Our weekly check in with Seattle region neighborhood blogs. more ›

Seattlest hung out with the Mayor at his house last night. Talking points, highlights and photos from Mike McGinn's own summer barbeque at his house in Greenwood. more ›

Residents of the area know: the last few wet winters (and summers) have taken their toll on one of North Seattle's most heavily traveled arterials, and it's starting to show. more ›

A glimpse at what's been happening around Seattle from its neighborhoods' perspective. more ›

This small event, which shouldn't be missed by book-lovers in the Phinnyhood, is part of a big deal - independent businesses reaching out to local communities, and communities actively choosing to support those that do. more ›

"Give me what you got and put it in a sack," growled the man through tinted sunglasses, his automatic pistol pointed at the bartender. more ›

Greenwood’s Taproot Theater is on the up-and-up. The theater has bounced back in a major way since a three-alarm fire last October caused significant damage to its 85th Street operating space in the heart of the Greenwood business district. With four adjacent businesses completely destroyed, the Taproot building was crippled by heavy water and smoke damage in the final week of the theater company’s Enchanted April production and within days of the first rehearsal of their planned holiday performance. more ›

The Seattle Times reported over the weekend that Seattle police have arrested a primary "person of interest" in the recent rash of Greenwood arsons. Kevin Todd Swalwell, a middle-aged homeless man, has been convicted of arson in the past and has since been linked to several fires after a tip put Swalwell on detectives' radar. more ›

Taproot Theatre is adding its insurance coverage to the NW Insurance Council's reward for apprehending the arsonists responsible for the recent fires throughout Greenwood, bringing the award up to $25,000. more ›

Halloween is Saturday (in case you don't have a calendar, television, or friends) so why not treat yourself to some dress-up after time spent corrupting small children's stomachs with sugar? more ›

• You can buy your liquor in the mall this holiday season.
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Pillager's Pub, Greenwood (Tuesday, 50-percent-off "house" growler fills; Mon-Sun, $1 off pints) Stagger in from 87th & Greenwood to taste Baron & Three Skulls beers paired side by side with a few guest faves. The draft list is managed by former Duck Island'er Jeremiah Harrison and features--on top of beers and cider--authentic mead. Pull up a battered stool, chew up a $1 pretzel, or play a game of pool--just watch your arse, sharks abound. more ›

Phinneywood says that those three Greenwood fires in the last two days were set by an arsonist. And so was an earlier fire on June 19, which brings the total to four. Yesterday's fire was the first that involved an injury--a 50-year-old man was burned. Read all about the arson investigation on the SFD's Fire Line. If you see an arsonist, remember to call the Arson Alarm Hotline number at 1-800-55-ARSON. more ›

Once again those not-so-trusty 89-year-old cast iron pipes--installed in 1920, when the Post Office stopped mailing children and Prohibition began--busted, leaving utility crews scrambling to shut off the water and fix the 8-inch water main break flooding the intersection of Greenwood Avenue and 85th Street. Some businesses did take on water, but reports note the flood damage wasn't catastrophic this time. more ›

• Firefighters were successful in putting out a house fire that engulfed a vacant Greenwood home early Wednesday morning at Sixth Avenue Northwest and Northwest 85th Street.
• Bellevue introduced their newest downtown police squad, a group to help prevent a rise in crime and likely to become neighborhood heroes, saving the day for downtown Bellevue residents and businesses.

Beveridge Place Pub, West Seattle ("Micro" Mondays 3 p.m. to close). Known for their willingness to accommodate man's other best friend, look to this alehouse with over 22 handles as a nice respite from the heat outside for you and your dog. Look out for $3 Red Dot pints and $12 pitchers. more ›

• Seattle Bubble has some fairly depressing graphs of job losses in the region. Why, graphs, why?
• MyBallard has info on the 10,000 or so people prepared to invade Greenwood tomorrow for the 50th Annual Greenwood Seafair Parade, including links showing which streets are closed.

The Greenwood community was left a little uneasy after an early morning assault on Tuesday, when 44-year-old Todd Boettger was brutally attacked, robbed, and left to fight for his life on the sidewalk in front of a local bar. Facing life-threatening head injuries, medics transported Boettger to Harborview Medical Center. The attack--which is currently being investigated by the police's homicide/assault unit--occurred on the same day Seattle's City Council voted to approve $1.3 million of funding for violence prevention. Maybe the initiative to prevent the rise in violence among Seattle's youth should be given a second look to include city-wide violence prevention. more ›

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We read over at Phinnywood that Greenwood's Lemon Meringue Boutique is going out of business, and will have a "grand closing" sale. We had no idea it existed, which is lucky because we would have gone there demanding boutique lemon meringue pie, only to be confronted by racks of women’s, maternity, and children’s clothing. It doesn't get much bait-and-switchier than that. Now with High 5 Pie, on the other hand, a division of the Fuel Coffee empire, you get exactly what you expect. (Pie, we mean, not a high five.) And while apple, berry, and cherry are advertised right now, their "seasonal" pie flavors may include "peaches, lemon, blueberries, cloves, salted chocolates, raspberries, and lavender." See that? Lemon! One fake pie door closes, another opens. more ›

DANCE DANCE DANCE: Pint-size Swedish ex-ballerina Lykke Li returns to Seattle for her largest venue yet, the Showbox at the Market. Last time we saw her, we said she has "an extra helping of cute and an idiosyncratic voice: breathy baby-girl ("Liddle bit in love wi' you," she sings, and your heart melts) mixed with Swedish soul. Her first full album is Youth Novels. Live, she's in perpetual motion, sashaying around the stage, swiveling her hips, one hand pushing the audience back, the other punishing a cymbal with a drumstick." We're not saying it's because her parents were hippies, but she's got a hell of an onstage work ethic. more ›

It's quick and simple: Where can we get us some of that tasty cookie crack? We know it's That Time of Year because our body is in tune with the universe and we have a sudden need for Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas. We have no children and are not connected with any children locally. So help a blogger out. If you spot a table of Girl Scout cookies on or near the Hill, holler at us. (Though, let's face it, we'll travel to Greenwood if we have to.) more ›

Jason over at Eat Sleep Publish has a beautiful post on net neutrality and the old vs. new economy. In Greenwood, the Food Network stopped by with cameras and Guy Fieri to film at Georgia's Greek Deli; PhinneyWood has photos. Don't try to pawn off your foreign currency on Washington state ferries, because they're not having it, reports Seattle Metblogs. Even if it is Canadian. Even Canadian quarters. Not allowed. And Slog is thinking about shoplifting, Whole Foods, and sausages in pants. (As are we all.) more ›

• The Rainier Valley Post has photos of the landslide that shut down the 9700 block of Rainier Avenue for most of the yesterday's business hours. Around 5 p.m. yesterday, the block re-opened to cars--this time with concrete barriers in place, just in case more earth thought it would be fun to interrupt traffic flow.
• King County jails are shaking things up in light of the budget crisis sweeping the state. The Daily Weekly reports that inmates will have to start wearing their orange jumpsuits all the time, now, to save on laundry costs.
• There's a new local music and arts site in town--ReignCity has arrived! We've been super-psyched for launch. What's online now is exactly what the urban arts needs in Seattle: a sortable, easy-on-the-eyes calendar, a music news blog, and event spotlights.

If Bret Harte was considered the American equivalent of Charles Dickens during his time, as asserted by Taproot director Karen Lund, then The Christmas Foundling (at Taproot Theatre, Tues.-Sat. until through Dec. 27; tix $20-$33, $10 under 25), a Harte-inspired Christmas tale by Norman Allen, would be the equivalent of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. more ›