This shirt was seen on this particular White Center storefront yesterday. Seems like an eerily familiar design, but hey, who doesn’t love White Center?

Calling all local historians, both amateur and professional! Preservation 4Culture is embarking on a new project in partnership with the White Center Community Development Association to document the history of the Southgate Roller Rink and we are asking YOU to share your memories…

The Southgate Roller Rink served as a community gathering place - weekend hangout, family activity center, and sports arena - for over 70 years. It is a neighborhood fixture that helped put White Center on the map. Popular sports figures like boxers Al Hostak and Harry “The Kid” Matthews, wrestler Robin Reed, and most recently, the Rat City Roller Girls drew large crowds to White Center. The rink is probably best remembered by locals, however, for the hours they spent showing off their skating skills circling around the hardwood floor with their family members and/or sweethearts. We want to hear about those experiences!

Contact Flo Lentz at flo.lentz@4Culture.org or (206) 296-8682.

Image: © 1948, Courtesy of Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch.

Source: 4Culture

Best representing White Center’s vibrant and ethnically diverse business district, “Growing a Global Village” is the culmination of an exciting process led by the White Center Community Development Association and a Marketing Taskforce comprised of business owners and members of the White Center community. To preview the new brand and logo, please visit the White Center CDA Office at 1615 SW Cambridge Street starting July 6 through August 31, 2010.

The new brand thoughtfully incorporates both the uniqueness of White Center and the aspiration of more improvement still to come. “To me, the authenticity of the brand is what’s most important. In particular, the word ‘growing’ means there is an important and solid foundation from which to grow, expand and bloom,” said Aileen Balahadia, Executive Director of the White Center CDA.

“Growing a Global Village” portrays a picture of people from all corners of the world living and working side by side.  White Center embodies the aspirations and hard work of people, living the American Dream and creating a future for their families. “Just like a real global village, our business district has something for everyone and serves our diverse community very well” says Nicky Nguyen, owner of Banh 88 Restaurant in White Center.

A beautiful vibrant logo was created for the brand. “The colorful, organic rings represent the diverse community of White Center as it comes together to form unity. Different yet the same, the continuum of people and place…a moving-forward and in-motion neighborhood with vitality and conviction. The baskets, which are found in the center of our business district at 16^th & Roxbury are symbolic of something we all have and share in our various cultures,” wrote Kathi Wheeler, a White Center resident and brand graphic designer.

The White Center CDA would like to thank the White Center community, marketing consultants PRR and graphic design firm Noise without Sound, for their invaluable contribution to make this project possible. We’d like to acknowledge the White Center Chamber of Commerce for re-painting the five “Welcome to White Center” signs using our new brand color palette. The White Center CDA is looking forward to work with partners to promote and integrate our community brand and will soon make the brand available for web download by the community.

This photo was taken just this morning. Nice day (weather wise) for a bridge closure. There is a “wake” planned for the South Park Bridge tonight. For more info, click here.

You heard it here first: We’d like to congratulate Ana Miriam Castro, co-owner of The Salvadorian Bakery in White Center, for receiving LATINA Style Magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Year Award”! Castro accepted this award on Thursday, June 24 at the Seattle Grand Hyatt. Congratulations to Ana and the entire Salvadorian Bakery family.

Photo by Dean Wong, exclusively for the White Center CDA and may not be republished in any way without the consent of the White Center CDA.

King County Executive Dow Constantine brought together leaders from all over the community today to bring hope to the South Park Bridge Replacement Project. At the base of the South Park Bridge this afternoon, elected leaders from the state to neighborhood came to announce their support for the South Park Bridge Replacement. Governor Chris Gregoire announced $20 million from the State, Constantine, King County Council Chair Bob Ferguson and County Council Member Julia Patterson announced $30 million from King County, City of Seattle Council President Richard Conlin announced $15 million from Seattle, and Port Commissioner Gael Tarleton announced $5 million to support the bridge replacement. The crowd could feel the support for this regional link that connects families and industries. Photo by Virgil Domaoan.

Volunteers give the "Welcome to White Center" sign a makeover during the 2010 White Center Spring Clean on May 15. Photo by Alex Meas of Youth Media Institute.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS, AND ANOTHER BIG THANK YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEERS, SPONSORS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS FOR A GREAT EVENT!

White Center 3rd Saturday Art Walk
May 15th, 2010
6:00 PM until 9:00 PM

Salvadorean Bakery (1719 SW Roxbury): Marty Gordon- collage
Through his art, Marty is asking questions, inviting debate and telling stories. Looking at one of his works is akin to peeking through a window into another world, a world where art, humor, faith, tension and candidness live together in vignettes of surreal commentary. http://martworks.blogspot.com/

Dubsea Coffee (9910 8th Ave SW): Jaime Temairik- paintings and drawings. The artists reception will be Sunday, May 16th from 2 until 4. Here’s a note from the artist: “Hey Kids! I’ll have some new paintings and drawings up mid-May to mid-June at my favorite cafe, Dubsea Coffee!
How’s about you and your fam join me for the opening party on Sunday afternoon, May 16th? There’ll be snacks and an art activity and maybe even some boogie-ing…”

Café Rozella (9434 Delridge Way Southwest): unable to get the artist’s name, but please stop by…

Full Tilt Ice Cream (9629 16th Avenue Southwest): Richard Olmstead - drawings and prints. New works. This is good stuff. See last month for the artist statement.

Proletariat Pizza (9622 16th Ave SW): Alexander King - photography. www.arkphotos.com/

Dzul Tattoo (9622 16th Ave SW B): Dzul Family - Airbrush and Tattoo

Big Al Brewing (9832 14th Avenue Southwest): Phil Scroggs - paintings. http://www.phillustrations.com/
And… 7:00 PM at Big Al Brewing DO NOT MISS “Billy and the Bouncers” a local jazz combo!

The White Center Healthy Food Gift Certificate Program kicked off today in a big way! What we purposely didn’t mention in our press release was the creative way we planned on getting food bank clients to the markets. Sean Healy, a White Center CDA Community Building Resident Fellow, is also employed as a school bus driver and was able to donate his time to drive White Center Food Bank clients from the food bank to Samway Supermarket and Lee’s Produce, then back to the food bank. We were on hand to take photos of this great program in action:

Bus driver Sean Healy drove food bank clients safely from each location. Half of the clients shopped at Samway while the other shopped at Lee's. All the clients got an opportunity to shop at both produce markets.

White Center CDA Neighborhood Revitalization Director Patty Julio, left, speaks with White Center Food Bank Executive Director Rick Jump outside of Samway while residents shop for their food.

Samway Store Manager Billy Yin greeted each customer with flair. He was even seen giving customer free produce such as corn.

Each food bank client received this $5 gift certificate to be used for only healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Mrs. Nasatka, owner of Lee's Produce, speaks with a customer. At one point, there were 20-25 customers jammed into the produce section. "I can handle 100 of them," exclaimed Nasatka.

Lee's Produce placed a couple of these nice thank you signs throughout their market. Lee's also offered food bank clients 1 free package of strawberries to go with their gift certificate. The affordable prices from both supermarkets allowed many clients to come away with much as 2 heavy bags of produce.

White Center CDA Community Building Resident Fellow Awet Ghebreyohannes helps a client with a heavy bag of produce while heading back to the bus. You'd be surprised to see what you can get out of that gift certificate!

The bus circled back around to pick up the rest of the shoppers at Samway to head back to the food bank.

White Center CDA staff briefly celebrated this great event in front of Samway. From L to R: Patty Julio, Neighborhood Revitalization Program Manager Nhan Nguyen, Awet Ghebreyohannes, and Community Building Director Virgil Domaoan.

Thank you to everyone involved, and thank you to the White Center Food Bank! For more information on how you can donate to this program, please contact the White Center Food Bank by clicking here.

Photos courtesy of Ian Dapiaoen for the White Center CDA. Photos are property of the CDA and are not to be used in any other way.