Local News

Sketched Feb. 12, 2013



It sits atop Beacon Hill like, well, a beacon: the striking orange brick
 building that no one seems to call by the same name.


Built in 1933 as the U.S. Marine Hospital, it was later known as the 
Pacific Medical Center and still houses the medical provider in the
 ground and basement floors. Then, after Amazon leased most of the space 
in 1999, people just referred to it as the Amazon building.


Now, “We call it the Pacific Tower,” said Michael Finch, the commercial 
real-estate agent tasked with finding new tenants for the historic
 landmark where Amazon grew to be the world’s largest online retailer.

Employees who walked through this art-deco lobby will still remember the 
espresso bar and hair salon down the hall, the full-service cafeteria on 
the second floor and the expansive views from the auditorium on the 
eighth floor.


As I walked by empty work spaces, I could only imagine the vibe inside these walls. With so many young workers cramming 13 floors — even Jeff
 Bezos had a tiny office — it must have felt like a college dorm.

Beautiful art-deco patterns and limestone walls transport you back to the 1930s when you enter the former hospital.

A napkin holder is still laying on the counter of the espresso bar on the first floor. Michael Finch said a similar booth across the hall was used as a hair salon.

Picture Amazon employees waiting to the check-out at the cafeteria. The Smith Tower and other downtown landmarks are visible through the windows.

Michael Finch showed me around the executive quarters on the 6th floor. The office used by Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has direct access to the fire exit but little views. I’m guessing he probably didn’t want to be distracted by the great views he could have enjoyed from other parts of the building.

The conference room on the 8th floor gives you an idea of those views.

The 13th floor was originally used as storage, but at some point Amazon also renovated it for office space.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

Sketched Jan. 9, 2013

When the Columbia City Cinema closed in 2011, many worried the neighborhood theater was gone for good. But just as the building was about to be leased for storage space, a good guy burst onto the scene to save the day.

In only three months, David McRae has brought the building up to code and replaced old movie reels with new digital projectors. All three screens of the new Ark Lodge Cinemas are now open and screening new releases including “Les Miserables” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”

The “film bug” runs in the family, says McRae, 52. He grew up helping his father run the Cine-Mond theater in Redmond in the ‘70s, before multiplexes became popular, and he spent the past two years doing film-to-digital conversions in theaters throughout the country.

McRae wants Ark Lodge to be a magnet for the diverse community of Columbia City. In addition to box-office hits, he plans to show independent films and even silent movies. And though he took a risk to get the theater up and running again, he says he’s in it “for the long run.”

The historic Ark Lodge, built by the Masons in 1921, still retains most of its character.

McRae has seen the transformation of the movie theater industry first hand. Films that used to be delivered in heavy boxes full of movie reels now come inside a hard-drive that he plugs into the projector. “You push play just like a DVR,” he said. In the sketch, McRae checks the show times programmed for “Promised Land.”

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

Sketched Jan. 3, 2013

When the Museum of History & Industry moved to the old Naval Reserve armory last month, the art-deco building from the Depression era became its newest, and largest, exhibition piece.

I’ve seen the monumental building many times, but I had never noticed how much it looks like an actual ship ready to sail into Lake Union.

The design wasn’t just a cute idea. Built in 1942, the armory was a training center for the Navy for more than five decades. Inside its “bridge,” which faces the lake, Navy reservists sharpened their navigational skills overlooking the water.

That room now features MOHAI’s maritime galleries, including a 40-foot submarine periscope that gives visitors a 360-degree view above Lake Union Park.

Below are more drawings from my visit. Give any of the sketches a good click to see them large!

This is the view of the armory as you walk into Lake Union Park. The Virginia V can be seen on the edge of the lake.

The drill hall where sailors used to practice marching formations showcases some of the best known items in MOHAI’s collection. The Boeing B-1 seaplane seemed much bigger than when I sketched it in one of the hallways of the old museum in Montlake.

Another cool exhibit located in the drill hall is an interactive display of Seattle-area symbols. Spin around a wheel and you’ll make the props move. Ann Farrington, the museum’s creative director, called it the biggest “calliope” you could think of.

What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

Sketched Dec. 3, 2012

The Northwest Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (NWAIA) awarded its 2012 Design Awards last week in Mount Vernon. Among the winners were a number of architectural gems I hope to draw one day: a cool modern-style house in the middle of the woods, creatively repurposed old buildings in Bellingham and Lynden, and even a charming gardening shed.

I know quite a bit about these projects because NWAIA invited me to be a juror on the competition, along with renowned local architects Ross Chapin, an expert in pocket neighborhoods, and Norm Strong, a veteran architect with the Miller Hull Partnership.

Julie Blazek, a partner with HKP Architects and one of the organizers of the awards program, said they always like to include jurors from the arts community who may bring a different perspective to the table. I was honored to fill in that role to the best of my abilities.

When reviewing the projects, I was a bit at a loss in aspects of architecture such as energy-efficiency, use of materials and so forth. But a guy who loves to draw buildings like me can tell you what type of architecture sparks his interest. Though it covers a wide range, from historic buildings to skyscrapers to little cottages, something is always common to the buildings I enjoy. They create a “sense of place,” a feel that they belong where they are. I think all the projects we awarded met that important benchmark.

The Lincoln Theatre in downtown Mount Vernon is a good example of that sense of place I’m referring to. My sketch of the facade is rather schematic, as I was pressed for time. I hope an opportunity to come back to Mount Vernon and finish the drawing presents itself soon.

Sketched Nov. 27, 2012

Stop outside the Row House Cafe in South Lake Union to get a feel for how the neighborhood looked 100 years ago. Back then, the streets were lined with cottages like these that housed the laborers who worked in mills and shipyards around the lake.

Erin Maher, who runs the cafe, said the original owner of this trio of homes lived in the blue house on the corner and built the row houses next door for his employees in 1911.

With the neighborhood rapidly becoming a high-tech hub full of mid-rise office and apartment buildings, few of these centenarian homes still stand.

Any chance they’ll be preserved? Probably not. The market forces transforming the area seem unstoppable. To demonstrate the domino effect of progress, Maher pointed out the fate of nearby properties: “That building, gone. That building, gone. That building, gone.”

Another cluster of old homes remains on the corner of Fairview Avenue North and Republican Street, just a block away from the Row House Cafe.

Sketched Nov. 21, 2012

You may look at this sketch and think I went to Switzerland, but I only had to go as far as Issaquah to enjoy a delightful Alpine scene.

The authentic Swiss-style Edelweiss Chalet, home to Boehms Candies since 1956, was built by Julius Boehm, an Austrian immigrant who relocated his chocolate factory from Seattle to Issaquah to be closer to the mountains.

Since Boehm passed away in 1981, longtime employee and current owner Bernard Garbusjuk has carried on the tradition of making good chocolate and welcoming visitors to the factory and grounds, which include a replica of a 12th-century chapel that Boehm dedicated to fallen mountaineers.

Garbusjuk’s face lit up as people flocked into the store on the rainy day I was there. He marveled that people still make the trek to the chalet for holiday sweets.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” he said. “We are not just retail; we are a landmark.”

Mindi Reid, Boehms Candies in-house historian, said group tours of the chalet and the High Alpine Chapel (also known as the Luis Trenker Chapel) are offered by appointment during the winter months. In the summer, scheduled tours are offered every Saturday and Sunday. For more details and directions, visit Boehms site at boehmscandies.com.

Sketched Oct. 16, 2012
The door of the gutted house was cracked open, but I didn’t see Edith Macefield’s ghost roaming around.
You may remember her story. When Macefield died at age 86 in 2008, a five-story retail and commercial center was being built around her little Ballard house. Despite a $1 million offer from developers, she refused to sell, reminding us with her defiance that some things in life are, well, priceless.
In her will, Macefield left the house to one of the workers she befriended during the construction of the center, the Ballard Blocks. He later sold it for $310,000 to Greg Pinneo, a real estate investor who announced plans to elevate it 30-feet off the ground and create a space below known as “Credo Square.”
Pinneo’s business partner Lois MacKenzie said the upgrade is about to begin, though the house won’t be elevated. The revised plan is to transform what remains of the tiny cottage into a cozy nightly rental with room for six people, and it may be called “Edith’s House at Credo Square.”

Sketched Oct. 9, 2012
What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched Sept. 12, 2012
The recent growth of Seattle may be remembered for a downtown-building boom spurred by Amazon. Flash back 100 years to learn about another type of building boom, when it was churches popping up within months of each other as the population reached more than 300,000 in the years following the Gold Rush.
Seattle First Baptist at the corner of Harvard Avenue and Seneca Street celebrated the 100th anniversary of its 1912 sanctuary last Sunday. With a price tag of $150,000, it was one of the most expensive projects of the time, said church administrator Bob Sittig, who has compiled the history of the sanctuary into a 36-page booklet of historical photos and news clippings.
Sittig, who is always willing to give a tour to passers-by, said the building has weathered the years well. Except for terra-cotta pinnacles that were replaced with fiberglass replicas after the 2001 quake (when one pinnacle went through the roof), the exterior hasn’t changed much. Its main feature is a majestic steeple typical of English gothic medieval architecture that rises 16 stories — one of few in Seattle so prominent, and so old.
What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched Aug. 29, 2012
Since the Tubs Sun Salon closed five years ago, its empty shell has become an eye-stopping display of graffiti in the middle of Seattle’s U District. The collective artwork, however, didn’t happen spontaneously.
Taggers can thank Eric Sun, who bought the property in 2007, and his artist friends D.K. Pan and NKO for giving these walls a unique creative purpose all these years while they awaited the wrecking ball.
About 30 graffiti artists first collaborated on the “Tubs Memorial Wall,” which later became what Sun called a giant canvas for anyone to spray paint. Sun recalled writing the city to inform them: “We are turning this building into an art project, please don’t fine us.”
Sadly for taggers, Sun is finally getting around to his original plans for the site. He said Tubs will be demolished by the end of the year to make room for apartments.

I couldn’t have timed my visit any better. As I was sketching the building, three graffiti artists showed up and I was able to quickly add them to the main sketch, as you can see on the detail above. Then I went to talk to them and did two more drawings.

“Man, that’s tight,” said Scotty, when I showed him my sketch of him.

Scotty’s cousin, who goes by the artist name Solo, tagged the building with the words of his Nevada hometown, “Reno.”
He was disappointed when I told him that Tubs is going to be demolished. “Where else are we going to go now?” he asked. “We don’t want to get in trouble.”
Tubs memories
D.K.Pan is working on a documentary about Tubs. For more information visit facebook.com/tubsdocumentary.
What has drawn your attention around Seattle lately? Send me your suggestions of interesting places and people to sketch via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Have a great weekend!

Sketched May 30, 2012
[Click to enlarge]
Ashwood Moss, Taos Taupe, Elmira White and Graphite. Those are the new colors of West Seattle’s only hotel, a 45-room motor inn built in 1960 in anticipation of the ’62 Seattle World’s Fair.
The old motel hasn’t always sported this elegant muted palette.
Owner Lynn Sweeney, who purchased the property in 2010, said it was really run down, not the kind of place where you’d have your in-laws stay.
Sweeney, 41, gave the motel a complete makeover and reopened it last July as the The Grove, West Seattle Inn — rooms now have classy linens and 32″ flat-screen TVs.
It was a leap of faith, she told me as we walked through the upgraded rooms, but she has no regrets. The Grove was recently named best emerging business by the local chamber of commerce and new kinds of customers are checking in: wedding groups, event visitors and even international travelers.
Just like it may have been in the heyday of the World’s Fair.
Your community: What draws you in? Email me your suggestions of people and places to sketch at gcampanario@seattletimes.com
More sketches to celebrate the World’s Fair 50th Anniversary:
World’s Fair Bubbleator has had its ups and downs
They keep the old Monorail running
More World’s Fair Anniversary coverage from The Seattle Times: seattletimes.com/worldsfair