What's new (or upcoming)

New coffeehouse enters the scene (but in Madison Valley)

Those missing the old neighborhood Tully's and wishing to find a replacement might do well to check out the Harbour Pointe Coffeehouse, which opened its doors a couple weeks ago in a location (2818 E. Madison St.) where several other coffee shops had earlier failed. Proprietor Zander Natallanni describes his venture as a "European-style coffeehouse that has enough food to fall between the restaurant/bistro category, yet specializes in coffee and select loose-leaf teas."

Zander with employee and patron

The menu includes house-made pizza and eight varieties of grilled cheese sandwiches (including build your own), as well as soups and salads. There's also breakfast, pastries, and a gluten-free menu.

Natallanni tells us that he's planning to have an open-mic night every Wednesday, offer board games for patrons on Thursdays, and---"for a small fee"---provide baby-sitting services (up to 2 1/2 hours) for parents wanting a date night at another area restaurant "preselected by us."  Upcoming: a delivery service to homes and businesses in the general area.

This is Harbor Pointe's second location (the original is at Harbor Pointe in Mukilteo). The mission statement for both is to serve quality food and drinks while providing "an atmosphere at fosters community development," according to Natallanni. "We are community driven and therefore our business model isn't based on how much money we make but how much we plug into the community and give back or bring to it."

Clearly, though, making some money wouldn't be a bad thing for Madison Valley's Harbor Point Coffeehouse, given the history of this particular space.

Planning a party?  Brooke can help!

Madison Park's Brooke Westlund, who has been enjoying a good measure of success as a local artist, is adding another talent to her resume: professional host. She and friend Tanja Nyeholt recently started a business--swah:rey--designed to remove the burdens on a party's actual host by taking on the "little things," tasks such as greeting guests at the door, taking peoples' coats, getting the drinks, serving food, and cleaning up afterwards.

swah:rey is willing to do much more than that, however, including planning the whole event. If the need is deciding the menu, organizing the catering, renting party accessories, setting up a bar, or developing custom cocktails, Brooke and Tanja are ready to fill the breach. "Pretty simple," says Brooke, "it's basically custom high-end service."

Events

The Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum opened today with a Shinto Blessing and a First Viewing.  Next Sunday, March 10, visitors to the Japanese Garden will have the opportunity to see Autumn Impressions, a juried show of 13 photographers' views of the Garden as captured in the October 2012 Photography Workshop.  The event begins at 1 pm and the photographers represented will be present (admission is free).

Inner Renewal and the Healthy Path, located in Arboretum Court, will be presenting a concert of vibrational healing with traditional Nepalese singing bowls at 7 pm on March 10.

Cafe Parco has an upcoming Washington Wine event on March 22, featuring Guy Harris of Cru Selections (Woodinville).  By the way, the restaurant recently got some favorable coverage for its brunch menu from a Seattle food blogger.

[Japanese Garden photo by matunos on Flickr.]

Fall color at the Japanese Garden

One of the great things about living in Madison Park is our proximity to the Washington Park Arboretum, with its 230 acres of lush and varied habitat. A little gem within the Arboretum, of course, is the now half-century-old Japanese Garden.  While many of us may not think to visit the Garden at this time of year, these recently-shot pictures by photographer Dennis Valente illustrate the spectacular show that awaits those who do.

The Japanese Garden is open through this weekend (10:00 am until 4:00 pm each day), so this is your last opportunity to see the fabulous fall color the Garden displays.

Admission is $6 for adults, with discounts for seniors, youths, college students, and the disabled.  Kids five and under get in free.

The Japanese Garden, which covers three and a half acres of the Arboretum, was designed and constructed under the supervision of world-renowned Japanese garden designer Juki Iida in 1960.

We did a little story on the Garden's 50th Anniversary last year. Information on the Japanese Garden is available here.

February Happenings

It’s time again for the Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum to open its doors and get ready to celebrate the beginning of spring (so we hope). The Garden, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary last year, will emerge from its winter hibernation this Sunday with a traditional Shinto “Blessing of the Garden” ceremony and other opening events, which begin at 11 am. The Japanese Garden (shown above) is located at 1075 Lake Washington Boulevard E.


McQuesten Fine Art’s gallery in Maison Michel (1928 43rd Avenue E.), this month has on display never-before-seen photos of Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley that were taken by Seattle photographer Edward M. Melillo during Marley’s USA Survival Tour. The photos will be on view through the end of the month, at which time, the gallery will close. Owner Dee McQuesten reports that she is just too busy with her framing and fine art consulting business to devote the time necessary to keep the gallery operating at the optimum level. It is expected that Maison Michel will continue to put art on display, as well as the antique furnishings that are the mainstay of the store. Maison Michel moved from E. Madison to its new location during the summer last year and McQuesten added her gallery to the mix soon thereafter.


Madison Park Conservatory begins its Sunday neighborhood dinner series this Sunday, February 13, with a pre-Valentine’s Day dinner hosted by Lucio Gomiero, owner and winemaker of Vignalta Winery (located in the Italian Veneto). There will be one seating at 7 pm, for what the restaurant describes as a special dinner with the special wines of Vignalta. Details, including the complete menu, are available here.


The MPC, by the way, is not only beginning its Sunday dinner program but has now extended service into the daylight hours: Thursday through Sunday, 10 am until 2:30 pm. They are not calling what they're serving lunch, but rather the day menu. Last week that meant chickpeas and salt cod with a six-minute egg, baked eggs, salads, fresh baked goods—and “more.” The Madison Park Conservatory is located at 1927 43rd Avenue E. (206-324-9701).


Pharmaca (4130 E. Madison St.) hosts “Maximize Your Cardiovascular Health” with Erik Altmann, ND, tomorrow, February 13 (1-2pm) at the pharmacy, and “Stress and Depression” with Jason Peterson, ND, on Saturday, February 26 (1-2 pm).


Finally, we have this promotional teaser from Bill the Butcher in Madison Valley (2911 E. Madison St.): come into the store and find where we have hidden “a bit of love” in the form of something shaped like a heart. You’ve got until tomorrow to come up with and take a photo of the discovery, which then must be posted (details available at the store). Winners will be awarded a couple of choice steaks for Valentine’s Day.


[Notice to event planners, non-profits, and businesses located in Madison Park and Madison Valley: Madison Park Blogger will be posting a monthly Happenings report in which we will aggregate events expected to occur in the neighborhood during the coming month. If you wish to participate, please email us well in advance of month end with your information. We reserve the right to include or exclude at whim.]

[Photo of the Japanese Garden in winter (2009) by SpiralCageon on Fickr.com]

The Japanese Garden celebrates 50 years

The Japanese Garden in the Arboretum is about to end its winter hiatus, reopening on Sunday, February 14, for its 50th Anniversary season. Rated by a garden journal as one of the ten most favorite Japanese gardens in the country, Seattle’s Japanese Garden was inaugurated in July 1960, after only four months of construction. It’s now ready to celebrate a half century of giving pleasure to visitors seeking sanctuary and a connection to nature.

The concept of adding a Japanese Garden to the Arboretum goes back to 1937, but it took another twenty years for the idea to gain enough popular support to enable fundraising to begin for the project (a war against Japan had intervened). In 1959, with funds in hand and the design completed, Juki Iida and Nobumasa Kitamura were hired to build the garden, which originally was scheduled to take up to three years to complete. Using heavy construction equipment, a somewhat scaled-back design, and a capable crew of mostly Japanese-American gardeners, the builders transformed an Arboretum ravine into a colorful and tranquil garden, offset by boulders, water features and formal elements. And they did it all in record time. (That’s Juki Iida in the photo below, standing on the site during the construction).

The original design of the Garden was by the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Department, and Iida carried out the scheme by installing in a combination of traditional Japanese plantings, such as maples, gingko and bamboo, and Pacific Northwest natives, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, and cedars. In 1959, a hand-built teahouse was added to the Japanese Garden, the gift of the people of Tokyo. A fire destroyed the teahouse in 1973, but it was rebuilt in 1981 with the help of the Arboretum Foundation and Urasenke Foundation of Kyoto. The Garden itself was significantly renovated earlier this century, after over forty years which saw little change. Koichi Kobayashi, who undertook the renovation, called the Arboretum gem “one of the finest Japanese gardens to be constructed outside Japan.”

You will get an opportunity to view the Japanese Garden for the first time this year when it reopens one week from this Sunday (on February 14), at 11:00 a.m. There will be formal tours of the Garden at both noon and 2:00 p.m. on opening day, as well as a Shinto/Buddhist Opening Blessing at 1 p.m. Information on the Japanese Garden, including hours and scheduled events, is available here. There is also a nice, short video about the Japanese Garden available from Lonely Planet TV . The narrator sums up the Garden as an example of one of the “few places left in which you can approach nature in a small area and have it serve as a kind of textbook on life and how to live.”

[Upper photo by jamec199 on Flickr. Lower photo of the Japanese Garden in Winter by Spiral Cage on Flickr. Middle photo of Juki Iida courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives. Information included in this posting was obtained from “Legacy of the Japanese Garden of Seattle” by Prof. Koichi Kobayashi of the University of Washington, available here.]

Let's hope for a day like this tomorrow

If the weather clears up by then there will be a fine, close-at-hand opportunity to get out of the house on Sunday and enjoy nature in the Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum. Bewteen 11 am and 3 pm on Sunday, the Japanese Garden will be hosting a viewing of the more than 150 maple trees situated on the grounds. It's a colorful show at this time of year and might even be enjoyable if it's still raining.

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As noted in an earlier posting, 2009 represents the 75th anniversary of the Arboretum. Those who want to learn more more about the history of Washington Park have an opportunity to do so later this month. Brooklyn Botanic Garden President Scot Medbury will be presenting a talk sponsored by the Arboretum Foundation entitled "The Once and Future Arboretum." The event will take place at the Center for Urban Horticulture (3501 NE 41st Street) on Thursday, October 29, from 7 to 9 pm. Preceding the talk, there will be an open house at the Center from 5:30 until 7. More information is available here.

[The Japanese Garden in autumn: upper photo by marcelebrate on Flickr; middle photo by Anthony Papini; lower photo by Jeff Krewson.]