Madison Park: in print and online

Turn-of-the-century "Amusement Center" here

That great website, Vintage Seattle, has unearthed the historic photograph above, which it dates as circa 1907, showing an "amusement center" located in Madison Park. Vintage Seattle was unable to identify the context, but it is almost certainly a photo taken of the "White City" amusement park which briefly flourished in Madison Park during the Alaska-Yukon Exhibition of 1909.

On the 100th anniversary of the incident, we ran a posting on this blog about an elephant that had escaped from "White City" and "rampaged" through Madison Park before being recaptured ("Elephant causes pandemonium in the Park").  For that story we utilized the archives of another great site, HistoryLink.org.  In the photo above (click to enlarge), notice the "Skiddoo House" to the left.  We wonder, what exactly happened there?

And while we're on the subject of historic Madison Park photos, here's another recent entry from Vintage Seattle.  This one shows Washington Pioneer Hall, probably sometime in the early 1950s:

At the time this photo was taken, Madison Park apparently still had at least one water-related commercial business in operation:  on the left side of the building is a sign for "Olympic Boat."

More photos of Broadmoor eaglet

Photographer/bird watcher Larry Hubbell has added some more photos to his website of the offspring of the Broadmoor eagles, which he has named Si'ahl.  The above shot shows the eaglet surveying the territory.  Here's one showing Si'ahl with his father, Albert:

Larry does not limit his photo work to eagle coverage, however.  There are a lot of great shots of other birds and wildlife on his site, Union Bay Watch, as well as a fabulous new shot of Albert.  Check it out.

Washington Park home featured in The Times

The personal residence of architect Roy Lundgren and his wife Laura received high-profile treatment in an article last month in The Seattle Times' Pacific Northwest Magazine.  Lundgren designed the home around the couple's large collection of art and artifacts, some of which they have accumulated from their many world-travel adventures.

One of the interesting aspects of the house is that it is designed for "unassisted living," making it user-friendly, though the residence is situated on a small lot and incorporates three floors of living space.  The full article, with many photos, can be found here.

Interestingly (or not), this is the fourth house on this particular Washington Park block to be featured in a local or national publication during the last two years.

[Architectural photos by BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER, Seattle Times.]

Keeping up

Eaglet soars: Several blog readers reported seeing the Broadmoor eagles in flight with their offspring over the weekend (we and our camera, unfortunately, were late to the party).  But never fear, Montlake photographer and bird watcher Larry Hubbell took many excellent shots of the eaglet in flight on Saturday and posted them on his blog, Union Bay Watch, to be enjoyed by those of us who missed out.

Music in the Park:  The line up for the summer concert series has been announced. This almost-every-Thursday-evening-in-August musical experience, which has become a popular summer tradition, features the same line up as last year's: Two Scoops Combo on August 8, Jonathan Kingham on August 15, Gin Creek on August 22, and The Side Project on August 29. The music will begin promptly at 6:30 and end at about 8 pm. The concerts, which are free, take place in the grassy area of the park and are sponsored by the Madison Park Business Association.

Best Buds moving on:  The colorful neighborhood flower shop with its quaint red English phone booth out front will be abandoning its space at the end of this month. But Best Buds is not shutting down, it is simply going to begin a new life around the corner in the lower level of Cafe Parco (1807 42nd Avenue E.).

In the new location the shop will be more about cut flowers and less about plants for the garden, so we're told.  This move is apparently a win-win-win situation for Best Buds (which is happy to be vacating its current space), Cafe Parco (which was not making good use of its lower level), and restaurant-building owner Karen Binder (who gains another paying tenant).  Perhaps it's not a win for the red-phone-booth owner, however, since the soon-to-be vacant location is just too tiny to accommodate another bank.

Italian cooking comes to Madison Valley:  They're working away diligently on renovating the interior space of what for many years was La Cote (2811 E. Madison St.).  As we reported in June, the French bistro is being replaced by Bar Cantinetta, which is an offshoot of the very-well-received Wallingford-based Cantinetta. We've been told that the Madison Valley incarnation will be a more intimate affair (there's not much space, after all) and will feature small plates. The signs in the windows say the new place will be open in August. To this point the owner has been less than forthcoming about his plans, but perhaps as we get closer to the opening...

Bing's shakes things up:  There's a revamped website, new menu items, a seven-days-a week Happy Hour (3-6 pm), a Kid's Happy Hour (50% off all kids' items, M-F, 3-5 pm), gluten-free items on the menu, Bottomless Mimosas during brunch on weekends, and a new price point for many offerings, including the $8 Signature Burger during Happy Hour, that are all part of the new Bing's experience, says owner George Marshall. Details are available on the website and on Bing's Facebook page here.

Restaurant Bea closes:  Owner Kate Perry announced on the restaurant's Facebook page yesterday that Restaurant Bea is no more. This is the third well-received and highly-rated (but ultimately unsuccessful) restaurant to occupy the same Madrona space (1423 34th Avenue E.).  Cremant was first in the series, followed shortly thereafter by June. This three-strikes development is sad for foodies, for Madrona, and for the people who tried hard to make their dreams come alive.  We were fans.

[Eagle photo by Larry Hubbell.]

Broadmoor eagles featured in Seattle Times story

For those who don't read the paper, we note that today's edition of The Seattle Times features a nicely written front-page story by Erik Lacitis about Montlake bird photographer Larry Hubbell.  Hubbell, as readers of this blog know, has been keeping tabs on the Broadmoor eagles as part of his efforts to chronicle  birdlife on Union Bay. His blog, Union Bay Watch, has a lot of new pictures of the Broadmoor eagle pair, "Eva and Albert," as well as their new eaglet born last month.  We admit that though we often read Hubbell's blog, we happened to miss this news.

The Times, by the way, printed a big photo of Hubbell standing with his equipment on the pier at the 37th Avenue E. road end, the Beaver Lodge Sanctuary. This is a good spot to observe nature and forget that you are in the midst of a major urban center (assuming you look to the west and screen out the traffic noise from SR 520).

[Eagle photo by and used with the permission of Larry Hubbell.]

Broadmooor fledglings fly (away)

Eagle parents may be empty nesters

Ever since the return of the eagles to their tree on the Broadmoor golf course earlier this year, we have been following their progress on the blog of Montlake photographer and bird watcher Larry Hubbell.  For those readers who haven't been keeping up, we can tell you that both of the eaglets became fledged over the summer and one of them, at least, has apparently flown away. As of the end of August, the remaining fledgling (that's her in these photos) was still hanging around--and apparently demonstrating her ability to acquire nesting materials.

Hubbell has some more photos and some interesting commentary on his blog, Union Bay Watch, about this fledgling's first flight, as well as coverage of the other fledgling's earlier efforts at learning to fly (which can be read here).

[Photos by Larry Hubbell, used by permission.]

Eagles return to Broadmoor

When Eddie, one of Broadmoor's breeding pair of bald eagles, died in a tragic mishap on the floating bridge last summer, it was unknown whether his mate would return to the nest that they had shared for many years. She definitely did disappear from the scene, but there was good reason to hope for her return.  In cases such as these, we were told, it is typical for the female to leave the area in order to search for a new mate.  If successful in that quest, she will often return to the nest with the new male.  Bald eagles mate for life.

For several months we have been hearing about the sightings of a lone eagle perched on a lamppost above the 520 floating bridge, but there are other breeding pairs of eagles in the general area and the initial reports from the Broadmoor ground crew were negative with regard to a permanent eagle presence at the golf course. So for some time it has not been clear whether Eddie had a replacement in the Broadmoor nest or just a successor to his old role of bridge sentinel.

Now, however, we seem to have confirmation that the nest, located at the golf course's 11th tee, is again inhabited.  The photo above, taken by our "staff photographer" from a position at 38th Avenue and E. McGraw Street, shows two eagles perched in the tree above the nest. Moreover, we have reports from Broadmoor that in addition to the two adults, there are also two fledglings in the eagle family.

So for Eddie's mate it appears that life goes on.  And for the rest of us, so does the show.

[Thanks to our "staff photographer" (and confidential informant), and to Broadmoor resident Laura Halliday for helping us get to the bottom of this story.]

Broadmoor eagle probable collision victim, but this may not be the end of eagles here

A small bald eagle was killed by a vehicle on the 520 floating bridge this morning, and it is highly likely that it was "Eddie," one of the Broadmoor pair, who was often seen perched on a lightpole on the bridge.  According to Bill Hebner, an Enforcement Captain for the State Department of Fish & Wildlife, "Everything is speculation, but the eagle had probably landed on the roadway because there was some attractant." Hebner notes that while "eagles are very adept at catching their own prey, they are also scavengers who take advantage of road kill."  In this case, Hebner says, it is possible that a duck or other bird was on the road, or perhaps a fish dropped by an Osprey, of which there are many in the area.  Once it has landed, an eagle cannot get airborne quickly, Hebner notes, so it would not have had a chance against a quickly moving vehicle.  The Seattle Times today reported that the eagle flew into the windshield of an oncoming Metro bus, the driver later reporting the incident.

If the dead eagle is "Eddie," it means that the female may leave their Broadmoor nest in order to search for a new mate. This does not necessarily mean the end of bald eagles nesting above the Broadmoor Golf Course, however. While it's true that bald eagles mate for life, if one of a pair dies the other will sometimes return to the same nest with a new mate, according to Hebner.  "We hope that will occur in this case," he told us. This pair's "young of the year" are already old enough, he said, to be out of the nest by now and on their own.  So though this event is tragic, it doesn't have the same implications that it would have had if the young were still being reared.

The eagle was picked up by the State Department of Transportation and is being delivered to the National Eagle Repository in Denver, Colorado.  The bird's claws, beak, and feathers will be preserved and given to a Native American tribe for ceremonial uses, according to Hebner, who notes that while this eagle's death is a sad loss it is a small part of a larger and more hopeful story.  The bald eagle population has been recovering nicely in Washington over the past 30 years or so, and the bird was removed from the federal Endangered Species list in 2007.

[Thanks to Jim Waltz for alerting us to this story.  Upper photo of "Eddie" above the 520 bridge by Todd Bates; lower photo from KING-TV video of "Eddie" taken from a helicopter, available here.]