One day after the devastating natural gas explosion in downtown Greenwood, the sidewalks were filled with neighbors taking pictures and taking stock of the damage. Greenwood Quick Stop, Mr. Gyros and Neptune Coffee were completely demolished in yesterday’s blast. G & O Family Cyclery, right next to Neptune, appears to be heavily damaged.
It’s almost a solid wall of plywood directly across from the blast site, with Hummus Café, Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co., The Angry Beaver, Seattle ReCreative, Chaco Canyon Organic Café and Rosewood Guitar losing all their windows.
While many businesses are back open today, even with plywood windows, Seattle ReCreative is shut down for the time being with an “Emergency Order — Hazardous: Limited Entry” sign tacked to where the front door would be.
With the street in front of the blast site from 84th to 85th streets fenced off, traffic is down to one lane in each direction. Vehicles were backed up all the way to 80th earlier this afternoon. Metro Route 5 is back running on Greenwood Avenue.
The south sidewalk is also closed on 85th Street from Greenwood Avenue to Gordito’s parking lot. Flint Creek restaurant lost many windows; Gordito’s lost all of them. Further west along 85th Street, windows are boarded up at Choice Tobacco, Fist Full of Metal Tattoo, The Cozy Nut Tavern, Rhea Healing Essentials and Squirrels Buy/Sell. Greenwood Vision’s front window is spider webbed with cracks.
Between 85th and 87th streets, many businesses lost some or all of their windows, including Chase Bank, Greenwood Family Dental Clinic, Frederick’s Beauty Salon, Phad Thai, La Conasudo Market, Razzi’s Pizzeria, Teachers Lounge, and the space that formerly housed Strokes Paint & Sip Studio. The Lodge Sports Grille lost some small windows above the large picture windows.
The blast seemed to create an uneven pattern of destruction. Greenwood Smile Dental between 83rd and 84th didn’t appear to have any broken windows, while Couth Buzzard directly to the north lost all their windows and the post office to the south lost most of their windows.
At noon, Theo Dzielak, owner of Couth Buzzard Books, was going around to all the businesses asking them to fill out forms to have the area declared a Disaster Zone. He had just returned from a meeting with the city’s Office of Economic Development, which said the declaration will enable businesses to qualify for special aid.
The Phinney Neighborhood Association is compiling a list of all businesses damaged by the explosion. We’ll post that as soon as they have it completed.
