When the Volunteer Park Conservatory opened its doors in 1912, there was no art museum, no “Black Sun” sculpture, no Shakespeare in the Park to keep it company. For 100 years, the Victorian botanical garden, built of cast iron and 3,426 panes of glass, has been treating visitors to rare bromeliads, ferns, palms, cacti, succulents…

What began as a search for a better coffee machine in a local start-up’s break room has evolved into the perfect Seattle combo: coffee and robots. Last winter, the employees at ZipWhip (zipwhip.com), a Queen Anne-based company focused on “cloud texting” (i.e., taking text messaging beyond the bounds of mobile devices and onto all Internet-connected…

If you’ve always wondered how the Space Needle came to be—or if you’d like to know why Seattle Center was almost named “Pleasure Island,” grab a seat at a special Elliott Bay Books event this Saturday. The eminent local experts on Seattle history (not to mention monopolizers of the most entertaining World’s Fair trivia) are…

The past couple of months, shoppers at the Metropolitan Market on top of Queen Anne have been going through stages of grief: denial, anger, maybe this weekend’s getting-ready-to-close sale (50 percent off, July 7-11) will help with acceptance. This store has such a special place in the hearts and bellies of many in the neighborhood,…

On Saturday, March 24, on a practice baseball field under a bank of clouds at Seattle Pacific University (SPU), 59-year-old Robert* packed his belongings. The unshaven man with happy eyes wore a small wooden cross around his neck, underscoring his faith that he might soon find a permanent place to live. All around him, about…

Seattleites are nothing if not socially aware, but it can still be difficult for us to fully grasp the grave problems facing people who live a world away. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hopes to help bridge that gap with its new visitor center, located on the organizational campus near Seattle Center. The interactive…

Tonight in Seattle, editor at large Knute Berger offers the first in a series of Century 21-related lectures sponsored by Historic Seattle. The talk is titled “From Bobo to the Bubbleator: Seattle Social and Cultural Context in ’62.” Hear Berger’s humorous and insightful take on the historic cultural context that made both the World’s Fair…

The Seattle Police assistant chief comments on the recent rash of shootings in Seattle. King 5 asks what’s being done to curb the violence and how community members can help. For ongoing coverage, visit King5.com.  

When a visitor tells Ron Kohler that it smells good where he works, he nods graciously. “I hope you pay particular attention to that smell,” he says. “I’m very proud of it.” The aroma—generic fresh air—is nothing special, except that Ron is a manager at King County’s Brightwater wastewater treatment plant. From its innocuous odor…

Hardly a day goes by that genetically modified foods don’t make the news in some form: legal battles over labeling requirements, rumbles in the blogosphere about potential new products, theories about the harm these products might do to people or other species, or a new scientific perspective that becomes ammo in the battle over these…

Since researching our June article on the shaky state of local resident orca populations, I’ve been waiting for the report from NOAA’s local office, hoping they could determine what killed L112, also known as “Sooke” or “Victoria.” The young female southern resident killer whale washed up dead on the Long Beach Peninsula this February, bruised…