The Old Fire House

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1992

A group of 10 city staff members, called the Y-Team, held a daylong youth rally, asking 100 teens what they cared about.

They responded with four main concerns: a place to hang out, the environment, information on support services and improved police relations.

Former Mayor Rosemarie Ives played a role in forming this initial Y-Team and in offering more resources for local teens.

“Ives didn't back down easily from a project she believes in, and she especially loves an underdog idea. When Redmond High School students complained to her that police were clearing them out of the local McDonald's parking lot, Ives empathized. Her son was about their age at the time”

"She also backed a controversial plan to designate a "tagging wall" where teens still paint graffiti-style murals.”

December 19, 2007 | Seattle Times, The (WA)

Seaweed was a rock band from Tacoma, Washington, who played various styles of rock, including post-hardcore and punk rock.

1993

Teens designed Club Red in partnership with the city. For about two years, this drop-in supervised hangout for teens shared space with the YMCA.

When the YMCA moved out in 1994, the full building was used as a teen center.

1999

At times, there was community push back about the teen hangout. In 1999, two dozen business owners asked the City Council to move the city-run center out of its Northeast 79th Street home.

Staff and teens felt the central location and proximity to schools was an important part of the center's success.

Instead of moving the center, city officials planned to increase police enforcement and employ a variety of anti-loitering techniques such as increased lighting.

Seattle Post Intelligencer
November 29, 1999

Seattle Times
November 18, 1999

2003

In 2003, a $331,000 renovation brought a new professional media lab to the Old Redmond Fire House Teen Center. An engineer recorded Redmond bands for $17 an hour or nonresidents for $20.

The studio was open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., "the latest they (thought) parents would approve of"

Seattle Times
May 10, 2003

Seattle Times
November 7, 2003

2007

Chris Cullen, director of the Old Fire House Teen Center, worked with Andy Lawrence organize the Classic Rock-a-Thon. Contestants in this "battle of the bands played classic-rock songs written from the 1950s to 1990s in a "bid for bragging rights, prizes and a chance to open for a classic-rock band."

Teens Hangout at the Old Fire House Teen Center in Redmond in 2007
Printed in the Seattle Times on March 8, 2026

2009

"Ken Wong, teen programs director for the City of Redmond's Parks and Recreation Department, will be honored as the 2009 Outstanding Teen Professional at the Washington Recreation and Park Association's (WRPA) conference in Spokane, April 29."

"Among Wong's many accomplishments, he established the Redmond Youth Partnership Advisory Committee (RYPAC) to give youth and adults opportunities to work collaboratively on matters of importance to local youth."

April 28, 2009 | Redmond Reporter (WA)

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