Under the Needle: Seattle's untold stories and unsung heroes

We've turned staff writer Mike Lewis and photographer Dan DeLong loose to offer up their unique slant. Got an idea for future installments? E-mail suggestions to mikelewis@seattlepi.com.

MONDAY, MAY 12, 2008
Under The Needle: Nudists fight for rights at city pool
Seattle's nude swimmers see their cause for greater freedoms and access as a civil rights issue, albeit not as draped in history as race and gender struggles. Really, not draped in anything at all.

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2008
Under the Needle: Amphicars make a splash on boating's big day
Amphicar owners revel in being the jesters of the boating world, launching their boat-car (or car-boat) on the opening day of boating season annually for nearly a decade.

THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2008
Under the Needle: 'Squirrelman' finds a little slice of paradise to call home
David "Squirrelman" Csaky finally found a piece of land where he can nest for a while.

MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2008
Under the Needle: Jazz teacher Knatt ending career on upbeat
Robert Knatt, one of the Seattle's most acclaimed music educators, is retiring after 36 years teaching jazz at Seattle middle schools.

THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008
Under The Needle: They get their motors runnin'
Seattle has a growing cadre of cafe racers -- retro motorcycle enthusiasts who embrace the cheap, old and loud, and want their handlebars low and their hands dirty.

THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2008
Under the Needle: Sly group of merry pranksters trying to unstuff Queen Anne
It all started with a conversation, the Minister of Information confirmed. A talk in a bar among friends who had achieved a little something, got a bit comfortable and wanted to nudge themselves and their sleepy, moneyed neighborhood awake.

TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2008
Under The Needle: Man evicted from 'amazing' treehouse
For David Csaky, life in an "amazing" Eastlake Avenue treehouse is coming to an end after nearly two years. The problem, he says, is there's nowhere else to go.

FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2008
Under the Needle: There's treasure in the trash
Steve Waxon, a Seattle native and Roosevelt High dropout, has learned something from years of living in the streets, from Dumpster diving for survival and from learning to make a living on other people's discards: Garbage speaks the truth.

MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008
Under The Needle: West Seattle man's war-dead tally gains following on Web
A West Seattle man keeps a sign in his front yard marking the U.S. servicemen and women killed in Iraq.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008
Under the Needle: The Bering Sea's town of saviors
On the continent's remote Aleutian tail, Dutch Harbor is the first and often only option when something goes wrong on the Bering Sea.

MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008
Under the Needle: Engineers Without Borders building better lives
For UW professor Susan Bolton, engineering is the key to improving public health in the Third World.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2008
Under The Needle: A vending machine to crow about ...
A vending machine for crows? Self-styled inventor and researcher Joshua Klein thinks it's only the beginning.

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008
Under The Needle: Barber taking down pole after 50 years in Maple Leaf
After 50 years, a Maple Leaf institution -- the Tree House Full Service Barber Shop -- is about to close. And owner Michael Sharp has no idea what he'll do to pass the time.

MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2008
Under The Needle: Lutheran church transitions with a changing Ballard
Maybe he also should bless Ballard's last stock of affordable housing. Or the remaining sub-$10 dinners. Those, too, Pastor Erik Wilson Weiberg knows, have sailed from Ballard in recent years.

FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2008
Under The Needle: They have vehicles, but nowhere to go
On the street that flanks the rear of a Seattle agency devoted to housing the poor is a long-standing encampment of unhoused poor, living day to day in run-down vehicles. But maybe not for long.

TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2008
Under The Needle: The Pig at 6: It's a date
When you tell someone from Seattle, "The Pig at 6," almost everyone knows what you're talking about.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2008
Under The Needle: 18 years after Valdez spill, a fisherman's fight goes on
Former Seattle fisherman Michael McLenaghan doesn't want to be known as "the angry man." But that's his fate -- until Exxon Mobil Corp. compensates the thousands of fishermen who were financially ruined by the Valdez spill.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008
Under The Needle: Japanese-American fishing club welcomes all
Seattle's little-known Tengu Club was spawned out of the bigotry of post-World War II America. But what began as a Japanese-American fishing club has long been a model for inclusiveness.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2008
Hybrids, meet your rival -- it gets 376.59 mpg
Don't choke on your organic soy-double-decaf-fair-trade-carbon-neutral macchiato, but how does 376.59 mpg sound? That's the documented fuel efficiency of a Seattle man's new car.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
Under The Needle: TV repair shop pulling the plug
The owner of Adams TV, a Fremont fixture for more than a half-century, is calling it quits. Steve Rubstello blames America's "throwaway society" for driving him out of business.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2008
Under The Needle: Scenic view comes with a price
In coming weeks, King County will be dispatching crews throughout Seattle with the task of deciding how good your view is -- and how much it should cost in property tax.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2008
Under The Needle: Working-class tavern goes upscale
A working-class tavern in Ballard will soon reopen as a white-collar watering hole, complete with frites and moules. Yet another example of a cultural shift.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2008
Under The Needle: They who should not be forgotten
Jerzy Friedrich finally made it to America, but his heart will always be in Poland. A survivor of a hellish German occupation during World War II, Friedrich, 88, recently received a medal from the Polish government praising his service.

MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2008
Challenges in the ring teach Bumblebee boxers lessons on life
At South Seattle's Bumblebee Boxing Club, a poster quoting Martin Luther King Jr. hangs on the wall, a reminder to the young contenders that facing life's challenges is the key to success.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2008
Under the Needle: Queen Anne's gypsy cabbie rescued many a bar patron
They buried Queen Anne's friendly gypsy cabbie last week, but his legacy lives on.

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