Not long ago, the garages on E Cherry St across from the Garfield Community Center were just plain old garages. Today, they are packed with artists doing everything from painting and printing (whether at Miss Cline Press or Tutta Lou) to industrial-scale pieces and mixed media. Some artists have private studios, while others share space (see our recent profile of ALTSpace). Work is featured in an art walk the second Saturday of each month.

With Coyote Central making its permanent home in the corner lot and 2522 E Cherry leasing out studio space, is this block quickly becoming the hottest arts strip in town? Is property owner Ron Rubin’s plan for a revitalized shopping district working? The Seattle Times recently profiled Rubin and several Central Space artists:

Back in 2008, property owner Ron Rubin wanted to turn the block on East Cherry into a shopping district with artists and street merchants that would thrive on pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

Rubin said he hoped that creating more street activity would “get eyeballs on the street” and deter crime, he said.

“My real motivation was urban renewal, to make it safer, more walkable and more livable,” he said.

…

“It’s taken on a life of its own now,” Rubin said. “I don’t think we changed the Central Area. I think we changed a couple blocks. … The people who live there get all the credit. I just created the vision and stepped out of the way.”

The quickly growing art scene on the block will be showcased August 13 for the monthly Second Saturday Art Walk. This week’s art walk will feature live music at Twilight Exit and free paper making demos.

Does anyone know what all the police activity was about last night? There were a bunch of cop cars on Pike/Pine/25th/26th Ave blocks. It appears they were looking for someone and had the police dogs out. One of the neighbors went outside and the police told him to go back into his house.

UPDATE 11:35 am from the editor: Commenter Janelle posted the following tale below:

This is what I know as we called 911 and spoke to the police multiple times last night. The police pulled over a car and three men fled, for reasons which we are unaware. Apparently they were in people’s back yards (between 25th and 26th, from Union traveling towards Madison) and we could hear them yelling and running. (They may have been trying to rid of a weapon while fleeing.) When 911 was called we could give a discription of one man and later he was arrested close to Madison. Police talked to us for a description, looked in our backyard and confirmed that the decription fit the man caught. After it quieted down and we went back to bed, another man jumped our fence from our back yard and so 911 was called again. It was believed that he was hiding under our truck the entire time. (Next time we have the police search our yard we will have to give direction such as look in the tool shed and under the truck!) As of 1:00am Monday there were still two men in question. Scary night overall. Thank you Seattle police for assisting and hopefully next time we can work better together. It would have been good initially to know that three men had fled the police stop and not just the one that we initially called about. Also it would have been better if police would have searched the grounds better, not just ours but our ajoining neighbors. I understand the difficulty of trying to catch people in the middle of a dark night and I hope that is was helpful that we had close contact with 911 and were able to provide some descriptions and/or locations.

Umojafest 2011 brought a huge lineup of acts and events to the neighborhood over the weekend, including the annual parade down 23rd Ave. From music to food to poetry to basketball, the festival planned three days, mostly at Judkins Park.

Did you take any photos at the festival or parade? Email them to [email protected] or add them in the comments.

Photo by wyking (see more here)

Photo by wyking (see more here)

Just bought some broccoli, green onions, beets, and mustard greens from a stand at 18th and Columbia. I’m assuming they’re from the Clean Greens program. Almost everything was $2/bunch, except for some great heads of cabbage for $3 and potatoes for $4.

Definitely worth a stop by!

Is anyone else concerned about the risk of t-boning throughout the side streets between Union and Cherry particularly on cross streets like 25th?

I have been in the area for about 2 months now and have nearly been t-boned by a car coming down the hill from 23rd 3 times. This area is up and coming with more and more families and children moving to the area, and for there to not be any sort of intersection control mechanism seems negligent.

I have written our councilman and got the reply that accidents do not occur there and their reports do not show that any sort of control mechanism is really needed. Hard to accept. Anyone else have thoughts?

The Greater Seattle Community is cordially invited to attend and join Reverend Dr. Carey Anderson , Officers and Members of First  AME Church for the Ribbon Cutting and dedication Ceremony for The Martin Luther King Family, Arts, Mentoring, & Enrichment Community Center.

Saturday August 27, 2011 from 2:00 to 3:00 P.M.

Today the Seattle Times reports that Wright Runstad has been in negotiations with the County to move the ENTIRE facility off of 12th Avenue and to the Pac Med Building on Beacon Hill: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015824070_j

Up until now, King County has communicated to the neighborhood that leaving  keeping he Juvenile Jail on 12th was a priority – the Jail building is actually quite new, it is the rest of the facility that is in disrepair (courts, etc.)

This could mean that 9 acres in the heart of the 12th Avenue Urban Village could soon be up for sale and transformation from largely a surface parking lot to….?

Today is the first day with the doors open and baked goods in the display case. The bakery is still unfinished and the whole selection won’t be available til Monday. It is a soft opening to get warmed up for being a full service bakery very soon. Beehive is serving both sweet and savory baked goods as well as gluten-free baked goods. Cinnamon rolls appear to be one of their specialties with four variations. Only the sweet items are available at the moment but this will be expanded on Monday. Beehive is a certified Kosher bakery with their new certificate proudly displayed on the front counter. There are also espresso drinks and coffee.

The paper has been taken down from the windows but the signs are still in pieces in the dining area. It is still a work in progress but exciting to see the new activity on the corner.

Don’t forget the first Teahouse Concert of 2011.  Sonando – Afro-Cuban Jazz!  Bring a blanket, or a lawn chair if you think you can sit through this hot, hot, muy caliente musica.  Bring a picnic basket, bring the family.  From 5 – 7 pm., for the reasonable price of $15.

Hosted by Reggie Bardach and Richard Wells, 939 25th Avenue South, Seattle, 98144.  

Reservations:  [email protected], or (206) 920-0286

And, on August 14th – everybody’s favorite:  Pearl Django!

Now in our third year of harvesting unwanted fruit for the food banks and to distribute around the neighborhood, we’re about to kick off a very late fruit season.

The Colman Neighborhood Community Harvest gathers plums, apples, pears, grapes and any other unwanted fruit in the south end of the Central District to take to St. Mary’s Food bank. We’ve gathered over 2500 pounds of free fruit to get to people who can use it and hope to add another half ton this year to that total!

We pick fruit south of Jackson, north of I-90 and between 23rd and MLK. We are once again looking for volunteers to help pick fruit! We do expect another light year of plums, so we will likely have several short days of picking. Kids welcome.

While we don’t harvest north of Jackson, we are interested in helping other harvesting groups get started in the Central District and learning more about the trees north of us! So if you’ve got a tree that needs harvesting, let us know! We are also interested in getting a group together to start planning for winter pruning and fruit tree care: so let us know if you’re an budding orchardist!

Contact Knox at [email protected] to volunteer!