🥳 What to do this January in Seattle

Suggestions for Planning a Fabulous January

The City Cast Seattle team got together to bring you a list of our suggestions for a January filled with art, good food, and getting to know your neighbors. You can hear the full conversation on the podcast, but here are some highlights:

• Jane:  My friend Ravenna does a mending night at Prairie Underground. It’s a monthly event where you bring whatever it is you need to mend, and there are some folks on hand to help you figure out how to go about your journey. I’m also doing a book talk with Emma Pattee, who is celebrating the paperback edition of Tilt, her novel about a Portland woman who is nine months pregnant when the big one hits. We'll be at the Barnes and Noble in Northgate on January 16, so come on by.
• Liam: SIFF is doing a series called the Pacific Northwestern, featuring westerns that take place in the Pacific Northwest. They're showing some really good newer films like First Cow, and classic films that I love like McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which features a very young Warren Beatty. Also, I’d like to recommend the delicious and very cheap Japanese-style egg salad sandwiches from 7/11.
• Ashley:  I just love anything that lets me be creative and gets me off my phone. So, there's a monthly junk journal club that I haven't actually gone to yet, but I'm gonna make January the month that I go. It happens at Olympia Coffee downtown, and people get together with their junk and their scrapbooking stuff. It looks very cute and cozy. I’m on the pre-order list for A.K. Pizza, but haven’t been successful in ordering a pie yet, so hoping that happens this month and I plan on finally trying the khao soi bar around the corner from me at Ginger & Scallion.
• Sam: I really want to swing through my local repair cafe in Lower Queen Anne, hosted at Nielsens Pastries. It feels like a great way to meet neighbors and to finally get my kitchen lamp fixed. And then I want to check out Azuki’s handmade udon noodles in Madrona and Sake Noire’s jazz nights in Hillman City. Also! The artists Leah Crosby (a friend of mine) and Alyza DelPan-Monley are doing a short-run performance of this arts show called Imaginary Observable at the Mini Mart City Park in Georgetown, which I highly recommend.

2025 Had at Least 3 Lake Washingtons' Worth of Flooding 🌊

Between Dec. 9-19, 2025, nine million acre-feet of rain fell in 17 watersheds east of Puget Sound, from the Nooksack River down to the Lewis River, which experienced heavy flooding. This adds up to more than three times the volume of water in Lake Washington, but still doesn’t capture the total rainfall across the state during that time. [KUOW]

A Guide to Seattle’s 30 Photobooths 📷

The photobooth recently turned 100 years old and is having a bit of a renaissance. And the new year feels like a perfect time to gather your friends and document your beloved community. Ashley and I compiled a guide to Seattle’s 30 photobooths with the help of a local expert. Two of them are even analog for the film nerds out there. Go check them out! [City Cast Seattle]

Zahid Chaudhry Reunited with Family After Release from ICE Detention 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, a Pakistan-born US Army veteran and husband of a former Washington congressional candidate, was released from ICE detention and reunited with his family. The government’s attorney, according to his wife Melissa Chaudhry, said, didn’t try to defend their position, admitted “point blank” that her husband’s detention was a mistake, and apologized directly to Zahid. A final ruling on his case should be issued later this month. [The Stranger]