Belltownian recording studio mogul Gary King has recently updated his informative website: www.houseofleisure.net. Check out his site for fascinating facts about what is happening in the hood, including music, art shows, jokes, a section for poster designer Rick Klu, and something cryptically entitled "The Lounge." Or drop him a line at www.garyking.tv.

Rumors were flying about how the City of Seattle was discussing shutting down the Dog Park [formally Regrade Park, formerly "crack park"] due to lack of funding. In a July 6 meeting vocal Belltown residents explained the positive effects the change has made in the neighborhood. The park remains canine compatible (at least for another year...).

Late-night, manic chick fights continue around Belltown. Apparently, the revived pastime of chick street-fighting is alive and well here. Generally "really getting good" after midnight, or so, these fisticuff frolics include hair pulling, slapping, name-calling and the occasional David Beckham-esque show-off-shirt-rip-off. (This reporter saw topless action.) In one notable altercation, witnessed at 1:30 a.m., a dozen girls and a few boyfriend-y onlookers started pushin' and shovin' on the southwest corner of Second and Bell. An ambulance roared past, scattering the bunch, until they realized it was just an ambulance. The hardcores went right back at it, collecting spectators, until SPD arrived.

Proposed Land Use Action signs have appeared on 2121 Third Avenue. The current plan is to tear down the buildings, from the former Pacific Galleries to the corner, for a five-story multi-use building with street-level retail and low-income housing above. Current discussion is bubbling about lifting the local height restrictions. If that's approved, will the scheme for that corner also change?

Sub Pop Records, the spunky li'l firm that gave Nirvana and Mudhoney (among many others) to the world, has moved to its third World Headquarters complex in 18 years. Like the previous two, it's in Belltown: specifically above the Dahlia Lounge on Fourth near Virginia. The label (whose top current acts include Sleater-Kinney, the Shins, and the Postal Service) has left the ground floor of the Sidney Apartments up the street, where it had been ensconced since the building's 2001 opening (and where it had shared restrooms with the adjacent Uptown Espresso).

The worst part of the current Third Avenue repaving project: Noise, noise, noise. The best part: Large swaths where the de-paving crews have exposed the street's original cobblestones. An imaginative observer might hear the clip-clopping of draft horses across the surface of those old bricks. And who knows-if gas prices stay so exorbitant, the nags just might come back.

-ML and CH

A BELLTOWN MANIFESTO

1. A front lawn and a picket fence have little to do with personal happiness.
2. Life is best lived above the 45th Parallel.
3. Density is good.
4. Public transportation is the second best way to get to work. The best way is walking.
5. Cities are America's future. Subdivisions are America's past.
6. Live music is even better than downloaded music.
7. WE ARE NOT BORED.
8. Happy hour isn't a religion. It's a way of life.
9. Sunset is the best time of the day. Two a.m. is the best time of the night.
10. Mix up those races, genders, classes, and drinks.
11. Politics is part of culture, not the other way around.
12. A decentralized cultural network is obviously cool. Way cool.
13. Wired: Good. Wireless: Better.
14. Get a life, not just a lifestyle.
15. Keep our countryside unspoiled. Don't move there.
16. Headphones are an upstairs neighbor's best friend.
17. Living well is the best revenge. It's even better than Revenge of the Sith.
18. Keep it funky, God!
19. If you lived here, you'd be home now.

- Clark Humphrey

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