Food & Drink

Life in the ‘Fifty Shades’ Building, ‘Up’ House Update

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

By Lauren Mang February 4, 2015

escala_0

The late Edith Macefield’s tiny Ballard home that somewhat inspired the Disney animated film Up (remember Macefield’s national-news-making refusal of a $1 million offer forced developers build the Ballard Blocks around her), might go up for foreclosure auction next month. The Seattle PI reports that the current owner of the house owes more than $185,000 on the property. 

Tent city news: A proposed plan from Mayor Ed Murray would restrict new homeless ecampments, or tent cities, to non-residential zones.

What makes a native Northwesterner? According to The Seattle Times‘ Ron Judd, you have to have been born here. Recently, Forbes magazine named Seattle the country’s fifth fastest-growing city. We experienced a 1.3 percent population growth in 2014 and are expected to hit that same number in 2015. That’s a lot of new people who, by Judd’s logic, won’t ever be “official” Northwesterners. Crosscut and Seattle mag contributor Knute Berger, begs to differ: “To me, being a Northwesterner has more to do with affinity for place than birthplace. In fact, some of the most Northwesty people I know were folks who stepped off the plane or out of their microbus and found home here.”

When my husband and I first moved here, we wandered into the Escala building downtown and toured a unit that we were thinking of renting. You can only do that now by appointment and if you want to see one of the penthouses–where fictional S&M enthusiast Christian Grey hung his…er…hat in the romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey–you’re required to be pre-qualified. So what is it like to live in this famed building where Fifty Shades fans arrive in droves to gawk? One resident speaks out, citing a particular annoyance involving the Ride The Ducks tour.  “Escala residents asked the Ducks to have the drivers stop the commentary for awhile, ‘but they are back at it.'”

This year’s lineup for Memorial Day weekend music fest Sasquatch was released yesterday and it’s loaded with some pretty stellar names: Lana Del Ray, Little Dragon, Ryan Adams, plus local acts My Goodness and Ayron Jones and The Way. MyNorthwest.com wants to know, however, if you’ve ever heard of any of the bands playing this year. Take the poll here.

 

Follow Us

Seattle Launches Public Poetry Campaign

Seattle Launches Public Poetry Campaign

Short poems on sustainability will crop up across the city in April

Poetry installations will appear across Seattle starting April 1 as part of the city’s Public Poetry campaign...

Beauty and Diversity in Art

Beauty and Diversity in Art

Seattle's art scene is embracing more voices and viewpoints than ever

Seattle has become something of a hot spot for diversity in the arts...

The Power Of Quitting

The Power Of Quitting

Giving something up is never easy, especially because society rarely rewards such behavior

I’m not a quitter... llustration by Arthur Mount

Selling Seattle

Selling Seattle

New effort from Visit Seattle showcases the city’s stunning beauty

Visit Seattle’s new three-and-a-half-minute destination video is worth bragging about...