Seattle | Mister Crew

March 22, 2013

The Free Book Incident

The [storefront] has been busy over the last year – after the Hardware[Store] they’ve since hosted several other projects, the current one being an art installation by Mark VonRosenstiel. Prior to this was my favorite yet, “The Free Book Incident” (which itself sounded like the name of a good novel), and it essentially was a community bookstore where the items had no prices – driven by book donations, everything on the shelves were free.

There seemed to be something for everyone and during my own visits I found a number of great books on the history of Antarctic exploration, a collection of essays by E.B. White, and a copy of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. A small sample of finds by others were also nicely cataloged on Instagram.

[storefront] can be found at 406 Occidental Ave. S., right between Ebbets Field Flannels and the new Rain Shadow Meats location – and if you’re down in Pioneer Square sometime over the next week, definitely check out the I Want All of This project (more info).

March 22, 2013

Death of a Record Store

The day the music died, January 18th, the day that Easy Street Records closed in Queen Anne. The morning after, unsellable inventory was left out on the curb, free to anyone interested. CDs and vinyl records scattered the sidewalk with empty cans of cheap beer from the closing show the night prior, and underneath record cover mural laid the remains of the store’s DIY style plywood display cases.

Two months later, the building has now been stripped of all its former identity and is on its way towards becoming a Chase bank.

June 1, 2012

Hardware[Store]

Over the next two weeks if you find yourself down in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood for lunch, you might like to stop into the temporary Hardware[Store] on Occidental Avenue – it is not a store in the traditional sense, but is instead an art installation to highlight tools both rare and common.

Run by Olson Kundig Architects, [storefront] has been holding different projects since its opening last December as a record store (and previous to the current installation, it was a mushroom farm).

March 31, 2012

J. Gilbert’s New Men’s Shop

Over the past several years J. Gilbert Footwear in Seattle has become a great resource for shoes and this last week marks the opening of the new men’s shop, which opened up next door to the original location on 1st Avenue – beforehand, the men’s shoes were relegated to a dark corner, but instead are now featured in a comfortably open and naturally lit space. The best part of course, is that there is now room for more awesome models from Alden, Rider Boot, and Lucchese.

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March 6, 2012

Checking out SS12 at Jack Straw

Spring is slowly arriving in Seattle and my favorite store downtown has received just about all of its SS12 shipments. From Engineered Garments, there are lots of great jackets, ties, and shirts including the rare 19th century button down in white polka dot.

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While Junya Watanabe’s SS12 runway show had some outlandish gear, the pieces carried at Jack Straw are much more approachable (and wearable) – my favorites from this season include a fair isle pattern rollneck sweater and round collar Mackintosh jackets in navy and green.

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Very interesting navy captoe boots from Yohji Yamamoto can be found in the back area.

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A selection of Dries Van Noten pieces, including several light unstructured jackets for warmer weather.

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Not pictured – the Boglioli patch pocket sportcoat in a shade of blue that would overload tumblr. From what I hear, some more great lines are on the way for this next fall/winter as well.

October 6, 2011

Furnishing an Old Apartment

I’ve spent a good part of the past 4-5 weeks slowly moving into another apartment (it turns out that moving gets harder as you get older) and I’ve been shopping around for needed furniture pieces. Compared to other large metro areas, the vintage market here in Seattle is surprisingly weak when it comes to things like this and it’s been a challenge to find particular items in good quality – one great resource we do have though, is a large antique mall down in SODO called Pacific Galleries, which houses stalls for numerous vendors selling styles of all types. It is a favorite among the local interior designers, along with the owners of vintage furniture stores who often come here to find things to resell.

August 21, 2011

Belltown’s Popsicle

If you find yourself going north through downtown Seattle on 4th Ave, you will eventually pass by this:

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The giant popsicle will make you smile every time and is one of the few nice things to see in Belltown. Some background reading on the sculpture (it showed up early this summer, and at first nobody knew who made it until recently).

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Look for it at the intersection of 4th and Blanchard.

August 8, 2011

Ebbets Field Flannels

Now working out of Pioneer Square, I’ve taken an interest in exploring more of the quiet parts of the neighborhood beyond 1st Avenue and on one of the side streets just north of the stadiums I found the store for Ebbets Field Flannels – the maker of historical reproduction sports jerseys, hats, and jackets.

I stopped by last week to check it out and I was impressed by the quality of what it sells as well as the background story behind each piece (the employees are very knowledgeable, and I’m sure it helps to be a sports nerd here). Despite an unassuming storefront and a location that would be easy to miss unless you walked right by it, a small but steady stream of customers were coming in and out during my visit, including many fathers out with their sons.