🚦 I Almost Missed the No Turn on Red Sign. Also: Go Team USA

Happy Tuesday. Between the sign I almost missed and the team that I didn't, it's been a week!

🚦 Have you started noticing the new “No Turn on Red” signs everywhere? The most recent one that caught me off guard was at 95th and Lake City Way. Turns out this isn’t actually new policy - Seattle made it the default back in 2023 as part of its Vision Zero push - it’s just finally reaching our corner of the map (and seems to be proliferating quickly). (The Urbanist covered it at the time.) Worth a beat the next time you’re stopped at a red as the move is intended to bolster pedestrian safety.

🍽️ Big food news for anyone who grew up going to Benihana for a birthday dinner: it’s coming back to Seattle after a decade away. The new spot lands at Lake Union Piers - nearly 9,000 square feet, right on the water - and while there’s no opening date yet, it’s targeting late 2026.

⚽ One more good one: Cristian Roldan - a UW Huskies alum - got to watch his U.S. teammates fall in love with Seattle in real time. By his account, several of them have already mentioned wanting to play for the Sounders someday after experiencing Friday’s crowd of nearly 67,000 and a Black Hawk flyover from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The U.S. beat Australia 2-0, their first World Cup back-to-back wins in 96 years. → Read more

📋 I’m so grateful for the hundreds of you who’ve joined Northeast Seattle Wire since I started it back in March. To help make this newsletter better, I’d love to learn a little more about who’s actually reading it. Two minutes, six questions, nothing identifying required (its anonymous). → Take the survey

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Awesome summer camp alert! If you've got a curious 4th–8th grader who's run out of things to build, Verdafield's outdoor science camp is right in our backyard at Ravenna Park this summer. Blast Off! (July 6 & 13) has kids designing and launching their own rocket-powered vehicles. Power Up! (Aug 3 & 10) gets into electrical circuits and building renewable energy systems from scratch.

What sets it apart is who's teaching: a former MIT/NASA spaceflight researcher, a Boeing Technical Fellow and UW professor, and the engineer who built guidance systems for the James Webb Space Telescope. That's not the usual summer camp roster.

Monday–Friday, 9am–4pm. $499/week. Full scholarships available. → camp.verdafield.com

🐝 Picardo Pollinator Party — Saturday, June 27, 10am–1pm (Picardo P-Patch, NE 82nd St & 25th Ave NE)

Come celebrate the birds, bees, and bugs — there’s a scavenger hunt, microscope activities, refreshments, and free pollinator seeds to take home. Open to everyone, not just P-Patch gardeners. Picardo’s been Seattle’s original P-Patch since 1973, and this is a nice excuse to wander through if you haven’t been.

🏃 Defeat Myeloma 5K & 1-Mile Walk — Sunday, June 28, 8am–10am (Magnuson Park, start/finish near the boat launch, enter from the 65th St gate)

This one’s been going since 2013 and has raised over $1.4 million for multiple myeloma research at Fred Hutch — 100% of proceeds go straight there. There’s a free Kid’s Dash at 8:45, a Fred Hutch research presentation at 9, and the main 5K/1-mile race starts at 9:30, followed by a post-race party. Registration’s still open, just without a guaranteed shirt size at this point. → Register or donate

🃏 Magic: The Gathering Game Night — Wednesday, June 24, 4:30–9pm (Ravenna Brewing Company, 5408 26th Ave NE)

This one's new to me, and it's a fun one: last Wednesday of every month, Ravenna Brewing turns into a Commander pod free-for-all. All skill levels welcome, free to attend, and there are free booster packs for early arrivals. Plaza Garcia Express food truck is also on-site 4–8pm if you want dinner with your deck. → More info

🚗 Greenwood Car Show — Saturday, June 27, 9am–5pm (Greenwood Ave N, between 65th & 90th St — just south of our usual coverage area, but worth a flag!)

A Seattle summer tradition since 1994: Greenwood Avenue closes to traffic for a mile and a half of classic cars, hot rods, and motorcycles, plus live music and food vendors all day. Run by the Greenwood Knights Car Club as a fundraiser for local nonprofits and scholarships. This year it's paired with the return of the Greenwood Seafair Parade in the evening. → Details

Something happening in the neighborhood? I want to know about it! Submit your event here. I review submissions each week before sending.

Smoke season tends to sneak up on us in August, but there are already stories of wildfires starting in Eastern Washington with this spring season being so dry. So this is the boring-but-useful reminder to get ahead of it. AlertSeattle covers broader emergency notifications — text SEATTLE to 67283. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency runs air quality alerts too (text WILDFIRES to 313131, though confirmation can take a minute). For real hyperlocal AQI, PurpleAir’s map shows sensor-level readings block by block.

A MERV 13 filter strapped to a box fan is a cheap, surprisingly effective way to clean the air in one room of the house — and if you don’t already have a fan, Prime Day runs today through Friday, so now’s a decent time to grab one.

I started going to Katterman’s for COVID vaccines, and somewhere along the way it just became our pharmacy. Went again yesterday and was reminded why — fast service, and I picked up a few odds and ends while I was there. Shouldn’t feel like a novel concept, but somehow it is these days. It’s been at 5400 Sand Point Way NE since 1965 — which means it has outlasted Bartell’s, Rite Aid, and every other consolidation wave that has taken out local options. New owners took over last summer and kept it going, which feels like the right call.

What I keep coming back to: you can text them. Not an app, not a portal — just a text to 206-594-2617. For a pharmacy, that’s a small thing that makes a real difference. They also do compounding, travel vaccines, and delivery.

(5400 Sand Point Way NE — Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 10am–5pm, closed Sunday. → kattermans.com)

In case you missed them — a few guides worth bookmarking for summer:

🎂 Where to Host a Kids Birthday Party Near NE Seattle: 17 Venues — from our backyard to worth-the-drive

⛺ Last-Minute Summer Camp Options — still spots available at a few

⚽ Where to Watch the World Cup Near NE Seattle — bars, fan zones, and one venue to check before you go

🌃 Date Night in Northeast Seattle — restaurants, bars, and spots worth staying out for

Can you guess the price of this real estate listing based on just one photo? Hint: 5 Bed, 3 bathroom, 2530 square feet

$898K
$1.0M
$1.15M
$1.25M

🎶 Save the Date: U Village Summer Concert Series | Starts Wednesday, July 15, 7–8:30pm at the Village Green, running through August. Free, with the beer and wine garden opening at 6pm.

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