Thousands of Queen Anne residents and visitors alike reach our neighborhood via the 7-way stop where our “Welcome to Queen Anne” sign greets them. However, the intersection needs some sprucing up, so that everyone knows that we love our neighborhood and take pride in its unique aspects like that crazy intersection!

After Sunday, you’ll be able to read the full sign!

You’re likely familiar with Picture Perfect Queen Anne from past Queen Anne View posts – well, some neighbors in East Queen Anne have partnered with PPQA to help beautify the entrance to our neighborhood with plantings and graffiti removal this weekend.

In a partnership with PPQA, the formerly maintained gardens at the  7-way stop are going to get back in ship-shape, and residents are looking for volunteers to help prune, weed, dig, haul or bring refreshments to a work-party this Sunday, May 19 at 8am.

In addition to the garden rehab, neighbors will be using paint donated from Seattle Country Day School to re-paint and cover graffiti on the Queen Anne mural under the Aurora Bridge (northbound 99 entrance).

Whether your skills or interests lean to gardening or painting, there’s an opportunity to help beautify one of the major entrances to Queen Anne! And, if you can’t make tomorrow’s event, you can donate to a fund for mulch, new plants, and ongoing maintenance via Casa Latina.

To help out via hard work or donated funds, contact Sharon Parker via email or 206.229.3681. Or, just show up bright and early Sunday morning at the 7-way stop and help beautify Queen Anne!

A month and a half ago on April 1st, a fire broke out on Lower Queen Anne, damaging homes and destroying the inhabitants’ possessions.

We’ve had readers ask what they can do, so I contacted our local HomeStreet Bank. There is a fund set up at the bank that any neighbor can donate to during bank hours.

According to the Queen Anne branch manager:

In addition, our local HomeStreet Bank has fresh coffee daily and if you stop by on Friday, you may be lucky enough to enjoy home baked cookies that a loyal bank client drops off every Friday. HomeStreet Bank is at 1835 Queen Anne Avenue N.

Thanks to HomeStreet Bank for supporting our neighborhood, and if you’d like to read a first-hand account of what the fire was like, you can read Tim Shields’ blog on the fire and the aftermath. Tim lived in one of the houses that burned, and escaped with only a few of his possessions.

A few weeks ago, we got a tip from a reader (thanks, Mark!) about a liquor license posted at 20 Roy St. We followed up  and found owner Matt Storm busy at work on The Masonry – a wood-fired pizza and craft beer bar.

Future home of The Masonry, 20 Roy St

The Masonry’s menu will be headed up by chef Lucas Neve, formerly of Montlake’s Cafe Lago. Matt will be managing the craft beers himself, bringing his knowledge garnered from a past stint at Malt and Vine and his position at Seattle German Pubs.

The menu will stay fairly small, with offerings varying based on what Lucas finds fresh and in-season. The craft beer bar will also feature a rotating selection, and in addition to selling bottles, The Masonry will also fill growlers to go. Plus, for those whose tastes tend toward the grape, there’ll be a couple of house wines and a selection of bottles from wineries that are “great and often overlooked”.

Matt and team are hard at work on the new digs, and they’re currently aiming for a July 1st opening. According to Matt, “we can’t wait to get to know our beer and food loving neighbors” – so, mark your calendars for July and welcome a new business to Lower Queen Anne/Uptown!

(This is a sponsored story written by John Madrid, Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate).

There are no signs that the current trends of low inventory, rising prices, short sales times and multiple offers will be abating anytime soon.

For Queen Anne and Magnolia there continues to be only about a 1 to 2 month supply of single-family home inventory. This tight inventory can be attributed to continued low interest rates, robust Puget Sound area hiring and a generally improved economy including significant gains in the stock market. Whether the market will become more “balanced” (defined as a 3-6 month supply of homes) will hinge on many more listings hitting the market over the coming months.

Of Queen Anne and Magnolia homes closed in April the average sale price was a little over 102% of the most recent list price.  This indicates continued multiple offer situations.

Prospective buyers also should think in terms of at least a minimum of 3-5+ year home ownership horizon and preferably maintain the option to hold onto their home through future downturns in the market. Home seller costs (excise tax, title/escrow fees, sale commissions) of approximately 9% of the sales price should also be factored into any decision to purchase.

More stats on other Seattle neighborhoods can be found at http://www.live206.com/seattle-market-update-c22527.html

John Madrid is a Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate – University Village and is a 2005-2012 Seattle Magazine “Five Star” Agent. His clients include both home buyers and sellers. He can be reached at 206-498-1880, john@live206.com or www.live206.com.

Statistics are deemed reliable but are not guaranteed.  All information should be verified to the users own satisfaction. 

Twice a year Queen Anne Dispatch, the Upper Queen Anne local shipper and boutique celebrates with a customer appreciation event. This Friday, May 17, the festivities run all day from 9am-10pm, with 20% off retail and more.

Le Reve will help kick off the day with tasty bakery treats and coffee service. Then around mid-day Icebox Grocery, the locally owned and operated mini-market will have drinks and samples available.

When the evening hours roll around, Queen Anne Dispatch will kick off a party atmosphere at 6pm with music by DJ Cotton Candy, wine, cocktails and appetizers. In addition, local mom and artist Kirsty Papadopoulos from Lucia K Jewelry and a rep from Lole will be on hand to chat and answer questions. Plus, mini manicures with Seattle’s own Butter London products. The party runs til 10pm.

All in all, a very local event – and everyone is welcome to join in the celebration, a one-stop shop of local businesses, artists, and products.

We’re almost half-way through May, which means June is just around the corner. And, with the first Saturday of June comes the Annual Bigelow Block Sale – and this year marks the 20th year of the event, with special celebrations planned along with the usual block sale treasure hunting.

Every year for the past two decades, neighbors up and down Bigelow Ave N join in along with homes on adjacent streets for a blowout block sale. Typically, 40-50 homes participate, and this year the block is also throwing a party to celebrate 20 years.

To help celebrate, Dante’s Inferno Dogs will be on hand for local Seattle hot dogs and Wild Smiles Face Painting will be decorating kids faces for the day. Plus, neighborhood kids will be running their own lemonade and cookie stands, and the block will be hopping with neighbors strolling up and down the street.

The 20th Annual Bigelow Block Sale is Saturday, June 1st from 9am-3pm rain or shine. Mark your calendars for a block sale extravaganza and check out the participating homes on and around Bigelow (marked with balloons) on the first Saturday of June.

If you live on Bigelow or a neighboring street and would like to participate, make sure to register by May 20. Neighbors chip in $20 per house to participate, with any proceeds above and beyond the costs going to the Queen Anne Helpline.

For more information or to register, contact Rene Stern via email or at 206.283.8080 x234.

If you’re planning to give to one of your favorite local nonprofits this year, it’s going to be even easier this Wednesday, May 15th. That’s the date for The Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG, a one-day, online charitable giving event to inspire people to give to local nonprofit organizations who help make up the tapestry of our community.

All day Wednesday each credit card donation made to any of the 1,400+ nonprofit organizations profiled on The Seattle Foundation’s website will receive a prorated portion of the matching funds “stretch” pool. The total amount of the stretch pool depends on the size of the stretch pool and how much is raised in total donations on GiveBIG day.

The list of participating Queen Anne nonprofits includes:

• Pacific Science Center
• Queen Anne Helpline
• Queen Anne Farmers Market
• Queen Anne High School Alumni Association
• Queen Anne Food Bank at Sacred Heart
• St. Anne School
• Seattle Center Foundation
• Seattle Children’s Museum
• Sound Theatre Company
• SIFF
• Theatre22

And, you can donate to many more nonprofits in the immediate Queen Anne/Seattle Center area, as well as Seattle-wide nonprofits (e.g. Seattle Public Library). Just check out the list of nonprofits and get ready to GiveBIG on Wednesday.

This Saturday, May 11th, the West Queen Anne Playfield will be the staging grounds for Mayday, Mayday, an earthquake preparedness drill. Part of a citywide drill, the Queen Anne event will test our neighborhood’s response capabilities to a 6.3 magnitude earthquake.

Why a 6.3? That’s the magnitude of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, which severely damaged the central city buildings and infrastructure, as well as resulting in the loss of 185 lives. Mayday, Mayday’s goal is to practice preparedness and response actions that would help our community and the greater Seattle area survive a similar disaster.

An estimated 125 people from disaster preparedness groups and volunteer response teams including the Public Health Reserve Corps and Ham Radio emergency communications teams will participate in the event.  The amateur radio teams are sponsored and trained by the Seattle Office of Emergency Management.  Their purpose is to provide emergency communications when cell and land line phones become or damaged due to catastrophic events.

The drill runs from 9am to around noon at the West Queen Anne Playfield (adjacent to the Queen Anne Community Center), and everyone is welcome to observe. If you’d like to take part in the drill, volunteer to play the role of a victim (scripts provided, no improv skills necessary).

To join the drill, you can either show up or contact Frank Gaul via email.

According to the organizers, the Mayday, Mayday designers have “built in some twists and turns involving communications networks and several developing challenging issues at Hub sites during the three hour long training event.”

If you’re looking for something to do Saturday morning, volunteer to be a victim, show up and observe the drill, or check out the following sites so you’re prepared when an earthquake strikes:

• Seattle Emergency Management
• Community Emergency Hubs
• Queen Anne / Magnolia / Interbay Disaster Response Plan

Local gardeners can take a pledge to be pesticide-free, joining over 800 parks and trails in King County that use few to no pesticides – and get a free Pesticide Free Zone sign.

The ladybug signs are free to households gardening without pesticides, courtesy of King County and Washington Toxics Coalition. If you maintain your yard or garden with no pesticides, take the pledge and get your free sign at the Washington Toxics Pesticide Free Zone web site.

According to Anna Dyer of Washington Toxics Coalition:

And, if you’re looking for a pesticide-free park, you can locate one in King County via an online map of public places in King County where park staff use few to no pesticides.

For help with pesticide alternatives, you can visit the Grow Smart, Grow Safe site or contact the Garden Hotline at 206.633.0224.

At Queen Anne View, we love tips. Readers help us cover the neighborhood and give us the heads up on new and interesting items. Recent tips? Calva Café closing, a new sushi place on Queen Anne Ave N, Cederberg Tea House – and that’s just from the past week or so. If you see something interesting or newsworthy, send it our way!

While we always dig up what we can on tips, available research sometimes leads us only so far. With that disclaimer, we received a tip on sushi happenings at 500 Mercer St sent in by a reader (thanks, Mark!) that we’ve followed as far as we can at this point.

Genki Sushi is no more
Photo courtesy of Genki Sushi

Here’s the scoop: Genki Sushi at 500 Mercer St closed in March (not sure how that one slipped by us or our usual tipsters…), but a new sushi spot, Ten Sushi, has applied for a business license at the same location.

Ten Sushi has also applied for a liquor license to sell beer, wine, and spirits, and it appears that the applicant, Shinichiro Takahashi, is a former Genki Sushi operations manager. Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.

If you have any additional info on this spot or any other neighborhood happenings, just let us know.

The Landmarks Preservation Board is considering City of Seattle Landmark status for Seattle Pacific University’s Alexander Hall, with a public hearing scheduled for next Wednesday, May 15, at 3:30pm in the Seattle Municipal Tower, (700 5th Avenue, 40th Floor, Room 4060).

Alexander Hall was completed almost 120 years ago, in October of 1893. It was the first building on the new grounds of what was then the Seattle Seminary. The 4-story brick building was the school’s only building and was originally called the “Red Brick Buidling” – later renamed Alexander Hall.

Designed by Seattle architect John Parkinson, in its early days the building served many roles – it housed classrooms, a library, administrative offices, a chapel, and it also was a dormitory for both teachers and students. Fast forward to 1972, and Alexander Hall was placed on the Washington Heritage Register.

Today, Alexander Hall houses the offices for the School of Theology, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Social Sciences, History, Political Science, Geopolitics and Geography, and Sociology. It’s located in the Tiffany Loop – building 1 on the map to the right.

The public is invited to attend the upcoming meeting and make comments. If you cannot make the meeting, you can submit written comments to the Landmarks Preservation Board (deadline is 5pm, May 14) at the following address:

Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
PO Box 94649
Seattle WA 98124-4649

You can read more about Alexander Hall in the Landmark Nomination Report prepared in advance of the nomination.

The Landmarks Preservation Board is coordinated by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Historic Preservation Program. The Historic Preservation Program handles the identification and protection of more than 400 historic structures, site, objects, and vessels, as well as eight historic districts throughout Seattle. For more information, contact 206.684.0464.

The Uptown Alliance meets this Thursday, May 9th, at 7pm in the Community Room at EXPO (100 Republican St).

A key agenda items is Puget Sound Bike Share. Executive Director Holly Houser will provide an introduction to Puget Sound Bike Share, a non-profit comprised of public and private organizations and local citizens working to bring bike sharing to King County.

Ref Lindmark, a Transportation Planner for King County Metro and board member of Puget Sound Bike Share, will update the Uptown Alliance on the King county’s perspective on implementing Bike Share in our region. He’ll also talk about projected Metro bus cuts that could affect the Uptown neighborhood.

Also on the Uptown Alliance agenda:

• Dan Cardozo of QACC – will introduce a project for combating homelessness
• Consideration/approval of letter to Sound Transit regarding the Ballard Extension Study
• Committee Reports: Seattle Center Memorial Stadium Plan B, Uptown Triangle Planning, Urban Design Framework Committee, and UDF Stakeholder brainstorm