Seattle Daily Photo

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Sustainable Ballard Festival Yesterday & Today

Poster in shop window advertising this weekend's Sustainable Ballard Festival. Great graphics! Ballard is known for its Nordic roots, and I love the Viking helmet on the bicycle. A few days ago I featured a photo of the Ballard branch library with its greener building design including a grass roof. And you may also remember this photo of a car that fills up with Biodiesel at a Ballard station which pioneered this neighborhood's use of the alternative, cleaner burning fuel. These are just two of the many examples of this neighborhood's active focus on sustainable living.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

On Elliott Bay

A Washington State Ferriy heads out across the Puget Sound from Elliott Bay, Bainbridge Island and the outline of the Olympics in the distance. Wishing you a great weekend. Here it promises to be rainy. With a soap box derby in Fremont and a sustainable lifestyle festival scheduled in Ballard, hopefully there will be just light showers.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Home Game Night

Sadly, Seattle's beloved baseball team is out of the running now (the blue lights on the right are from Quest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks who are thankfully getting off to a good season start. This stadium is right next door to the amazing Safeco Field, home of the Mariners). As promised, this is the photo of the Seattle skyline shot from Queen Anne Hill's southern slope, visible in yesterday's photo. The most brightly lit structures are the Space Needle, Key Arena (apparently still home of the Seattle Sonics basketball team), and the lighted arches of the Pacific Science Center (designed by Seattle native son Minoru Yamasaki, who was also the architect of New York's World Trade Center). Hope your Friday includes some night life, a lovely view, or a fun movie.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Googie on the Waterfront

The very 60s Edgewater Hotel to the right in the foreground was built in the same era as the Space Needle at the height of 50s - 60s Googie-ness in architectural time. The round room and zig-zagged roof-line at it's left end and along the length was very typical of hotel and restaurant design on the west coast at the time. I've heard it said guests could fish from their windows here, and there are photos of famous guests, the Beatles, with rods in hand. Newer buildings of Belltown and the Denny Regrade have heightened the skyline since the days Beatlemania struck the Emerald City. The south slope of Queen Anne Hill is visible in the background to the left. Tomorrow I will show you a shot I took from there!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Detail "Wake" by Richard Serra

Detail "Wake" by Serra, SAM Olympic Sculpture Park

The hull of the ship just off shore in yesterday's photo reminded me of this nearby sculpture installation at the Olympic Sculpture Park. This is an abstract detail of one of many 14 foot tall pieces that comprise the work (for a full view of the sculpture in context, please click here to visit my More Seattle Stuff page).. The link in yesterdays photo will take you to photos of this work's installation, which was involved and complex. Of all the pieces on display in the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park, "Wake" by Richard Serra seems most tempting for admirers to touch. Signs and attendants have to ward off handprints, footprints, and scratches to the textured patina.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Life Imitates Art

To my eye, this ship's hull echoed Serra's "Wake" sculpture installation in the Olympic Sculpture Park. (I will feature a detail of that tomorrow.) The tanker was high out of the water, its anchor chain taut. Buildings from Uptown and Seattle Center are visible beyond.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Ballard Library and Neighborhood Service Center

This distinctive building was designed to reflect the Ballard neighborhood's Nordic and maritime heritage, and as a green building that fosters sustainability. Yes that IS grass you see growing on the roof, and it is entirely intentional. The same architects that designed Seattle City Hall's grass roofed complex, also designed this much used and much admired branch library and service center. This coming weekend Ballard will hold its 4th annual Sustainable Ballard Festival

Sunday, September 23, 2007

New Marina Building

A happy first day of autumn to you! A couple is sitting in front of the newly opened marina building at Shilshole Bay Marina. Mithun Architects designed the structure to reflect Pacific Northwest sensibilities. Personally, I see a slight homage to the Ballard branch of the Seattle Public Library, which I will feature tomorrow. The marina building is a lovely, clean-lined structure and is part of a huge $15 million refurbishing project along the marina shore.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Fun

Not exactly "hot fun in the summertime," but fun none the less despite the rain last weekend. As I scanned faces in the crowd at the Puyallup Fair, I saw a whole crowd smiling back at the performer who was quite funny and talented. The Puyallup Fair continues this weekend and will attract thousands of Seattleites and Western Washingtonians to enjoy themselves and each other. For many more photos of the fair, please visit my Flickr page by clicking the link in the side bar. Have a super Saturday, everyone!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Lively Restaurant Scene

Geraldine's Counter on Rainier Avenue S. in the Columbia City neighborhood is a cafe that garners a lot of foot traffic in the attractive historic district. Not just a counter, although it does have one, there are also booths and tables and a cheerful contemporary decor. We sampled from their dinner offerings, and their fresh American with flair menu and neighborliness most reminded us of Rick & Anne's in Berkeley. For shots of the interior, please click on my More Seattle Stuff page.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Funky Is Right

Check out the ridge line on that roof! And the peeling siding. Not all abodes in Belltown are sleek newer condos and lofts. Since yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I thought the Jolly Roger in the window of this late 1800s building above the Jamaican coffee house/bar would be fun to show you, matey. This scene is more like the Belltown of twenty years ago when artists and working folk could find low rents and things were substantially more rough edged but colorful.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Voted Best in Ballard

In the land of roasted beans-a-plenty, there are coffee shops on nearly every block of Seattle's neighborhood shopping streets. Sometimes two. Sometimes right across the street or a few doors away from each other! Many are great places to savor a delicious cup, some become friendly neighborhood gathering places. Java Bean Coffee House in the Ballard neighborhood is very popular and offers breakfast sandwiches, pannini, and lovely pastries from great local bakeries. They feature only certified Fair Trade, organic, and shade grown coffees. Through the lens what I saw at closing time was a brightly lit storefront with two figures conversing in the shadows outside and an employee cleaning up. I was concentrating on focus, lighting, traffic and headlights flying by between. It wasn't until I saw the shots later that I noticed anything about the figures' facial expressions and their body language. Yikes! We've all lived that scene before, right? A couple days later I was having lunch with someone in a completely different neighborhood and this same couple walked by on the street hand in hand, all smiles. . .nice to know there was a happy resolution to whatever it was.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

She's Thinking

I don't usually care for pieces like the female figure behind the clock in the window display, but this one had such charm. Almost like a small porciline counterpart to Rodin's "Thinker," she seems to have thoughts of her own. Seen in a fave antique shop near Roy on Capitol Hill which also carried a number of Arts & Crafts period furnishings.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Puyallup Fair

Rain and overcast skies didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the crowds who came out to enjoy the Puyallup Fair on Sunday. There was a huge turnout for the day's featured concert, the Fiestas Patrias Latino Celebration. Last weekend was the Rodeo, and tonight pop saxophonist and Seattle native son Kenny G is in concert. The popular fair is one of the ten largest in the USA, with well maintained fairgrounds that can accommodate the crowds from Western Washington year after year.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Unloading in View of Rainier

Goods from overseas being unloaded from the Cosco ship at the Port of Seattle, Elliott Bay. Mount Rainier is viable above the cloudscape in the background. How many of your holiday gifts might be being unloaded right there? :-)

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Whale Watching Charter

Heading toward the San Juans, this small company takes folks into areas frequented by Orca whales. There are three pods that summer in Puget Sound.

You may have heard the sad news this week of members of the Makah tribe of Neah Bay, without tribal permission and against the law, shooting and harpooning a California Gray whale up in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. California Grays, unlike the Orcas, are no longer on the Endangered Species list. Grays are covered under the Marine Mammals Protection Act, however. The whale attempted to head out to sea afterward and survived for a number of painful hours before going under, never to surface again. The tribe had legally hunted a whale a few years ago. At that time they used all parts of it and were attempting to reestablish ancient tribal practices abandoned over 70 years ago. The tribe was in a long process of negotiating permanent limited whaling rights with the United States in light of the Marine Mammals Protection Act. Apparently, impatient members acted without knowledge of tribal leadership. Some members of congress speaking to the news speculated that this may jeopardize the tribe's future whaling rights as a result.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Utilikilt Redux

Yesterday in the parking lot of Metropolitan Market on Queen Anne, I spied a Utilikilt and asked its wearer if I could snap a few shots. He kindly obliged and his girlfriend smiled. . .I'm just now realizing how weird that must have seemed but they took it in stride as if it happened everyday. He explained he liked the snap front model better and that these were constructed more like pants. As I was looking back for the link to this I realized it had been a year to the day since I had first featured these on SDP. That's spooky! These utilitarian everyman kilts originated here in Seattle. I never seem to have camera in hand, the right lens, or good lighting when I spy them being worn around town, like the night I saw three guys in front of a bar on Ballard Avenue wearing them (we all have our "the one that got away" stories ;^).

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Washington Wines

. . .and wines from around the world are available at this and many other wine bars and specialty shops in Seattle. Washington state has come into its own in the last 20 years or so as a wine region and boasts many wonderful wineries. Most are east of the Cascade Mountains, but there are a few within bicycling distance of Seattle on the Burke Gilman trail, including the well known Chateau Ste. Michelle (take your panniers for your purchases!).

Wine is not something I purchase frequently, but we did live in San Francisco near the Northern California wine regions for a long while and visited enough to know our way around a wine list. Its hard for me not to fall back on those favorite familiar vintners when looking at a restaurant list or choosing a wine for when friends come to dinner. Small shops like The Wine Shop on Twenty Fourth with knowledgeable owners who host free tastings can help expose their customers to new gems from around the world and are a fun way to learn about Washington's wines and support small local businesses.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

See For Yourself

A very sunny day in downtown Seattle. When I took this in the late afternoon there was an outdoor swing dance going on across the street at Westlake Plaza and these folks had decided they needed some sunglasses. The street vendor in front of Westlake Center held a mirror for them to check things out. I enjoyed seeing their fashions too. After an unusual less-than-blue-sky- summer, we are finally having some clear sunny hot days. . .but I hear that will change again by the weekend. . .sigh. Wear those shades while you can! For photos of the swing dance, see my More Seattle Stuff page.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

In Memoriam

For those lost six years ago, for those grieving and suffering still, for a nation and world taken advantage of by misleading opportunists in the aftermath, may we find justice and peace.

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