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FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Crab Cracker moves to Parkplace, receives new name BY RAECHEL DAWSON
rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
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estaurant owner Todd Jones said he gets about 50 calls a day from people asking when the Crab Cracker will reopen. Although he expects the Liquor Control Board to issue the restaurant’s liquor license any day now, he’s not quite sure. He applied for the license two months ago, just after the restaurant closed at the end of 2013 when their lease expired after 30 years of business. But when the seafood restaurant does open, patrons can expect a new location and a slightly different name. What was once a TGI Fridays and Parkplace Pub, is now Todd’s Crab Cracker. The business need only move across the street to Parkplace Center, as they settle into their new location above Kirkland
Parkplace Cinema 6. “We worked hard on bringing the Crab Cracker to 2014,” said Jones, the son of Shirley Day, the previous owner. “We really want to make it a very fun and vibrant place for people to come.” Although the new spot is smaller than the old restaurant - 9,600 square feet, compared to 13,000 square feet - it makes up the difference with its open layout and bright natural lighting from large windows that point toward the west. Jones’s favorite part is the outdoor patio that will open on or before Memorial Day weekend. The patio will include a custom-made 25-foot long fire bar, which was made from the old restaurant’s floor boards. Winter was a busy time for the old restaurant, but summer, not so much. Of course, winter is about nine months in Washington, Jones joked,
Kirkland caregiver charged in hit-and-run death BY RAECHEL DAWSON AND SARAH KEHOE Reporter Newspapers
A Lynnwood man and Kirkland area caregiver was recently charged in a hit-and-run that left one Kenmore woman dead on March 14. Kwesi Gyesi, 53, faces one count of felony hitand-run for failing to get out of his vehicle and follow proper procedure after he struck 20-year-old Sarah Paulson at a Kenmore crosswalk at the intersection of Juanita Drive Northeast and Northeast 160th Street. At 7 a.m., Paulson was on her way to catch a
metro bus that she rode to Bellevue College. Charging documents state Paulson was mid-way through the crosswalk, which was unlit and dark at the time of the accident, when a witness saw a vehicle strike her. Paulson later died at Harborview Medical Center a couple hours later from collision-related injuries. The witness saw the driver pull over but did not see the driver get out to check on the accident. A short while later, the driver drove off, charging documents state. “Another driver did exit [ more CHARGES page 3 ]
Todd Jones stands at his restaurant’s new location, which is above Kirkland Parkplace Cinema 6. Jones purchased the business after his mother Shirley Day, the previous owner, passed away. The Crab Cracker, which has been renamed Todd’s Crab Cracker, has been a part of Kirkland for three decades. RAECHEL DAWSON, Kirkland Reporter but he’d rather have all of the seasons. A large bar sits in the middle of the new location and it won’t go to waste. “We’re looking at designing a whole new signature hand-crafted
cocktail menu,” Jones said. “We’ll make our own bitters, steep different ingredients up on the bar and have a countdown on drinks.” The new restaurant will open at 4 p.m. and close at
12 a.m., keeping the same happy hour, but adding a late happy hour to the mix as an effort to keep the place vibrant. “It’ll give movie theatergoers a place to go after,” Jones said, adding that
hours could change in the late spring if they decide to open up early for lunch. A lower-priced menu with smaller portions, newer appetizers and more salads aren’t the only [ more CRACKER page 2 ]
Kirkland native launches tree climbing business BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@kirklandreporter.com
Katie Oakley estimates she’s climbed about a couple hundred trees in her life. And now, the 24-year-old has created a business that teaches others to climb. “I want to reconnect people with nature so that it instills a more caring approach on their part,” said Oakley, who graduated from Juanita High School. “Especially in Kirkland, we all want to be green. But, well, why?” Her enterprise goes by the name Tree Time LLC. And her mission is to have people experience being in trees so that there’s a deeper understanding of why they should be protected. Oakley found her passion after she read a book called
Tree climbers using the rope system Katie Oakley’s Tree Time LLC employs. CONTRIBUTED “The Wild Trees” for a forestry class at the University of Washington. The book described the adventure of climbing the redwoods in such detail that it made her want to try it herself. “I found this guy named Tim Kovar down in Oregon
and I went and climbed,” she said. “I was already a teacher and my degree was in ecology and it all just kind of came together. This is what I want to do.” Working at Kirklandbased Angelfish Swimming as a swim instructor on the
side, Oakley took a 50-hour course at Tree Climbing Planet in Oregon that taught her the ins and outs of tree climbing — a basic course, she said. After one year of practice, she took another 50-hour course, but this time it was to learn how to facilitate climbs. Although she launched her business last summer, her first open climb will be this weekend on March 23. Getting the appropriate permits from city parks has been somewhat of a struggle but she was finally able to work out a deal with Marymoor Park in Redmond. “I’m the only one in the area doing this,” she said. “The city of Kirkland has told me at this time they’re not [ more TREE page 8]