April 2011

Seattle’s Historic INS Building Now Artist Studios

Seattle’s Historic INS Building Now Artist Studios

Local artists are migrating to the same space that once served as the Ellis Island of the Northwest

When still operational, the U.S. Immigrant Station and Assay Office (commonly called the INS building) was recognizable both for its commanding neoclassical presence on Airport Way South and for the long lines of people that waited (and waited) out front, rain or shine, hoping to become American citizens. Opened in 1932 and now on the…

Spring Boot Trends

Spring Boot Trends

This look actually was made for walkin’—and we’re seeing it (and loving it) everywhere in Seattle.

This look actually was made for walkin’—and we’re seeing it (and loving it) everywhere in Seattle. Add some Tex appeal to kicky, bold cowgirl boots with layers of funky, patterned socks and tights. Vintage golden leather calf-high boots with white stitching and 2-inch wooden heels, $34, at The Vintage Closet; Ozone “Pop Stripes” multicolor cotton/spandex/nylon…

Styled: Shalonne Foster channels mod glam in ’60s vintage wear

Styled: Shalonne Foster channels mod glam in ’60s vintage wear

Local fashion website creator Shalonne Foster re-imagines 1960s mod in a globally inspired wardrobe

SHALONNE FOSTER’S SHOPPING STOPSFor vintage dresses and coats:Red Light Vintage ClothingTwo locations, includingCapitol Hill312 Broadway Ave. E206.329.2200redlightvintage.com For glam vintage accessories:SustaluxSoDo2020 Airport Way S877.655.1929sustalux.com For edgy jeans:DNA 2050BellevueThe Bravern700 110th Ave. NE 425.453.0700dna2050.com WHY WE LOVE THE LOOK Busy gal Foster, a marketer, interior designer and the creative director for Fashion Network Seattle (fashionnetworkseattle.com), describes…

Shopping: Candace Cantaloupe's biker chic clothing line and a new pop-up jewelry shop in Ballard

Shopping: Candace Cantaloupe’s biker chic clothing line and a new pop-up jewelry shop in Ballard

Kick-It Boots owner opens neighboring Ponytail Jewelry, plus a repurposed Mason jar light

Bike ChicVictorian-era bloomers may be an unlikely choice for a debuting fashion line, but when Candace Cantaloupe first created knee-length knickers to wear biking in 2005 she quickly found herself taking orders by the fistful. “I got stopped by woman after woman on the street wanting to know where I got them,” the Greenwood-based designer…

Urban Safari: Classic Fremont

Urban Safari: Classic Fremont

New restaurants and swanky bars are adding fresh credibility to the must-see claims of Seattle’s bel

Lower Fremont has long been a hub for bar hopping, thrift-store shopping and people-watching. Yet in the past year, a slew of bustling restaurants and swanky bars has moved in along 34th and 36th streets near Fremont Avenue, adding fresh credibility to the neighborhood’s claim of being the center of the universe. EAT + DRINK…

Seattle Broadcasters and Podcasters Detour Traditional Airwaves for Online

Seattle Broadcasters and Podcasters Detour Traditional Airwaves for Online

Luke Burbank, Hollow Earth Radio and Spilled Milk prove that podcasting isn’t dead.

  Inside the sound room at Hollow Earth Radio, Sasha Morgan (DJ Mama Molasses) uses an Internet provider tracking site to see who’s listening to her final selection of the day, an eight-minute avante-disco piece by Arthur Russell that probably wouldn’t get airtime anywhere else. Hollow Earth’s free-form approach to radio is part of its…

How Climate Change is Altering Allergies in Seattle

How Climate Change is Altering Allergies in Seattle

If you think your allergy attacks are lasting longer, you’re probably right.

As If melting glaciers and monster rainstorms aren’t enough, it now appears likely that climate change can be blamed for the increasing misery of allergy sufferers in the Puget Sound region who sniffle over the blooming of alder and cedar trees every spring. While our trees make the Northwest beautiful, they promise to increasingly afflict…

Will standardized testing of students really weed out Seattle’s bad teachers?

Will standardized testing of students really weed out Seattle’s bad teachers?

In Seattle, the MAP test and the new MSP, which replaced the controversial WASL, are part of the red

Taking the measure of a teacher: It’s the cry of education reform in the 21st century—in Seattle and nearly everywhere else. If you can figure out who is a good teacher, or at least a good-enough teacher, you can reward him or her while simultaneously culling the bad ones from the classroom. And when you…

Vertical Gardening is Growing Up in Seattle, Enlivening Walls with Upwardly Mobile Greenery

Vertical Gardening is Growing Up in Seattle, Enlivening Walls with Upwardly Mobile Greenery

Local green thumbs are using Woolly Pockets and other “living wall” systems to grow plants up, up an

At the industrial Portland warehouse of solar-power and green-roof purveyor SolTerra Systems, 1,200 plants do the dusting. “We used to mop twice a week,” says SolTerra president Brian Heather of office life before greenery. “Now we mop and dust maybe once every two weeks.” These leafy merry maids, which take up particulates through their leaves…

The Harvest Vine Not Such a Sure-thing

Allison Scheff checks out Harvest Vine and discovers that the 13-year-old restaurant has yet to rega

It’s been a tumultuous couple of years at The Harvest Vine in Madison Valley. There was a major shakeup behind the scenes of the iconic tapas restaurant, as chef/owner Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez and his wife, Carolin Messier, divorced in late 2009. (Messier now owns the restaurant; Jiménez was last moonlighting at West Seattle’s Swinery…

A Can't-Miss Handheld Minipie

A Can’t-Miss Handheld Minipie

Pie shops are hot on the heels of cupcake stores in the every-neighborhood-must-have-one stampede. T

Pie shops are hot on the heels of cupcake stores in the every-neighborhood-must-have-one stampede. They’re popping up all over town, and the latest to debut is PIE, a homespun space in Fremont where owners Jess Whitsitt and Renee Steen specialize in handheld minipies. That’s where you’ll find this fluted-edged lemon meringue beauty ($4.50). The crust…

Seattle's Pie Peddlar: Piecycle Brings Eco-friendly Treats to the U-District

Seattle’s Pie Peddlar: Piecycle Brings Eco-friendly Treats to the U-District

Max Kraushaar, a UW theater and photography major, spends weekend mornings baking pies in his apartm

Max Kraushaar, a UW theater and photography major, spends weekend mornings baking pies in his apartment. At night, he delivers them in the University District via bicycle. The protocal for his business, the piecycle, is simple: Text Kraushaar on Friday or Saturday night (9:30 p.m.–3 a.m.) for a slice ($3) or a pie ($20), and…