Smash Wine Bar (1401 N 45th St) will be ending a nine-year run on 45th Street, with a quiet final day this Saturday, June 27th.

Owner Dana Hannon explained that the rent and fees had climbed considerably over the years to the point where she was paying double what she had when she signed her original lease, and it wasn’t economically feasible to stay put any more. She believes the new Mack Urban construction project next door hasn’t helped things either, and attributes $200,000 in lost sales to the construction project (not surprisingly, the construction crew wasn’t running up large …

Good Morning, Wallingford, I’m home!

Back in March, I handed over the reins of Wallyhood to Eric Fisk so that my family and I could take a little Grand Tour of Europe.

In case you’re curious, we had a great time. We started off in Seville, Spain, made our way north to Basque country, then over to Lisbon and southern Portugal, where we spent a bit over a month (with a brief side trip to Fez, Morocco). Finally, we hopped a plane to Holland, and spent a fabulous two weeks in Amsterdam, before returning home to Seattle this past week, …

Kevin Schofield (Woodland Park Zoo volunteer and Wallingfordian) writes:

The Woodland Park Zoo announced today that their two Asian elephants, Chai and Bamboo, will be moving to the Oklahoma City Zoo where they will join an existing herd of four female Asian elephants ranging in age from two months to 20 years and make it truly inter-generational. The OKC Zoo has a nearly-new elephant exhibit, opened in 2011, with four acres of outdoor space with room to expand further, and a 13,500 square foot barn.

A small group of protesters have been pushing for the elephants to be sent to …

(Katie Wade, 17 years old, moved to Wallingford in 2003. She’s embarking on an adventure, and wanted to let her neighbors know as well as ask their support.)

My whole life, I have been taught by my family that my life should my own. It should be whatever I make of it, and I shouldn’t be afraid to shape it the way I want. When I was 15 years old, I made a decision that very much changed my life. I decided to leave regular school, not because I hated it, not because I thought it was a waste of …

(Back in January, David Perk announced a Legislative Climate Action Forum. He recently sent in this report of what happened, written up by Arvia Morris)

The Legislative Climate Action Forum on Saturday January 31^st was engaging and well attended at Keystone Church. Approximately 100 voters learned the details of Governor Inslee’s Carbon Pollution Accountability Act (HB1314, SB5283), the Oil Safety Bill (HB1449, SB5087) and the low carbon fuel standard (executive order). Elected officials present included Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, who has also hosted several constituent meetings on the subject, as well as Brady Walkinshaw from the 43…