Is it really Talk Like a Pirate Day AND Park(ing) Day today? Don't tell us it's also a Friday, lest we swoon. Park(ing) Day originated in San Francisco a few years back when an artists' collective decided to seize control of a tiny plot of public land by setting up a miniature lawn, complete with a bench and a few other park-like effects within one parking space for a day. A park in a......

Seattle's known already for its pocket-sized parks tucked away on unlikely vistas, but local volunteers in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land have coordinated an event called Park(ing) Day to bring more awareness to the need for community green space. And that's a good thing. Tomorrow, eight close to thirty metered parking spots around the city (click here for locations) will transform into public park land for the day. A few of the sites......

Is there some widespread problem about town of which we're unaware, where motorists are indiscriminately moving scooters out of the way to park their cars? Maybe because we don't own a scooter, but we haven't heard about a city-wide uproar about this. Nonetheless, a fine is being discussed to put an end to this travesty. The proposal came courtesy of Seattlest's actual favorite councilwoman Sally Clark, who told the Times: "If we are seeing......

Corteo is one of the most dynamic and creative artistic exploits of body movement that you can see in the United States. You can still buy tickets here and performances continue until May 4 at Marymoor Park in Redmond. In our interview with Alison Crawford, Corteo senior artistic director, we asked her to share her favorite Corteo scene. If we had been asked the same question, our answer would be, without a doubt, the......

Lower Queen Anne is dead to us. And we like Lower Queen Anne, we do: Many's the night we've whiled away down at Solo chatting up Kultur Shock's Val behind the bar, or closing out the Great Nabob with co-workers. But last night, it became clear that they no longer want us to visit. Because for reasons we don't quite understand, there is no longer any parking in Lower Queen Anne. And not just street......

According to an email we just received and the permit application it linked to, Seattle's Greyhound Bus Station is ambling slowly and uncomfortably towards the end. Design review early design guidance meeting for a 51 story, 1,200 room hotel, convention and meeting space (100,000 sq.ft.) with retail and restaurants at street level. Parking for 1,100 vehicles to be located below grade. Existing office structure and bus station to be demolished. Right now we're not sure......

This Seattlest took one look at the weather forecast and headed to sunny Florida yesterday. Now here we are in our hometown of DeLand, population 24,375 (per 2006 census). Our mother doesn't have wireless at the house, and is operating off a 1997 iMac. It's cute and compact, but slow as hell, so we headed out this morning for the one source of public wifi in town: Boston Gourmet Coffeehouse. A couple of things about......

They buzz, they flit, they fly. They dart, they dash, they zip. Ethan Stowell putt-putts from Union (downtown) to Tavolata (Belltown) to Wolf (Queen Anne). Corino Bonjrada bounces from La Vita e Bella (Belltown) to Mondello (Magnolia). Jim Drohman shuttles between Le Pichet (Belltown/Market) to Café Presse (First Hill/Madison). Scott Staples hops from Zoë (Belltown) to Quinn's (Capitol Hill). Josef Jimenez doesn't ride himself but sends his cooks on a scooter--a Honda, not a......

No. But that doesn't make this factoid from a political campaign article in today's P-I any less disturbing: "If it's OK to notify a political campaign about this guy, what about the neighbors he lived near for months?" said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, pointing out that [Mitt] Romney's aides were warned about [Daniel Thomas] Tavares's presence here during the candidate's recent campaign swing through Seattle, though Troyer's own office......

This weekend Mr. and Mrs. Seattlest drove out to North Bend to cut a Christmas tree down and haul it back to Seattle. No, we didn't hike up Si with an ax and harvest a sapling, although that does sound fun. There's a tree farm out there by the name of Crown Tree Farm. It was our first time getting a tree from anywhere other than those road-side dealies or the enclosures that pop......

Beaujolais, perhaps the world's most popular wine, goes through life as a comic's punchline; its brash and awkward youthful incarnation--Beaujolais Nouveau--gets no respect. Fun to be around, but nothing all that serious. (Eddie Murphy isn't Nelson Mandela, Wanda Sykes isn't Condi Rice, etc.) Sure, Beaujolais Nouveau provides the excuse for a great party every November--Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! It's Beaujolais Nouveau time!--but over the years, the folks who enjoy the ritual of raising a......

... in a couple of years, anyway. "After two years, it's definitely moving," writes invaluable neighborhood blogger Captain Columbia City. He talked to the market's coordinator, Karen, on Wednesday, the last day the Columbia City Farmers Market will be open this year. Of course, Columbia City Plaza was sold to a development firm on the east coast recently, and so when the Plaza owners lease expires early next year, they'll sign a new one......

Outfit called Not For Tourists has just published a guide to Seattle. It's a handsome book, looks just like Moleskine journal, complete with oilcloth cover, fat elastic closure, gorgeous paper. The Seattle version is tenth in a series, cobbled together by a design staff in faraway Noo Yawk with input by a locally based "city editor" named Fred Beldin, who contributes occasional music reviews to The Stranger. NFT Seattle starts out with a grid of......

Seattle's infamous Bicycle Hobo(TM) tipped us off to this cool Halloween scavenger hunt thing going on this weekend that we hadn't heard of previously, evidently called the Mess-Man's Messquerade. Here's the run down from the site: The hunt starts soon after 7pm in the sunken parking lot behind Cafe vita/Wild Rose entrance off 10th ave. This historic location is where Seattle’s first BIKE POLO tournament was held by yours truly at the 1st Messquerade.......

CHS had the news last night, and then Metblogs posted before us, too, so to make up for our tardiness, we visited the Office Nomads site, chatted with cofounder Jacob, and took pictures. They just signed a 3-year lease the beginning of this month, and are in full prep-mode before their opening on November 1. (Open House 6pm-9pm.) The new Office Nomads offices are located in the old Heath Printers building on Boylston, the block......

#1 on our list of events for the weekend is the Elysian Pumpkin Beer Festival this Saturday up at the Capitol Hill location. There will be 13 different pumpkin beers on tap, including the GABF silver-medal-winning The Great Pumpkin Ale. Festivities begin at noon with the tapping of the Great Pumpkin at 4pm; a huge pumpkin in which a batch of Night Owl carried out its secondary fermentation. Yum. Beers From Elysian: Night Owl Pumpkin......

Foul weather holds off until Sunday afternoon, leaving plenty of time under cool gray skies for Seattlest & friends to launch a Flexcar and sail out to the farm. Once we get past Redmond, the familiar trappings fall off: shopping malls, housing developments, the last Whole Foods, the last gas station & mini-mart. We ford the Tolt River at Carnation and sail into a vast theme park called Remlinger Farms. Indoors, a country market......

If you're having trouble getting used to the gray days of fall, head over to Salon Dewi this weekend for a UV-infused pick-me-up. This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we are offering complimentary trips to our UV - Infrared Sauna. This little hot box helps with the effects of SAD. It is also nice and toasty - it will help loosen up sore muscles and give you a mini break from your day! As previously......

"No more moons-over-my-hammy", documented by mary and filed in the Seattlest Flickr pool. We don't mean to steal Mary's thunder; however, her photograph moved us to write down some of the thoughts we've been having about the Ballard Denny's closure. We knew it was coming; however, just like the presence of vampires in Sunnydale, we didn't actually want to think about it. The light, the clouds, the darkness of the trees, and the Shell......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. LAist saw national headlines soar this week with......

It's a weekend full of "fests" this time around. A veritable festival of...fests. Including EndFest with the Smashing Pumpkins in a parking lot somewhere, Oktoberfest in Fremont with lots of tasty local bands and Decibel all over the place. Here's a video for Decibel participant Kill Memory Crash: Imperial Teen is at the Crocodile. Not a fest. Hillstomp is at Conor Byrne tonight. Also not a fest. They were playing as a part of fest......

How many more tickets are they going to dole out? Are those parking tickets worth more than the car? Can Mike Dougan have it for free?......

You know the type, the ultra-picky customer whose complaints ruin dinner for everyone in the restaurant. The self-appointed lightning rods for tough steak, spilled wine, fallen soufflés, incorrect checks. Waiter, there's a fly in my drink! Miss, there's no gremolata on the osso buco! You want to find her car in the parking lot and let the air out of her tires, or send a mash note to her table: "STFUA!" Leslie Kelly, Seattle's sorriest......

No, this isn't George Orwell's sad tale. Seattlest is a professional on a closed course. Do not attempt. Afternoon starts at 0/8 in Bellevue with lavish spread and tasting of the entire Moët Hennessy portfolio. Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label always gets you off on the right foot. Follow up with Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial Rosé. Outside, three bars sculpted from ice blocks. Sample a three-olive, Chopin vodka martini. Sample the Belevedere & Grand Marnier......

Seattle Parking, courtesy of jaycoxfilm in the Seattlest Flickr Pool, where parking is always free except on Wednesdays from 7-9AM and 3:30-6:30PM.......

Blackberry week continues with Seattlest Rachael's blackberry sorbet recipe At 7:30 on Sunday morning--when we should have been doing something productive like sleeping--we slipped out of our apartment and walked a few paces up the street to an overgrown parking lot teeming with blackberries. We picked a few handfuls and returned home to make what would be the most knee-bucklingly amazing sorbet we’ve ever tasted. It was plain and simple and tasted exclusively of fresh......

Position 3 is the most anticipated city council race. It's an open seat, and that seems to be the only way to get new blood on the council. Bruce Harrell and Venus Velazquez will end up in the general, with Tuesday's primary serving as a chance trim the fat (Al Runte, Scott Feldman, John Manning) and give both sides a platform to claim victory. Before we make our November decision, we'll be voting for Scott......

Queen Anne is officially all grown up and Thursday nights have become our big cotillion. That's right, Ballard and Fremont and every-other-established-neighborhood-in-Seattle, we now have a farmers market and our very own art walk too! Suckas! Both are new and welcome additions to the neighborhood that popped up earlier this summer, thanks to our diligent neighbors in the Upper Queen Anne Merchants and Queen Anne Neighbors for Responsible Growth groups. The market runs each......

We want to know where's the scariest place to live or hang out within Seattle city limits. (Sorry, Skyway and White Center. Check again after annexation.) Recent news stories have pushed several neighborhoods into contention: Rainier Beach: The Safeway parking lot is "plagued by thugs", disgruntled patrons firebomb a video store, and gangs patronize the library. Broadway: From Slog today: "Broadway has turned into a 1st Class GHETTO. Why is nothing being done about it?......

Pike Place Market’s very public Centennial Celebration wraps up this Friday, the 100th anniversary of its onion-borne existence. As with any freshly-minted centenarian, the Market will dawdle obliviously amid the avid attention of family, friends, and Willard Scott the press. To commemorate the milestone, there will be stage performances, special presentations and, as we noted earlier this week, other activities taking place from 9am on. But the candles won’t truly be lit until around......