Art in the Neighborhood

Some very professional graffiti has suddenly appeared at Stod's, opposite the Red Apple and home to a longtime local batting-cage business. This is the cruddiest blank wall in the neighborhood and with its lovely southern exposure I've long thought it would be the perfect place for a mural or community garden. I don't mind the graffiti, although I know its days are numbered. And local residents will think we're in the midst of a major crime wave. They might even try to blame the skateboarders.

Somehow the fact that someone cared enough to paint something on the old grocery store wall (a wall which is in the center of the neighborhood and we all pass by on a daily basis) proves there's still signs of life about. Stod's wall has been looking ever more uncared-for since the Red Apple closed and to me the graffiti is something of an improvement. Just look at those happy bare feet! Not sure whose tag it is...my neighbor Steve knows all the gangs hereabouts so I'll check with him.

A Key to the City

Now I can say I have a key to the city--we all received one at the celebration Saturday morning, and a very brisk morning it was (!) next to one of our new entrance signs. Apparently the project took a long time because, as the mayor pointed out, we have a lot of entrances! I never realized it before, but I guess we do--six, anyway.

A Few More Updates since last summer

New Lake Heights/Newport Hills entrance signs are up and running--ceremony this morning at 10:30 on 119th and 48th...and at Tuesday's NHCC meeting we'll celebrate with cake.



Mojo Espresso cart is now gone. Current whereabouts unknown.


Blue Bug and the Trailer of Mystery (along with the ladder) are also gone.


The Red Apple sign is down to it's last "e"




Some construction activity going on at Eastside Catholic--updated pictures to follow

Old vs New

Welcome to Newport Hills

"We don't take ourselves too seriously"
Couldn't we have just one sign that says that?

How about
Welcome to Lake Heights

"Home of the Puffball Festival"?



AAAh, the mystery of history...these photos are courtesy of Newport Hills Community Club's blog. Check it out here


We have new entrance signs, which were subject to inexplicably lengthy installation delays over the summer. I wanted to do an exclusive expose on it for Red Apple Elegy, but I don't really do exclusive exposes very well.

The Lake Heights signs are an updating of the old ones--same font, metal instead of stone...Can I just say here I don't like them as well. Too corporate. IMHO. And if you look at the new Lake Heights sign--it's very hard to read--maybe they're not finished with it yet.

At this point I'll insert my usual disclaimer:
I have no right to complain because I was not at the meetings and didn't serve on the committee.


The story behind the old Newport Hills sign(s) is (are) one of the most charming surviving from the early days of Newport Hills back in the late 50s. A lovely lady who lived here then, and lives here to this day, has described the way locals took it upon themselves to carve the signs themselves, coming up with the distinctive logo. Probably around the wetbar after a few martinis...my mind conjures up the early pioneer spirit, that yaya sisterhood, the carefree days when a community was just getting started and everyone flew in and out of each other's houses and laughed at "I Love Lucy" on the tv.

This lovely lady asked for and got the sign when it was pulled down and it has retired to a place of honor in her backyard. At the meeting planning staffers seemed a little incredulous that anyone would want such a dated piece of junk. Lovely lady, gracious lady, tenacious lady, that she is kept us updated on the story throughout the summer via Newport Hills Community Club meetings.


We're so grateful that the new signs are finally up and they look so shiny but, scrapper that I am, I have to say it: they're not as distinctive as the older signs. Not as familiar. They're like every other neighborhood's signs. They're not home-made, I know and they'll probably raise our property values but when I see them (a million times a day) it makes me want to join the coyotes in the ravine! Yip-yip-yip!!

The Place to Hang in South Bellevue

The Red Apple Puffballs (South Bellevue division) got into it last night when the skateboard boys set up their own course in the parking lot. Hoping to become part of the course, the puffballs were sidelined by the skateboarders out of respect for foliage.






Click on this shot for the full ferocious effect of a puffball lineup (scorned).

Yep, we've got a new sign up!! Has this little puffball been for a dyejob at All About Hair?

No puffball, no respect. Now if we could just get them to pick up after themselves.

The Place to Hang in North Bellevue

OK, so some might say the grocery store is butt-ugly. But hey, it's open. And there's actually a lot going on here. In the parking lot. Families from the surrounding neighborhoods pull up alongside one another and let the kids run around the playground. Guys listen to the game on the car radio. A couple of dogs frolic with their owners in the buffer behind the QFC. Bicyclists headed for Kirkland pull up for a hotdog.


The park
The buffer
The Chevron
The signboard
The coffeeshop

Seen in Eugene

Seen in Eugene: An infrequent signage feature on Red Apple Elegy

A Good Place to Start

One place to start making our neighborhood center a vibrant, sustainable, place is to edit or remove all threatening signs: do they really work in the first place, and in the second place you feel as though it may be illegal to so much as draw a breath here. So unfriendly, and this is supposed to be the center of our neighborhood? CLICK TO ENLARGE ON SIGN FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT!!


I especially like "not gathering in groups that block vehicle or pedestrian traffic"--if only there were pedestrian traffic! Isn't that what killed Red Apple in the first place?

Signboard Haiku and Skate Parks

A few posts back we lamented the loss of the Red Apple signboard. And prematurely blamed it on what we thought was a turf war between shrubbery gangs. Now we know it was sold off in the Red Apple auction. Who would have thought our beloved signboard would fall into the hands of outside interests?


But seriously, we were sad to see the Red Apple signboard auctioned off with all the rest of the shelves, counters, market paraphernalia, etc. As a suitable memorial/neighborhood landmark I thought it would be fun to acquire a new signboard and make available a set of letters for the public to use in a weekly haiku. If you have any ideas for poems I'd be happy to post them here until we can locate a new signboard.


Meanwhile, Sean was allowed in to take photos after the auction. It's amazing to think of all the possible uses a giant space like this could become. Go-Kart raceway? Puffball gymnastics? How about a display space for artists or the Bellevue Historic Society? How about a Classic Car Museum? Dance Hall with 50's era diner? Movie house? Rehearsal space for dramatic productions? A branch for BCC classes--they have a north campus--how about a southwest one? Crafts market? Holiday bazaar? Community center with art classes?

Of course, this doesn't take into account the multiple uses a large space can be divided into: grocery store/cafe/tutoring center/hardware store/bookstore/space for small concerts and open mic nights.

Indoor skatepark/teen center anyone?