Tag Archives: Poulsbo

PO Beats Poulsbo on “best small cities” list

The online publication citiesjournal.com has taken a David Letterman approach to the “top small cities” in Washington State. Port Orchard ranks 6th in the journal’s list of 14 (not Letterman’s 10), as noted on Facebook by PO locals Matt Carter and Todd Penland.

And look at us go. Port Orchard, with its maritime ties and eclectic downtown mix of eateries, boutiques and salons (hair, nail, tattoo, piercing) beat out Poulsbo, with its Nordic theme, a longtime solid formula for that town.

“As stated on its website, Poulsbo has a completely unique and different history from its neighboring communities. Unlike other small towns and cities in the local area, this small city was founded by Norwegian settlers,” citiesjournal.com reports.

Poulsbo came in 12 of 14, ahead of Moses Lake and Chelan. Beating out Port Orchard, in slots five through numero uno, were Bellingham, Sequim, Oak Harbor, Hoquiam and Friday Harbor. Nothing against Hoquiam, but, really? (The article cites the city’s low taxes related to depressed values on its “nice but old” homes.)

Poulsbo, the journal continues, “may not have a great deal to offer when it comes to ultra-modern and latest conveniences, but it does enjoy a close community that values friendship and a rich cultural heritage. People who place greater priority on these aspects than what modern society has to offer will find Poulsbo the ideal place to live.”

The next time you’re in Poulsbo, look for that horse and buggy.

I’m figuring the author who wrote about Pullman is a Cougar. The entry on this city, which ranked 9th, reads, “Pullman has so much going for it that it is hard to know where to start.”

Port Orchard is described thus, “The city is blessed with an abundance of marinas filled with boats of all shapes and sizes which provide comfortable accommodations for visitors to stay. The downtown area offers fine dining, shopping, and cultural sites to explore.”

Too bad they illustrated the article not with a picture of the marina but of the Kitsap County Courthouse … on a cloudy day. The courthouse, and in fact the whole county campus, is fine and all and very much part of the city. But PO, we can do better. They should have checked in the day we posted all those rainbow pictures. Oh, my God!

“Port Orchard is but a ferry ride away from Seattle and Bremerton,” the journal continues, “making excursions to the area quite accessible for those wanting to escape …”

Oh wait, there’s more, ” … “for a day or entire weekend.”

“Port Orchard residents are also quite proud of their military heritage as perceived by the nearby Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.”

We won’t tell them the shipyard is in Bremerton, which apparently is too big to be considered for the Top Small Cities list. And yes, we all are proud of our military.

Silverdale was not mentioned on the list of Top 10 Cities that Do Not Exist.

The citiesjournal.com is big on lists. It’s got rankings for other states, and informational pieces on cities nationwide and worldwide. The journal covers a wide range of topics, including “Top 11 Most Haunted Cities,” “13 Best Cities with the Word ‘City’ in Them,” and “Top 12 Cities Aliens Should Colonize.” Detroit tops the list.

So now, we seriously need to suggest a “Top 10” category in which Bremerton will place. I’ll put out “Top 10 Cities that Enable Raccoons,” for starters.

The ball is in your court.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Poulsbo restaurant makes national news for well-behaved child discount

Brynn writes:

It was brought to our attention this morning that Poulsbo’s Sogno di Vino restaurant has been making national news lately. Although it largely hasn’t been named beyond being called a “small restaurant in Poulsbo, Wash.”

As the story goes a picture of a receipt from an evening out at the restaurant has made its way to the Internet and as a result national news organizations jumped at the chance to opine about the story (see Fox News, Huffington Post, Reddit, Babble, et. all.)

A local woman, who goes by the name LauraInk on the Reddit site, wrote on her “beer after tea” blog about the dinning experience where she and her husband, along with their three children (ages 2, 3 and 8), received a “well-behaved child” discount. It sounds like this is the first time the restaurant has offered the $4 discount for well-behaved “mini diners”.

Here’s excerpts from Laura’s blog post explaining what happened and her response to all the national attention about the discount:

“We were seated at one of the last available tables around 6pm and were greeted happily with menus and bread. We sat and discussed planets, racecars, zebra jokes and “Freckle Juice” until we ate our pizzas, pasta and aforementioned ragu. The food was lovely, our oldest, who is clearly in a growth spurt, ate her share and mine, and our littles munched happily while periodically stopping to notice the small fireplace in the corner and the window paintings on the wall of grapevines in Italy.

Near the end of our meal, our server visits our table to tell us how impressed the staff was with our kids’ behavior and that many of them didn’t even realize we had little ones eating with us. She then brought us a bowl of ice cream to share. When we received our tab, it had a discount listed for “Well Behaved Kids”. A pleasant surprise after a lovely meal.

We, as parents, lead by example and if we have to spell out what and how we’re doing something, we will. We don’t expect handouts for acting respectful of the folks who bring us our food. But it certainly makes you feel good when someone else notices your kids in a positive light.

It’s interesting to read some of the comments from other people who have heard this story — note the link to the Reddit and Babble sites offer more adult language than wet use here — the responses are mixed on whether a family should get a discount because their kids behave well, or as some argue “the way they should”, when they’re in public.

Regardless of where you stand on the decision to give the discount, the bottom line is a local family of five was the recipient of an unexpected act of kindness from a local business. That’s something that should make you smile.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Poulsbo in picture-perfect pose

Bruce Bryant of Poulsbo has set up a webcam overlooking Poulsbo from somewhere high in the hills near Raab Park.

I, for one, will be checking it a lot today. The sun is shining brightly in Bremerton right now (3:24 p.m., Saturday). I just returned from Silverdale, where it was also a sunny, sunny day. The picture in Poulsbo, though, is a little gray. And they were snowed on earlier.

Feel free to let us know if you see snow at your house, or anywhere you’re traveling. Of course I’m most interested in Kitsap weather, but if you’re in Iowa or something I wouldn’t stop you from chiming in.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Casting Call for Kitsap Native Americans

Jason Beattie, a 1996 Bainbridge High School graduate and music video director, is planning another project in his old stomping grounds. Beattie, now with Ghost Town Media of Los Angeles, in July shot a video at Bremerton’s Skateland featuring U.K. singer Cheri Moon.

On Friday, he was back in Kitsap, speaking at Bainbridge High School and planning for an upcoming video production of a song by Steve Aoki, a nationally known DJ and founder of Dim Mak Records. The song, called “Wake Up,” features electronic music and essentially no lyrics, unless you count when Aoki screams, “Wake Up.”

See an example of Aoki’s music below.

In choosing Kitsap County as the location for the video, Beattie wanted to break out of the monotony of L.A. videos by showing viewers a new area of a the country and a culture they may not be familiar with. He thought a spot featuring Native Americans would fit with the message of the song.

“Obviously, growing up here, (local tribes are) a big part of all our community here in the Pacific Northwest,” Beattie said. “The concept is really kind of shining a light on the Native American community. I think a lot of people don’t see this community, and it’s kind of a wake-up call for some people.”

Beattie is drawn to Kitsap County for obvious reasons, but will Kitsap become the next big location for music videos? Why not? We already have our partially rotten foot in the door with “Zombies of Mass Destruction,” filmed in Port Gamble.

Beattie said of Kitsap, “I’d love for it to be my hidden gem here, because I think it is. For this video, I’d like to shine a light on the community.”

Beattie has contacted members of the Suquamish Tribe to broadcast the need for Native American families, children and dancers. Members of other tribes also are welcome to tryouts at a yet-to-be-disclosed Poulsbo location Monday through Jan. 17. Contact aokicasting@gmail.com.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Poulsbo Gives You Time to Write and Take a Nap

Come for the lutefisk, stay and write a letter to the editor about it.
Colleen Smidt, frequent blog visitor and columnist over at the other guys, sent me a photo that speaks to the slow pace in Poulsbo. It’s not just the stop signs, the city is now inviting you to write a letter, put it in an envelope, stick a stamp on the letter and drop it in the mailbox all in one sitting. Still a check sender? Pay your bills in one sitting.

Colleen wrote:

For years people have gripped at the fact that a drive up street side mail drop was on the wrong side of the street to begin with. Unless you have a passenger with you it is impossible to drive-up and deposit the mail without getting out of your car. But at least you could avoid driving through the entire parking lot to use the other ill placed drive up box. And now to add insult to injury the city has marked parking spaces in front of this poorly placed drive up mail drop and installed a “2 hour parking” sign on top of it. Absolutely brilliant! Way to improve efficiency and traffic flow through one of the busiest places in town! Somebody working for the city has been eating too much lutefisk.

The unusual part in all this, from my perspective, is that there is still a mailbox near a street. I thought those went away with vinyl records and Ralph Nader. The last one I remember seeing was in an episode of The Simpsons, and I lived less than a quarter mile from this very post office for three years.

My guess is there was a bet made somewhere in city offices to see if anyone would notice. Someone lost that bet.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post