Site Report #1

Hand Drawn Map of Block 2 showing the locations of the different stores and residential areas on this block. Please note that the proportions are off in the drawing.

Petco store located along NE 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue NE.

Art Supplies Store. Entrance is located on 8th Avenue NE closer to the corner of 8th Avenue NE and NE 45th Street. Store can also be seen from 9th Avenue NE. Appears that the some of the store is located below Petco. Store provides supplies and classes.

House located on corner of 8th Avenue NE and NE 43rd Street.

Apartments located along 9th Avenue NE, closed to the corner of 9th and 43rd.

House located along 9th Ave NE between NE 43th St and NE 45th St. This house is unusually narrow compared to the other houses on the block. 

Graffiti along the side of the building that contains Petco and the Art Supplies Store. This is the graffiti along 9th Avenue NE. However, there is also Graffiti on the wall along 8th Avenue NE.

Site Report #1: The Deep Read

At this location there is both shopping and residential areas. About one third of the block is comprised of stores. One store is a Petco which is a big part of the block and attracts most attention when walking or driving by. Next to this pet store is a work space that is currently empty and on the market.  The third store is an Art Supply shop where people can buy goods and take classes. The outside of this store on both sides of the block is covered in street art. These spray paintings include variations of simple and intricate tagging, a landscape of a city skyline with mountains in the background, and an image that appears to be a monkey in a space suit. While I do not know who created these pieces of art, they appear to act as an advertisement for the art store that they cover.

The other two thirds of the block contains an arrangement of houses and apartment complexes. Between some of the different residential buildings there are areas with trees and other plants which make nice locations for people to use when outdoors. The entire block is circled by a sidewalk which makes it easy for people to walk to these different locations. However, the sidewalk was falling apart like most areas around the University. The buildings also seemed to be on the older side compared to others around the block. Nevertheless, the block seems to cater to the inhabitants of the University supplying a place to live with close access to UW and a place to get goods either for their pets or for their classes.

After looking at this block, some questions came to mind. What use to be in the store location that is now on the market? Where the apartment areas previously homes or stores? Will the buildings soon be redone like the buildings around the block seem to have been? What led to them putting an art supply store in the bottom part of a building? Was the street art originally planned by the art supply store or occurred naturally?

Lastly, when looking at the block, one can notice a lack of parking space. With a growing city like Seattle, one wonders if they will need to incorporate more parking through time. There was also a lack of bus stops. One would think with it being a residential area, there would be some forms of public transportation. It could be possible that there are bus stops nearby on other blocks.