Here’s hoping the weather is good today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the nearly 100 households around Greenwood and Phinney taking part in the 17th annual Greenwood Garage Sale Day.
Bargain hunters can also check out a flea market in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center (6532 Phinney Ave. N.), a tool sale at the Phinney Center’s Tool Library, and a rummage sale at the Greenwood Senior Center (525 N. 85th St.).
Here’s a map of the locations put together by the PNA.
For more help planning your shopping strategy, view a larger version of the online map, a printable .pdf version and a list of all garage sale locations. The online map includes a brief description of items for sale at each place. Paper copies of the map will also be available at the PNA, Greenwood Library, the Greenwood Senior Center and the Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center.
Phinney’s Farmers Market opens the season next Friday, May 28, with dozens of vendors of fresh produce, cheese, bread, honey, cider, flowers and more, plus several ready-to-eat dinner options. The market is open from 3-7 p.m. every Friday through Oct. 1, in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N.
You’ll want to be here when the opening bell rings at 3 pm to scope out the early season offerings. Lots of our favorite farmers and producers will be back and the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance has lined up some new and exciting vendors. Let’s show “our” market businesses plenty of love to get the season off to a strong start. As always, there will be weekly entertainment, plenty of ready-to-eat options, and friends and neighbors in abundance. To see what will be “ripe and ready” this week, check out http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/ripe-n-ready/ripe-n-ready. It will get your taste buds going!
Phinney Ambassadors will again be staffing our booth under the blue canopy in the center aisle. Ambassadors have info about upcoming PNA events, hand out market “passports” that kids can get stamped each week (this year you can even leave it at the market if that’s more convenient), and sell merchandise. We’ll have 3 great designs of sturdy canvas shopping bags, PNA logo caps, and an assortment of farmers market t-shirts from previous years. For 2010 we are also featuring Phinney Ridge *star* hats and tees sized for men, women and kids. The PNA booth will be staffed from 2:30-5:30 each week. We are still looking for volunteers! If you’re interested in helping out, please contact alis@phinneycenter.org.
A New York style pizzeria will open tomorrow in the spot that used to house Pizza Passion and Absolute Pizza at 10410 Greenwood Ave. N.
Fatty’s Corner Pizzeria is owned by two New York guys who are fairly recent Seattle transplants. George Coromilas and Tom Miltenberger (who goes by his nickname, Moose Man), grew up eating and working in New York pizzerias. Coromilas moved to Seattle about five years ago, and his buddy Moose Man followed a couple of years later.
Coromilas lived in Greenwood when he first moved to Seattle, but now lives in West Seattle.
“I do miss Greenwood and I was just looking for an opportunity,” Coromilas says of opening a pizza joint in his old neighborhood. “Thought it was a good opportunity to live the dream.”
The dream of owning a pizzeria is one the two men have long shared. They talked about it incessantly until one day they decided to take the plunge. And they knew they wanted it to be a true New York style pizzeria.
“There are a lot of people who advertise New York pizza, and it’s not. Or they call themselves a pizzeria, but it’s just a restaurant,” he says.
New York style is thin, hand-tossed crust with very flavorful sauces and cheese, and it’s cooked in a brick deck oven.
Coromilas says a true pizzeria is a sort of help-yourself kind of a place. You walk up to the counter and place your order, get your own napkins and silverware, and then wait for your pie. There is no waitstaff. The owner is likely the same person cooking your pizza or ringing you up at the register.
Moose Man is the chef and main guy at the restaurant. Coromilas has a day job as director of sales at the Kirkland Courtyard Marriott, so he won’t be at Fatty’s full-time, but he’ll concentrate on advertising and marketing the restaurant. He does plan on being there as much as possible.
“We will deliver. We love takeout because we love to meet our customers in our store so they can take in the atmosphere of what a New York pizzeria is and should be,” he says. “We want to meet our customers.”
Coromilas says they didn’t want to name the restaurant after themselves, and they didn’t want the stereotypical image of an Italian guy with a mustache. So they created a character – Fatty – that seemed like a jovial neighborhood guy you’d want to hang out and eat pizza with.
Note: This post has been updated since first published.
Thousands more bicyclists than usual will be riding today, because it’s the annual Bike to Work Day. On his usual ride into work today, Dale snapped this picture just before 7 a.m., of a well-equipped cyclist heading south on Greenwood Avenue by Ken’s Market.
Cascade Bicycle Club has teamed up with a number of other businesses to provide 44 commute stations throughout the region, offering freebies like water bottles and snacks, providing information on cycling, and some even have bicycle technicians ready to fix your flat tire.
At a commuter station behind Hale’s Ales, Christa Michel of Ballard’s Bike Sport marveled at the number of riders this morning and in general. “It’s a lot of pepole. A lot more women this year. We sold out of our women’s bikes this year.”
In Fremont, hundreds of cyclists stopped to grab free goodies, including water bottles and safety lights from Bike to Work sponsor F5, as well as bike bells and socks from Smartwool (if you were willing to trade in the pair you were wearing).
At about 7:30, 100+ riders followed Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn up Dexter Avenue and into downtown Seattle…
…where the mayor and riders took part in a Cascade Bicycle Club bike rally outside City Hall.
If you took any pictures on your way into work, please share them with us. And our news partners at The Seattle Times have an article today about the dangers of biking in certain areas, along with links to Bike to Work Day coverage from other news websites in the region.
Later today, Ballard will continue the biking fun with its Summer Streets party. From 4-7 p.m. along 22nd Avenue between Ballard Avenue NW and NW Market Street, the street will be closed to cars and opened up to cyclists for free bike maintenance, a spin on the seven-seat conference bike by the Dutch Bicycle Company, booths with cycling-related giveaways, and more.
Buddy is a big galoot – not the sharpest tack, but eager to love! This 5-year-old boy loves having his head scritched and sleeping at the foot of your bed. He’s also very playful and will proudly defend your front window from passing canines. Buddy isn’t the best at reading people or other cats. He doesn’t mean any harm, though – he just doesn’t know his own pointiness! He would prefer a home with adults (and maybe older kids) so he can relax and be himself.
Come meet this sweet fellow at Cat City at the northwest corner of 85th & Greenwood. He is neutered, microchipped, litter box trained, and up-to-date on his vaccines. His adoption fee is $90.
We are pleased to report that Addie found her forever home this past Saturday!
If you’re on a budget and need help getting your cat or dog spayed/neutered, please check out our website for information on our low-income spay/neuter program and links to other low-cost options!
Nearly 100 households around Greenwood and Phinney are having rummage sales from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday as part of the 17th annual Greenwood Garage Sale Day.
There’s also a flea market in the lower parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Center (6532 Phinney Ave. N.), a tool sale at the Phinney Center’s Tool Library, and a rummage sale at the Greenwood Senior Center (525 N. 85th St.)
Check out the online map of all garage sale locations, along with a brief description of items for sale at each place. You can also get paper copies of the map at the PNA, Greenwood Library, the Greenwood Senior Center and the Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center.
Seattle’s annual Bike to Work Day is like a party on wheels. Cyclists come out of the woodwork to show their street cred and hopefully pick up some free goodies.
To celebrate Bike Month in May, Puget Sound residents are invited to join Cascade Bicycle Club at this year’s Bike to Work Day sponsored by F5. F5 Bike to Work Day gives residents the opportunity to help make Seattle a more safe and bicycle friendly community by utilizing alternative transportation to work.
From 6 – 9 a.m. on Friday, May 21, 2010, bicycle commuters can stop by one of 44 designated commute stations located throughout King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties for commuting information, snacks, Cascade Bicycle Club materials and swag. Participants may enter the F5 Bike to Work Day drawing to win prizes including a bicycle and bike gear and also have their bikes spot-checked by the bike shop station sponsors.
The F5 Bike to Work Day Rally will kick off at 7:30 a.m. outside Seattle City Hall and will feature several City of Seattle officials and other VIP speakers, music, free water bottles and maps. In 2009, Bike to Work Day rallied nearly 20,000 bike commuters. For more information, please visit www.cascade.org
The city of Seattle says it expects about 10,000 cyclists to participate during both the morning and afternoon commutes, so please share the road if you’re driving. The commute stations closest to our neighborhood are the Fremont Bridge, North Seattle Community College (at the flagpole in front of the school), and in Green Lake at NE Ravenna Blvd. and Woodlawn Ave. NE.
Later in the day, it’s Ballard’s Summer Streets Party from 4-7 p.m. along NW 22nd Avenue, between Ballard Avenue NW and NW Market Street. (The street will be closed from about 2–8 p.m. for set up and take down.)
Walk. Bike. Shop. Play. Breathe. On Friday, May 21 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. 22nd Avenue is being opened up and connected to Bergen Place Park creating one large park. Cascade Bicycle Club has partnered with the city to make this a great event.
Swing by one of Seattle’s coolest neighborhoods after work or school and help celebrate Cascade Bicycle Club’s Bike to Work Day. Come out to play on the streets, enjoy fun interactive events and drop by local businesses. Ballard will be rocking with unique and fun activities.
Make executive decisions from the seven-seat Conference Bike and try out other innovative Dutch Bike Company bikes
The Phinney Neighborhood Association still has room in some of its Dragon Room Summer Program Camps.
The Dragon Room Summer Program is a series of week-long, half-day camps for young children sponsored by the Phinney Neighborhood Preschool Co-op (PNPC) and held in the PNPC’s enchanted Dragon Room at the Phinney Neighborhood Center.
Open to PNPC families and community members, the Dragon Room Summer Program offers rich and diverse classes for preschoolers and elementary aged children.
Deirdre wrote to tell us about huge traffic backups along N. 80th Street heading east towards Aurora Avenue.
About two months ago the City of Seattle installed left-hand turn arrows where 80th Street intersects with Aurora Avenue. Many of you have probably noticed the activation of the new light has greatly compounded the traffic problem on 80th street going eastbound toward the lake. Its not uncommon for the light to back traffic up all the way past Linden to Fremont Avenue while people sitting at the light lay on their horns and scream expletives out their car windows. It’s really terrible for those of us in the vicinity.
The city has explained to me that they can only allow 80th Street to interrupt the flow of traffic on Aurora for a limited amount of time for each light cycle. This means that the turn arrow is taking up a significant portion of the time while no one is trying to even turn left. This would improve if they change it to a flashing yellow left turn arrow with a solid green light for eastbound except for during peak morning travel hours.
Please help out the families on 80th street and the surrounding side streets by asking the City to change the timing of the light at 80th and Aurora. You can voice concerns here: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/citizen_response.htm or contact the City’s Signal Timing Engineer directly: (206) 386-4579 or by email at enrique.garcia@seattle.gov.
The Seattle Public Library is getting on the technological bandwagon in a big way. They’re now completely eliminating paper notices to patrons in favor of email alerts. The library says 24,000 patrons still receive paper notices of books to pick up or fines, at an annual cost of about $60,000. The paper notices will end on July 1.
To sign up for e-mail notices, go to the Library Web site at www.spl.org, log into your account and add your e-mail address to your profile. You can also talk to a Library staff member in person to have your notices switched to e-mail, or call Borrower Services at (206) 386-4190.
Library account information may also be delivered to patrons through TeleCirc, an automated telephone system. Call (206) 386-4190 to sign up for TeleCirc.
The library has also introduced a new smartphone app to let you reserve books, text a librarian and get information about library programs.
The app, called SPL Mobile, was developed in partnership with and is powered by Boopsie.
SPL Mobile is compatible with all major smart phone software, including the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian and J2ME. To download SPL Mobile, visit spl.boopsie.com on your mobile device. iPhone users can find the app by searching for “SPL Mobile” in the iTunes App Store, and Android users can find it by searching for “SPL Mobile” in the Android Market. The app is free from any source.
Enhanced features of the mobile app include smart prefix searching to obtain search results faster than ever with just the first few letters of a word or phrase. For example, entering “ha pot g” into the search box finds “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
Looking for the closest Library branch? All location listings include links to an interactive map. Looking for book recommendations or want to connect with other readers? Visit one of the Library’s blogs or the Facebook page, all included in the mobile app, as well. You can reserve and renew books and DVDs, as well as receive online assistance from Library staff.
A group of Chileans living in Seattle are raising funds to help family and friends back home in the aftermath of the Feb. 27 earthquake.
The organization Chileans of the Northwest and LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing) have planned a cultural show and dance party on Saturday, May 22nd at Christ the King Church gymnasium located on 405 N 117th St. in Seattle.
Starting at 3pm, the mega show will include folk dances and music from South America, live and silent auctions, and typical Chilean food to enjoy. At 7:00 PM be ready to shake your body to the rhythm of Coco Loco Band and “Totiyo & Amigos” including Rumba, Cumbia, and Sabor Latino.
All funds will be spent rebuilding one of many devastated coastal communities of Chile.
The suggested donation is $10. For more information, email Bárbara Mendoza or call her at 206-523-2709.
Spoke and Food is a new event designed to let cyclists get their exercise, and a reward of a nice meal, coupled with a donation to charity. Ride your bike to a participating restaurant on Tuesday, June 29, and the restaurant will donate 15-20 percent of the profits to Lettuce Link, a program of Solid Ground.
The main goals of Spoke & Food this year are to motivate our community to use their bicycles as they dine out and to improve access to healthy food for all by supporting Lettuce Link, an innovative food and gardening program growing and giving since 1988. Lettuce Link creates access to fresh, nutritious and organic produce, seeds, and gardening information for families with lower incomes in Seattle.
Coromilas says they didn’t want to name the restaurant after themselves, and they didn’t want the stereotypical image of an Italian guy with a mustache. So they created a character – Fatty – that seemed like a jovial neighborhood guy you’d want to hang out and eat pizza with.
