The north end of Northgate Mall is continuing the growth spurt that started when Maple Leaf’s Wild Root Salon & Spa opened a location there a few years ago, followed by the addition of the Northgate Play Area in December 2011.

Now the area is getting what could be an even bigger boost with the addition of a new Old Navy location, which is touting its arrival with myriad grand opening events this weekend.

The festivities begin with a VIP party from 5-8 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 20, featuring :

• 25% Off your entire purchase (excludes gift cards)

“12 Months of Deals” coupon books while supplies last

• In-store activities

The fun continues from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, with:

• Prizes all day long
• A special grand reveal
• Free reusable tote for the first 300 shoppers
• 20% Off entire purchase (excludes gift cards)

Discounts continue Sunday, Sept. 22, with 20 percent off shoppers’ entire purchase (excludes gift cards).

From a news release: (more…)

Mike emails this afternoon: “Another chicken: Seattle PI reports Chick-fil-A coming to Northgate.”

Here’s the link to the SeattlePI.com story.

The sometimes-loathed fast food purveyor Chick-fil-A is coming to Seattle….

The company has now filed a permit application to build a Chick-fil-A on a vacant lot in Seattle’s Northgate neighborhood. According to the permit, Chick-fil-A plans to build a 3,600 square foot “quick service” restaurant at 11001 Roosevelt Way Northeast.

The only vacant lot at that address (Roosevelt and Northeast Northgate Way) is the one across Northgate from Walgreen’s.

Ester emails:”I found a stray chicken and have it in my spare coop at the south side of my house: 9609 8th Ave. N.E.

Please come by and take it if it is yours. Please do not take any chickens from my front yard. They are a flock of seven and I’d like to keep them.

I’d try to integrate the stray to my flock if nobody picks up the stray, but my chickens may peck it too much as it is an outsider. Thanks!

Justin emailed on Friday: “Just a heads up, friends. There was an attempted break-in to our home today sometime between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.”

He lives near 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Northgate Way.

Came home to our front door almost off its hinges and one of the front window screens cut (VERY similar to last time).

This is the second break-in in three months! At least this time they weren’t successful. I am going out tomorrow to get a security system with alarm and camera.

Please keep your eyes open and homes safe!

Aside from yours, the police crime map for September so far shows only two other residential burglaries in Maple Leaf. (The icon on the far left is an office building that lost cash and a safe.)

The other two were in the 10700 block of Eighth Avenue Northeast and the 800 block of Northeast 95th Street.

John writes: “I’m wondering if any of the Maple Leaf Life writers would be able to help me identify a Maple tree in the neighborhood.

I am hoping to plant a couple of trees in my parking strip. The trees that are in front of Fairview Christian School along Northeast 79th Street (between Eighth Avenue Northeast and Roosevelt Way Northeast) are exactly what I am looking for, but I do not know the name of the specific Japanese Maple.

I’ve emailed the school to see if they know and am waiting for a response. They appear to be a lace leaf style with red and green leaves and red ’spinner’ seed pods. I’ll include a few pictures.

If you know of someone who is good at identifying trees who could help please feel free to pass my email along to them.

Thanks!

This email is from Seattle Police Detective Renee Witt:

This morning, at approximately 1:30 a.m., Washington State Patrol called for SPD assistance after a motorcycle they tried to stop in Lynnwood led them on a high-speed pursuit into Seattle. The motorcyclist slowed down and tried to get off at the Northgate exit, but he didn’t slow down enough and lost control.

After crashing, the suspect took off on foot and the trooper tried to keep up, but lost sight of the suspect after he ran off the freeway.

SPD K9 Ziva arrived. In less than 10 minutes, she tracked the suspect from the freeway into an apartment complex by Northgate Mall and located the suspect hiding. He was lying on an elevated walkway in the apartment complex in front of someone’s door.

The suspect was taken into custody. He was turned over to WSP and booked into King County Jail for eluding and a no-bail Department of Corrections escape from community custody warrant.

It’s very preliminary, but our news partner The Seattle Times has published a map showing where pot businesses might be permitted under the state’s new law allowing the sale of marijuana.

Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development has prepared a map of where pot businesses — stores, farms, processing plants — might be located after state officials proposed revised rules on Wednesday.

You can read some of the details in the Times story, but basically the colored areas are potential pot sites. In and around Maple Leaf, they appear restricted to the Northgate and Lake City Way areas.

The state has decided to license 334 marijuana stores, including at least 21 in Seattle. The map shows the most availability south of downtown.

Update 4 p.m. The National Weather Service Seattle office issued an alert for Pierce County:

HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF PENNIES IS LIKELY WITH THIS STORM…ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

It also issued an alert for the entire area this afternoon and tonight:

THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE INTENSE RAINFALL IN A SHORT PERIOD ANYWHERE ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON. A FEW OF THE STORMS COULD ALSO PRODUCE HAIL AND STRONG WINDS IN THE CENTRAL CASCADES THROUGH THIS EVENING.

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At noon, Maple Leaf appears to have retained power through this morning’s thunderstorm.That is not the case, though, for several neighborhoods around us.

About 70 customers remain without power from incidents that include lightning strikes and fallen trees, according to Seattle City Light.

They include folks just across Lake City Way at about Northeast 80th Street, in the University District, and up toward Pinehurst and Haller Lake.

The National Weather Service continues to forecast 90 to 100 percent chance of heavy rains into Friday afternoon. The Seattle office predicts 1.71 inches here by 5 p.m. Friday. (In Maple Leaf we’ve had 0.36 inches since 7 a.m.)

To Maple Leaf resident Karen Kurt Teal, there’s more than just antiques and hidden gems at the neighborhood estate sales she attends. There is also knowledge specific to Seattle and even Maple Leaf that she is hoping to help preserve.

Recently, Teal emailed us to let us know that she’s hoping to collect recipes and more from the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s from local residents with the goal of someday compiling them into a blog or perhaps even a book. She tells us:

“What I am trying to save are the memories, tips, and classic go-to recipes that people in Seattle might want to share. I just had an electrifying moment over the weekend when I visited yet another Maple Leaf estate sale on 103rd and saw the kitchen of another deceased Maple Leaf cook-and I realized that we are losing knowledge with each obit. The decedent was 96 at her passing, clearly a dedicated baker, continued on with all her marbles until the day she died, and I missed talking with her. I don’t want to let another minute slip by.”

Teal adds that this project has been “on the back burner” for about three years, but she’s ready to put it at the front before these memories are lost for good:

“I want to speak to men and women 50 years or better, who can talk to me about the local popular recipes of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. What I am trying to save are the memories, tips, and classic go-to recipes that people in Seattle might want to share. Who was the great cook in YOUR family? All you have to do is talk and together we can preserve our local wisdom in a cookbook.”

If you have a story for Teal or know somebody else who might, please get in touch with her at 206-522-9858 or [email protected].

As negotiations continue over whether Seattle schools will open as planned Wednesday, the city has announced it will open 20 community centers to provide free day care for some children during the work day.

They include the Northgate Community Center, 10510 Fifth Ave. N.E., and the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, 6536 Ravenna Ave. N.E.

Although the city is characterizing the service as “drop-in,” it is limited to children on free or reduced lunch programs, and registration is required.

Due to space limitations, eligible students will be accepted as space permits each day. All students must have a completed registration form, which can be obtained at open community centers starting this weekend, at the community centers the day of the drop-in service, or online at http://www.seattle.gov/parks. A registration form still must be printed and brought to the community center if registration has been done online. Parents can secure a spot for their child in advance by going to https://class.seattle.gov/parks/Start/Start.asp beginning Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., but those spaces will not be held past 9:00 a.m. each day of the drop-in service.

After two years in the kitchen at The Wandering Cafe, 7533 Lake City Way, chef Lindsey Hubbard, shown at left, is taking over as departing owner Kristine Pottle migrates back to her hometown of Buffalo, N.Y.

They honored the occasion with an open house Tuesday night that more than 60 people attended, featuring plenty of nibbles and libations.

Pottle, shown below at left, will remain the main contact during the transition, and both she and Hubbard assured us that there will be more parties to come, such as last summer’s Paella Night.

To keep up with upcoming events at The Wandering Cafe, sign up for the email list on the website.

Our news partner The Seattle Times has posted two maps, in connection with different stories, that tell us something about the neighborhood.

In one story, the Times looks at primary voting patterns in the Seattle mayor’s race, won by incumbent Mike McGinn and challenger Ed Murray.

In Maple Leaf, the interactive map shows, Murray (purple) might have a slight edge on McGinn (orange).

Follow the link to the map and click for precinct-by-precinct details, including how the other candidates did.

The other story examines soaring rent increases by neighborhood.

In Maple Leaf the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is now $1,656, the Times found - a 6 percent increase over the last year. (The Times has a curious idea of where Maple Leaf is, however.)

The rent map is also interactive, showing average income, rents and increases by neighborhood. And it invites your rental stories - so far only one Maple Leaf resident has participated.

Holly emails this morning: “Could you post another missing dog notice?

Lucy is a very small, gray rescue dog. She escaped from our home Sunday night/Monday morning, from Northeast 95th Street just west of 12th Avenue Northeast. She’s wearing a pink collar. She is very frightened and may be hiding.

We’ve only had her a couple of days and she doesn’t know the area. Please call 206-419-3996 if you spot her. Thanks!

Pam emails: “Had someone knocking on our door early this morning with a familiar scam.

‘I locked my keys in the car, can you give me money to pay a locksmith etc.’

“Might be good to warn folks.”

This occurred in the 7500 block of Roosevelt Way Northeast.

More advice can be found in this post from last year.

Kristine Pottle, right, is handing the reins of The Wandering Cafe, her catering company at 7533 Lake City Way, to her chef Lindsey Hubbard with nothing less than yet another party (see photos from last summer’s Paella Night here).

In an email to Wandering Cafe friends and fans, Pottle announced that she’s heading back with her family to Buffalo, N.Y., but that you can bid her farewell and Hubbard hello at an open house featuring cocktails and hors d’oeuvres from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27.

For more information or to inquire about attending, call (206) 367-3676.