A Pleasant Surprise On A Dreary Day

I guess the sun got fat off of our collective estival merriment to selfishly hibernate through the winter. Today it rained and it was cold. The combination of the weather, waking up early enough to just barely get to work twenty minutes late, and the mere thought of the commute home thereafter totally took it out of me.
Feeling drained and overwhelmed by the idea of the impending monotony, I elected to take a different route home. This proved to be a grave error. A flock of schoolgirls all hopped on the bus at once. A conversational positive-feedback loop ensued; as the tolerable murmurs slowly turned into chatter, and the high-pitched chatter quickly turned into gaiety, and the unbearable gaiety efficiently turned into an implosive feeling deep inside my brain, my facial tissue contorted into a grimace that could have been seen from space, but not by these girls, oh goodness no, not them.
Walking hunchbacked and only semiconscious up Pike St., out of the deepest corner of my periphery I noticed this:

I walked right past it before I realized what I had just seen was something I had never seen before! Backtracking, I gave the place a second look and was quickly beckoned inside. Co-owner/designer, Rachel Ravitch explained that this was her new business, and that today was their first day, and my mood swiftly changed for the better.


Welcome to Scenic Drive Factory.


The concept is pretty simple:



•They have a rotating and ever-changing cast of artists to display their masterpieces.



•They sell bicycle-ready clothing and mercantile goods made from salvaged materials.



•You can rent a sewing machine for $7.00 an hour.
•You get a punch card, pay for ten hours and then you get your eleventh for free!
•For a limited time only, if you get yourself there by bicycle, your first hour on the sewing machine is free, as a thanks for your self-powered efforts.

I'm pretty stoked about this place. I don't personally have enough money to purchase a sewing machine, nor do I ever have enough of a need for one to validate the space it would inevitably consume.

Scenic Drive Factory is open 11:00AM–7:00PM Thursday–Sunday, or by appointment.
Located at 611 E. Pike St. in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
They can also be found on Facebook, like them and receive the cutest of updates.

DO NOT READ THIS BLOG

http://keepballardfriendly.blogspot.com/

Total bullshit on a level that is staggering at this point in time.
Yeah, sure, go ahead Hovie Hawk. Disable comments on your precious little blog.

SO IRRITATING.

Paddle Boats, Brunch, and Blackbird

Field trips are great, so we went ahead and had one together.
Here's a few snapshots from our adventure at the arboretum this morning:

Blackbird Boating & Brunch Arboretum Adventure from Sky King on Vimeo.

Here's what I've been working on in the past few months:

[Click on the photo to see more]


Shoot with Yordanos, back in January.


Shoot with Mike and his boyfriend Ronnie, back in January.


Shoot with Moriah, back in March.


Shoot with my new friends, Dejah and Henry, earlier this month.

If you ever want to do a shoot with me, just gimme a time, and buy me a coffee.
I don't have photo shop, but I'll do my best to take the picture you had in mind.

Time For A Trim?

Perhaps you gazed into the spoon in your cereal bowl in the morning; maybe you checked yourself out in the shop windows on your way to work; or I suppose you could have given yourself that awkward perfunctory glance in the mirror after you spat out your toothpaste last night and found yourself sickened by that maimed and weeping animal on the top of your head. Several times a year I find my self casually running my fingers through the hair on the back of my head wondering, Did I really go out in public looking like this?

Luckily, Ballard has a number of friendly barbershops that can help you out.

Smitty's Barbershop, 5819 15th Ave NW;
Smitty's has been around for sixty-five years, has three chairs and a television, and is inhabited by the adorable resident Pomeranian, Rex. According to one of the stylists, "Smitty" was the first of the four owners- before Fred, before Joice, before Jim- but whoever names their kid Smitty, I'll never know.

2-1/2 Happy Barbers, 6412 24th Ave NW;
This quaint little barbershop was closed when I stopped by, but I was highly amused and pleased by the sign in the window which displays precisely two and a half happy barbers.

Sunset Hill Barbershop, 6406 32nd Ave NW;

This shop has been used for the principle purpose of cutting hair for over one-hundred years, and owner Gene has been here for roughly twenty-seven of them.


Rudy's Barbershop, 5229 Ballard Ave NW;
Rudy's has been cutting hair in Ballard for about three years now, but started up on Capitol Hill in 1992- the original Rudy's was also a tattoo parlor, this one in Ballard is also part of King's Hardware, a pub; Rudy's likes the idea of combining businesses, and maintaining the atmosphere that came with the space before they were operating out of it.

Louie's Barbershop, 8342 Mary Ave NW;
Nobody was home when I visited this ridiculously cute residential-area barbershop, which is all tucked away behind the Safeway on 15th and 85th.

Ballard Barber Shop, 6207 15th Ave NW;
Bob Morris has owned and operated this barbershop since January of 1990. I can remember him waving to me after school everyday on my way to my old job at Ballard Camera. Bob prefers to work alone, but he's a great socializer. "[He's] The best barber in the world, and he's a renaissance man!" one of Bob's frequent customers since 1996, remarked.


Finally, this is my dad;
He worked at Sandy's Barbershop on Bainbridge Island for many years, and he has always been the one who has cut my hair- I'm not sure if I trust anyone else to even attempt to fix my uniquely broad spectrum of hair woes. I have been a repeat customer of my father's since 1991, because he doesn't make me pay him even the cliché'd two bits he's always singing about.


I'm sure it takes a lot of patience to cut hair all day, but it seems that all the Ballard barbers have a great sense of what their new customers want, and know exactly what their regulars are there to have done.
Best of luck in your hair follies!
-Sky