Monica Skov has made good on her promise to announce this week when her West Seattle Fabric Company store will open in the Admiral District (2210 California SW, formerly occupied by now-in-The-Junction Click! Design That Fits [WSB sponsor]) … just received this note:
We’re ready to announce our Grand Opening Date.
We’d like to welcome our West Seattle Community to come shop and explore our store Saturday, December 11th 11 am-5 pm and Sunday, December 12th 12 pm – 4 pm. We will have Hot Cider, Spiced Tea, Cookies and Candy Canes for the children. We look forward to opening our doors to our neighbors.
Read more about West Seattle Fabric Company in our previous stories here and here; they’re on Facebookhere.
Just found out that the hot local teen rockers Castbound (recorded above during this fall’s Holy Rosary WestFest) will open for Mayor Mike McGinn at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center tomorrow night. Well, that’s sort of what they’re doing. They’re playing around 6:30, right before Q/A during the mayor’s West Seattle town hall. So tonight we’re publishing this reminder that if you have something to say to the mayor, he’s here tomorrow night for exactly that purpose. Budget cuts? Snow response? Viaduct/Tunnel (he’s at a non-city meeting about that tonight)? Moderators are local uber-active neighborhood/civic volunteers/advocates Pete Spalding and Chas Redmond. The 6:30 performance/6:35 mayoral Q/A will be preceded by a 6 pm resource fair – learn more about who and what are here to help you in West Seattle! Youngstown’s at 4408 Delridge.
It’s another West Seattle holiday tradition – suggest what the historic Admiral Theater should show as its free Christmas movie! Dinah at The Admiral tells us the movie will be at 7 pm Thursday, December 23rd – admission free but you’re asked to bring food, toys, collars, dog beds to donate to the Humane Society. And now: Time for your suggestion! E-mail dinahmite9@gmail.com – winner revealed December 20th.
7:33 PM ORIGINAL REPORT: From the scanner: A crash has blocked the westbound West Seattle Bridge – and there is apparently some activity on the lower bridge related to what happened on the high bridge. More details as we get them. 7:46 PM:From @kylevermeulen via Twitter – “Traffic east of 99 (is) forced to exit and go down to the lower bridge. 99S to (the bridge) is unaffected and flowing.” However, if you’re trying to get to the westbound bridge from I-5 (either direction) or Columbian Way (Beacon Hill), sounds like SPD and/or WSP are working to close off those ramps till the crash scene is clear.
8 PM: To further clarify: You can get to the westbound bridge from 99, but not from I-5 or Columbian Way – the crash is apparently on the eastern half of the westbound bridge. No word on injuries – almost all the discussion’s been about the logistics of getting tow trucks to the scene to clear the affected vehicles.
8:41 PM: And, per the scanner, the bridge is reopening.
At right, that’s Alki Café owner Sharon Bang, with waitperson Rebecca. Sharon contacted WSB to ask if we’d share a message with you: Alki Café IS OPEN. Apparently the recent news about the Alki Bakery shutdown across the street confused some people who thought the two businesses were still under the same ownership. But the café has long had separate ownership; Sharon’s owned it for more than a year and a half, and wants to reiterate: Her café is open.
Two updates from West Seattle Little League president Mark Terao: The additions at Bar-S Playfields are on schedule – the new concession building, restrooms, and storage building are set for dedication in March, and Mark adds, “West Seattle Little League thanks all of the families and businesses that have donated to the project.” WSLL continues to update its project website (see it here). And there’s a big announcement for 11- and 12-year-old players next year – WSLL will participate in the 50-70 pilot program. Mark explains:
The 50-70 pilot program will incorporate using 50′ mounds, 70′ bases and will use standard Little League Junior-level rules (i.e. runners leading off, stealing, dropped third strikes, etc.). This will not replace the normal 46′ 60′ Majors regular season games. It will be additional games added on to the normal season. The games will be played once a week at one of the other District 7 leagues where the fields accommodate the 50′ 70′ distances. Other than the normal Majors fee, there will be no additional cost to the players who want to play in this 50′ 70′ pilot program.
This new program will allow 11 & 12 year old players (this program is for 11-12 year old major players only; unfortunately. 10 year olds and younger cannot play in this pilot program) to experience playing on longer base paths and under baseball rules to better prepare them for the next level.
If/when this program becomes mandated by Little League International for the Majors division in the future, WSLL will have to consider converting the fields at Bar-S so that both 46′ 50′ and 50′ 70′ games can be played there.
On the registration form (found at www.westseattlelittleleague.com), please check the appropriate box letting us know if your child is interested in participating in this new 50′ 70′ Pilot Program.
First In Person Registration is scheduled for Tuesday January 11th at the West Seattle High School Library 6 pm – 8:30 pm
Second In Person Registration is scheduled for Tuesday January 18th at the West Seattle High School Library 6 pm – 8:30 pm
Anyone who needs more information before registration is welcome to e-mail Mark at wsllinfo@yahoo.com.
You’ll be seeing work crews shortly at Alki Beach Park — Seattle Parks‘ Garrett Farrell explains that it’s a new project “to add irrigation” in areas that didn’t have it before. He says the contractor, Specialized Landscaping, will start toward the end of this week east of Alki Bathhouse and will move westward to the west end of the park. This is from Parks Department capital-improvement funds; the work should be done by the end of January.
FIRST: Yet more holiday news from The Junction – they’ve officially announced Shop Late Thursdays, with 11 merchants participating so far (including 3 from the WSB Holiday Shopping/Business Guide). That means they’ll be open for special evening shopping 6-9 pm Thursdays till Christmas, starting tomorrow and continuing through December 23rd. On Thursday next week, this will coincide with West Seattle Art Walk.
SECOND: Looking ahead to next Saturday, the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle is issuing daily reminders about its annual Pancake Breakfast – coming up this Saturday morning, 7 am-11 am, at the Alki Masonic Hall, which is in The Junction, not Alki, 40th/Edmunds, just east of Jefferson Square, plenty of parking. In addition to Santa Claus, you’ll get to mingle with West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival royalty, according to Hi-Yu’s Deena Mahn, who also just sent this thanks regarding the fundraising ornament sale:
West Seattle Hi-Yu would like to thank the West Seattle Community, Hi-Yu members and friends for their support in out Annual Holiday Ornament Sale! It was a huge success and all ornaments have been sold — we wish you all Happy Holidays!
Just hours after the pancake breakfast, it’ll be time for the West Seattle Junction Community Tree Lighting at 5 pm Saturday in Junction Plaza Park (42nd/Alaska) – new location this year, now that the long-awaited park is finally open. More holiday events/giving opportunities/info (like Christmas-tree lots and church services) on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page (and thanks to everyone who’s sent new info today – we’ll be adding it tonight!).
We are at the Seattle Police Department‘s West Precinct, where SPD has just officially announced its Twitter account to find stolen cars – @getyourcarback. More after the briefing.
2:45 PM UPDATE: After the briefing, media reps were ushered up to the 911 center to see 27-year SPD veteran communications supervisor Gary Raymond send out the first two tweets (that’s him in the photo above, added 2:56 pm). They will NOT include location information – media unit Sgt. Sean Whitcomb says that could dissuade people from being on the lookout, since a stolen vehicle could be taken far outside the theft area fairly quickly. The full news release announcing the program is on SPD Blotter. We’ll add the stream of tweets to the WSB Crime Watch page as soon as possible, so you can check them even if you don’t want to use Twitter. SPD says that if this works out, they’ll consider expanding their use of Twitter – it could provide instant information on a host of situations, including road closures resulting from police-involved incidents. Until now, the only tweeting that SPD was doing came from the media unit via @SeattlePD– usually links to SPD Blotter reports, with the occasional breaking-news note. The stolen-car tweets will NOT be repeated on @SeattlePD – so if you want to get them from Twitter, you need to follow @getyourcarback. 2 more notes: They will not tweet when a car’s been found – if you see one you saw on Twitter, just go ahead and call 911; if it turns out it’s no longer listed as stolen, they’ll be able to tell. And do not tweet back with information about sightings – CALL 911.
From December 3rd through 17th – two weeks starting this Friday, continuing till the last day of school before the winter break – West Seattle High School hopes you will join in its Holiday Drive. Science teacher/cheerleading coach Christina Ruzzine says contributions will be accepted at the school office. Full details:
We are asking students and our community to donate all the warm clothes and blankets that they are no longer using. Also, we are taking canned and non-perishable food items.
Our goal is to have a two-week-long donation effort to raise clothing for the Orion Center, and food for the West Seattle Food Bank. We are having a competition between classes for who can raise the most, and want to open up our campus to those members of the community who would be willing to donate.
Our goal is to allow our community and school to work together in efforts to help those in need. We here at West Seattle High School have many families in need, which lead us to believe that there are many more families in West Seattle that could use our help during this cold winter season. We want to give community members a chance to step on to our campus and see what the Wildcats are all about.
Haven’t been there yet? WSHS is at 3000 California SW. The office is reachable from the entrance on the north (Hiawatha-facing) side of the school.
P.S. Got a holiday donation drive that’s not on the WSB West Seattle Holidays page yet? Please let us know so we can help get the word out.
Seattle Public Schools has announced how it’ll make up for the days lost to last week’s snow: Since elementary and K-8 students weren’t having classes (because of parent-teacher conferences), no change to the calendar; middle- and high-school students did miss two days of class, so that means two days tacked onto the end of the year, June 21 and 22 – so June 23rd will now be the last day of school. Here’s the district’s news release.
CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS: Just got word this morning from Jeff Gilbert at the Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) of holiday fundraisers including this one starting tonight, involving not just the Feedback:
• Each participating bar came up with a signature holiday cocktail or drink special.
• $1 of each of these beverages sold goes into a pool at the end of the promotion, with the cash proceeds being divided equally to benefit the West Seattle, White Center and South Park food banks.
• The promotion starts December 1st and runs through December 24th. This will help the food banks replenish their stock after the holidays, when they need it the most.
To see the list of drinks (and their ingredients) – go to this page on the Feedback website. Meantime, starting this Friday, the Feedback adds another donation drive: “Tots for Toys.” Yes, you read correctly. Jeff elaborates, “We’re giving away a FREE basket of Tater Tots for every new, unwrapped toy to be donated to the Marines’ toy drive.” That runs from December 4th through December 17th.
It’s another West Seattle holiday tradition – suggest what the historic 
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