Duck-fat popcorn and more: West Seattle Swinery plans, closeup
Story and photos by Christopher Boffoli
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
It requires a healthy dose of imagination to envision what Gabriel Claycamp has planned for his upcoming butcher shop/deli on California (first reported here last month) when it opens late this summer.
When I visited the site recently, he walked me through the space, pointing out where there soon would be gleaming stainless steel and spotless tile. But for the moment the future Swinery is still a ramshackle warren of odd spaces that don’t look as though they’ve seen a fresh coat of paint since the Bush administration. (The elder Bush.)
After the spectacular fall of his mini-empire last spring, imagination is just about all Claycamp has left these days. With his past business in shambles and his family barely making rent on Vashon Island, he is gambling on a new retail store in West Seattle. It is a venture that he hopes will put him back on course and perhaps will restore the luster on his decade-long career in food. In the meantime, several layers of decrepit flooring exist between him and his dream. And the flooring looks as though it doesn’t intend to be pulled out without a fight.
As we shouted in his new shop, over the buzzing of saws and the clanging of crowbars, workmen labored to cut and pry off layers of vinyl flooring and plywood concealing the original Douglas Fir floors below. By his estimation, the structure began as a humble little house that was set back from the road with a yard out front. “As far as we can tell, the original residence was built in 1909, “ Claycamp explained.
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Keep your eye on the sky: Blue Angels start arriving Monday
(Blue Angels fly over Boeing Field, photo shared by David DeSiga via Facebook)
If you have been a WSB’er for a year or more, you know that one of our summertime digressions from West Seattle-specific reporting involves the annual Seattle visit of the U.S. Navy’s aerial demonstration team, the Blue Angels. They even have their own WSB coverage archive. They start arriving tomorrow, so we’re publishing the schedule for starters (as distributed by their home base for the week, Boeing Field, though the Angels are here under the auspices of Seafair):
MONDAY: #1 Blue arrives at 9:30 a.m.
TUESDAY: Blues #1-6 arrive at 2 p.m.
THURSDAY: Blue Angels practice times: 10 am-12 pm, 1:30 pm-2:30 pm
FRIDAY: Blue Angels performance: 1:20 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
SATURDAY: Blue Angels performance: 1:20 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
SUNDAY: Blue Angels performance: 1:20 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
TUESDAY: Blues #1-6 and Fat Albert depart
“Fat Albert” is their support plane, which usually flies right before they do, for one last survey of the area:
While the Blue Angels are primarily here to perform over Lake Washington, we highly recommend the experience of watching them take off and land at Boeing Field – adjacent to the Museum of Flight, an attraction in its own right, with special Blue Angels-related activities all week. To see the choreography of the pilots’ “walkdown” (WSB video here) and the maintenance crew Friday-Sunday 
(Thursday is a little looser since they don’t do the official show), you need a spot along the fence south of the Museum – it’s something like a parade stakeout, so be there a couple hours in advance (here’s our “On the Fence” story from 2007; note there’s overflow parking at the Boeing facility across East Marginal Way from the MoF’s main driveway – map). Once they start taxiing, everyone bolts northeast toward the museum/runway; the takeoff shakes the ground like an earthquake. On Friday, you can see the show at Lake Washington for free (except for the grandstands, which charge admission all three days), since technically it’s “rehearsal” and the hydros are in time trials, not races. If you want to go to the lake Saturday/Sunday, here’s all the official ticket/schedule info. Last reminder: The I-90 bridge closes for a few days each day Thursday-Sunday because of the Blue Angels; here’s the schedule.
Ready to roll: Skate instructor offers Alki classes
In the height of summer heat, the thought of breezing along on skates might hold new appeal – unless you don’t know how. If you want to try, here’s one way to learn!
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
According to Trish Alexander, instructor and owner of Skate Journeys: “Skating is about more than going in a straight line.”
However, if you’re having trouble doing even that, but want to learn to skate for fun and for fitness, Trish is offering classes on Alki every Saturday through the summer. Beginner classes start at 12:30 and meet at Alki Kayak Tours, which rents and sells inline skates. Intermediate to Advanced classes meet at 2:00 at Jack Block Park. (Classes will be cancelled if it rains.)
Trish started teaching people to skate in 1996 at the Seattle Inline Arena under the West Seattle Bridge.
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Next best thing to time travel: TWO “shape the future” chances
Oh sorry, we meant time travel AHEAD, not back – but the Municipal Archives are full of so many cool old photos, we had to put one up (1930, Youngstown area of North Delridge). Now, as for those two chances to shape THE FUTURE: Tuesday night is the REALLY big one – 6 pm, Delridge Community Center,, your long-awaited opportunity to join in “status checks” for the Neighborhood Plans (see them on the right sidebar here) created a decade ago — the plans that are referred to hundreds of times a year – they’re why The Junction, for example, has areas set for high-rise growth and some other neighborhoods don’t. Do the plans created a decade ago still make sense? How do you want to see your neighborhood grow? For your advance review before joining in Tuesday’s discussions, you can see the draft status “overviews” for the 5 West Seattle areas with NPs, published in preparation for the meeting, here:
Admiral
Delridge
Highland Park/Westwood Village
The Junction
Morgan Junction
Georgetown (here’s its “overview”) also will be discussed at the Delridge CC gathering; each of these neighborhoods will have its own “table” with facilitators; Spanish, Vietnamese and Tagalog translation will be available as well. There are even more documents you can review, grouped by neighborhood, linked from the city page about the meeting, the last of five citywide; this page shows you how to comment online if you absolutely can’t be there in person – but facilitators, which include local community leaders, stress it’ll be two hours well-spent – here’s what one of them, Sharonn Meeks, tells WSB:
West Seattle in particular is experiencing growing pains. There are transportation, parking and land use issues that your readers consistently respond to from your news reporting. I want to encourage all apartment residents, homeowners and businesses to bring those same comments to this Open House so they can be included in the discussions and decisions that lay ahead as we formalize our next 10 years of community.
We really aren’t exaggerating to say it’s something like “speak now or for another decade hold your peace.”
Meantime, a big discussion of where King County goes from here also is happening in West Seattle next week — your chance to suggest your “vision for the future and (to) help develop a countywide strategic plan that better aligns county functions and services.” The meeting (which will include “small group discussions”) is Thursday night, 6:30 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy, one of four this month around the county. Read more about it here.
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