Talk:Ballard, Seattle

Total Implosion of Culture and Livability 2010-2012

Wow... Never before has a municipality self-destructed faster than the city of Ballard. So many iconic, cultural, musical, and artistic venues were annihilated in one fell swoop. I knew Ballard as a fun place with a bowling ally, an open mic comedy night, a local band venue, and a chai house where the community came to gather and a quote was painted upon the wall: "Nothing stirs thought like tea and controversy". Now, a void of emptiness. A sad pile of ludicrously priced small boxes serve as housing for the current residents, who might as well be prisoners locked within the tiny cubicles of a bee hive.

Are they happy in their cells?

Untitled

I notice that when I do a search for "ballard" I get the No page with this exact title exists; trying to find similar titles. No article title matches error, despite the existence of this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballard%2C_Seattle%2C_Washington

I can only get there if I do a search for "ballard, seattle, washington"

Is that how the search engine is supposed to work? Seems limiting....

--c3k 15:44, Mar 7, 2004 (UTC)

You are probably clicking the Go button, which is supposed to take you to the article with the exact title as the string that is entered. The internal Wikipedia search is currently offline because it slows down the server too much, but there are two search forms for google and yahoo if you click the search button. hth, Dori | Talk 17:08, Mar 7, 2004 (UTC)

Sustainable Ballard

Is there really a need to have this in the external links, given that it is already in the notes? - Jmabel | Talk 20:33, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

The annexation of Ballard by Seattle/Free Ballard

Shouldn't there be some discussion about how ballard was annexed into seattle and the "free ballard" movement (Koogunmo 10:28, 11 December 2006 (UTC))

Here's a citable source on annexation: http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=983. But as far as I can tell, there really is no "Free Ballard" movement, just bumper stickers and patches made be Archie McPhee's, and a few people making jokes. You should definitely try to see if you can find anthing substantive before you get this into an encyclopedia article, or, alternatively, make it clear that it is basically a joke. - Jmabel | Talk 21:07, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Boiled cod and komle in Ballard?

Partly asking this re article content on the Scandinavian community here, and also out of curiosity as I'd eaten there once; there used to be a "greasy spoon" type cafe somewhere in Ballard, though it wasn't greasy at all, where you could get Norwegian home-cookin', i.e. cod and komle with melted butter, the Vestkyst staple. I don't remember there being much else on the menu, in fact....place was as bland as the cod, arboroite and off-white walls, almost no decorations. Is it still there? Are there other cuisine/shopping manifestations of Scandinavian-ness left in Ballard's retail life....speaking of which is the Nordic Museum mentioned here?Skookum1 20:23, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

There is little Scandinavian-ness left in Ballard these days. About the only business left is the newish Scandinavian Specialties, unless you count the revamped Copper Gate with its "whimsical take on Ballard's Scandinavian heritage." You might be thinking of Scandie's on a corner on Market, or Olsen's Scandinavian Foods, across the street, also on Market. Both closed. There used to be a row of old bars with food just behind Market, on Ballard Ave, like the Vasa Grill, but they probably weren't "bland". I think they're all gone too. Cataobh (talk) 20:50, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

And the Norwegian Constitution Day parade. And Leif Erikson Lodge of the Sons of Norway. And the Annual Ballard SeafoodFest. And all the Lutheran churches. Lots of places to get Scandinavian food. And a library and a bank and a park in the middle of the neighborhood designed on Nordic themes. It's true that a lot of small businesses in Ballard have closed -- but small ::::have closed everywhere. There's a recession, isn't there? But to say there's little Scandinavian-ness left in Ballard is difficult to defend based on the evidence. Complaining that Ballard is going to pot is nothing new either -- if anything, all the grousing is proof of how Scandinavian the place still is. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:27, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

What I meant to say was that there is little Scandanavian-ness left in Ballard's *retail life*, specifically restaurants, which was the question, and which was the only thing I addressed. I don't see "lots of places to get Scandinavian food" right now - Scandinavian Specialties and the Copper Gate are the only ones I'm aware of, but then I'm not usually out looking for lutefisk, so maybe I'm missing something. Olsen's and the Scandinavian Bakery recently closed, but others closed long before the recession. I think the article is now outdated when it says: "Walking in downtown Ballard, much of the old flavor can still be seen as there are still many shops and bakeries with a Scandinavian theme." Scandinavian-ness is certainly still there, but you do have to look for it these days. Cataobh (talk) 23:42, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

Removed above statement about food, but added other ethnic activities. Something smaller about food might be added. Larsen's Bakery still there too, but not downtown. Cataobh (talk) 19:56, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

Objectivity

Is someone selling tour tickets or something?

"Ballard emerged as one of the most interesting neighborhoods in Seattle"

"...restaurant, boutique, and cafe scene exploded"

"...catalyzed the gentrification of the downtown district"

"...the flagship institution of the community..."

"...with little strong leadership from local politicians"

Not very objective, and arguable at best. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.160.97.186 (talk) 22:30, 2 May 2007 (UTC).

It seems that the entire "A neighborhood in transition" section should be removed. There's far too much "fluff" and subjective material and not enough actual information to keep this section. Objections? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.112.86.89 (talk) 22:14, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Is there a Wikipedia example for what an "arts & entertainment" section of an article like this would look like? Currently it reads like an advertisement. If there isn't some standard to follow can the whole a&e section just be deleted? Dbratland (talk) 03:33, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The previous edit to the A&E section said, "South Ballard, or SoBa as a growing number of hipsters call the neighborhood, is a great place for a pub crawl, all within a few city blocks." It was already in dispute and this made it worse, with no citation. The hipster slang remark is interesting, but only if a source can be found to attribute it to. For not I removed the NPOV template and just made it list the live music venues in Ballard. Hopefully that speaks for itself.Dbratland (talk) 23:33, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Snoose Junction

I was looking for information on Snoose Junction, Washington, which is a location (not sure if inhabited) in eastern King County, basically due east of Hobart, accessed by a road called Snoose Junction Road. But apparently Wikipedia has, unlike Google Maps, no information on this, the real Snoose Junction. (I'm not denying that the term is probably more widely used in its capacity as a nickname for Ballard, but it still kind of irritates me to be sent here when I'm trying to go there.) --Haruo (talk) 16:15, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

Speaking of "Snoose Junction", the article asserts, "The railroad to Seattle ended at Salmon Bay because the railroad company was unwilling to build a trestle to cross the bay." What railroad is this speaking of? (please ping me if responding, I don't maintain a watchlist on en-wiki these days.) - Jmabel | Talk 04:27, 5 April 2022 (UTC)

• Lacking any response, I will put {{citation needed}}. - Jmabel | Talk 00:33, 9 April 2022 (UTC)