Each November, the Greenwood Senior Center hosts a Local Giving Fair, which provides information on giving charitable donations to local non-profits. The Senior Center is holding a planning meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Green Bean Coffeehouse, 8533 Greenwood Ave. N. Anyone who wants to help out is invited.

The purpose of the Local Giving Fair is to:

• Provide a space for local non-profits to inform the community about their work and ways to get involved.
• Give the community a chance to learn about and donate time, money, and/or other resources to local non-profits in place of material gifts for the winter holidays.
• Build and strengthen relationships between community members, the neighborhood, and local organizations who are dedicated to promoting positive change in the Seattle area.
• All to take place within a celebratory and festive neighborhood affair!

This year’s Local Giving Fair is Saturday, Nov. 13. If you have questions, you can contact Emily at the GSC, 206- 297-0875; emily@greenwoodseniorcenter.org.

Its grand re-opening has been pushed back several times, but the Green Bean Coffeehouse promises that they will definitely open at 7 a.m. Friday in their new location at 8533 Greenwood Ave. N.

In November, when the Green Bean opened its temporary location inside the Sip & Ship, they hosted a HUGELY successful ‘Green Bean Mugging’ where customers were invited to donate a mug to help rebuild their collection of quirky, mismatched mugs. The community response was unbelievable, with nearly 800 mugs donated. This time, the Green Bean will host a ‘Green Bean Canning’ in support of the Greenwood Food Bank. Donations of canned goods will help stock the shelves of the food bank’s new larger location at 9041 Greenwood Ave. North.

The Green Bean Coffeehouse, known not only as a great coffeehouse but also as a community center in the neighborhood, will have significantly more space in the new location including a separate meeting room available for private gatherings, community meetings, and classes. They plan to continue kids’ story time, open mic, live music, and anticipate a wide variety of volunteer-run classes and activities to take place in the new, expanded location. A schedule of events can be found at www.greenbeancoffee.org.

The Green Bean was one of four businesses destroyed in the Oct. 23, 2009, arson. They set up shop temporarily inside the Greenwood Sip & Ship, then signed a long-term lease for the old McDonald’s building. Delays in permitting and construction delayed their re-opening several times.

The Green Bean will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The Green Bean will have a grand re-opening celebration on Friday, Aug. 13, in conjunction with the monthly Artwalk.

Looks like the Green Bean Coffeehouse won’t be reopening on Saturday as they’d hoped. According to a post today on their blog, construction on their new building is taking even longer than expected.

The Green Bean’s original location was destroyed in the Oct. 23 arson. They set up shop temporarily inside the Greenwood Sip & Ship, then signed a lease for the old McDonald’s building and went to work on a major makeover. They had originally hoped to open on June 26, but permitting delays pushed that date back, to July 10.

We’ll keep you posted of the new planned opening date.

Today’s Seattle Times has an in-depth article on the preparations to reopen the Green Bean Coffeehouse. The Green Bean was one of four businesses destroyed in the Oct. 23 arson. Shortly after that, the Green Bean temporarily took over coffee operations at the Greenwood Sip & Ship. Green Bean is now renovating the former McDonald’s building at 8533 Greenwood Ave. N.

The opening has been pushed back because of construction permitting delays. When I stopped in to check on construction last week, Green Bean staff said they were now aiming for a July 10 opening.

The Green Bean Coffee House had hoped to reopen inside the old McDonald’s building at 8533 Greenwood Ave. N. on Saturday, to coincide with the Greenwood Car Show. But Green Bean staff told me this morning that permitting delays mean they now plan to have their grand opening on July 10.

The building was painted green outside.

In the meantime, on Saturday the Green Bean will set up tables and chairs in the little plaza area next to what used to be the drive-thru. They’ll serve coffee and pastries to car show visitors, and a face painter will be there.

The inside of the building is still under construction, with new turquoise paint on the side wall.

The new wooden front counter is designed to look like the counter in the original location.

Local artist Nicole Stremlow-Monahan, who owns the newly opened Art on the Ridge at 8005 Greenwood Ave. N., will be painting a mural outside.

After having its original location destroyed by an arsonist last October, the Green Bean set up temporary shop inside the Greenwood Sip & Ship. Two weeks ago, they were dealt another blow when their contractor had his truck and all his tools stolen while he was working inside the coffee shop.

Then this morning, another theft. They had placed their huge three-compartment metal sink just outside the back door for cleaning. Moments later, it was gone. They put the word out to neighboring businesses, and someone soon found it behind the Baranof Restaurant, just a few doors down.

They don’t know who stole it, but Green Bean Operations Manager Emily Davis said it took four people to lift the sink to bring it back.

The Green Bean officially got its building permits yesterday to remodel the old McDonald’s site on Greenwood Avenue into a new coffee shop. So contractor John Eidson parked his big gray truck behind the building and got to work.

A short time later, he found his truck was gone, along with all his tools.

“It’s just stuff, I got insurance, so I’ll be okay, it’s just aggravating,” Eidson says. “We’re trying to still open by the 26th. I went to Home Depot this morning and bought what I need for today.”

He says he left the truck unlocked, because on a construction site, he’s running back and forth to his truck constantly. Eidson thinks someone may have been rooting around in there for change and found his spare key.

The truck is a Ford F250 pick up, license A70302Z. “It’s just a big gray Ford pickup truck, sits really high up off the ground. It’s not a Seattle vehicle,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t think anyone got too far. It’s a gas guzzler, it only gets eight miles to the gallon.”

Thanks to Ben at AuroraSeattle for the tip!

The Green Bean Coffeehouse, which was destroyed in the Oct. 23 arson, will start construction on Monday at their new space at the old McDonald’s building on Greenwood Avenue. That’s across the street from the Greenwood Sip & Ship, where the Green Bean temporarily set up shop a few months ago.

Summer Mohrlang, manager of the Green Bean, tells us the new Green Bean should be up and running around the first part of summer.

We’ll be using an all volunteer workforce so anyone interested in helping out will be welcomed. Our foreman, John Eidson will be overseeing the efforts. He loves working with volunteers and will assign tasks based on each person’s ability level. So whether folks have years of construction experience or just want to lend a hand sweeping up debris we can use them! We really hope that this can be a community effort to transform a vacant space into a warm and cozy center of community. Anyone interested in volunteering can sign themselves up by clicking here.

And…we are in need of a licensed plumber willing to donate a little bit of time to this job. If any are out there I’d love to hear from them (manager@greenbeancoffee.org).

City crews are fixing the buckled sidewalk in front of the old McDonald’s on Greenwood Avenue North today.

The sidewalk is also closed in front of the Baranof, but not to worry, they’re still open. You just have to use their back door.

The Green Bean Coffeehouse will soon be moving out of its temporary digs at the Greenwood Sip & Ship and into the old McDonald’s building, which has been vacant for several years.

Thanks to Paul for the tip!

McBride Construction employees are running bolts into the facade of the Eleanor Roosevelt Building and bolting on boards to stabilize the brick wall today.

There’s also a makeshift memorial on the fence, with flowers, a sign reading, “Thank you for giving me a home,” and a couple books, one wrapped in a University of Washington book cover and the other, “The Ultimate Mousse Cookbook.”

If anyone has insights into what this is about, post it in comments. Remember too, that there is a fund set up for the displaced businesses at the nearby Chase Bank on the corner of 85th and Greenwood.

The 3-alarm fire destroyed four locally owned businesses: Pho Tic Tac, the Green Bean Coffeehouse, Szechuan Bistro and C.C. Teriyaki.

Susan Helf sent us some pictures of the scene yesterday, including this shot:

And here’s one from Susan looking through the front window of the Green Bean Coffee House to the open sky beyond.

And here’s some more shots of the back of the building. Thanks, Susan, for sharing these.

A steady stream of workers are hauling waterlogged debris out of neighboring businesses, while insurance adjusters and engineers are finalizing plans to shore up the facade of the Eleanor Roosevelt Building so fire inspectors can get inside the burned-out building on Monday.

At Taproot Theatre, a large crew of people ripped out damaged carpet and insulation. A couple inches of water pooled in nearly every bag workers hauled out of the building.

More workers pulled drywall and other material from the Greenwood Academy of Hair’s basement. Another group pulled waterlogged merchandise out of a basement warehouse underneath Romio’s used by Alhambra AtoZ. Manager Yigit Bozatli said water from the fire hoses rose to about knee-height, damaging a fair amount of inventory.

“We were lucky, but I’m sorry for them,” he said, gesturing toward the burned-out businesses.

Taproot co-founder Scott Nolte is hoping they’ll be able to reopen in time for their holiday season show, “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol,” but he’s not yet confident that will happen. He’s concerned about being able to find a suitable temporary home during the busy holidays. He’s realistic about it though, saying they’re still better off than the four tenants of the ERB.

“Ours is more inconvenient. Theirs is devastating,” Nolte said, figuring the fire has put about 40 employees out of work. Three of the four businesses are family-run.

Meanwhile, preparations for today’s final two showings of “Enchanted April” were going well, said Nolte, who watched a run-through last night at the Seattle Children’s Theatre, which loaned them the space. The set will be minimal, but “the actors are committed,” Nolte said. “The story, the words, all that will be fabulous.”  

Taproot is wasting no time trying to get their space back into shape. Even while most of the staff are getting for the remote rendition of the play, others are getting ready to move the costume shop out of the theater to an empty storefront at Pipers Village later today.

Before the fire, 2010 season ticket sales (we bought ours earlier this week) were ahead of the pace they saw at this time last year. “That’s incredibly affirming,” Nolte said. “Now we just have to have a theater.”

Seattle firefighters last saw a flare-up at about 10 p.m. last night and they’ll remain at the scene through at least this evening should any remaining hot spots break through, said Battalion Chief Mark Larsen.

A group of about 60 people, most with ties to Sanctuary Church and the Green Bean Coffee House, shared stories, hugs, tears and prayers at a “Greenwood Fire Wake” tonight at the church’s offices above Chase Bank on 85th and Greenwood.

In a comforting, reassuring voice, Pastor Randy Rowland acknowledged the sadness and challenges ahead in dealing with the loss of the Green Bean, but said it’s not about “bricks and boards,” it’s about the community. “We couldn’t get through this without you. You’re what makes Greenwood such a great place,” he said. Then he turned the memory of the consuming flames into a positive metaphor, urging those attending to be “engulfed with a flame of faith, hope and love” to give them the strength to regroup and move on.

While tonight’s gathering was “a chance for people to be sad together,” they’re quickly taking steps to put that behind them, setting a meeting for 8 p.m. next Thursday at Romio’s to plan their next steps, Summer Mohrlang, manager of the Green Bean, said later.

Not all was sadness, Rowland pointed out. Their coffee roaster, Neil Brown, brought them a neon “coffee” sign to put in their office window, along with a bag of proudly displayed “burnt bean blend” made just for the occasion.

Meanwhile, back at the fire scene, Seattle Fire Batallion Chief Eric Lindahl said fire crews would be on hand for at least the next day or two putting out hotspots in the collapsed debris. A few minutes later, firefighters wrestled a hose into place to put out fresh flames.

Lindahl said it will be a while before it’s safe for fire investigators to get inside the remains of the building to try to determine what caused the fire.

Taproot Theatre co-owner Scott Nolte also noted the brick facade of the shell of the Eleanor Roosevelt Building needs to be shored up to keep it from falling onto the sidewalk and 85th. Until that happens, a fence closing off the sidewalk and one westbound lane of the street will remain in place.

If the insurance company will OK a crane to be brought in to remove debris, firefighters will be able to more quickly extinguish remaining flames. Nolte said their insurance adjuster is expected to arrive at 8 a.m. to make that determination.