Stories

Meet Claudia, the resident cat at Ophelia’s secondhand bookstore in Fremont. As soon as I entered the store, the friendly feline followed me upstairs to the cozy nook where I settled to sketch. She ran around for a while, smelled…

Elbridge Amos Stuart, the founder of world-renowned brand Carnation Milk, knew something about color. When the American industrialist bought this farm site in the Snoqualmie Valley back in 1908, he chose a contrasting color scheme of white and red, which…

One of the things I like the most about Mt. Baker beach in Southeast Seattle is the t-shaped pier that allows visitors to get closer to the water. If you are trying to sketch the expansive view of Lake Washington,…

No deposit. No background check. Monthly rent of $350, in cash, for a room within walking distance to work. Back in 2013, Skyler Wister, a young social worker desperately looking for affordable housing downtown, couldn’t believe his luck when he…

A computer monitor displayed a production goal of 125 bags and a pace of 95.1 percent as workers pressed pedals and moved leather pieces through sewing machines. For a moment, I felt transported to an assembly line in a faraway…

Considering it wasn’t in “Sleepless in Seattle,” the rundown floating home you see above attracts a lot of attention. As I sneaked in to sketch on the swaying dock, curious paddleboarders came in close, and people on Jet Skis snapped…

An excursion to the Puget Sound shoreline never disappoints, especially during the extreme low tides that usually happen around the summer and winter solstice.

For those who work in the local maritime industry, boating season doesn’t start today. It’s a year-round occupation. Once every three weeks, for example, Capt. Brent Bierbaum and the crew of the Arctic Titan load up their tugboat with food…

Three or four times a day, Bob Schaper logs onto the Angel Flight West website to search for his next assignment. The volunteer pilot is so eager to fly humanitarian missions that last year he broke a record for all…

When the Columbia City Cinema closed in 2011, many worried the neighborhood theater was gone for good. But just as the building was about to be leased for storage space, a good guy burst onto the scene to save the…