The Boxing Gym Westside Archives | South Seattle Emerald

by Mark Van Streefkerk

Boxing has a special connection with South End communities, mainly because it’s so much more than just a sport. The Seattle boxing scene serves many different — and overlapping — groups of people: those primarily into fitness, kids seeking an afterschool activity, youth getting away from street-involved life, women, the LGBTQ+ community, families, and elders looking to give back. While boxing gyms were closed for in-person training for much of last year, these beloved cornerstones of South End communities have recently opened back up to full capacity. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to don a pair of boxing gloves and learn how to throw a proper jab, now is a great time to try.

“To me, boxing gyms have been a secular version of churches: a place for people to go and have refuge … and not be judged for anything that you would normally get judged for in the world. You just come here and work,” said coach Tricia Arcaro Turton, founder of Arcaro Boxing in the Central District.

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by Andrew Engelson

A two-alarm fire that quickly spread through businesses near the intersection of 16th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Roxbury Street in the heart of White Center early Monday morning has had a devastating impact on six local businesses. But the rapid creation and success of fundraising sites by customers and members of the community are giving hope to the businesses that were just emerging from a difficult pandemic year.

According to Shauna Sheppard, a spokesperson for King County Fire Protection District #2, the fire was first reported slightly before 2 a.m. Monday, July 5. The cause of the fire is still under active investigation, but Sheppard said it has been deemed accidental, and despite it happening in the late hours after Fourth of July, fireworks were ruled out as a cause. “The fire started in the basement of The Lumber Yard,” Sheppard said, referring to the local gay bar which has been a fixture in the neighborhood’s burgeoning LGBTQIA+ scene since 2017.

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