Just Around the Corner

The Highland Ice Arena, opened since 1962, will be closing next month. Through the decades, the arena has seen innumerable skating lessons, hockey games, parties and practices. The original owners, Dorothy and Jim Stephens, passed away at the age of 99 and 100, respectively — in 2021 and 2022.  This left the business to their children, Terry…

  The Evergreen State Fair in Monroe continues Sept. 1-5 (closed Aug. 31). Parking is cash-only ($10 weekdays, $15 on weekends). Gate admission prices and other information can be found here.  The address is 14405 179th Ave. S.E., in Monroe. — Photos by David Carlos Mountlake Terrace resident David Carlos often submits photos and videos profiling…

Knowing that I’m always interested to try new eateries in the area, a friend mentioned that I needed to go to a bakery in Everett, near Funko Field.  “It’s the best,” he said. Sunday, my wife and I were driving around and decided to go to the suggested spot, Despi Delite Bakery. It’s been in Everett…

New owner announced: The Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum at Paine Field has been purchased by Walmart heir Steuart Walton. The museum houses many vintage WWII aircraft and vehicles. It was owned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. He died in 2018, and the museum has been closed since 2020 due to the…

The 51-year-old Sears building in Redmond’s Overlake district is being demolished. The complex, located at 148th Avenue Northeast in Redmond, was the largest Sears west of the Mississippi in 1971, occupying 21.5 acres. The store closed in 2018. In its heyday, the huge store had a bakery, candy shop, garden section and hardware, appliance, tailor, optical,…

Meet Doc, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress. The plane is only one of two in flying condition in the world. Built in 1944 in Wichita, Kansas. Doc never saw any combat missions, but served in New York and Arizona as a radar calibration airplane and as a target tug. Doc was retired in 1956, relegated to…

I’ve been passing by Boehm’s Candies for decades whenever traveling to Eastern Washington. It’s tucked away along Interstate 90 in Issaquah, and if you blink, you’d miss it. On Saturday, we decided to stop and look inside the old chalet. I’m not an expert on what to look for in good chocolate. There’s only two…

The Triple XXX Rootbeer Drive-In (98 N.E. Gilman Blvd, Issaquah) has all the ingredients for all your senses: – Smokey aroma from the kitchen for your sense of smell. – Big, juicy burgers for your taste buds. – Doo-wop and ’60s songs blasting through the loudspeakers for your hearing. – Kitschy decorations plastering every inch…

From photographer David Carlos, who notes that this place — located at South 25th Street and South Holgate Way in Tacoma — has a little fun with its name this time each year.

I dare you to come here and say out loud: “Wow, look at these crowds. This place is like a zoo!” The Woodland Park Zoo is in full swing. But be ready to hunt for a parking spot, as they are as rare as some of the species. I also recommend strollers or wagons for…

This house is like the one in the Disney animated movie, Up. In that movie, an elderly widower refuses to sell his abode to a developer. The widower latches balloons to his house, and the audience watches it float up to the sky, to new adventures. In reality: This century-old house was owned by a…

Sweet! It looks like the century-old Liberty Orchards, maker of Aplets and Cotlets, will not wrap up business after all. A potential buyer is in negotiations to keep the business blooming. Earlier this spring, Liberty announced it would cease operations in June after three fruitless years were spent trying to pick a buyer. The core…

Sunny skies greeted over 150 people this morning who attended the Memorial Day service at Evergreen Washelli Veterans Cemetery in North Seattle. Although I missed the bagpipes, I had the opportunity to watch 5,000 flags being handed out, one for each service member’s grave. “This past year, more so than others, has given us all…

With news that the last independent video store, Reckless Video, is closing July 31, I remember the first time I visited in August 2019: I wandered into the “Reckless Video” store for the first time, because after seeing so much change in Seattle, I Want to hold on to something that’s old.  It is the…

After being cancelled last year, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is well underway, running through April 30. The two main sites where you can visit and take photos are: Roozengaarde:  www.tulips.com Tulip Town:  tuliptown.com Visit the websites to purchase tickets before arriving. — Photos by David Carlos Mountlake Terrace resident David Carlos often submits photos and videos profiling…

A brief history… Probably one of the most recognizable landmarks in the city of Carnation, the chapel wasn’t the original building for the church. The first church was destroyed in a fire in 1936. To help raise funds for a new chapel, Nan Fullerton Stuart, the wife of wealthy Carnation Farms owner Elbridge Stuart, started…

All’s not flour and roses at Borracchini’s Bakery. The business has turned off the ovens, put away the spatulas, and bundled up the aprons.  The 100-year-old Seattle institution is closed forever. Egged on by the pandemic this past year, customers could no longer hold weddings, birthdays and other celebrations, leading to a great decrease in…

Probably going out of business: The 103-year-old Liberty Orchards, maker of Aplets and Cotlets, announced it will cease operations this June after fruitless attempts to find buyers of the company. If necessity is the mother of invention, that’s at the core of this enterprise. Farmers had lots of apple surpluses (to be expected in the…

The windmill at Marymoor Park in Redmond is on property originally owned in the early 1900s by banker and developer James Clise. Cattle and horses were raised on the property, which was called Willowmoor Farm. During a visit to the Netherlands, the Clise family fell in love with the windmills. Upon returning home, they had…

Black Coffee Northwest, at 16743 Aurora Ave. N. in Shoreline, has reopened after two days of being closed due to vandalism. This past Tuesday, swastikas were spray painted on the outside walls. Three months ago, Molotov cocktails were used to try to burn the building. The Black-owned coffee house has survived its first three months…

The building housing the Green Lake Spud Fish and Chips in Seattle is no more. The 1959 building designed by architect Edward L. Cushman did not qualify for landmark status, and was torn down this week to make way for a 59-unit apartment complex. Spud Fish and Chips will return at the same spot once…

One year ago today: In Arlington, John and Heather Norman are putting the final touches to an exact replica of The Spirit of St. Louis. That was the plane that Charles Lindbergh flew non-stop from New York to Paris in 1927. With little in the way of creature comforts — no heat, no bathroom except…

As of the year 2000, there were 299 residents in Custer, a small town just south of the Canadian border. Back in the 1950s-early ’60s, there was one special resident: Loretta Lynn, before she became a country star. Loretta, then 14, and her 21-year-old husband, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, moved to Custer from Kentucky in search…