Learn how to cook amazing salmon, Volunteer for Pioneer Days

Its that time of year again when The smell of cooking salmon fills the air, vendors fill the streets, hot rods show their sparkling steel, and hundreds of people parade along Lake City Way. Yes, our much-loved Pioneer Days is just around the corner.

This year the our neighborhood event needs a little extra help from community members. Below you can find a list of volunteer opportunities. So if you have ever wanted to learn how the Lake City Lions Club makes that amazing salmon each year, this might just be your opportunity to learn from the masters.

Community Tea Time with Fire Department

Update: The event date is Friday, July 19th from 2pm to 3:15pm. Thank you to the reader who caught this and apologies for any inconvenience caused. If you intend to go, today ( July 17th ) is the last day to RSVP.

When: Wednesday, July 17th from 2pm to 3:15pm
Where: Lake City Fire Station 39 ( 2806 NE 127th Street )


- Tour the historic and recently renovated station.

- Learn about the Seattle Fire Department services.

- Meet with local firefighters.

- Learn about community programs such as the free smoke alarm program and community fire safety programs.

Seattle Police Picnic

When: Saturday, July 13th from 1pm to 4pm
Where: At the North Precinct across the street from North Seattle Community College ( 10049 College Way North )

All North Precinct residents are invited! Come enjoy food, music, and an opportunity to learn about and interact with many of SPD's specialty units like: K-9, Mounted Patrol, Bomb Squad, and SWAT.

They will be serving FREE hotdogs and ice cream!

Lifetime Learning Center - summer course registration

The Lifetime Learning Center in Lake City is offering 9 classes for the summer schedule. 

The cost is $50 for registration and you can attend as many classes as you like. You can register online here.

WHEN: Every Tuesday and Wednesday during the four weeks of July, beginning July 9, 2013.

WHERE: 3841 NE 123rd in the Education Wing on the lower floor. 

To learn more about the classes call 206-949-8882 or visit www.lifetimelearningseattle.org

Class Descriptions - Tuesdays

Presidential Trivia: Providential Contexts	9:30-10:45
Les McKim	TBD

In this class, we will exchange knowledge of topics related to our presidents and their spouses. Topics will come as they do in real life-randomly, not chronologically or by topic. Participants will serve as the main resource. Bring a 3 x 5 card to the first class with a sample question relative to any American president. Example: who saved a portrait of George Washington that was hanging in the White House? Each question will lead to a discussion of about five minutes. The discussion should be lively, challenging and fun.

Richard Hugo	11:00-12:15
Bruce Bigley	TBD

Who was Richard Hugo? Most of you have heard of Richard Hugo House, but you may not know much about this nationally known poet with deep roots in Seattle and Western Washington, as well as in Montana, where I taught with him at the University. We will read two or three poems in each class period, and discuss them, with a focus on the poems set in our area. Copies of poems will be provided, but if you want a book, either the Selected Poems or Making Certain It Goes On: The Collected Poems of Richard Hugo, both published by Norton, are widely available, both new and used.

Rosen Movement	11:00-12:00
Cameron Justam	TBD

Created by Marion Rosen to foster, support, and maintain flexibility during the aging years. This goal is aided by music, which provides fun and inspiration to move all the joints with ease in an hour. Come move with us-be more open to the day and to life!

Summer Mystery Tour	1:00-2:00
David Martin	TBD

You are invited to an exploration of the International Fine Art of Mystery Writing. Come exchange books, learn about new authors you haven't read. Talk about ideas and your favorite sleuths. Police, Private Detectives, Medical Examiners, Forensic Pathologists, Forensic Anthropologists-even detectives set in the Middle Ages.

Film: There's a Ford in Your Past: John Ford Paints History	1:00-3:00
Jim Mohundro	TBD

The Iron Horse (1924), silent, George O'Brien and Madge Bellamy, 149 minutes. (Note: Because of the film's length, its showing may be divided between the first and second weeks, unless the entire class wishes to see the film in one showing). The Informer (1935), Victor McLaglen, Preston Foster, Una O'Connor, Joseph Sawyer, Heather Angel, Margot Grahame, Donald Meek, Wallace Ford, J.M. Kerrigan, Joseph Sauers (Joe Sawyer) and Donald Meek, 92 minutes. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan, Eddie Collins, Pauline Moore, Richard Cromwell, Ward Bond, Donald Meek and Milburn Stone, 100 minutes. My Darling Clementine (1946), Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Linda Darnell, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Jane Darwell and Grant Withers, 97 minutes.

Class Descriptions - Wednesdays

Shakespeare's The Tempest	9:30-10:45
Bobbie Simone	TBD

Seattle Shakespeare Company's Wooden O Theater presents The Tempest in its summer season of free performances in the parks of Seattle and environs. In a time of European exploration and schemes of Utopias, Shakespeare set this play on an island in the "Bermudas," where several shipwrecked groups experience the original "sea change," finding love and forgiveness rather than rancor and revenge for wrongs endured. This is the last of Shakespeare's comedies and his farewell to the theater. We will read and discuss the play, see a film, and attend an outdoor performance. The Folger library edition will be available from the instructor at the first meeting.

The Poetry of Robert Frost	11:00-12:15
Michael Shurgot	TBD

This course will study a number of Robert Frost's better known poems, both for their literary value and their technical skill. The class will include poems from Frost's early and later books, including A Boy's Will, North of Boston, Mountain Interval, New Hampshire, A Witness Tree, West Running Brook, and A Further Range. A packet of poems will be provided for $2.50.

Tai Chi	11:00-12:00
Ann Ross	TBD

Tai Chi is a slow moving meditation to improve health, balance and spirit. From the gentle practice of the postures, you will learn about your physical and spiritual center.

How Birds Work	1:00-2:15
Connie Sidles	TBD

People use tools and civilization to survive in the natural world. Birds have only themselves. Come along with master birder and author Connie Sidles as she takes you on a tour of bird's anatomy, showing how birds use their physical attributes to survive and thrive. With the help of bird skins from the Burke Museum, you'll learn about feathers, bills, feet, tails, eyes, ears, and other bird parts that allow birds to be perfectly adapted to their environment. After this series of hands-on classes, you'll never look at birds the same way again.

PHOTOS: DPC 2013 garage sales

Recently Douglas Park Cooperative organized neighborhood garage sales. We had more participation than last year but still would like more households to participate next year. Its a fun way to meet neighbors and get rid of some stuff.

Here are photos from the 2013 DPC neighborhood garage sales.

Flagging down potential customers

Music on 25th Avenue NE provided ambiance as people searched for the perfect item

Chuck Dickey with some of his items

Walking home with a new dinosaur purchased from a neighbor

Lemonade stand

Signs advertising the sales

Coffee Talk Lecture #4 - Demographic Trends and Diversity

When: Tuesday, June 28th / 6:30 -8:30pm
Where: Lake City Community Center / 12531 28th Ave NE

The last APA-LCNA sponsored Lake City Coffee Talk is focusing on demographic trends and diversity in the Lake City community. Come learn more about how Lake City is evolving, who makes up our community, and getting ideas on making Lake City welcoming to all of its residents.

This Roundtable will begin with a description of Lake City age, race, ethnicity, income, gender, and household characteristics, followed by invited guests sharing briefly their experiences reaching out and engaging many diverse groups in their work. Using a Roundtable format, all of us will participate in discussing what we see as opportunities and challenges as Lake City grows and changes.

Speakers include:

Rachel Miller 

APA member and planner with Makers Architecture and Urban Design

Amber Trout 

North Seattle Family Center and UW PhD Student in Interdisciplinary Planning

Lisa Uemoto 

SHA Community Builder for Lake City Court

Come for coffee and talk with these experienced professionals and your neighbors about strengthening the Lake City’s design and identity for the future.

The Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association’s Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT) is co-hosting a series of “Coffee Talks" for the Lake City community with the Lake City Neighborhood Alliance.

The Coffee Talks are a series of community learning opportunities to help educate our community on planning elements that will impact the success of planning for our neighborhood’s growth and development.

The intent of the Coffee Talks is to learn about key concepts that could help guide our work on the Pierre Property redevelopment and with City agencies on meeting our broader neighborhood plan goals.

Father's Day Celebration this Saturday

You are invited! 

Dear Lake City neighbors and community leaders,

Seattle Housing Authority is in partnership with the North Seattle Family Center, and the Lions Club in organizing a 2013 celebration honoring all Fathers, Parents and Caregivers.  Last year, we had over 150 people attended.  We hope you could join us this year!  At this event, we will have free BBQ, family photo booth (thanks to Kapchur.US Photography), lots of children’s activities, bubble man, and valuable community resource tables available.   For more information, please see attached flyer.

Please come join us and bring your friends and families.

We also in needs of volunteers!  To make this event a successful one, we really depend on our wonderful volunteers.  If you + your friend/family are available to help even for couple hours, please contact Lisa Uemoto at 206-295-8942, or cuemoto@seattlehousing.org

We hope to see you this Saturday, 6/15/2013 from 12pm to 3pm at Lake City Court – 12536 33^rd Ave NE

Hollywood comes to Olympic Hills neighborhood

Director Lynn Shelton looks through the viewfinder during filming Monday on 19th Avenue NE in the Olympic Hills neighborhood. (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com, used with permission)

 The Olympic Hills neighborhood got to play a starring role in a Seattle-based movie on Monday.

A crew shooting scenes for the film "Laggies" took over 19th Avenue NE near NE 137th Street, just blocks from Olympic Hills Elementary School. The crew worked for most of the day in an area secured by Seattle Police officers during the filming.

The film, "Laggies," is a dark comedy about a woman, stuck in permanent adolescence, who lies to her fiancé about going on a retreat. She spends the time instead hanging out with friends.

Keira Knightley

The film stars actress Keira Knightley (Anna Karenina, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pride and Prejudice, Star Wars, Bend it Like Beckham, Love Actually). The movie also features actress Chloe Grace Moretz and actor Sam Rockwell.

In recent days the crew has been spotted filming at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, and at Ballard's Olympic Manor. It was also reported that they were recently filming on the decommissioned ferry Skansonia on Lake Union.

The filming on Monday included an action scene where a car crashed into a row of mailboxes on the street. A camera was seen mounted inside an older model Ford station wagon used in the scene.

Neighbors came out to see the filming but were politely asked to keep their distance as the crew buzzed around the set. Many others wandered over, wondering what was happening in the usually quiet neighborhood.

The movie is directed by accomplished actress, director and writer Lynn Shelton (Humpday, Your Sister's Sister).

A car is prepped for a shot where it crashes into a row of mailboxes. (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com, used with permission)

Graffiti Paint out Wednesday, June 5th

Resident Chuck Dickey will be leading a crew of community court "volunteers" to paint out graffiti in Lake City on Wednesday, June 5th. But you don't need a court order to help out. If you are available please stop by and lend a hand.

They will be meeting up at the Lake City Community Center ( 12531 28th Ave NE ) at 9:30 a.m. Water, doughnuts, and cookies will be available to fuel you through to 3:30 pm if you choose to stick it out that long.

Help make Lake City a little nicer by removing tags and enjoying some good company.

Lake City Live previously wrote about Dickey and his neighborhood cleanup crew. You can read that story by clicking here.

Organizers planning to move Eva's rocks Saturday morning (June 1st)

Recently we wrote about Eva Sismaet, a resident that lives on NE 130th Street and 27th Avenue NE. Because of a sidewalk that will soon be installed in front of her home, the retiree will have to move the garden that she has spent years perfecting along her property.

Read the full story here.

Eva moves the rocks in her garden.

Eva created the garden to deal with runoff that was draining onto her parking area and to beautify the drainage ditch alongside her property on 130th. She also worked to beautify the area for her, and our enjoyment.

She was told by city officials that anything left in her garden once construction of the sidewalk starts would be swallowed up by heavy equipment.

The outpouring of support and offers to help to move the large amount of river rock that serves as drainage along her property were inspiring. Dozens of neighbors offered to help. So many people offered help that people organizing the effort consulted with Eva and decided they did not want to overwhelm her yard with too many helpers. About 10 of the first people that volunteered were organized to help with the rock relocation.

The volunteers plan to start moving Eva's rocks Saturday morning (June 1st) at 9 a.m.

Neighbors are still encouraged to stop by and say hi, and to help carry a few buckets of rocks if you feel like getting some exercise. Rock movers probably also wouldn't mind some refreshments or snacks as they form a bucket brigade to help move her rocks.

Mrs. Sismaet has also offered her elephant ear plants to neighbors that are willing to give them a good home.