Best of the City 2009
The Global Edition
Edited by Jessica VoelkerWith contribution from Eric Scigliano, Kathryn Robinson, Karen Quinn, Matthew Halverson, Alex Girma, James Ross Gardner, Kelley Frodel, Laura Cassidy, and Steve Wiecking
Services
Vietnamese Tailor
Twenty-seven years ago, Be Van Nguyen left his wife and three daughters in South Vietnam and opened ADAM TAILORING AND ALTERATIONS, putting to use the stitching skills he had learned from an uncle back home. He worked 60 hours a week, finally saving enough to bring his family here 19 years ago. His superprecise alterations keep business booming to this day. Adam Tailoring and Alterations, 206 S Jackson St, Pioneer Square, 206-621-1171
Chinese Herbalist
Long before hippies became hopped up on alternative medicine, Seattle herbalist Hen Sen Chin was preaching an Eastern approach at HEN SEN HERBS. Originally from China, Chin set up shop at Eighth and King in 1950, later moving to Beacon Hill. When he died in 2006 daughter Juliana Chin—her father’s apprentice since the age of 12—became head healer. Hen Sen Herbs, 3013 Beacon Ave S, Beacon Hill, 206-328-2828; www.hensenherbs.com
Ukrainian Dental Hygienist
SOPHIA BRAYMAN is warm but frank, prone to silly jokes but serious about periodontal disease, fiercely articulate one minute, impossible to understand the next. But through all that the slim Slav cultivates a relaxed and always entertaining atmosphere that keep Seattleites coming back to the office of her employer, Dr. Jeffrey Georges. “I love my patients,” says Brayman. It shows. Sophia Brayman, Jeffrey Georges DDS, 509 Olive Way, Ste 1345, Downtown, 206-622-2151
Russian Spa
BANYA 5 is a full-service spa with a sidekick bar, Venik, where patrons down shots of garlic-infused vodka before slipping into the steam. The banya traps in heat—up to 220 degrees Fahrenheit—and the nearby cold pool is the temperature of Puget Sound, around 51 degrees. Jumping from one to the other, explains owner John Goodfellow, “your body comes into a homeostasis, back to midpoint, and it feels wonderful.” Banya 5, 217 Ninth Ave N, South Lake Union, 206-262-1234; www.banya5.com
Korean Spa
Arriving in Tacoma, Myong-Woon Lee inhaled the air, relieved to escape the pollutants of his native Seoul. But his wife had a new climatological complaint. “My mother never felt warm here,” says son Sun Lee, who runs the Lynnwood branch of OLYMPUS, two “no bathing suit” bathhouses where women sweat it out in saunas and soften up with notoriously thorough body scrubs. Lee senior opened the Lakewood original 12 years ago, first attracting Korean women only. Word got out: Today, just 5 percent of clientele comes from Korea. Olympus Spa, 3815 196th St SW, Ste 160, Lynnwood, 425-697-3000. 8615 S Tacoma Way, Lakewood, 253-588-3355; www.olympusspa.net
Indian Cooking Class
When JAYESH RAO was six years old, his parents moved the family from Nairobi, Kenya, to West Philadelphia, with only enough money to make it there. His father found a job clerking; “Mama,” a nurse, worked nights. “When we came home from school, food was always ready,” says Rao. “I could never do what my parents did.” But he can cook like them. Holding court at PCC’s Issaquah store, the biology teacher and personal chef explains the ins and outs of fried samosas with a calm, deliberate style you haven’t seen since high school and an affection for food that’s as warm as your mama’s kitchen. Jayesh Rao, PCC Cooks, www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/pcccooks
British Stylist
In the late 1990s, Burntwood, England, native SHARON BLYTH-MOSS befriended some Euro-touring Seattleites who invited her to visit once they’d returned home. “I came and fell in love with the city,” says Blyth-Moss, one of the most sought-after stylists at Vain Salon ’s downtown location. Known for her mod ’dos and choppy bobs, Blyth-Moss advises clients to take a laid-back approach to style. “I like it when people go with the flow and don’t fight with their hair,” she says. “Too much of life is wasted that way.” Sharon Blyth-Moss, Vain, 2018 First Ave, Downtown, 206-441-3441; www.vain.com
Vietnamese Nail Salon
The two locations of NUMBER 1 PRO NAILS look like most strip-mall salons: bright lighting; ladies lounging in pedi chairs, zoning out behind US Weekly; phalanxes of sparkly polishes lined up behind the cash register. What sets Pro Nails apart, however, is the fan base that swears by its low prices, ultrahygienic facilities, and the warm atmosphere cultivated by the Tram family, whose matriarch “Dr. Lee” emigrated from Vietnam. Number 1 Pro Nails, 18 Roy St, Lower Queen Anne, 206-270-9695. 1523 Queen Anne Ave N, Queen Anne, 206-270-9999
French Cleaners
While today there’s no specific something that makes a cleaner French, the designation tends to signal a pricier, more persnickety approach than what you get at the corner laundry. ANGE’S FRENCH CLEANERS is no exception: Whether it’s Grandma’s lace or a Gucci suit, this biz on the edge of Belltown will take excellent care of the clothes you love. Ange’s French Cleaners, 2000 Ninth Ave, Belltown, 206-622-6727
Ethiopian Cooking Class
Fifteen years after being forced from her home in Ethiopia, NIBRET AGA found herself living in a women’s shelter in Kent. A North Seattle Community College baking certificate was the first step toward a new life, a visit home the next. There, Aga realized that after five years in the world’s richest nation, she felt less energetic and vibrant than the people in one of its poorest. She came back to South King County, stopped eating meat, sugar, and prepackaged food, and began teaching at catering parties and community centers, where, for a $10 donation, locals gather to watch her make traditional meals such as stewed lentils over injera bread, then sit down and eat it alongside her. Nibret Aga, 206-218-2833; www.nibretaga.com
Published: July 2009
• ARRIVALS
Zerbabiel Tesfamichael
Birthplace Asmara, Eritrea
Came to Seattle August 1992
Occupation Supported Living Nurse Horizon House
My name is Zerbabiel, but I go by Zerbab.
I left, in 1985, from Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea. There was a lot of killing, torture, maltreatment—you name it. So being an Eritrean and as young as I was—I was 21 then—it was not easy to live life. And war is coming closer to the city, so I feel that I have to leave for a safe place. So we found a guide who would smuggle you out of the city to Sudan. To pay the guide, my mother had to sell the gold jewelry that my father had given her.
In Sudan, I worked at an agency that processed refugee resettlement cases from Khartoum to America. I had a friend who worked with me there, and we were still having connection after he moved here. He told me that Seattle was a good place, so I took his word, and I’m very happy when I come here because it’s very beautiful. I have always been tired of the scorching sun in Sudan. On top of that, you have the dust: It comes and sticks to your sweat. Finally—I’m happy here. It’s cold, it’s always raining, the greenery is wonderful.
At first, I was kind of isolated, but it was not that hard. The fact that I had been through so many hardships and difficulty in my previous life—especially as a refugee in Sudan—this was just piece of cake. And America has been very generous to me. And this is not only the wealth, but I’m also talking about the freedom, the Constitution, way of life. All the civility, it just blows my mind.
Horizon House, 900 University St, Downtown, 206-624-3700; www.horizonhouse.org
That’s Great..
Loved learning about the international sports: hurling, aussie rules f’ball….awesome piece.
We LOVE Jae Hun Kim’s Tae Kwon Do Studio! Ms. Perrin’s an awesome instructor who teaches the kids patience, respect and confidence. Can’t wait to see the whole troop marching in the Wallingford Kiddies Parade this weekend.
To volunteer for the Japanese Lantern Floating Ceremony, please contact: fhthvolunteers@gmail.com
We have volunteer slots from 10 am to Midnight for whatever length of time you may give, especially during the set-up process!
Your help is invaluble to our success!
Thanks
Sharon I love your approach to hair, I absolutely wish more of our clients would look at it that way! Then we’d have twice the business (: