San Fernando's on Rainier

 

RIP to this restaurant building in my neighborhood. It stood on the corner of Charles St. and Rainier & was demolished early this week. The last bits of rubble were carted away on Thursday. 

I couldn't find much about the history of the building, but I did learn that before this there was a Vietnamese restaurant here. Vanishing Seattle has an amazing historic photo of 900 Rainier in the olden days, looks like it was a gas station.

So, in honor of all that, I wanted to sketch San Fernando's Roasted Peruvian Chicken before it was demo'ed. The building kinda had the energy of an animal waiting to be put down, which made me feel sad and aware of my own mortality :(

I'll very much miss the fried yuca and pollo smells as I walk past, and the creamy green salsa they included with your order. Family minivans would fill up the small parking lot on weekends.

this part of Rainier Ave is changing incredibly fast! There are now all these plywood cubes covered in Tyvec, chain link fencing and closed sidewalks... not my fave, but I have to remind myself that more housing is very needed here. This block will be home to a new 8 story residential/retail building.

And btw, San Fernando's is moving down to SeaTac and they'll reopen in a few months!

Sketching in Columbia City

The first place I remember drawing outside was Columbia City. I attended elementary school at the building between Rainier Avenue and MLK. As part of an art class, we went out to the historic section of Columbia City to sketch. 

I wish I could find the drawing I did back then. The sketch above is of the same building though from a different perspective. I took shelter in the Starbucks on the corner of Rainier and Edmunds. The coffee shop offers great views up Columbia City's historic business district and over to the former Orca building.

It is amazing how much Columbia City has changed. When I was in elementary school, Columbia City was mostly filled with nail salons and little else. Since then, the business district has really come to life with a variety of restaurants, bars, cafes and boutique shops. I was also amazed to see the huge apartment building they are building next to the Columbia City Library.

Despite the big changes some things have remained the same. The funky 1960s bank building is still standing and the beautiful library retains its stately presence in Columbia Park. In addition, it is great to see the care taken to maintain the brick buildings on Rainier Avenue.  

 

Columbia City - Rainier Ave

The light and color this morning were spectacular. Despite Rainier being a busy thoroughfare, the street is very pedestrian friendly. The tree canopy and connected deep overhangs contribute to this in a major way.

My conversation with Dave before sketching lead to this diagram. I decided to take more time to analyze what makes the street work. I love how the brick paving creates a buffer zone between peds and cars for all that urban jewelry (bikes, newspaper boxes, trash cans and tree wells).