 pm on Thursday, August 25 at the store (1928 43rd Avenue E.)The Arboretum is requesting public input concerning a “preferred alternative” to the “preliminary conceptual design” for the...

Read More

Police Blotter 8/18/11

Robbery attempt foiledLast week an employee of Red Wagon Toys, acting with an astonishing degree of intuition and hutzpah (or perhaps just simple foolhardiness) caused a potential robber to think better of the idea and exit the premises.  The episode began when a 6’ 2” black male wearing a red and white hoodie entered the store early in the afternoon of Monday, August 8.  His demeanor did not appear to be that of a shopper looking for toys,...

Read More

A new addition to the retail core

Park Bench Gifts set to open in OctoberThough some have argued otherwise, it's not true there are basically only three kinds of businesses left in Madison Park:  eateries, spas and banks.  While the business district (known to many as The Village) has lost some major establishments over the years (The Yankee Peddler, Madison Park Books, and Nubia's immediately come to mind), it's also true that retail remains a vital part of what makes...

Read More

Cafe Parco to debut in the fall

Italian cuisine returns to the local restaurant sceneAs early as October, after some remodeling to the Madison Park Cafe space is completed, Seattle Chef Celinda Norton and family, who until last month operated 94 Stewart in the Pike Place Market, will be bringing their talents to Madison Park with a new incarnation:  Cafe Parco.As we reported yesterday, Madison Park Cafe has been sold.  Today we can give you some of the details,...

Read More

Madison Park Cafe sold

It's been a more or less open secret for some time that Madison Park Cafe owner, Karen Binder, with more than 30 years of successful MPC operation behind her, was seeking a buyer for her iconic space across from the Madison Park tennis courts (1807 42nd Avenue E.).  She confirmed to us today that she has sold her restaurant, the details being announced to her longtime patrons by email.  This is the fifth turnover of major restaurant...

Read More

City takes action with notice of violation

The Seattle Department of Planning & Development confirmed this week that it had notified the landlord that the unsafe conditions at her building at 4118 E. Madison St. must be corrected.  Bryan Stevens, the Department's Public Service Manager, sent us this statement in response to the complaint we lodged with SDPD about the situation:"We inspected the site on August 10th and observed the hazard along the sidewalk.  Per the Housing...

Read More

Our beach makes 'best brown bagging' list

The Seattle Weekly, which specializes in coming up with "Best Places" lists each year, recently (like last week) chose Madison Park Beach as one of the Five Best Beaches in Seattle for Brown Baggin' It.  Last year this same publication picked our beach as the Best Beach for Babe Viewing, so we'll leave it to our readers to judge whether we're moving upward or downward with this year's honor. To be clear, Madison Park Beach is Number 3 on the...

Read More

Death due to natural causes

The King County Medical Examiner yesterday reported that Michael Westlake Michel, whose decomposed body was discovered in the backseat of his truck in Madison Park last month, died of natural causes. The initial autopsy was inconclusive, but later tests determined that Michel's death was the result of heart disease.  He was 42 years old. Michel's mother, Sharon Sievers, who notified us of these findings, said she was relieved and "at peace"...

Read More

Can't something be done about this?

Anyone thinking that the already decrepit commercial building at 4118 E. Madison St. couldn’t become more of a blight on the heart of Madison Park’s business district was proven wrong last week when vandals smashed the plate glass window of one of the building’s two vacant shops. Building owner Constance Gillespie, notorious for her unwillingness to spend any funds to maintain the structure, is almost certainly unaware of the damage. We understand...

Read More

The rest of the story...

...of a 'dangerous dog' and its victimsIt was almost a year ago that a Washington Park pit bull (or pit bull mix) named 'Honey' attacked three women in the course of an afternoon, sending two of the victims to the emergency room.  'Honey' had escaped from her yard, attacked without provocation, and was eventually picked up by animal control officers. In due course she was declared a "dangerous animal" by the Director of the Seattle Animal Shelter,...

Read More

Bomb on the bus? Never mind

We weren't there to witness the excitement, but we understand that E. Madison Street between Broadmoor and the business district was closed for a brief time around 5 pm yesterday while police investigated a "suspicious package" discovered on a Metro bus. Because the evacuated bus was parked on Madison near the residence of the Russian Consul (at 38th Avenue E.), several of our readers wondered if the multiple Seattle Police units (plus at least...

Read More

Broadmoor eagle probable collision victim, but this may not be the end of eagles here

A small bald eagle was killed by a vehicle on the 520 floating bridge this morning, and it is highly likely that it was "Eddie," one of the Broadmoor pair, who was often seen perched on a lightpole on the bridge.  According to Bill Hebner, an Enforcement Captain for the State Department of Fish & Wildlife, "Everything is speculation, but the eagle had probably landed on the roadway because there was some attractant." Hebner notes that while...

Read More