Then and Now: The 7-Eleven on 148th

A couple of days ago, I took another trip out to the Bellevue Library to do some research, where I spent some time digging for more info on Crossroads and Factoria.  I was able to find a couple of interesting items for Crossroads that at least pin down the timeframe in which it opened and some of the stores that were there, but I’m still finding little useful information on Factoria.  As far as Totem Lake goes, I think I’ve gotten about as much info out of the newspapers as I’m going to be able to, and I need to start looking at alternate sources from the various historical societies.

While I was doing this searching, I came across an article from October 1977 in the Bellevue Daily Journal-American about the opening of the 7-Eleven store and associated gas station at the corner of 148th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 51st Street in Redmond, which I pass by every day on the way to work and back, and find myself spending more money than I care to at lately (but I’m not going to go into that subject here.)  Although 7-Eleven stores had been selling gasoline since 1971, this particular one was opened in October of 1977, and was the first of a number of planned “Super Seven” stores in the Western United States.  While most of the 7-Eleven stores that sell gas around here have just a couple of pumps in front of the store, this station had a full fifteen pumps and its own attendant.  Although the 1973 oil crisis had passed by this time (to be followed by a second one in 1979,) it had resulted in the closure of many of the traditional service stations, and caused others to turn to other sources of revenue, from which the now ubiquitous ”mini mart” style gas stations sprang up (the article references a combination Arco station and mini-mart located near the interchange of I-405 and Northeast 8th in Bellevue, which remains in operation today.)  With gas stations crowding in on 7-Eleven’s territory, it would be only natural that they would take them on at their own game, and as a reult, the Super Seven gas station concept was born to combine a high-volume gas station with a 7-Eleven.  By combining the two, it allowed them to place stores on more valuable properties than they might be able to otherwise.

Today the gas station is a Chevron, but remains affiliated with the 7-Eleven store.  The farmland which this store was once surrounded by has now become apartments and condos, the City of Bellevue’s municipal golf course and highly sought-after commercial real estate.  Nintendo’s corporate campus (as well as that of DigiPen)  is found directly behind the 7-Eleven, and Microsoft’s RedWest campus is a short distance away to the North, next to an open field which will undoubtedly become a site of future Microsoft expansion.  A lot has changed in this neighborhood since the late Seventies (The expansion of SR520 from 148th to Redmond Way would not be completed until 1979) but all things considered, not much has realy changed on this little bit of land at the corner of 148th and NE 51st. 

After the jump, the article from which the above photo came, and some current photos of the 7-Eleven and the gas station.

Crisis? What Crisis?

(Note: This post is crossposted from buzz.mn, with some slight modifications.)

To be honest, the whole future thing seems just a tad overrated these days. Gone are the days when we were told that we could expect a future of rocket-propelled cars, push-button bubble ovens and fashionable evening gowns as far as the eye could see. Mostly these days we’re getting told that we’re either going to drown like all those cute little polar bears up in the Arctic, or we’re going to end up paying twelve bucks for a tablespoon of gas and subsisting on cruelty-free organic fair trade turnips and eating grass as a snack between meals.

Of course, we were being told a lot of the same things back in the Seventies, and most of those things never happened. A lot of the research that I have been doing on the local malls has me digging through a bunch of local newspapers from the Seventies, which seem to be remembered these days as a decade of all sorts of unpleasantness. For example, in early 1977 (where I was doing some searching last night) Carter was in office, OPEC and the Soviets were up to their usual tricks, and things just seemed to be headed for you-know-where in a handbasket. So what was the big scary story on the front pages of the papers? A coffee shortage.

A significant portion of the coffee crop in Brazil had been killed off by an early frost, and as a result coffee prices spiked dramatically. There was talk of a coffee boycott in the air. People were being forced to pay a whole fifty cents for a cup of coffee (and yes, Starbucks was already around at this point, but only as a small-time purveyor of coffee beans and coffee making equipment. It would be another decade before they would start selling coffee drinks or open any stores outside of Seattle.) The local newspaper here ran an editorial (included after the jump) telling people to get used to paying big bucks for their morning fix, and expressing hope that the high price of coffee would get people to reconsider their habits. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, we even have a slightly boring clip from a contemporary CBC news program featuring some talking head from a consumer organization scolding people for guzzling coffee in the first place. Does any of this stuff sound familiar?

Of course, now people pay $3.50 or more for a cup of coffee without even blinking for entirely different reasons, and it’s the price of gas that’s headed for the proverbial stratosphere. Around here at least, I suspect that there are some people who would have an easier time living without gasoline than they would living without coffee, but then again this is Seattle I’m talking about here. Given the choice between no gas and no coffee, which one would you choose? For me it would be an easy choice since I already don’t drink coffee (for religious reasons, although I have found that even if that weren’t the case me and caffeine just don’t get along anyway.) In the meantime, for those of you who long for the rocket car and glass bubble ovens of the future that never was, enjoy the clip below.

Why Settle For Being Nickeled and Dimed to Death?

As anyone who lives around here knows, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the days when the big weekly bolus of junk mail arrives, clogging your mailboxes with all sorts of circulars for grocery stores you don’t shop at, coupons for fast food joints and other such detritus.  As people who have been reading this Blog are probably aware, at times these big piles of ads can also prove to be an unending source of unbelievable “bargains” and all sorts of other stuff you didn’t know that you don’t ever need.  Another case in point is this ad which arrived in today’s batch of dead tree spam:

There’s nothing too unusual here, as long as you’re the type of person who is open to the idea of buying coins for more than their face value.  If you haven’t bothered collecting those state quarters that the US mint has been producing for roughly the last decade or so, you can spend $19.95 on a (nearly) complete set of those, or that same $19.95 can also buy you a silver dollar from 1921.  If those are too rich for your blood, you can spend $2 on three World War II era steel pennies, or $5 on a couple of what I would assume to be highly collectible 2008 half-dollars and Sacagawea dollars.  In addition to those, there’s also this offer:

Given the fact that large scale production of the Sacagawea dollars was halted only two years after it started due to low demand and excessive supplies, I don’t think that “popular” is the word I’d use to describe these.  Since 2002, Sacajawea dollars have only been produced in relatively small quantities for collectors (although annual production is still well into the millions,)  Because of this, I’d say that there’s a pretty good chance that thirty years from now this set of coins is going to be worth all of nine bucks.  At the “original” price of $67.95 a set like this would be out-and-out highway robbery, but at $19.95 I’m sure it’s a steal (although it remains unclear which party in this transaction is the one that is doing the stealing.)  Granted, the United States Mint themselves sells these things at a markup (a $25 roll of 2008 Sacagawea dollars goes for an asking price of $35.95 plus shipping, and a bag of 250 goes for $319.95,) but nowhere near as much as these ones are selling for.

Of course, even at those unbelievable prices (well, I don’t believe them anyway), these things are sure to go fast, right?  After all, this is your last chance to “save” 70% on these things.  Of course, what happens if you don’t act now?

You end up saving 77% instead.  This ad is located just a few pages away from the one above, but it offers the exact same set of coins for the somewhat less ridiculous price of only $14.95, complete with a free Oklahoma state quarter you can take with you on your next trip to the video arcade or the laundromat.  At least they have the courtesy to  throw in free shipping with the deal, so that means you’ll only end up paying about $5 more than these are worth by the time you’re done.  Oh yeah, and don’t forget the “prized” first year coin in the set from 2000, one of only 1.2 billion or so that were produced back when the government thought they were actually going to replace the dollar bill with these things.  I’m sure that there will be some numismatist (yeah, I had to look up the word) out there who’s going to flame me to a well-done crisp for this  post, but I suspect that if I ever found myself inclined to take up coin collecting (given my prior track record with collectibles, this would probably be an incredibly bad idea, but that’s another post that I’ll probably avoid writing anytime soon in the interest of preserving my dignity) there’s probably a better place to buy coins from than my junk mail…

But “Amateur” Would Imply That I Have Some Skills…

Even though I’ve lived in my current apartment for nearly three years now, for some reason I still seem to end up with mail from the previous occupant of my apartment every once in a while.  These days, most of the stuff seems to be solicitations from insurance companies with outdated address info and things like that, but every so often, the most random things show up (at least I’m not getting their W-2 forms anymore.)  Today’s mail included a membership kit to the American Poolplayers Association addressed to the previous occupants.  Since I’m pretty sure there’s no way something like this would ever get to its intended recipient at this point (based on the envelope it came in, it looked like it could have been junk mail in the first place) I decided to take a peek inside.  Surprisingly enough, there was quite a bit of stuff in the envelope:

After reviewing the rulebook (particularly the part about keeping a score sheet) I’m pretty sure that I’m not planning to drop everything and go hang out in smoke filled bars as a pool hustler anytime soon (smoke-filled bars are illegal in Washington now due to anti-smoking legislation, so that wouldn’t be an option anyway.)  It’s just as well;  being the type of player who considers it a good game of pool when I manage to get through a round without poking someone’s eye out, I dont think I have even the meager pool skills that would be required to qualify as an amateur anyway. 

Off to the Races

Edit 5/13:  Added a few more pictures from the race below.

As I’ve discussed before, pretty much everyone in my family enjoys watching auto racing in its various forms (after all, what other reason would my parents have for naming their dogs after an Italian City known primarily for its racetrack and a defunct Formula One racing team?)  Unfortunately, the Pacific Northwest in general and the Seattle area in particular is something of a wasteland as far as high-level racing is concerned.  The NHRA does make an annual stop up here for drag racing, and the now defunct Champ Car series raced annually in Portland for many years, but beyond those two series professional racing has been basically nonexistent around here (amateur racing, on the other hand, is alive and well here, although that’s another post I’ll get around to making at some point.)  This means that going to see a race requires a road trip.  For the past couple of years, we have made the trip down to Miller Motorsports Park about 30 miles west of Salt Lake City in Utah for the American Le Mans Series race that takes place there, and will be taking place this weekend.  The bad news is that for a number of reasons, we’re not going to be able to make it to the Utah race this year, but the good news is that this means that we will have an opportunity to go see the final ALMS race of the year in October at Laguna Seca, one of America’s most famous racetracks and home to the famous Corkscrew turn. 

After the jump, a look at some of the photos I took at last year’s Utah Grand Prix. 

Commute Trip Reduction is Getting Out of Hand

This sign was recently added at the intersection between the 520 offramp and Northeast 40th in Redmond, near where I work.  Apparently the bikers here are getting sick of cars turning in front of them, and have armed their bikes with laser cannons poised to annihilate those pesky drivers with the gall to make a right turn at the stoplight when there’s a walk signal.  I think I’ll just stick to taking 148th to work; at least there it’s usually only the other drivers trying to bring you to an untimely demise.

Actually, If you know the context involved here (there is a bike/walking path that runs alongside 520, and this is one of the places it has to cross the road) this sign makes sense, but I can think of a lot more interesting ways to interpet the sign than that.

A Quick Video Leftover From BeagleFest 2008: Feeding Time

Here’s one item I meant to post last week back when I was still watching Imola and Minardi over at my parents’ house, but never got around to cleaning up to post it.  In order to show the different personalities of the two dogs, I recorded a short video of how they react to feeding time.  As you can see, they both get pretty excited, but react in different ways.  Imola always likes to follow the people around, and when it’s time to eat, she starts to jump around excitedly.  Minardi, on the other hand, isn’t quite as animated as Imola is, but in this video you can hear the cute little howl that she makes when she gets excited (it’s either that or she starts barking loudly, which usually happens upon arrival at the dog park.)  Unfortunately, WordPress doesn’t seem to let me embed videos from Photobucket on their pages yet (and I’m too lazy to go sign up over at YouTube) so I’ll have to link the video for now.  The link to the video can be found below:

Feeding Time

I hope to gradually start adding more video to the site, but I’m still getting used to using the new digital camera.  For some reason, the mic on the camera is really sensitive to breathing, which could probably get annoying after a while.

Signs of Life at Totem Lake - A New Redevelopment Site Plan

It’s been more than two years now since we’ve heard much of anything regarding the proposed redevelopment at Totem Lake Mall.  The last time the City of Kirkland website for the mall redevelopment was updated was back in early 2006, and nothing new has been submitted to the city since that time.  This has led some people (myself included) to wonder if the Totem Lake Mall redevelopment had stalled out.  Finally after a long wait, there are signs of life on the Totem Lake Mall redevelopment project, with a new site plan posted at DDR’s webpage for the mall.  The site plan (in PDF format) can be found here.  I cannot be entirely certain of when this new site plan was actually published to the DDR website, but the plan itself bears a date of February 28th, 2008 on it, which makes it a lot newer than any of the existing information we have on this project.  Quite a bit has changed compared to what was presented to the City of Kirkland design review board in 2006 (the only other publicly available information on the redevelopment that I am aware of right now.)  After the jump,  a look at the site plan, and some of the clues it might hold to what the new Totem Lake Mall might look like.

Milk, Juice, Eggs and… Patio Furniture?

These days, I’d have to guess that most people would not think it unusual to find groceries and furniture in the same store.  After all, there are three Fred Meyer stores within  five miles of here, as well as a Target with a decent sized grocery department and a Costco.  I suspect that regardless of where you might live in the USA, you probably wouldn’t have to go too far to find a Super Target, Wal-Mart Supercenter or another such store combining large grocery and dry goods selections under the same roof.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that even my neighborhood grocery store seems to be getting in on the action.

With a good five months until the next big candy selling holiday rolls around, the seasonal items section in the center of the store between a couple of aisles has been stocked with a selection of (very) assorted summer items, highlighted by this is this $400 set of patio furniture, offered at $100 off the “regular” price if you use your frequent shopper card (which is probably just about enough to cover the cost of that bottle of Veuve Clicquot they’ve got on the table.)  Call me crazy, but I get the sneaking suspicion that you might run into just a bit of trouble if you tried to run that thing through the self checkout line.  And if buying your patio furniture from the grocery store isn’t random enough for you…

…then why not go ahead and pick up a portable air conditioner while you’re at it? 

Taqueria Guadalajara - Your Friendly Neighborhood Taco Truck

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I decided that today would be a good day to pay a visit to the friendly neighborhood taco truck for lunch.  It seems that I wasn’t the only one, as the nice weather helped to draw a pretty good crowd to the place for lunch today.

Taqueria Guadalajara has been around the neighborhood in one spot or another for a number of years now (it tends to move on a semi-regular basis,) and serves up some tasty food for pretty reasonable prices, even if the truck does look a bit rough around the edges these days.  Currently, it resides in the parking lot of the Overlake 76 gas station at the corner of 148th and Northeast 24th (which would actually put it just barely within the Bellevue city limits, but most people around here still seem to refer to it as the Redmond taco truck.) 

My usual order is one of their burritos with either chicken (pictured above) or Carne Asada, a steal at $4.50 (tax included.)  At most of the other places in the neighborhood that serve burritos like this you’d be hard pressed to get out the door for much less than seven bucks, and this one is quite a bit tastier than most of those.  The tacos here are pretty good too, although they aren’t anything like what you’d expect a taco to be if you’ve been raised on Taco Bell and other gringo fast food.  Either way, Taqueria Guadalajara is a nice spot to grab a quick bite to eat in the Overlake neighborhood as long as you can actually find it (if it moves, I’ll be sure to update this post to keep up with it.)