I Live in Pioneer Square

Did you hear the "firecrackers" early this morning?

2009-11-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

Shots fired near Occidental Park; one arrested | Downtown Seattle News

Remember this?

2009-10-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Potato Lady

2009-10-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

I stepped back from this blog because it seemed that pioneersquarenews.com might be in a position to do a MUCH better job... but they seem to have lost interested in posting, or lost the time, or maybe they moved away!

This morning the Potato Lady was throwing some veggies into Prefontaine "Fountain" again. I call her Potato Lady because that's the veggie I first saw her throw. She yells at the vegetable, then sets it free. (Remember Mork? Same style.) Anyway, I haven't seen Potato Lady for a while, so I'm glad she's doing OK.

3 Men Shot in Pioneer Square

2009-01-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

I was up late last night and heard 6 sounds like a "pop." I was worried it was gunfire - guess I was right.

If you go read the article be sure to read the comments. Apparently Pioneer Square is overrun by gangs and "white people" should come here.

from the comments:

Pioneer Sq. has become Tukwila south..as a white person, I haven't been in years...

Shots fired at 2nd and James

2008-12-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Shots fired at 2nd and James
On December 18th at about 3:10 A.M., officers were dispatched to the area of James Street and 2nd Avenue to investigate a report of shots fired. The investigation at the scene revealed that no one was apparently injured during the incident. At least nine, and possibly as many as twenty shots, had been fired. Four businesses on the block had their windows and facades damaged by bullet strikes. The investigating officers recovered spent casings of two different calibers, as well as bullet fragments at the scene. No weapons were recovered.

The complainants, a man and woman in their 20s, reported that they were standing near the intersection of 2nd and James when a black vehicle, possibly a VW Passat, drove by and an unidentified suspect fired rounds out of the vehicle’s window. Officers responding to the area were not able to locate the vehicle. The complainants provided very limited information about themselves, and were not forthcoming about any possible motivation behind the incident.

Gang Unit detectives responded to the scene and interviewed the complainants .

From SPDBlotter.Seattle.Gov � Shots fired at 2nd and James

I'm glad that nobody got hurt.

Public Spaces Committee

2008-11-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

The next Pioneer Square Community Association Public Spaces Committee is Thursday, November 20, at 2:00 p.m. at the PSCA office, 201 Yesler. For more info contact Lisa Dixon, lisa@pioneersquare.org.

This explanation of the Public Spaces Committee is from the Pioneer Square Community Association web site: The Public Spaces Committee acts as a discussion forum for those interested in preserving and activating the historic character and public spaces of Pioneer Square. The committee develops advocacy positions and statements concerning public space projects for Board approval while initiating, managing, and implementing projects that enhance the physical spaces in Pioneer Square.

PSCA Public Safety Meeting November 13th

2008-11-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

The next meeting of the Pioneer Square Community Association Public Safety Committee/Fortson Square Work Group will be Thursday, November 13, 2008 from 3:30 – 4:30 pm. Due to the large turnout we will be hosting the meeting at the Frye Apartments, 223 Yesler Way.

We will be formulating a work plan for 2009.

Pioneer Square Community Association Annual Fundraiser

2008-11-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

The PSCA Annual Event will be held Monday, November 17th, 2008 from 5:30pm - 9:00pm at the Elysian Fields Restaurant and Brewpub. The funds raised support our community projects and programs throughout the year.

The Pioneer Square Community Association is a non-profit 501(c)(3). The mission of the PSCA is to make Pioneer Square an even better place to live, work, tour, and shop. The PSCA acts as a liaison between the community and the city to ensure that community projects get planned, funded, and executed. The PSCA is specifically tasked to manage and execute the following:

• Maintenance, beautification, and enhancement of the public areas
• Support and enhancement of the public safety
• Promote and market business and tourism
• Encourage and support all business development and economic vitalization efforts

More information on the raffle prizes and silent auction prizes is available at: http://www.pioneersquare.org/raffle.html. There is no cost to attend the event, nor are you required to be present to win! Raffle tickets are $ 20.00 each and Visa, Mastercard, cash and checks are accepted. 100% of raffle proceeds will go to the PSCA to improve our unique historic neighborhood. PSCA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; therefore, your donation is tax deductible.

SPDBlotter.Seattle.Gov � Early morning shooting in International District, injuries life-threatening

2008-10-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

SPDBlotter.Seattle.Gov � Early morning shooting in International District, injuries life-threatening

The "Hotels" of Pioneer Square

2008-10-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

This blog post was inspired by an overheard conversation. Overhearing things is my main source of inspiration lately, it seems! I was walking past The Arctic Hotel. A valet was talking to two tourists, who were asking him about how they could walk to Pioneer Square. The valet was telling the couple that all of the “historical stuff” was “down that way,” but he then very clearly told them NOT to walk down 3rd Avenue. “You don’t want to walk down 3rd, it’s bad down there. Lots of homeless people. Walk this way down to 1st, then turn left. All the historical things are there.”

Wait a minute… there’s history “down that way” too. Sure, if the tourists want a happy picture of Seattle, maybe they don’t want to see the front of The Morrison, the park by the courthouse, or the day centers and shelters that cluster around Pioneer Square. But The Arctic Hotel chose to renovate and to reopen as a hotel. They chose a neighborhood that has both warm fuzzy and heart-wrenchingly sad. Now that they’ve chosen it, why should they build a mental Berlin Wall between their patrons and the parts of Pioneer Square that they don’t like?

One of the things I love about Pioneer Square (love?) is that a hotel like Arctic Club Hotel (New York Times) can renovate and reopen, just a block away from another historical "hotel," The Morrison.

The Arctic Club Hotel was recently featured in The New York Times, partially due to its lovely renovations, and partially due to its "dashing back story." The Morrison, however, never been written about in The New York Times. New York has enough Morrisons of its own, I suppose. The Morrison also had some recent renovations, which were completed just a few years back and have been criticized as being too pricey.

But lets compare and contrast these two historical buildings, shall we? They ARE both historical buildings. They are both metaphorically and literally examples of the history of Pioneer Square.

The Arctic Club building was completed in 1917, and was designed by architect A. Warren Gould for The Arctic Club. Before then, the Arctic Club was housed at the nearby Morrison Hotel The Morrison was the site of The Arctic Club until 1917. Years later it evolved into a cheap boarding hotel. The SHA purchased the building in 1974, then reconstructed it in 1981 with funds from a senior housing bill. In 2005, the Seattle Housing Authority turned the building over to The Downtown Emergency Services Center, which began the amazing work of creating the social services hub that it is today.

In 2005, The Morrison's $28 million renovation was completed to create a social services center run by The Downtown Emergency Service Center. The Arctic Club's $30 million renovation was completed in 2008. It was renovated to once again become a hotel.

Right now, The Alaska Club Hotel has 120 guest rooms, which start at almost $300/night. The Morrison houses 190 small apartments, and the shelter serves up to 500/day.

What kind of amenities does $28-30 million get you? As the Alaska Club Hotel was recently reviewed in The New York Times: "Our handsome, spacious L-shaped rooms had two queen beds, maize-colored walls, an armoire with entertainment options (including a CD player, a flat-screen TV and an iSymphony dock), a dark trestle-table-style desk, and a clubby chair. For in-room coffee or tea, the hotel stocks each room with an electric kettle, a French press coffee maker and a tea infuser, and a pair of Arctic Club mugs. Theoretically there are also coffee (Starbucks, naturally) and Tazo teas, but on our second night ours had been forgotten. The local spin on turndown service was a nice touch, though: a packet of forget-me-not seeds (the state flower of Alaska) in place of chocolates.”

At The Morrison, they offer: “A hygiene and service center offer showers, toilets, washers and dryers, a day-and-night shelter, indoor meals and counseling services. During the day, the main shelter at The Morrison is a drop-in center where people can seek refuge from the streets and the weather, and access a wide variety of services, including hygiene facilities, mail and phone services and emergency clothing. The main shelter also offers on-site medical care, mental health counseling and chemical dependency treatment. Five DESC mental health case managers and a chemical dependency counselor are sited in the shelter, as are two mental health practitioners and a registered nurse from Health Care for the Homeless. Also, in coordination with University of Washington Family Medicine, the Community Health Advancement Program operates a bi-weekly dermatology clinic. (From the DESC web site.)

While The NYT loves the “Juno, the hotel restaurant, which offers fare like halibut with heirloom tomato in a basil lemon sauce ($26 or $19 depending on serving size) or Walla Walla panzanella salad ($8).” They complain that “no room-service menu could be found in our room.” Alas. Down the street at The Morrison, they offer free warm meals and a safe place indoors to eat.

The Arctic Club Hotel has “free wi-fi and internet in lobby and rooms.” The Morrison offers free computer training through Connections; participants can use a computer to write resumes, apply for jobs, or learn new skills. Also free.

DESC has an annual operating budget of around $16.5 million. That covers not just The Morrison, but all of their other programs as well. I’m sure that doesn’t include very many $26 dinners, however.

By the way, The DESC currently has a holiday program advertised on their web site. For $75, you can put together 12 holiday gift packs to bring by and help make someone’s holiday better. (This will likely be the only gift that many of these people receive.) But hey, for that $75 you could also get 3 meals at The Juno. If you drink water and pass on the appetizers. It’s all about priorities, I suppose.

More information:
Historical site information on The Morrison Hotel.
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Weekly

no good grocery stores? part one

2008-10-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

I was standing at the intersection in front of the courthouse when I overheard this conversation:

Her: Sure there's a lot of new places to live around here! I think you're so lucky. I'd love to live right by work if I could!
Him: Parking is a bitch.
Her: It must be expensive.
Him: There's no good grocery stores downtown either.
Her: Like there's ever food in your apartment.

The grocery shopping issue is something people also always bring up to me when I tell them that I live in Pioneer Square. "But where do you buy groceries??" is second only to "But where do you PARK?" in top questions asked.

The answer is, everywhere. And nowhere in particular.

I knew what I was getting in to when I decided to live here. One of the top qualities of my ideal apartment was that it had to be near a grocery store, after all. Sure, we don't live with a two minute walk of a mega grocery store, but we manage. Plus, we actually do find ourselves with a few grocery CHOICES, which many neighborhoods just do not have.

Want to see something funny? Google "98104 grocery stores." Not a single major grocery store in the first several pages. That's because there just isn't any of those mega chains around these parts. There's just no room for that kind of streamlined nonsense in this historical neighborhood, maybe. More likely there's just physically NO ROOM.

For whatever reason, the rumor is that finding groceries can be tough.

It's just a rumor.

I like rumors. They can be fun.

This time the rumors are only as true as you choose to make them. Groceries can be found if you have a sense of adventure, if you stop thinking of groceries as the kind of thing you find in a mega chain store, and instead get a little zen about it. Groceries=food, right? Do you really need to be lost in an aisle of cereal choices? Or will half an aisle do?

If half an aisle will do, you'll be fine here.

Here are the places within walking distance that I've found groceries. P.S. is certainly not a pasta-free, hamburger free, eggplant free wasteland that the woman I quoted above seems to think it is.

Saveway Market
109 Occidental Avenue South

OK, I admit, it's a little frightening here some nights. They don't really seem too concerned with many of the things that larger, trendier grocery stores might be concerned with, like muzak, an abundance of fresh fruit and veggies, nice lighting, shopping carts, and a choice between paper and plastic bags. In fact, if you need those things to feel good about grocery shopping, you might want to stay away from Saveway. But, what they lack by not having an enticing array of deli meats, they make up for in for in pure entertainment. Don't piss the owner off, and you'll do fine. How can you piss her off? Hanging out in front of her store selling drugs, staying in the store too long, asking too many questions, asking to buy a single beer, or sometimes just being you. I love her very much anyway. Even though I'm pretty scared of her.
A plus and minus: things are priced in a sort of random manner. I don't think they like to change the numbers on their price gun much, so many times things will be rounded off. For example, a six pack of both Newcastle and Hornsby Cider are the same price: $8.99. Either a great deal or overpriced.

Uwajimaya
600 5th Avenue South

The close proximity of this store to P.S. is part of the reason that I knew we'd be fine living in the Square. I do feel so blandly American shopping here, but that's OK. It's good to feel like a dork sometimes as you try to figure out what the difference is between two kinds of soy sauce. They do have the best selection of Asian groceries I've ever seen, but they also have a ton of American stuff, too. Hot dogs? Check. Frozen pizza? Check. Squid? Check. Sashimi? Check. Bananas? Check. Milk? Got milk. My husband feels sad sometimes when he comes here, because they don't have ALL of his favorite American comfort food, but it's so close. And there's even a food court and a book store attached. How cool is that? Plusses: There really is a huge array of soy sauces. Minuses: I still don't know how to choose one. And don't even think about coming here on a weekend afternoon, unless you're crazy.

Rite Aid
802 Third Ave

No, really! They have milk, eggs, soup, chips, juice, even ice cream. It's strange, but true.

Bartell Drugs
1101 Madison Street

Again, really! They also have milk, eggs, soups, pasta and sauces, cheese, ice cream, even some baking supplies. It may not be a grocery urban oasis, but it's pretty close to one. Pick up a few things on your way home from the library, and you can survive another week without making the incredible journey to a megastore.

Drexel Deli and Grocery
523 3rd Ave

Don't even bother.

Pioneer Mart
609 3rd Ave

Technically you could get food here, so I'm putting it on my list. Honestly, though, I really feel that you'd do better psychologically if you just go to Rite Aid across the street.

I'll add more to this post.
The next post in this series will be groceries a little farther afield...

Firefighter memorial in Pioneer Square

2008-10-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

PHOTOS: Firefighter memorial in Pioneer Square

This is really nice.
Firefighters kick ass and deserve tons of memorials.

Haiku Hits Pioneer Square

2008-08-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

Scott's Haiku-A-Day: I <3 Pioneer Square

Seattlest: Third Murder in Less than Six Months at Hotel of Death

2008-04-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

Seattlest: Third Murder in Less than Six Months at Hotel of Death

Downtown residents to get supermarket

2008-03-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Downtown residents to get supermarket

Biking around Pioneer Square

2008-01-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

So far, I haven't been brave enough to bike around downtown. Plus, right now I don't own a bike, so that does put a damper on things. However, in the spirit of someday, hopefully soon, not only will we own bikes, but we'll have a place to keep them and the bravery to bike downtown, I found a few really good resources of information:

Seattle Department of Transportation: Bike Program. Download a downtown biking map, complete with the best ways to keep from getting killed marked and the best ways to get out of downtown... for example, Dearborn connects to the I-90 Bike Trail. Very cool.

Bikestation Seattle is located in my new favorite neighborhood--Pioneer Square. If you're considering the leap to biking as your major transportation method, or if you just want to talk to someone about biking around the city, stop by sometimes. They have a BIKE PARKING area for members. This may solve my quandary about where to keep our bikes, since we live in a supertiny apartment.

If you combine biking and riding the bus, you can pretty much get anywhere around Seattle for $1.50 and your own pedaling energy. But, recently, Metro has stopped using their newer 3-bike racks on certain bus routes, so if you're trying to bike and ride on any bus with "antennas," the bus driver might leave you stranded. The routes affected are a lot of routes that go through Pioneer Square: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 13, 14, 36, 49 and 70, and some trips on routes 7, 43 and 44. So, beware. Check out the Metro site for more information.

Finally, there are actually a few places locally that you can get your bike fix:

Pioneer Bike Repair is a full service bicycle repair shop. I haven't tried them out yet, but their location is SO CONVENIENT to us Pioneer Square dwellers.

Elliot Bay Bicycles for the very serious. (And not economically challenged...) Not in Pioneer Square, but an easy bike ride away.

Remember, Goodwill sometimes has decent bikes, too. There's a Goodwill at Rainier and Dearborn. The Metro #7 or #42 goes there from Pioneer Square, or you could walk if you're feeling lively.

Any other resources I'm missing? I'll add to this list as I learn more.

Coffee

2008-01-21T21:41:00.001-08:00

The first morning I woke up in my Pioneer Square apartment was a major holiday. However, we didn't know where our coffee maker was in the mess of boxes in our apartment. However, coffee was essential. We would die without coffee. Also, I kinda wanted a bagel.

Even though it was a Major Holiday, I knew that a lot of coffee shops in our old neighborhood would be open for a few hours in the morning, so I when I ventured forth, I was hoping that Pioneer Square would be similar. I headed north, which was my first mistake.

Starbucks on Second and Yesler. Closed. Oh, well, I don't like Starbucks anyway. But I could see the bagels through their darkened windows.

Seattle's Best on 2nd & James. Closed. So closed.

Pegasus at 711 3rd Ave. Looked nice, but also CLOSED. Well, smaller places shouldn't be open on a holiday anyway, and Starbucks and Seattle's Best probably just had another location open with 20 feet in the other direction, right?

Cherry Street Coffee on 1st and Cherry, closed. Alas. I know they have rice milk, so this was a sad blow to my coffee plans.

Tully's at 2nd & Columbia, also closed. They usually have rice milk, too, but their coffee--ug. So I'm glad they were closed.

Wait-- a Starbucks! 2nd and Marion. I went inside, and they had bagels! I stood at the counter, excited and planning my order of Americanos (no rice milk, sad sad day for Starbucks...). The ~~barista~~ counterperson finished making a hot chocolate with an enticing drizzle of chocolate, and then turned to me to take my order... wait. False alarm. She was actually taking the order of the man standing BEHIND ME IN LINE. Um. What the ... ? I was filled with puzzled outrage. "Excuse me," I said pointedly, "Could you tell me what kind of bagel that is?" "I'll be with you in a MINUTE, ma'am. Huff."

Forget it. Not only did I leave without ordering, but I vow never to go to that Starbucks again. Plus, I'm posting about it here for the entire universe to read. Hah.

My walk was a caffeine deprived blur until I reached a food court on 3rd and Columbia. Open, but only serving a couple of things-- salad and sandwiches. I went home still caffeine free.

What did we do? Took the bus to Ballard, where there were coffee shops open.

Should have walked south... all the best places are south.

Welcome to Pioneer Square

2008-01-21T21:31:00.001-08:00

Living here is new to me--we just moved here, in fact. I'd like to blog a bit about it, and compile some resources. Both for myself and anyone else who might be around in this residentially underrepresented part of Seattle.