Month: December 2019

Happy New Year, Beacon Hill!

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Mimi’s Bakery and Floral—Cakes, Flowers, and now Bánh mì Sandwiches, Milk Tea, and More

Mimi’s is a little shop with a lot to offer

For 30 years, an unassuming little bakery on Beacon Ave just south of Columbian Way has quietly churned out baked goods for Beacon Hill and beyond. Eight years ago, Nga Do (“Nn-yah Doh”) bought Mimi’s Bakery and Floral and started living her dream as a culinary queen and florist extraordinaire—and if you have a large event to pull off, she’s got you covered there too.

Mimi’s offers numerous packages for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and more including all your food, tablecloths, chair covers, place settings, flowers and other decorations, and, of course, your cakes. But wait, there’s more!

Sandwiches, smoothies, and milk tea, oh my! 

Mimi’s recently added a full menu of Vietnamese baguette-style bánh mì and BBQ pork sandwiches (loaded with ripe veggies), fresh rolls, salads, and more to their offerings. Get it to go or get it catered. They also now serve blended ice in flavors like avocado, taro, mango, strawberry, and strawberry banana. Another menu addition is milk tea—or bubble tea—a blend of sweetened taro, green, oolong, jasmine, or maja tea blended with milk swimming with slippery tapioca balls that produce the most satisfying burst when you chomp on them. And in addition to cakes made to order, Mimi’s makes flan and Vietnamese yogurt, and they carry some pastries sourced from the neighborhood.

One very hardworking mom

Mimi’s—well, Nga really—does it all. A mother of three nearly-grown children, Nga works six days a week (down from seven!). “My kids say, ‘mom you’re a work-a-holic!’” says Nga, laughing. They recently convinced her to close one day a week to give herself a break, so Mimi’s closes up on Wednesdays now and reopens in full swing on Thursdays when Nga arrives bright and early to start cooking and baking fresh goods for the day (she doesn’t pre-make anything).

Read more >

The Annual Rendezvous at Musang Was off the Hook! 

We’re so grateful to Musang for co-hosting our annual event and to all of you who were able to attend and share the night (and the incredible food!) with us on Monday, December 16.

If you attended, we hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did! Melissa and her staff are amazing, we can’t thank them enough for helping us create a night to remember. 

We hope you’ll visit this new small business in the new year!

If you missed the Annual Rendezvous, fear not: there’s always another BBA event around the corner. We’ll start up our Networking Happy Hours again in the new year and we’ll see you out and about in the neighborhood. And please—drop us a line any time!

Here are some pics from the event: 

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Have You Seen Our Walking Map? 

We recently sent out a survey and our small business walking map to all the brick and mortar businesses in and around the north Beacon Hill district. If you received a survey, please fill it out and send it back in the self-addressed stamped envelope provided (if you haven’t already).  

If you didn’t receive a survey and would like to fill one out, let us know. And if you’re a home business owner, we very much want to hear from you! So do reach out and tell us where to send your survey.

Ensure your business is included in future iterations of the map and our other business directories when you become a member of BBA. Your membership dues will help us print more walking maps and materials and promote your business and our business district.

Contact us at info@beaconbusinessalliance.org to learn more about becoming a BBA member in 2020. 

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Looking Back—and Looking Forward to Our Tenth Year Serving Beacon!

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2019 Reflections

In 2020, we’ll celebrate ten years serving the Beacon Hill community. We’re so proud and honored—it’s been a wild ride! So much has changed. We’ve watched beloved small businesses close and leave the hill and others move and grow to be bigger and more prosperous than ever. We’ve welcomed new businesses and business owners and have worked to get them involved in the community. We’re humbled by all our new friends and members and the awesome connections we’ve made with all of you this year.

Our board has grown and we’re excited for the prospective board members we’re talking to now to join us so we can continue a trajectory of representation and leadership that appropriately reflects our neighborhood. 

In order to grow our board, we need community stakeholder engagement, so members, please send us your nominees for 2020. And if you’re interested in joining the board, let us know! We want to hear your voice.

Not a member? Become a member in 2020 and bring your ideas, concerns, and board nominees to the organization. Email us today at info@beaconbusinessalliance.org.

Some 2019 BBA Highlights:

We’re proud to have continued our work on mobility improvements for Beacon Ave to make it a safer, more vibrant main thoroughfare.

We participated in another annual Bridge to Beach clean up on the hill. Thanks to those who turned out to help!

We partnered with Plate of Nations to have Beacon Hill businesses included in this important and exciting (and growing!) annual event.

We supported community members and partner organizations in their efforts to “Save Garden House” and successfully see the property added to Seattle’s list of historic landmarks so it will be preserved for generations to come.

Partnering with the Beacon Hill Council, we co-hosted a well-attended primary election District 2 Candidate Forum at Centilia Cultural Center, moderated by Esther “Little Dove” John, and were outreach partners on a post-primary forum at New Holly Gathering Hall. The latter was moderated by Nikkita Oliver and Ben Yisrael. Both events saw good community engagement with candidates and the election process. Moderators asked tough questions of candidates about their plans for our district, how we can hold them accountable, and more.

We participated in a business resource open house, hosted by the new Rainier Ave Business Coalition, with over a dozen other organizations helping small businesses and entrepreneurs in South Seattle.

We worked with Southend Connect (formerly Connect 10K) on their video project highlighting a Beacon Hill ethnic business, El Quetzal. We look forward to spotlighting more Beacon businesses in 2020!

We interviewed business owners for our blog, shared their stories with the community, boosted the signal on local events and other happenings, and did our part to promote Beacon Hill and our beautiful and talented business community, including entering into a partnership with the South Seattle Emerald to share small business stories to their website and readership in 2020.   

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Bring on the new year!!!

Other images in this section: Suzy Lee (BBA board), Jessie McKenna (BBA staff), Marcos Arellano (Sharkbite Ceviches), Angela Castaneda (BBA staff), and Robert Hinrix (BBA board) at a BBA Networking Happy Hour at Baja Bistro. Middle left: Adi Maxwell (BBA staff) & Angela at the D2 Forum at Centilia Cultural Center. Middle right: New “Welcome to Beacon” signs!

New Business on Beacon!

Petite Soif

3309A Beacon Ave S.

Shawn Mead and Lauren Feldman of Vif—a wine bar, bottle shop, and cafe in Fremont—have opened a new wine bar and bottle shop on Beacon Hill called Petite Soif. We’re excited to have this new women-owned business on the hill!

Find Petite Soif next to Tippe & Drague, between Hinds and Horton in the new development that just went up on the spot. In their own words, Petit Soif is a “neighborhood natural wine bar and bottle shop with great food to boot!”

Check out their website to see the full menu and follow them on Facebook to stay up to date on happenings.

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What Else Is New?

Coming soon…

Musang

2524 Beacon Ave S.

Musang (pronounced “moo-song”) will open in the former location of Traveler’s Thali House in early January. Follow chef Melissa Miranda and Musang for pop-up events and Musang opening news on Facebook and/or Instagram!

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We don’t know when it will be open yet, but the ground floor of the new Jefferson Station Apartments (across from our office at the Beacon Hill Library) will be home to another new restaurant very soon. Keep an eye on this spot:

Jefferson Station Apartments — 2902 Beacon Ave S.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram for timely Beacon Hill news updates and more.

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Connect 10K Has Rebranded to “Southend Connect”

The project’s mission to collect/produce “authentic Southeast Seattle stories straight from the source” remains and they’ve got a ton of great videos up on their site, including a beautiful one about Beacon Hill’s own El Quetzal. See the El Q video here. See all the stories on their website!

Please reach out to us at info@beaconbusinessalliance.org if you’re interested in participating in this project in some way.  

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Saturday Night Bingo — at Tippe & Drague, Sat., 12/28  

The Get Down, Classic ‘80s / ‘90s Hip-Hop + Funk + R&B Flavor feat. DJ G Prez. — at Clock-Out Lounge, Sat., 12/28  

Its a POT-luck — at Estelita’s Library, Tues., 12/31  

NYE 2020 on the Hill — at Dozer’s Warehouse, Tues., 12/31  

“Hey Babe” New Years Eve Pajama Party — at Clock-Out Lounge, Tues., 12/31  

FREE New Year’s Eve Vinyasa Flow — at South Seattle Fitness, Tues., 12/31

Generation Zapped — Presented by Beacon Hill Meaningful Movies (at Centilia), Tues., 1/14  

Cooking Classes — at El Centro de la Raza, Jan. 11 & 18  

Email us about your next event and we’ll do our best to boost the signal: info@beaconbusinessalliance.org.

Find upcoming community events by using the following resources:

• South Seattle Emerald
  (Weekly events round-ups are posted on Wednesdays.)
• Beacon Arts on Facebook
• Dozer’s Warehouse & Gallery on Facebook
• Beacon Hill Meaningful Movies on Facebook
• Centilia Cultural Center on Facebook
• El Centro de la Raza on Facebook
• Jefferson Park Lawn Bowling Club on Facebook
• Beacon Hill, Seattle (Facebook Group)
• Beacon Hill Social Club (Facebook Group)
• Beacon Hill Library 
• Estelita’s Library on Facebook
• Beacon Food Forest on Facebook
• Beacon Hill Council on Facebook
• Baja Bistro on Facebook
• Tippe & Drague Alehouse on Facebook
• Bar del Corso on Facebook
• Hello Bicycle on Facebook
• Perihelion Brewery on Facebook
• The Station coffee shop on Facebook
• Musang Seattle on Facebook
• Urban Feed & Garden on Facebook
• Clock-Out Lounge
• Day Moon Press & Darius X Studio on Facebook
• Roundbox Fitness on Facebook
• Youth Speaks Seattle on Facebook
• Asian Cajun Vegan Food Truck on Facebook

Jefferson Community Center hosts regular activities for people of all ages and abilities. Find the Winter brochure for Southeast Seattle community
centers here.

This is by no means a complete list of Beacon Hill events. If you want us to promote your upcoming event, please let us know! info@beaconbusinessalliance.org.

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Community Alert:

We know that many of our community members are concerned for themselves and each other in this time of uncertainty surrounding immigration in the U.S. 

Many have undoubtedly heard disturbing stories about families being separated, the conditions in detention centers, and those with and without U.S. citizenship being arrested, detained, and, in rare cases, wrongfully deported.

The issues are complex. New policies and practices make it hard to keep up. There’s a lot of confusion and misinformation out there. We’re listening to and share your concerns. We did some research and are providing the following information to help alleviate confusion and put the power of knowledge into the hands of our community. 

Knowing your rights is paramount. The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP)—whose mission is to “promote justice by defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community education”—provides helpful information and resources. 

From NWIRP and the ACLU of Washington: “Even a non-citizen who is not carrying immigration papers has the right to remain silent. Whatever you say to a government agent may be used against you.” (This includes ICE, the United States Customs and Border Patrol, Police, FBI, etc., all agencies must state their authority and present identification to you.)

While it is not a crime to remain silent, they say, “if you are a driver in a car and a law enforcement agent demands to see your driver’s license, vehicle registration, or proof of insurance, you must show these.”

Here are some fact sheets from NWIRP about your rights:

Know Your Rights (English)
Know Your Rights (Spanish)

NOTE: A recent sighting of a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (USCBP) truck and officer on Beacon Hill outside of Baja Bistro stirred up concerns and sparked heated debate in the community about the roles and authority of USCBP and ICE. They are not the same agency, but they are related and can and do work in concert according to NWIRP. As Seattle is within 100 miles of an external boundary (due to our proximity to the Pacific Ocean), USCBP has jurisdiction in Seattle and can and do arrest and detain individuals. Here’s some more information about the “100-mile border zone” of the United States and the authority of USCBP, from the American Civil Liberties Union.

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Want to connect?
Have an urgent question?  

Reach us any time: 

By email: info@beaconbusinessalliance.org 

By phone: Call our Director, Angela Castañeda @ 206-459-1430 

By snail mail: 2821 Beacon Ave S., Seattle, WA. 98144 

We share our office space with several partner organizations, so please make an appointment to catch us in person outside of our events. Our office is located at 2821 Beacon Ave S. (just inside the Beacon Hill Library). If we’re not holding a private meeting, we’re happy to chat, show you around our resource center, and be of service in any way we can.

We’re here for you!