Junuary Morning at the Greenwood Car Show

 

6/24/23 Mini Coopers, Greenwood Car Show

If I counted right, this was my seventh time at the Greenwood Car Show (missing only one year, not counting the pandemic years), and I think it was the coldest yet (although the year it rained was chilly, too). Even so, it’s one of my favorite summer events, and it’s always better with USk Seattle! The only other time we sketched together at this event was in 2019, so it was high time for another.

As is my personal tradition, I arrived at the show around 7:30 a.m. before the official opening to get a jump on the crowd and take a leisurely walk through the show. Claiming to be “a mile and half of classic rides,” the Greenwood Car Show is the largest free, nonprofit auto show in the area. I usually start by walking the central 15 blocks between 85^th and 70^th, then turn around and walk back, sketching along the way.

My first sketch was a row of Mini Coopers (above) next to the SAMOA tent (which I thought was an odd name until I learned that it’s an acronym for a Mini Cooper enthusiasts organization). Drawing all those Minis took longer than expected, and I was thoroughly chilled by the time I finished.

To warm up, I got coffee at Diva Espresso and found a lucky table facing the street. That’s how I captured the dark green Mercury Cougar. A few show participants sat at a nearby table, so I could eavesdrop on their conversation. I learned all about another car show that one guy had participated in only once because no porta-potties were provided. (Fortunately, the Greenwood Car Show has good facilities: It’s an official Seafair event.)

Mercury Cougar

Refreshed and warmed up, I headed to the USk meetup location at Alice Ball Park to officially start the outing. The park’s tables turned out to be a good spot to catch a longer view of the show and some Greenwood Avenue buildings.

Greenwood Avenue from Alice Ball Park

My last sketch of the day was a saxophone busker entertaining the crowd with jazz. (I gave him regular cash money, but I was impressed by his modern approach: The placard next to his busking jar had a QR code so that donations could be made to his Venmo account.)

Jazz-playing busker

I had to leave before the throwdown, but I caught up with Paul and Justin for a mini throwdown when we all sketched at the park. With a mile and a half of cars to sketch, this USk outing had a second throwdown at 3 p.m. for those who wanted to stay longer. Wish I could have stayed . . . those who did were treated to sunshine and warmer temps!

Paul, Justin and Tina at Alice Ball Park

David said he arrived at the show at 6 a.m.! He gets the hardcore award!

Cars and Community in Greenwood

 

6/28/25 Herkimer Coffee, Greenwood neighborhood

A couple more pups outside Herkimer

As I do every year, I arrived at the Greenwood Car Show by 7:30 a.m. and started the day by walking the entire 20-block length of the show. On that first walk-through, I don’t sketch; I just look and enjoy. Although noisy and heavy with the smell of exhaust, the parade of cars on Greenwood Avenue getting into their spaces is exciting and full of anticipation.

Then I walk halfway back up again to get breakfast at Herkimer Coffee, grab a table outside, and watch the street action unfold (top of post). Over coffee and a scone, I often sketch more dogs than cars, as lots of pups get tethered to the bike racks while their humans go in for sustenance.

By the time USk Seattle meets at 10 a.m., I’m already warmed up and ready for action myself!

Greenwood Car Show

Although I’ve felt for many years that the Greenwood Car Show is my favorite summertime event, I don’t always stop to consider how different it is from other big annual events that roll around this time of year.

What is it about this show that makes it my favorite? Although I do enjoy seeing and sketching classic cars, it’s not just the subject matter. Despite attracting crowds from all over the city, the Greenwood show somehow manages to maintain its neighborhoody feeling. I kept seeing families running into friends there. Cheerful conversations were all around.

The sketch at top right on this page is my favorite this year. Spontaneously, I got the idea to draw the white lines over the black, and I love this look.

Then there’s the whole car enthusiast community: Owners chatting about all the work they’ve done, how long they’ve owned it, and all the cars that came before and after it. As I sketched, I overheard people reminisce about cars they or previous generations once drove, and I did my share of feeling nostalgic, too (I always look for Datsun Z cars of my high school fantasies).

Cars have always been a strong part of American culture, and the Greenwood Car Show drives (ahem) that point home. I’m happy to be part of it every year, catching the stories in my sketchbook.

Ahhh, my high school fantasy cars!

Greenwood Avenue is closed to traffic for the show, but not to this guy's eye-catching vehicle!

On Saturday night, I got some takeout sushi for dinner. Sketchwaiting outside Akebono, I was still in car show mode and gave my own Miata a little sketchbook love. 

Greenwood Car Show Retrospective

 

6/29/24 Greenwood Car Show

(I still have a couple more posts planned about my visit to Portland, but I’m interrupting the series to report on my favorite event of the summer.)

One year, it rained. Another, it was so cold that I had to retreat to a coffee shop midway to warm up. On Saturday USk Seattle was treated to a rare day in June for the Greenwood Car Show: the ideal temperature for sketching under a mix of sunny and partly cloudy skies. It’s always a fun event – except for the pandemic pause, I think I’ve only missed one year since 2014 – and it’s even more fun to sketch with USk Seattle.  

My personal tradition is to arrive early before the show officially
opens, get coffee at Herkimer, and watch the cars roll in.
The tables outside Herkimer are a great place to catch dogs
waiting for their humans to come back out with treats.

Usually my approach is to make portraits of several cars that attract my fancy and one or two sketches that show more context. This year I took a comics approach by making multiple small sketches that show various views of this neighborhood show. The sketches are so small that they don’t take much time, so I cover more ground and capture more of the overall car show story – and history.

Owners love to talk about what they’ve done to their cars, how much it cost to do that work, and how long they’ve owned them. And passers-by have memories evoked by cars they see – old models owned by parents or grandparents, or the ones they used to learn to drive. My favorite story this year was written on a placard next to a 1966 VW Bug. Its original and current owner, Florence, had recently celebrated her 100^th birthday, and a card was available for show visitors to write Florence a birthday greeting.

Florence's beautifully maintained '66 Bug

Just for fun, I’m including below one sketch from each of the previous years I’ve sketched at the Greenwood Car Show.

6/28/14 Rain-spattered!

6/27/15 '72 Buick Riviera

6/25/16 '63 Bonneville convertible

6/24/17

6/29/19

6/25/22

6/24/23

Tight Squeeze at Wedgwood Car Show

 

8/24/25 '56 Thunderbird convertible at the Wedgwood Car Show

New on my summer events radar this year was the Wedgwood Car Show, which has apparently been going on for 18 years, but I hadn’t heard about it until a couple of months ago. Just one neighborhood east of Maple Leaf, Wedgwood is practically “my” ‘hood – I was stoked that it was so close!

Packed in tight!

Tiny compared to the massive Greenwood Car Show, which I catch every year, the Wedgwood show is crammed into one strip mall parking lot. Sponsored by the Wedgwood Broiler, a neighborhood institution since 1965, the show had some beautiful classic cars, but they were difficult to sketch if you wanted to get the whole car. Unlike Greenwood, where all the cars are neatly angle-parked so that visitors can walk through the center of the street and see cars on both sides, the Wedgwood cars were parked every which way to cram in as many as possible.

Another challenge was that the temperature was already in the mid-70s and climbing by 10 a.m. when the show opened, so my main goal was to look for views I could sketch from the shade, which was mostly behind the cars.

I stood behind a lovely ’56 Thunderbird convertible (one of my long-time fantasy cars; sketch above and photo below) and had hoped to include the owner, who was dressed in a turquoise outfit and wide-brimmed hat to match the trim on her car, but she kept wandering around chatting with friends.

Once I realized I wasn’t going to be able to see any one car without being blocked by another, I had fun with my composition by layering and skipping the parts I couldn’t see.

Frustrating as it was to sketch there, I probably won’t attend again, but I enjoyed the show for what it was. I always enjoy observing the friendly community and camaraderie of small, neighborhood events.

Technical note: Hoping to make some color car portraits, I had brought along an A5 Hahnemühle sketchbook instead of a large Uglybook. Realizing quickly that it wasn’t the kind of show where I could make car portraits easily, I switched to marker line drawings of the type that I make in Uglybooks. How strange and foreign to use white paper!

Look at this gorgeous T-Bird convertible!

Yes, I tend to favor red cars, but purple's not bad, either!

Sunny Street of Dreams: The Greenwood Car Show

6/24/17 ink, water-soluble colored pencils

Yesterday was my fifth year at the Greenwood Car Show, probably my favorite summertime event. Subtitled “A mile and a half of classic rides,” the annual show brings together car enthusiasts and their shiny, souped-up vehicles from all over the region.

I’ve sketched at this event under the threat of rain and in actual rain, but yesterday precipitation was nowhere in sight as cars of all makes lined 20 blocks of Seattle’s Greenwood Avenue. The show officially opens at 8 a.m., but as has been my habit, I arrived before 7:30 a.m. to beat both the expected heat and the crowds.

6/24/17 ink, water-soluble colored pencils, Tombow marker

In previous years, I’ve usually sketched portraits of individual cars that caught my fancy, and sometimes I overheard fun stories from the owners that way. This year I took a different approach by stepping back a bit to sketch groups of cars and the general ambiance. 

All around me buzzed the language of gearheads comparing notes on the years of work they’ve lovingly put into their vehicles. Although I couldn’t comprehend their camshafts and manifolds and customized whatnots, I understood their labor of love. For one day a year, they get together on this street of dreams to share their common passion.

6/24/17 It's a long day at the Greenwood Car Show.

6/24/17 Busker entertaining the crowd.

Tops Down at the Greenwood Car Show

6/25/16 inks, water-soluble colored pencil

Each June I look forward to sketching at the Greenwood Car Show, “A mile and a half of classic rides” on both sides of Greenwood Avenue. Although it officially opens at 8 a.m., I like to get there before 7:30 to beat the crowds.

6/25/16 inks, colored pencils

With hundreds of cars to choose from, it can be overwhelming, so this year I picked a theme: convertibles. A couple of years ago when rain looked imminent, most of the convertibles kept their tops up (and indeed, I got rained out after only a couple of sketches), but not so today. Although the morning started out overcast and cool, rain was nowhere in the forecast, so all tops were down.

I warmed up with a bright red ’63 Bonneville, which turned out to be my favorite sketch of the day. Next was a cream-colored ’63 Triumph roadster that I would have loved to have taken for a spin!

6/25/16 grease pencil, colored pencils

6/25/16 inks, colored pencils

Mid-morning I stopped for a break at Herkimer Coffee, where I sketched the street scene from a bench outside. That’s also where I spotted Joey, an old dog dozing on the sidewalk while waiting for his humans to return.

Refreshed, I hit the street again, and the first thing I saw was a pair of mandatory hired bikinis. Wearing very high heels (and not much else), the two young women looked bored, checking their messages. As I sketched, I overheard a woman passing by saying to her husband, “Keep your eyes on the cars, dear.”

My last convertible of the day was a blue ’69 Camaro SS. By then the crowds were getting thick, so I stepped away from the street to sketch it from a challenging rear angle.

6/25/16 ink, colored pencils

6/25/16 inks, water-soluble colored pencils

As I walked back toward my own car, I stopped to catch a couple of buskers adding a little jazz flavor to the festivities. It was nearly noon by then, and when I saw the crowds on the slope of the hill on the next block, I knew it was time to go. As my own celebration of another terrific Greenwood Car Show, I drove home with the top down.

See my sketches from the 2015, 2014 and 2013 shows.

6/25/16 ink, colored pencils

6/25/16 ink, colored pencils

Time to leave!

Photo by Kathleen Klein