As the local legend famously goes, in 1856, naval geographer George Davidson mistook the native madrona trees lining the windswept bluff facing Puget Sound for warm-weather magnolia trees and the name stuck. This was just the beginning of the military's influence on this somewhat isolated peninsula that even today remains impervious to the faster pace of other parts of the city. more ›

The front page of the Seattle Times this morning had a picture of a man in his 50s with amnesia, who woke up in Discovery Park three weeks ago. He was well dressed, and fluent in French, English, and German. more ›

But we don’t get the people that hike Discovery Park, that choose to spend their time appreciating nature's beauty, and still have the nerve or sociopathic disregard to throw their garbage on the beach or trail. These creeps shift our lazy personality profiling system of out whack. Who does that? Who likes nature enough to seek it out but not enough to respect it for convenience's sake? more ›

"FAA Radar Dome" by ham-hock , from the Seattlest Flickr pool more ›

The neighborhood blogosphere lit up over the weekend as a black bear was sighted first at Discovery Park, then in Ballard. Apparently the bear swam over to Ballard, and who could blame it, with all the traffic congestion from the Norwegian parade? Plus, it was hot. The Department of Fish and Wildlife says to call 911 if you see it. more ›

"IMG_0123.2" by quinnmckee , from the Seattlest Flickr pool more ›

In 1964, most of Fort Lawton's land on the Magnolia Bluff was declared surplus by the U.S. military. That's when locals first banded together to voice their concerns over the future use of the area, forming a group called Citizens For a Fort Lawton Park and ultimately attracting the attention and support of a U.S. Senator in their efforts to prevent the government from turning the land into an ABM base. By 1971, the land was in the hands of the City of Seattle, and Discovery Park was formed. more ›

• "Gross!" is right. The Rainier Valley Post explores reports of mouse droppings at the Mount Baker Safeway and wonders rightly, "Where is the health department?"
• While the Mount Baker Safeway is having rodent problems, the neighborhood's Rainier Grocery Outlet is shutting down next week just in time for Thanksgiving.
• Hooray! We will be keeping at least de facto nudity at Seattle area parks.

Q Loves Him A Field by Taylor Hain more ›

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• WaMu really can't catch a break. The Belltowner and PhinneyWood report that their neighborhood WaMu branches were robbed over the weekend.
• Mid Beacon Hill explores "cheap South End fun," including a place that should be on the hipster street-of-dreams, and the Museum of Communications. Being a tourist in your own city is totally fun, so the idea of being a tourist in your own neighborhood strikes us as completely delightful.
• So that's why we didn't have power on Saturday night in the CD. Of course, since we had no power we couldn't log on to check Central District News for updates, but it's nice to know now.

• Kapow! Coffee, inventors of the Ride the S.L.U.T. t-shirts, the proposers of a 300-foot Paul Allen statue, and the makers of the best espresso in the Cascade neighborhood, are looking for a new home after their landlord decided to open up his own coffee shop in the location.
• Capitol Hill Seattle gets a little snarky about John Curley and we love them for it.
• The Belltowner has the scoop on the sudden closure of the McLeod Residence. The building isn't up to fire code and the entirety of Seattle's hipster elite are in mourning.

• We may have lost the Sonics, but we have gained a lingerie football team!
• The Green Lake branch of the Seattle Public Library is temporarily closed due to mold according to PhinneyWood. It used to be the algae and mold at the lake you had to worry about, but apparently the mold has spread across the street.
• The city has pushed back another deadline for residents of Nickelsville to vacate the encampment's latest location in Discovery Park. Nickel-odeons now have until Wednesday at noon to leave and find alternate housing--a task which, if it simply took a day of work, we are certain all the residents would have done long ago.

• Belltown says thanks but no thanks to streetcars.
• The Stranger has an amateur porn contest, while according to the Central District News, the Central Cinema has an amateur horror movie contest.
• Now that the remnants of Nickelsville has moved to Discovery Park, the Magnolia Voice is your source for all things Nickelsville.

• Over in fair Magnolia, home of Discovery Park, residents and park lovers alike are gearing up to continue the fight over the Fort Lawton redevelopment plan. Magnolia Voice says that it seems a lawsuit might be in the works.
• Up on The Hill, we're wondering if the idea to let the SWAT Team train in the old Jack in the Box is a cruel joke or a brilliant proactive step ahead of the revolution.
• We're not afraid to admit it: We love a good Best Of List as much as the next blog. That's why we think you should go vote in Rainer Valley Post's Best of 2008 poll. It's good practice for November.

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Yes, it's the return of Stalk of the Town where Seattlest lets you in on our weekend plans. Got something going on we should know about? Drop a note in the comments. more ›

The Columbia Journalism Review has our number. It's not actually true that Baby Einstein videos "suck the vocabulary out of your kid's brain." Wea culpa. more ›

Here's what we found at Discovery Park's North Beach on Sunday. You can't see it in the photo, but there's probably a dozen or more of these structures that go all the way down the beach, even extending into the part you can't get to at high tide unless you're willing to get wet. more ›

This Snowy Owl has been doing the town lately and has been spotted in a number of places including Discovery Park and Capitol Hill where he was captured on film by an alert flickr user. Every couple of years Snowy Owls will migrate south from their hood in northern Alaska when it gets particularly cold (it's -36° in Barrow right now, which is cold compared to the 55° our apartment was this morning after the furnace puked, yeah, but not particularly cold for Barrow) or when the vole and lemming populations dry up. Still, Washington is at the very bottom of its known range. more ›

The Seattle P-I wants to have it both ways. First there's this scooter-booster wind-in-your-hair, pocket-change-for-gas story, then Daddy Buzzkill appears with the a second story's breaking news that you're 26 times more likely to die riding a motorcycle than in a passenger car. Also, if you buy liability insurance, which you're not required to do, it could cost you money. $150 - $300 a year! Uh...so? more ›

One would think it would be difficult to get trapped in Discovery Park, though. Apparently, a man who was attempting to get a better look at Monday's fireworks fell off a trail and had to spend the night in the park after failing to climb either up (too steep) or down (blackberries). more ›

Photographers, start your cameras! The Discovery Park Advisory Council is sponsoring a photo contest, with winning submissions to be published in a photo calendar (presumably for 2007). more ›

The PI published an article yesterday about the rise of large pot growing operations in the state of Washington, particularly Chelan County and there's an identical version in the Seattle Times today. Last summer and fall pot harvests were captured with an estimated street value of $25.6 million in Chelan and Douglas counties. more ›

We didn't get around to pointing out this cool Seattle site last week when they put new material up, but we think it's still worth a look today. VRSeattle.com uses the Quicktime format to display three dimensional pictures that let you look around, up, down, etc. It's like you're really standing right there in Seattle! Or, if you're already in Seattle, it's like standing somewhere else in Seattle, uh, where you probably aren't standing as you look at this post... Anyway, it's cool. Seattlest wishes they'd take one from inside our office so when we're not at work we can remember what it feels like when we are. more ›