Skillet, “a mobile joint” street food vendor, has found a new home in Uptown in the parking lot of Elliott Bay Auto Brokers at the corner of 1st Ave N. and Republican.

According to an employee, beginning this week the local street vendor will be hanging out on this Queen Anne corner every Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering both breakfast (8-10 a.m.) and lunch (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.).

Here’s a sneak peak of what you might find on their menu board. One of their employees said the menu usually has a burger and some sort of fresca, but often changes depending on what’s available and what customers like.

The tacos, for example, just started this week and will probably carry on for a few more. The “Lemongrass Steak Sammy,” he informed me, would probably only be around today (so, not wanting to miss out on an opportunity, I tried one. And it was delicious. Sorry there’s no picture, I ate it too fast).

Skillet’s image comes in the form of old Airstream Trialers that they buy and refit with full kitchens. Their goal, they say on their website, is “to provide seasonally relevant, locally sourced, and impeccably executed bistro style up and down the west coast.”

See their website for more information and the menu. Check out where the park the rest of the week here.

Oh, and don’t worry if you run out of cash, these outfitted trailer-kitchens take cards!

It’s that time of year again. Bumbershoot, Seattle’s annual Labor Day weekend music festival at Seattle Center since 1971, starts tomorrow!

(Photo courtesy of Jesse and Easy Street Records)

Over the years the festival has seen some big acts: B.B. King, The Ramones, Ray Charles, REM, Kanye West, De La Soul, Jerry Seinfeld, the Black Eyed Peas, and let’s not forget our own semi-local Modest Mouse.

This year the big names include Sheryl Crow, Jason Mraz and Franz Ferdinand, along with tons of other stages and acts from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday through Monday.

If you don’t already have tickets, they’re $50 a pop each day. The Seattle Times put together a guide to navigating Bumbershoot this year. Check that out here.

And just a reminder, thousands flock to Seattle Center and Uptown for the weekend festivities, so if you live on Lower Queen Anne, park your car now and don’t move it all weekend. Traffic around Bumbershoot will, as always, be a bit of a mess.

This week has been an interesting one around town. Our sister site, Magnolia Voice, has been busy reporting on a cougar that has been running around the neighborhood, causing officials to shut down Discovery Park and set a trap in an attempt to find the animal and relocate it.

This photo, courtesy of KIRO 7, shows the trap covered in ferns, with fish for bait. The Seattle Times has put together a video showing how the trap works. Watch it here.

Meanwhile, the elusive cat has been spotted again. And across the ship canal…

Over in Ballard another sister site, My Ballard, reports that a family of raccoons was spotted on Market Street.

It’s been a strange summer full of raccoon attacks, bears romping through the city, and cougar sightings all around. So far there have been no recent sightings on Queen Anne. But given what’s been happening in our neighboring communities, keep your eyes peeled for more critters.

Our sister site, Magnolia Voice, has reported that Discovery Park is closed until at least Monday, while officials attempt to catch the elusive cougar that’s been spotted numerous times over the last few days.

The park was closed after another sighting last night. Get the full story here, and stay tuned for updates!

Read up on our previous cougar sighting coverage here.

Attendance was in the hundreds, rather than thousands, at last night’s Healthcare Vigil at Westlake Center Plaza. Even still, organizers from MoveOn.org and the many attendees seemed pleased with the turnout.

The giant green flowers dispersed throughout the crowd are part of a promotion by Toyota prior to the launch of the 2010 Prius, happening in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

The five giant sculptures are partially solar-powered (they have solar panels on the back of their pedals!) and provide up to ten seats each, as well as power outlets and free wi-fi from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, through Monday, September 7.

The event kicked off at 7:30 p.m. with clips of speeches given by the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Lisa Plymate, the state director of Doctors for America, then took the stage, followed by three stories of struggles with health care shared by fellow Seattleites. Representative Jim McDermott then gave a speech, recounting his long desire for healthcare reform.

The night concluded with the Seattle Peace Chorus, who led the crowd with songs, including “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” and concluding with “We Shall Overcome.”

We also have video of the entire event, and will work hard to get that to you asap!

A new local start-up, Flash Volunteer, is on a quest to connect “Seattle-area residents to volunteer opportunities, volunteers to neighborhoods, and nonprofits to volunteers,” through a web-based social networking tool.

Founder and Executive Director Brad Wilke said the project is “focused on increasing volunteerism here in Seattle.”‘

Interested? Here’s how it works: Volunteers register with the site based on the neighborhood they live and/or work in, then Flash Volunteer “pushes” relevant opportunities to the participant’s personal homepage – providing what Brad describes as “a personal volunteer management tool with a hyperlocal focus that promotes sustained user involvement in their community.”

Brad writes,

We provide online management tools for neighborhood-focused volunteer opportunities, empowering Seattleites to participate more fully in regular, sustainable volunteer service. We are an all-volunteer organization that has bootstrapped the site to the point where it is now…

Upon signing up for an event, Flash Volunteer creates a social network for participants, allowing them to interact with the event manager and connect with other participants. Following the event, participants are able to post pictures and add other volunteers to their “Flash Team”, encouraging participation at future events and helping create stronger off-line communities, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Flash Volunteer is a low-cost, high-impact platform for community engagement that is currently building a model for cities around the country to replicate and expand upon. Eventually, we hope to provide each citizen the tools they need to build stronger neighborhoods and improve their quality of life through regular community service.

Brad also said that the organization, although just getting started, has big plans and will be using new media technology as a launching pad. In September Flash Volunteer will be releasing an iPhone application, “which will provide a real-time snapshot of volunteer opportunities based on the user’s GPS location, allowing for drop-in attendance at events like park clean-ups and other group activities,” he said.

I went to the Queen Anne page and so far there are five registered volunteers, myself included. Our sister site, My Ballard, has reported that volunteers are beginning to join on their page as well. Given the rise in community-based organizations that provide hyperlocal services, this site might just take off.

After filming at Kerry Park all day today, “The Details” has been spotted shooting on Queen Anne yet again, this time at a house on W Lee Street, near 4th Ave. W. One of our readers, skibum1175, saw them in action and snapped a few pictures.

Skibum1175 told us that although there were no star sightings…

…the late-night spectators included a neighborhood cat.

Skibum1175 writes,

Caught a closer glimpse. They’re filming outside and inside the garage (dimmer light in
background). See the kayak? How Seattle is that?

The film, a black comedy centered around a Seattle couple coping with a raccoon infestation, seems to be capturing the city well – kayaks, beautiful views, lots and lots of raccoons, and coffee!

Thanks, skibum1175, for the tip and the photos!

Remember Twice Sold Tales at 7 Mercer St., which closed earlier this summer? We were just contacted by the shop’s new owner, Debbie Sarow, and it looks like there’s a new bookshop is in town.

Mercer Street Books is already open for business, though there’ s been no official kick-off event yet.

“I’ve been here since July 15,” Sarow said. “And there’s a few more projects I wanted to get done before having an official opening, like paining the letters on the front, which is happening today.”

The store is open daily from 12 to 7 p.m., and is holding true to Twice Sold Tales’ credo – it’s chock full of used books! The entire stock is used, Sarow said, and the shop also buys and trades books with the public.

With Abraxus Books at 524 1st Ave N, which moved to Queen Anne from Ballard in June, and now Mercer Street Books, it seems Uptown is reviving the used bookstore scene!

The city is selling hundreds of old Seattle street signs that are being replaced due to damage or wear. And they’re going for bargain prices!

Streets on Queen Anne that are up for grabs include Denny Way, Dexter Ave. N., McGraw St., Mercer St. and Nickerson St., all of which are going for $5. There’s a long list of streets available. Check out the options here.

Street signs can be purchased at the City’s Surplus Warehouse, located at 3807 2nd Ave S. Some of the historical or novelty signs may also be posted on EBay, the city says, so go get yours quick. Contact the warehouse with questions or for information on how to purchase an old street sign at (206) 684-0827. (Thanks CentralDistrictNews.com for tracking this down!)

“The Details,” an indie black comedy about a couple whose lives are led astray due to a series of events stemming from disagreements over how to deal with their raccoon infestation (oddly appropriate given the numerous reports of raccoon attacks on the hill this summer), is filming at Kerry Park today.

Sixty or so onlookers shuffled in and out for most of the morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tobey Maguire, who is filming a scene at the hilltop location.

Tobey arrived at around around 12:40 p.m. (That’s him in the white t-shirt). He enjoyed the beautiful Queen Anne view for half an hour, then rehearsed for about five minutes, before disappearing amidst the production set-up.

According to one of the location managers, Mark, who has lived in Ballard with his wife since November (yay Seattle pride!), in today’s scene Tobey’s character, Jeff, parks his Toyota Prius at the Kerry Park Viewpoint in a red zone, a meter maid comes to give him a ticket, and he runs over to the car. In the words of Bugs Bunny, “That’s all, folks.”

“The Details” has been filming all over town recently, shooting at Fuel coffee house and in front of the Seattle Police Department downtown last week.

LM Mark said the team chose these specific locations around Seattle in order to capture the city’s vibe. “One of the goals of this movie is to show Seattle for Seattle,” Mark said. “I would take my lunch break here…It’s beautiful, it’s real.”

One thing’s for sure, Kerry Park sure is gorgeous. At least four tour buses came by while I was there, and each time the production team had to shoo them away from the shoot. But despite filming going on today, the iconic viewpoint is still open to the public, In fact, the men’s and women’s soccer teams from SPU were taking their team photos at the lookout, next to the production team.

“The Details” is scheduled to be at the park until 5 p.m. today, though the no parking signs on Highland list 3 p.m. as the cut-off.

Other big names in “The Details,” scheduled for release in 2010, include Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney and Ray Liotta.

Tonight there will be over 360 gatherings around the country that will serve as vigils for those who have suffered from health care issues, as well as a call for reform. The closest gathering to Queen Anne will be the “We Can’t Afford to Wait Vigil” at Westlake Center Plaza (400 Pine Street) at 7:30 p.m.

Representative Jim McDermott will speak, along with Lisa Plymate, the state director of Doctors for America, and hundreds of community members and volunteers who will share their personal experiences with the health care system. The Seattle Peace Chorus will provide entertainment and clips of speeches by the late Senator Ted Kennedy will be shown, as the vigil will also honor his memory and the lifelong work he did for health care reform.

For more information contact the Westlake event host, David Hirning, co-coordinator of the MoveOn.org Seattle council, at dhirning@comcast.net or at (206) 571-6586.

So far 2,671 people have registered for the downtown vigil, which has a maximum capacity of 3,000, but according to Hirning, 400-600 active participants are excepted. Hirning writes,

We hope this vigil, along with the hundreds of other MoveOn vigils taking place tonight around the country, will show that a majority of Americans want real health care reform. People realize that our current system is broken and that we can’t wait any longer to improve the situation for all Americans–people are dying and suffering every day due to lack of adequate health care. Our representatives in Congress need to get that message and then act on it when they return to D.C.

There will also be a vigil a “Healthcare is a Fundamental Right” vigil in Ballard, at Ballard Commons Parks (5701 22nd Ave NW) at 7:00 p.m. and a “Public Option Now” vigil at the Bainbridge Ferry Landing at 5:15 p.m.

To find a vigil near you, visit the MoveOn.org event page, and type in your zip code.

Nationwide vigils are being put on by members of MoveOn.org Political Action, Health Care for American Now, Doctors for America, the Center for Community Change, Democracy for America, and TrueMajority.

The open call to artists to submit ideas for the Dexter Way N Underpass mural was a huge success! Lauren Hibbard from Queen Anne Murals, the group organizing the replacement of the 15-year-old mural that has long been covered with graffiti, said they received over 15 designs for community members to choose from.

The group will be holding a “Run Off Vote” at the Queen Anne Community Council meeting, which will be held in the big room on the first floor at the Queen Anne Community Center at 7:00 p.m. tonight.

All community members are invited to attend and vote on which mural they like best. Each voter will pick their top three selections, and once ballots are counted, the winner will be announced.

The deadline for submissions was August 24, and the winning artist will receive a $200 contest prize, not to mention getting to see their work in a much larger form – 20 feet tall and 100 feet wide – on their way to work every day.

To read more about the contest specs and updates, see the Queen Anne Murals website.

Two of our sister sites, Magnolia Voice and Phinneywood, have reported recent cougar sightings in the last couple of days, which begs the question of whether or not Queen Anne may be in for a cat sighting as well. State wildlife officials believe it may be the same cougar roaming around the city.

The large cat was first reported being seen in Magnolia last Friday night, a story that spurred several other residents to report their sightings.

Today Phinneywood reported that the cat had been seen over in their neck of the woods, a sighting which was also reported by KING 5. KING 5 spoke with Fish and Wildlife Capt. Bill Hebner, who said they’re working with officials in King County to find the cat and hopefully tranquilize and relocate it.

Hebner said the cougar sightings are a cause for concern, especially when concerning small animals and pets, but are no cause for panic as the cougar has not attacked any people.

According to the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, Kerry Park will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday, September 2, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to accommodate a film shoot at the picturesque Seattle lookout.

No word yet on which film it is, or if there will be any star-studded appearances. It might be indie dark comedy “The Details,” staring Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks and Laura Linney, which has been filming around town this summer.

On Saturday, August 22 they were filming at Seattle’s own Fuel coffee house, an employee told us, possibly as a replacement location for Caffe Zingaro at 127 Mercer Street, which turned down the film. Last week they were filming downtown, in front of the Seattle Police Department (thanks MAS for the tip!).

We’ll keep you posted!

The Queen Anne Community Council is having their next meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, September 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Queen Anne Community Center (in the big room on the first floor).

Big items on the agenda this week include a status report on the Dexter Avenue Mural project.

The mural in the Dexter Avenue N underpass off Highway 99, which was painted 15 years ago, has long since been destroyed by graffiti and the community is calling for artists to replace it. Queen Anne Murals is heading the project. Check their website for more information, or read about it here.

According to Council Chairperson, Ellen Monrad, the committee will be voting on which mural they like best. Lauren Hibbard, from Queen Anne Murals, will be doing a presentation and interested community members are invited to attend and voice their opinions.

Other agenda items include information on the upcoming council election, which will be held next week on Wednesday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m. at McClure Middle School. Also on the agenda, transportation, LURC/planning, parks, district council, social issues, and NAC committee reports. Contact committee chairs directly for more information.

According to a press release published by the Washington State Liquor Control Board, most of the state-run liquor stores will be open on Labor Day, September 7, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

To download the list of open stores, click here.The closest one to Queen Anne is in Ballard at 2840 N.W. Market St.

Contract liquor stores may also be open and can be contacted directly.