Before there was a cupcake shop on seemingly every Seattle corner, Cupcake Royale opened up on 34th and Spring. Seven years later, they have 5 shops total and cupcakes are ubiquitous throughout the city.

This Saturday Dec. 11, Cupcake Royale is throwing an anniversary party/holiday fete at the original Madrona shop to celebrate 7 years in business. From the CR team:

Can you believe that Cupcake Royale is turning 7 years old? We were the first cupcake shop to open outside of Manhattan  – and folks thought it was crazy…a shop for cupcakes? Jody Hall, our fine founder, wanted to serve hand crafted coffee with baked-from-scratch cupcakes to a generation who’d rarely had anything but box-mixed cakes. Now here we are so many years later serving up cupcakes made with the yummiest, mostly local ingredients at our five locations across Seattle & Bellevue. That’s something to celebrate! We thought you might want to share the news and hope you can come by to join in the fun too…

The party will be from 4-6pm, and feature a free show by The Not-Its, a sprinkle-your-own-cupcake bar and photos with the Cupcake Royale Roller Girl, as well as drawings for prizes throughout the night, free gifts, and snacks & libations on the house. Gift purchases are 20% off for the night with your Cupcake Royale or Vérité Coffee Card – including the new limited edition Madrona Neighborhood tee shirt. 

Last night Justin gave us pictorial proof of the new lights that are now decorating the intersection of 23rd & Union.

We were there yesterday as the lights went up on those four corners, and found that it was a team effort of local property owners and interested community members.

Hundreds of LED light bulbs were screwed in to their sockets, and an equal number of light clips were assembled to easily connect the lights to the buildings.

Here’s community teamwork in action:

Will hangs lights on the fence of the vacant lot

Jason and Gary attach lights high on the roof of the old sandwich shop

Jeff gets to work assembling strings of lights

A golden yellow lab (Male) followed me home today when I was walking near Colman Park. 

I took him to the Seattle Animal Shelter on 15th Ave W (Interbay - between Queen  Anne & Magnolia). 

Very friendly and sweet dog with a great personality. He is chipped and they have tried to contact to owner. 

If you are the owner, please contact the Shelter to pick up your dog. 

2061 15th Ave W Seattle, Washington 98101 
(206) 386-7387 Open Daily 

Feel free to contact me with any questions. 

Aubrey Cohen of the Seattle P-I asks in a recent article…

Dense Seattle neighborhoods could start looking a lot more like those in cities like San Francisco and Philadelphia, under a proposal the City Council is set to take up later this month.

The plan would let developers build row homes right up their neighbors’ side lot lines on in townhouse zones, similar to classic older homes in many other U.S. cities. It’s one of many changes aimed at making townhouse development more diverse, attractive and sustainable.

The City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment this week unanimously endorsed the plan, which the full council could take up as early as Dec. 13. The changes would apply to the approximately 8 percent of the city zoned for townhouses, but wouldn’t impact single-family zones.

Read the rest in the P-I.  Note the quotes from Squire Park’s Bill Zosel.

We reported on the meeting. The invite to come out and help was posted here. Might as well cover some of the results. It’s not going to change the world. But it’s something. Happy holidays, 23rd and Union style.

Hi,

I just had a truck dump its second load of dirt onto my property. The driver gave me bogus contact information. As I was attempting to write down his license number, he bent his plate in half and drove off.

Not a huge deal, but if anyone spots a large white truck with the bent license beginning in B777. . .  It has large double doors in back, Please call (206) 684-4300  

Anyone passing through the Central District recently has noticed how dark the corner of 23rd and Union looks.  This is neither safe nor festive looking!  As CDNews mentioned yesterday, there is a humble effort by the Union Street Business Group to brighten up the corner during the holiday season.

Yes, this is short notice–but volunteers are needed tomorrow morning for a “Luminary Work Party” on 23rd & Union.  Tomorrow at 10am, anyone willing and able is welcome to grab a cup of coffee and help install Christmas lights on all four corners of our intersection.  Any volunteer is welcome, especially those experienced with putting up commercial lights.

Hope to see  you all there,

Jason from Cortona Cafe

Last month, we told you about the return of some of the kitchen power behind King Creole in the form of the new Louisiana Grill. This weekend, Louisiana is celebrating its grand opening with some free treats for you.

The southern style take-out joint is offering free drinks or ice cream to anybody who spends $10 or more.

CDN commenter KH says: “Orgasmic gumbo and po’boy sandwiches!”

Sexy. Menu below. Happy grand opening. And, yes, we’re proud to say Louisiana Grill is a CDN advertiser.

Looking to put our suggestion to shop local into action? This weekend provides the perfect opportunity with the Business Owners of Madrona (BOOM) hosting “Very Merry in Madrona.”

This weekend (Friday through Sunday), Madrona businesses will offer extended hours, sales and holiday specials to kick off the neighborhood’s holiday festivities. 

A sampling of the deals around the area:

• Kismet Salon: open Friday 10-8 and Saturday 9-5, offering gift certificates and full range of AVEDA gifts (take advantage of the Pure Privilege double points weekend). The salon will be featuring jewelry by Carmen de Anguis and a Stella and Dot Trunk show (Friday afternoon).
• Conrow Porcelain Studio: open Friday, Dec. 3, 4-9pm, artists’ reception with acoustic guitar by Erie Jones. Saturday and Sunday, 10-5, with silks, jewelry and porcelain.
• Nena: Open 12-8 Friday, 10-7 Saturday and 10-4 Sunday, with a 20% off sale on selected items.

If we’ve missed any great deals, please add them in the comments, or just come by to check out the offerings in person.

Finished Installation (Jean),
originally uploaded by 23rd and Union.

A group including representatives for the four property owners at the corners of 23rd and Union met Thursday morning to discuss solutions for moving development forward and activating the intersection that now stands unused at three of the four corners, Central District News has learned.

According to Will Little of Cortona Cafe who also attended, representatives from all four corner properties and the Union Street Business Group attended the meeting to talk solutions both near-term and long-term.

What can they do right away? Decorate for the holidays.

Attendees are said to have hatched a plan to string holiday lights at the 23rd and Union intersection. It’s a long way from some of the other plans also targeting the area such as Operation “Safe Union” but for an area so critical to the neighborhood’s future but also facing so many challenges, police work needs to be matched with a diverse set of solutions — including Christmas lights.

The discussion is also said to have laid the groundwork for an effort to apply for more grant money from the City of Seattle to help fund more long-lasting improvements and possibly events.

We reported in mid-November on the sudden shut-down of the gas station on the northwest corner of 23rd and Union. The Richlen family has owned the property for decades and plans to bring a new tenant on board to operate the service station, CDN reported. King County says the land is now worth about $2.2 million.

Across 23rd, the building that once housed the Philadelphia Cheese Steaks restaurant still stands and waits, after some work by owner 1400 23rd LLC, for a new business to move in. It’s been empty since this tragic January 2008 shooting. The formal ownership of the $1 million property is complicated. We waded three levels deep through Washington State records before we found anybody’s names on the paperwork but CDN has identified a man named Ian Eisenberg as the “owner” of the property in our past reporting — he also now owns the property where the nearby car wash stands.

The $1.5 million lot where the state liquor stands is owned by Mid-Town Limited owned by Thomas Bangasser. Bangasser’s family is a longtime property holder in the area, according to county records.

The fourth southwest corner is also well known. Developer Jim Mueller’s 2203 East Union LLC owns the land where development of his project has been on hold for years. Mueller bought the parcel in 2006 for just over $1 million. The county says it’s now worth about $1.7 million. It currently is fenced and empty.