The Roosevelt Project

Roosevelt Ave NE. is one of the main arteries running North/South through my neighborhood (Maple Leaf Neighborhood in Seattle). This 4.5 mile stretch of roadway (ignoring the stretch running NW from 125th) is home to an exceptional range of  businesses: from a Pakistani grocery on the north end to the legendary Hardwick and Son’s on the south. In between you will find art galleries, bicycle shops (at least 3!), book stores, costume companies (at least 2), cabinet makers, convenience stores, drug stores, electronics shops, fire fighters,  garages, grocery stores, hardware, a hospital, hotels, investment advisors, junk stores, knitting studio (ok I just added that for the k), lawyers, a movie theatre, ministorage, music repair, networking experts, optometrists, photography studios, real estate, second hand stores, travel agents, tool stores, upholsterers, video rental, workout classes, yoga studios and Zenith supplies.  Ok, I didn’t cover every letter in the alphabet, but you get the picture – traveling Roosevelt Ave, it would not be difficult to find everything you would ever need to purchase in the course of your lifetime.   Best of all, scattered along it’s length there are dozens of unique restaurants, cafes and pubs offering a wide range of food and drink.

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Clara and I have occasionally talked about making our way up and down Roosevelt, trying each restaurant / cafe / pub.  When I mentioned this in a previous post (Four Corners project) – somewhat in jest - a few people commented on the merit of the idea. Since it’s midwinter and hiking is a little slow, it seemed reasonable to start this as a project, anticipating that it may take several years to complete. In fact, it is likely to never reach completion, considering the number of businesses and the rate of turnover. That being said, if you look at the map above, there are 10 places marked that we’ve already visited. Bear with me as I start to write about food and drink – entries for each place will be forthcoming.
Like the Four Corners project, while there really is no logic to this idea, it provides a nice structure which I seem to need to get anything done.
Bon apetit.