Philip Monroe Jeweler Inc, heir to a jewelry design and retail firm founded in 1923, enters its third generation of proprietorship with its recent purchase by Kevin Crane. The Seattle firm will continue operation as Monroe and Crane Jewelers, at 519 Pine St. The company originated as Gunderson's in Tacoma but soon opened a second small boutique in downtown Seattle. In 1954 the late Arthur Gunderson moved the Seattle store from Fifth Avenue to Sixth and Pine, near its current location across from Nordstrom.
Here is a quick summation of last week's Queen Anne News front page: There are big cost increases for "solving" or rescuing the crumbling Magnolia Bridge; a citizen activist, John Kane, plans to run for a Port Commission slot being vacated by Paige Miller, who will run for the Seattle City Council; and the Port of Seattle spends a huge chunk of taxpayers' dollars to buy the 3.4-acre South Tsubota Steel site on 15th Avenue West, with no firm plans for its development. It seems to me that Queen Anne and Magnolia will need to come together as concerned and thoughtful communities deeply involved in future Interbay development. They did this very successfully years ago when they blocked the Port's plan to make terminals 90 and 91 into huge container-ship terminals. Do we have the will and the leadership now?
A nice lady approached me the other day, on one of the bustling daytime Lower Queen Anne streets where I amble around nodding to my mostly imaginary fans, and complimented me on this column."Your writing seems so natural - did you always want to write?" she asked.The short answer I gave her (I hadn't had my coffee yet) was no, but the real answer takes a little longer.As a little boy, I wanted to be a fireman. As I grew into my early teens, I started sleeping with my baseball glove. I wanted to be Willie Mays. Back in those dark days, even my family was a little upset with my 13-year-old boy's goal. Relatives tried to convince me that it would be better to be Mickey Mantle.It wasn't mentioned - that would have been crude - but I realize now those good Catholic folks who reared me were a little stunned that I, a white boy in racist Cincinnati, preferred the black athlete to the white one.None of it mattered. I wasn't destined to be Mickey or Willie.
My life has become a scavenger hunt. Today I found my ice cream scoop in the overstuffed chair in the living room. I wasn't hunting for that particular kitchen gadget when I discovered it sitting there, and I still have no clear understanding about why it was re-moved from the kitchen drawer and dropped onto the chair. I doubt I'll ever find the reason, and even if I did, I doubt I'd understand it. Later I was searching for the remote to the television in the family room. Naturally I couldn't find it because it wasn't in the family room. I found it later under the table runner on the kitchen table. I still don't know why it didn't occur to me to look there first. Silly me.
Ernesto: Take this vehicle across the stubby bridge, Anselmo. It is time to depart Fremont. Too many bicycles and berets. Too many radicals who never miss a meal. Anselmo: But Ernesto, I like it here. There's the Rocket. And Lenin. And best of all, in summer, the running of the nudist bicyclists. Ernesto, they ride without helmets.E: Enough! Let us cross over into Queen Anne. This is not the Fremont I remember. I could go three rounds with Tolstoy or Tur-genev, but not the Suzie Burke.A: Truly, Ernesto.E: Ah, Anselmo. This is a fine canal, smooth and green and flowing. Now we go to Queen Anne where I have not been for more than a dozen years. Take a left up Florentia, Anselmo. Faster! A real man does 70 here.
What is the purpose of the public library? I was asked this question last week and had to pause as I didn't have an immediate, all-encompassing answer. I'm still not sure if I have such a reply, but here are some thoughts I've since had on the subject.The obvious response of citing the Seattle Public Library's collection of books, thousands of magazine subscriptions, free Internet access, DVDs, CDs, etc., didn't seem to fully answer the question. Nor did reciting the hundreds of years of cumulative librarian expertise on subjects ranging from starting a small business to repairing the transmission on a 1954 Studebaker fully capture the essence of the library. In my mind, what sets public libraries apart is the institution's support and enrichment of the individual and community life, while upholding the values that Americans hold most dear.
Audiences will have the opportunity to help create theater on the spot by feeding suggestions to performers about characters and situations, at the third-annual Seattle Festival of Improv Theater (SFIT), presented by Wing-It Productions and KUOW."It's alive theater. No one knows what's going to happen," producer Andrew McMasters said "It's not about comedy, but it does end up being hilarious, always."The festival, expanded this year, will feature 20 different groups in 10 different shows at two venues.
CLAIRE MONAGHAN"I would like to see more thrift shops."ANGELIKA NIEWIERKOWICZ"I'd like to see the traffic eliminated on Queen Anne Ave. where all of the shops are. We could close part of the street and have a cobblestone walkway - pedestrians could walk and not have to deal with traffic."
The Academy Award nominations are out, and the movie buzz is humming around film-focused homes across the country. Our humble paper is no exception. The Beacon Hill News and South District Journal's seasoned film expert, Mr. Jameson, has gone several steps farther than his top ten (well, 12 really) list of the best movies of 2004, which is available online: www.sdistrictjournal.com, search the Jan. 5 issue.Now on to the picks! Make sure to keep them in mind the next time you find yourself walking into a theater or hitting the local movie rental shop. - Editor
There's a Help Wanted ad that needs to be posted in every newspaper in Seattle. That ad would read something like this: "Help Wanted: Someone with name familiarity, lots of dollars or ability to raise them, and proven leadership experience, willing to take on Nickels for mayor in 2005. A large coalition of community leaders seek strong leader who will give first priority to our neighborhoods and small businesses, with the goal of ensuring equity, jobs, and affordable housing for low income people, communities of color, and others now marginalized by the policies of our current mayor. The successful candidate will in the past have distinguished herself or himself as a strong advocate for these values central to the well-being and soul of our city..." During the four-year tenure of Greg Nickels, these core city values have been pushed aside in favor of an agenda that overtly favors downtown and large corporate interests like no other time in this city's history. Mayor Nickels has slashed programs for the poor and failed to even begin to address the nearly $1 billion dollar backlog of transportation and other basic infrastructure needs in our neighborhoods.
The shelves, tables, and even the floor of my room are cluttered with books that I had every intention of reading in the past year. This condition is exactly what one would expect of a "book junky." Without fail, many of the "must reads" that I discover through serendipity eventually find a place somewhere in my room. Despite my yearly resolution to read one book at-a-time and not to purchase a book until everything on my shelves has been read, I always find that my passion for reading continues to create piles of items that remain in the unread category. As I take inventory of the books in my room, I realize there is truly no rhyme or reason to what grabs my interest.
The concept of homework should be evaluated in the wake of the plethora of problems facing our schools. Along with increased graduation requirements and WASL testing, more homework is now assigned. The pressure to succeed has left students feeling alienated, disillusioned and angry. Many turn to alcohol and drugs, juvenile delinquency and most tragically suicide. Around one in four teens drops out of school here in Seattle while many graduate lacking basic skills for college or employment. Homework is a contributor, but it can be modified to abate the plight of our schools
This 1930s photo shows the Genesee streetcar - affectionately known as the "Dinky" - turning east onto Genesee Street from Rainier Avenue. The corners of the intersection are lined with gracefully curving rows of storefronts. The intersection was built up as a commercial district partly in anticipation of the construction of a bridge across Lake Washington at the east end of Genesee Street - a bridge that was never built. But the businesses there - including Mondo's meats, Hilda Kane's café, and Shaw's pharmacy - thrived anyway
Even at 9 a.m., empty of crowds, Safeco Field had an aura of power. The monstrous facade, like the Roman Coliseum, seemed an icon of physical force. I was meeting Donna James, director of the Mayor's Office of Film and Music, and Suzy Kellett, her counterpart for the Washington State Film Office, at Media Inc., across the street from the stadium.Safeco Field made a symbolic fit for talk about another national preoccupation: movies. Like sports, movies are a multimillion-dollar machine, transform a few human beings into stars and false idols, and offer enormous economic benefits to those involved. James and Kellett are working to raise the standards of how local government interacts with the film industry in order to attract more filmmakers to the city. Although their titles sound glamorous, their jobs are not glitzy get-togethers with the stars.
The new public housing complexes materializing in King County this year aspire to put a roof over the heads of low-income families while combating homelessness. However, the process has not been without its challenges. South Seattle's NewHolly Complex is one such development. It provides living-wage, low-income and market rate housing in a modern and orderly cluster of homes. It's a mix that projects an image meant to avert the stigmas associated with the low-income housing projects of the past.When finished, NewHolly will have 1,390 units of two, three, and four bedroom homes to rent and own, each designed to blend in, and be inoffensive to, the neighborhood. Located near parks and recreational areas, the South End spot was primarily chosen because of its eventual proximity to Sound Transit's Light Rail project currently underway. The general idea is to bunch families together in an area that allows residents easy access to transportation and other resources.