Greenwood Is on Fire
My old neighborhood is slowing burning to the ground.
For two years between 2005-2007, my wife and I lived right in the heart of Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood. After moving back to Austin, I still like to keep up with various Seattle news and notes. Imagine my surprise when I started to see articles like this. There’s a firebug on the loose. The three latest arsons have upped the total to 14 since the summer. Fourteen arsons! Most have been relatively small, but the big one happened a few weeks ago when a three-alarm fire burned down a foursome of business.
The blaze was started at the Green Bean Coffeehouse. I had been in this place a few times. It had a Christian vibe, which was very much not the norm in Seattle. There were posters illuminating the suffering going on around the world, and one time I overheard someone say that everyone who worked there was a volunteer. Turns out they were run by a church that met at the theatre next door. Seattle has a lot of coffee shops, but you hate to lose even one.
The great culinary loss in this fire was the Szechuan Bistro. I was weary of this place for a few months, but once I went, it was my go-to Chinese place in the neighborhood. Most of the dishes had some sort of spicy red Szechuan ingredient in them. I have no idea how authentic it was, but let’s just say my English wasn’t always understood first time around. I’ll miss you, Mongolian Beef. I hope you had insurance.
I’m always a sucker for nostalgia, but I didn’t think I’d be reminiscing about these places so soon. A felony or two has a way of moving things right along.
