Inslee Says Washington Will Fully Reopen by the End of June

Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: BuzzFeed Found Biden's Venmo, New Light Rail Cars Hit the Tracks, Death Toll Reaches 130 in Gaza as Violence Spreads to West Bank

by Rich Smith • Friday at 5:40 pm

If you had to, could you kill him?
If you had to, could you kill him? Sandra Standbridge / GETTY

Lake Forest Park contractor catches case for storming the Capitol: Prosecutors charged Joseph Elliott Zlab for "unauthorized entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds" and "violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds," according to the Seattle Times. The FBI caught the mellifluously named Everett-based business owner thanks to a tip and then a search warrant. Still waiting to hear from SPD about whether six of their cops busted into the people's house.

The first round of new light rail cars are here: They're wider, they're brighter, they're bike-friendlier, and there's a little screen on the car roof showing you where you're at on your journey so you don't have to squint across the aisle and risk others thinking you're mean-mugging them. "A total of 152 new vehicles manufactured by Siemens Mobility in Sacramento, CA will continue to be delivered and commissioned through 2024, joining Sound Transit’s initial fleet of 62 Kinkisharyo vehicles," writes Sound Transit. Check out the vid:

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Food & Drink • EverOut

This Week in Seattle Food News: Café Hitchcock Opens on Bainbridge Island, Archipelago Returns, and Jackson's Catfish Corner Plans to Reopen

by EverOut Staff • Friday at 4:45 pm

Chef Brendan McGills Bainbridge Island restaurant Hitchcock Deli has reopened as Café Hitchcock.
Chef Brendan McGill's Bainbridge Island restaurant Hitchcock Deli has reopened as Café Hitchcock. Café Hitchcock

As Washington begins to open up again, some Seattle restaurants are coming out of their hiatus or reopening with updated concepts to suit the new climate: Archipelago and Coastal Kitchen have returned, Ballard's Porkchop & Co. has become Rachel's Bagels and Burritos, and Hitchcock Deli has reopened as Café Hitchcock. Plus, Seattle's barbecue scene becomes the subject of widespread discussion, Jackson's Catfish Corner is coming back soon, and chef Shota Nakajima is teaming up with some popular chefs to offer a private Copper River salmon dinner. Read on for all of that and more culinary updates. For more ideas, check out our food and drink guide.

NEW OPENINGS AND RETURNS


Archipelago
This Wednesday, the acclaimed Filipinx restaurant reopened reservations for indoor dining after a year-long hiatus. Guests can sit at the counter or a table—those who choose to sit at the counter must show proof of their vaccinated status.
Hillman City
Limited indoor seating

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Film/TV • Unstreamable

A Big List of Unstreamable Movies

by Chase Burns and Jasmyne Keimig • Friday at 4:30 pm

Unstreamable is a weekly column that recommends films you cant find on major streaming services in the United States.

Unstreamable is a weekly column that recommends films and TV shows you can't find on major streaming services in the United States.

Currently, there are 295 films on this list. Each one was unstreamable when it was added. That means we couldn't find it on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, or any of the other 300+ streaming services available in the United States. We also couldn't find it available for rent or purchase through platforms like Prime Video or iTunes. We don't consider user-generated videos, like unauthorized YouTube uploads, to be streamable.

We add four more films each week. Sometimes the titles become streamable. If you notice an error, let us know!

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Film/TV

Let's Fix Scarecrow's Shitty Website

by Jasmyne Keimig • Friday at 3:45 pm

Make sure Scarecrow Video is here for good.
And let's make sure Scarecrow Video is here for good. Courtesy of Scarecrow
Miraculously, Seattle continues to be the home of the biggest physical media treasure trove on the planet, Scarecrow Video. Located on Roosevelt Way, the non-profit video store currently houses over 140,000 titles ranging from Criterion Collection sets to hard-to-find Mickey Mouse-themed exercise VHS tapes. As rare and hard-to-find media resources continue to go extinct, like Austin's I Luv Video and the Family Video chain, access to Scarecrow's collection remains crucial.

The video store just launched Scarecrow 2.1, a campaign to raise $250,000 by the end of this summer. The funds will expand their reach nationally by improving their well-worn database, in addition to financing operational costs, community programming, and the recovery of economic losses induced by the pandemic.

Scarecrow unveiled their rental-by-mail (RBM) program in March of last year, just when Washington's shutdowns went into effect. They privately soft-launched the program in late 2019 with a few local customers to test their internal system. After COVID shut down retail stores across the country, Scarecrow publicly launched the RBM program, making their collection accessible to physical media lovers in Seattle and across the country.

Since that public launch, Scarecrow executive director Kate Barr says they now have over 500 RBM customers in more than two dozen states.

“Now, all of a sudden, there are fewer and fewer video stores on the landscape, which we're never happy about," Barr tells me over the phone. “But we also have to say, if we're really going to invest in doing this rental-by-mail program, does that then become a way in which we can serve those communities that have now been left high and dry?”

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EverOut

The Best In-Person Things to Do in Seattle This Weekend: Alden Mason Paintings, the Tilth Alliance Edible Plant Sale, and More

by EverOut Staff • Friday at 2:15 pm

A retrospective of paintings by the late Northwest artist Alden Mason opens at the Bellevue Arts Museum this Friday.
A retrospective of paintings by the late Northwest artist Alden Mason opens at the Bellevue Arts Museum this Friday. Courtesy Bellevue Arts Museum

With Governor Inslee's announcement that Washington will fully reopen by June 30, things are looking up for Seattle—but whether you're fully vaccinated or you're waiting for your second shot, our roundup of weekend activities still keeps social distancing in mind. See our picks below, from the celebrity-packed Drive 'n Drag at Westfield Southcenter to a live rehearsal with the Black Tones at the Henry Art Gallery, from a Whim W'him performance on Vashon to Seattle Beer Week, and from the Tilth Alliance Edible Plant Sale to places to get herbaceous cocktails for Chartreuse Day (like Roquette). For even more options, read our guides to the best online events this week, the best movies to watch this week, drive-in movies this season, and our complete guide to in-person things to do in Seattle.

HOLIDAYS
Get in the Norwegian spirit for Syytende Mai. Monday, May 17 is Norwegian Independence Day (aka Syttende Mai), which marks the signing of the Norwegian Constitution at Eidsvoll in 1814. Seattle usually likes to celebrate with a big parade in Ballard, but this year businesses are opting for a mix of virtual and small-capacity events instead. In addition to heading to Bergen Place to admire its mural of Noway's King Harald and Queen Sonja, reserve tickets to the National Nordic Museum on Monday to shop museum-store specials and take photos in front of their Model T, which will be decked out in Norwegian bunting. Monday also brings Nordic treats like Pølse med Lompe (a Norwegian hot dog) and a dessert and coffee walk/drive-through to the Leif Erikson parking lot, as well as a socially distanced procession from Scandinavian Specialities to Skål Beer Hall, where you'll find traditional live music, "flowing aquavit snaps," Norwegian-inspired beers, featured cocktails, and raffle prizes until 10 pm. If you don't want to wait until Monday to celebrate, the adorable Scandinavian bakery Byen Bakeri is baking up a special Norwegian version of traditional Swedish princess cake, as well as kransekage (chewy flourless almond cookies) and cute Viking cookies. Plus, the newly opened Saint Bread is selling the Norwegian treat skolleboller, sweet custard-filled buns dusted in spiced sugar and topped with raspberry jam.

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Neighborhoods

Post-Pandemic, Pioneer Square Is Ready for its Closeup

by Matt Baume • Friday at 1:12 pm

Apparently we CAN have nice things.
Apparently we CAN have nice things. Olson Kundig — Occidental Park Pavilion

The best cities are like wild animals, capricious and beautiful, dangerous, incapable of ever fully being known. The wild animal that is Seattle has been in a state of partial hibernation for the last year-and-a-bit, but now, like a finicky hedgehog greeting the spring, we’re finally starting to awaken, one artery and limb and organ at a time.

Among the Seattle organs coming back to life is Pioneer Square, the historic blob bounded generally by the waterfront on one side, by the rail along 4th Ave on the other, and by the awkward-angled street grids of Cherry Street and King Street at the north and south. (Please argue in the comments about how incorrect those boundaries are; that’s great for our pageviews.)

After I wrote about the Metropole redevelopment last week, neighborhood reps got in touch to let me know that there’s lots more happening in their neck of the woods: Streets transformed into pedestrian promenades, new businesses opening (an axe-throwing bar?!?!), and a pleasant park pavilion that will replace staffers’ former workspace, which was, and this is not a joke, a disused elevator shaft infested with rats.

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Music

What's It Like to Get Signed to Sub Pop in the Middle of a Pandemic?

by Sofia Krutikova • Friday at 11:11 am

For the third issue of the zine Ra Ra Rebel, Sofia Krutikova interviews Sub Pops Hannah Jadagu.
For the third issue of the zine Ra Ra Rebel, Sofia Krutikova interviews Sub Pop's Hannah Jadagu. Ra Ra Rebel

Hannah Jadagu is an artist who got signed in the thick of the pandemic. Sub Pop Records released her dreamy, vulnerable five-track EP in late April. The 18-year-old bedroom pop musician wrote, recorded, and produced the project using an iRig and an iPhone 7. I recently had Hannah sit down for an interview to chat about her life, her family, and being a dazzling femme musician.

Sofia Krutikova: Hi Hannah, it’s so great to have you here!
Hannah Jadagu: Hi! Thank you for having me!

I would love it if you could describe the EP for all of the listeners.
Yeah so the EP is basically a body of work that I made on my phone using an iRig and my guitar. I wrote it myself and I recorded it by myself in my bedroom in Mesquite. It's a five-track EP that takes you through some of my thoughts and experiences throughout this past year really.

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Homo

Get Ready for Competing Pride Events in June, July, and August

by Matt Baume • Friday at 9:50 am

Miss Texas 1988 pretends to be able to read during the 2019 Pride parade.
Miss Texas 1988 pretends to be able to read during the 2019 Pride parade. Timothy Kenney

You have three choices for Pride festivities this year. Well, really four, but the fourth one is less an option and just pure unbridled chaos.

Option one is corporate Seattle Pride, the big one, the one with all the money. Brought to you by Alaska Airlines, Facebook, T-Mobile, Comcast, with media partners KIRO, Movin 92.5, and The Stranger (Seattle’s only website). Seattle Pride is going to be all online this year, with free virtual events and an appearance (whatever that means in this context) by Big Freedia.

Option two is Capitol Hill Pride, the small one, sponsored by the Broadway Business Owners Association, the Northwest Museum of Legends, The Trading Musician, and the Castle adult megastore. Capitol Hill Pride will be happening live and in-person, with a march and live music and a debate and a dog drag contest.

Both of those Prides are happening the same weekend: June 26 and 27.

Option three (and three point five?) is Alki Beach Pride, confirmed for August 14-15; and also Seattle PrideFest, which is flagging itself as a two-day, in-person event all on Capitol Hill, probably late this summer, maybe in August. But we don't know an exact date for that one yet so let's just keep it moving, Seattle.

The real action will most likely be happening a week after options one and two, around option four, which is a nebulous and undefined cloud that Governor Jay Inslee just unleashed upon the state.

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News

Slog AM: Seattle Guns Are Reopening With the Economy, Singapore OK's Lab-Made Chicken, GOP Trump Fanatic Elise Stefanik Replaces Liz "Hell No" Cheney

by Charles Mudede • Friday at 8:40 am

Wait. No playing. I can really go? Youre not going to eat me for what now? Because youre making chicken with science? Really? Humans are something else.
"Wait. No playing. I can really go? You're not going to eat me for what now? Because you're making chicken with science? Really? Shoot, humans are something else." peterhowell/gettyimages.com

As the economy opens, gun violence in Seattle is sharply going up. In 2020 (the lockdown year), 115 shootings were reported in the 206. In the middle of the fifth month of 2021 (the vaccine year), it's already 147 shootings. In 2019 (the year that put its number on the novel virus that was to kill nearly 600,000 Americans), Seattle had 235 shootings, which was 6% more than the previous year. Oh, the guns of Seattle.

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Slog AM/PM

Slog PM: Show Your Lips if You Got That Juice, Washington Reopens on June 30, BBQ Drama

by Chase Burns and Wm.™ Steven Humphrey • Thursday at 6:00 pm

Hey, youre vaccinated right?
Hey, you're vaccinated right? Svetikd/Getty Images
Pucker up: The CDC says you can regularly flash your face at strangers if you're vaccinated. In a major shift, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today that fully vaccinated Americans can go maskless and give up physical distancing in a majority of cases, both indoors and outdoors. In some places, like airplanes and health care settings, masks may continue to be required. Obviously, the key phrase here is fully vaccinated, and guidelines differ between states.

As for Washington state?

Inslee said Washington will also immediately implement the Centers for Disease Control's new mask guidance, which allows fully vaccinated people to go maskless outdoors and in most places indoors, excepting schools, hospitals, and public transit. Those who are fully vaccinated, for instance, can walk into grocery stores without wearing a mask. Business owners retain the right to maintain mask requirements, and they can require customers to show proof of immunization, though. Valid vax proofs include vaccination cards, or digital versions of those cards, which you can find at myir.net.

Along with that announcement today, Inslee let the state know that...

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News • Election 2021 • Seattle's Next Mayor

Should Mayor Jenny Durkan Resign Over Those Missing Texts?

by Nathalie Graham • Thursday at 5:18 pm

Are we cool accepting that eight city officials lost a bunch of texts, or shall we don our tinfoil hats?
Are we cool accepting that eight city officials lost a bunch of texts, or shall we don our tinfoil hats? SCREENSHOT OF THE SEATTLE CHANNEL

Mayor Jenny Durkan's missing text messages scandal could serve as the fulfillment of a prophesy implied by that cursed Thelma and Louise comparison she made last summer. At the height of 2020's protests, Durkan joked that she and ex-Seattle Police Department Chief Carmen Best toyed with the idea of "having a Thelma and Louise moment" and resigning as a team, but they ultimately decided otherwise. Best resigned two months later.

A month short of a year since she made those comments, Durkan is now feeling the heat over months of missing text messages from her phone, some from around the time her Thelma and Louise joke was in vogue. The majority of candidates running for mayor called for an investigation into Durkan's and other city officials' missing text messages. (I guess we're calling it textgate?). Some even called for her resignation.

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News • Coronavirus

Washington Will Fully Reopen by June 30, Inslee Announces

by Rich Smith • Thursday at 2:43 pm

In other news, get ready for some gift cards for the fully vaccinated!!! Its not a million dollars, but its something.
In other news, get ready for some gift cards for the fully vaccinated!!! It's not a million dollars, but it's something. LESTER BLACK

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that the state was "on track for a full reopening of our economy by June 30," according to prepared remarks.

Next Tuesday all counties will move into Phase 3 of the state's mercurial 'Healthy Washington' reopening plan, including those in Pierce County who have been suffering the indignities of mitigation efforts designed to reduce pain, sickness, and suffering. "Most indoor activities" will remain at 50% capacity statewide after that, but by the end of next month public spaces such as "restaurants, movie theaters, bowling alleys, you name it" will return to full capacity.

Those who are already fully vaccinated, however, can enjoy "additional activities with fewer restrictions" effective immediately, Inslee said. "Spectator events, such as indoor and outdoor sports, will no longer have limits on the number of vaccinated attendees. Small cruise ships with less than 250 passengers can sail if crew and 95% of passengers are vaccinated. This will apply to conferences and live performances, weddings and funeral receptions as well," he said.

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Food & Drink

Lots of People Are Really Mad at Seattle for Being in the Top Ten BBQ Cities

by Charles Mudede • Thursday at 2:20 pm

According to ordinary America, Seattle is permitted to have a top BBQ joint. But it cannot be one of the top BBQ cities in the US. Why?
According to ordinary America, Seattle is permitted to have a top BBQ joint. But it cannot be one of the top BBQ cities in the US. Why? Charles Mudede

At the end of last month, a small business not far from my place in Columbia City, Lil Red’s Takeout & Catering, found itself in the pages of a new book, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, by Adrian Miller.

The author, as Seattle Times' Bethany Clement pointed out, is a "James Beard Book Award winner and certified Kansas City Barbeque Society judge"; and so his determination that Lil Red’s was one of the top black-owned barbecue joints in the US put it on the map. Suddenly, something appeared at this small restaurant that I've never seen in the entire time I've known of its existence (2 years): a line to the counter. Indeed, the business was so busy during Mother's Day weekend that it even ran out of food to cook and sell.

A text from a friend:

Lil Red's got a national write up of the top 20 black owned businesses in the United States and now you can't even get in there. People are lining up outside that place; [my husband] tried to get me some jerk chicken for Mother's Day, he waited in line outside for like 15 minutes, and didn't get anything because they ran out of food!

Selecting Lil Red’s as one of the top US BBQ spots was not controversial. It seemed plausible that Seattle could have at least one such business deserving of that honor. The feeling of plausibility, however, instantly evaporated when today, May 13, the website Chef’s Pencil, a "resource for professional chef recipes, professional cooking advice, and news from the culinary industry," placed Seattle in the seventh position for top BBQ cities in the US.

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EverOut

Weekly Watch List: The Underground Railroad, There Is No Evil, and More

by EverOut Staff • Thursday at 1:45 pm

A Barry Jenkins adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad comes to Amazon Prime on Friday.
A Barry Jenkins adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad comes to Amazon Prime on Friday. Kyle Kaplan / Amazon Studios

If variety is the spice of life, local theaters are heading into a very spicy week. Read on for the latest batch of streaming options (like a 4K restoration of the classic Melvin Van Peebles film The Story of a Three-Day Pass via Grand Illusion), as well as in-person screenings (like Ben Sharrock's Limbo at Regal Meridian and Tacoma's Grand Cinema) and other new releases hitting nationwide platforms (like Barry Jenkins's The Underground Railroad on Amazon Prime). Plus, if you're feeling spooky, the 2020 edition of The Stranger's horror short-film festival SLAY is now on-demand, and the next iteration is accepting submissions through September 15! For more options, check out our on-demand calendar or our guides to drive-in movies and other streaming events this week. 

Newly Streaming: Local Connection
Los Hermanos/The Brothers
Two Cuban-born brothers live on opposite sides of the geopolitical chasm that separates their birth country from the U.S., but their shared love of music (and their exceptional gift for playing it) keeps them connected and eventually reunites them. Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider's doc follows the brothers' parallel lives in New York and Havana while examining the changing relationship between the two countries. 
Northwest Film Forum
Starting Friday

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Cops • #SeattleProtest

Chief Diaz Refuses to Discipline Cop Who Started a Riot Over a Pink Umbrella, and His Reasoning Is Fucking Ahistorical

by Rich Smith • Thursday at 12:05 pm

The cop who ordered other cops to gas a neighborhood will face no accountability for violating SPD policy.
The cop who ordered other cops to gas a neighborhood on this day will face no discipline from his superiors. RS

In a letter to Mayor Jenny Durkan and Council President Lorena Gonzalez, interim Seattle Police chief Adrian Diaz said he declined the Office of Police Accountability recommendation to discipline the East Precinct commander who ordered cops to launch tear gas and blast balls at a largely peaceful crowd after a tussle over a pink umbrella.

That "pink umbrella" incident established 11th and Pine as the primary protest zone in Seattle last summer, and transformed the anger about racist police brutality in the US more broadly into anger about the Seattle Police Department's racist brutality in particular, a grievance that carries on to this day both in the streets and in City Hall.

If you don't remember what that moment looked like, then allow the Wall Street Journal to break it down for you:

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