West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
PHO AROMA CLOSED TILL FRIDAY: So says a note on the door of the Delridge restaurant, according to a photo sent by WSB contributor Ellen Cedergreen. The note says the closure is because of a “family emergency.” We’ll make a note to check back Friday if Pho Aroma indeed reopens – let us know if you see them open sooner.
LOCOL OPENING THIS WEEKEND? If you’ve driven by the in-progress beer/wine/food spot Locöl at 35th and Kenyon lately and seen people inside – those are still “soft open” events for friends/family, according to proprietor Kyle Duce. We checked in with him again this afternoon to ask about an official grand-opening date. He says they should know tomorrow, and are hopeful it will finally be this weekend. Here’s our most recent story.
HAPPY NEWS FROM THE WSB PETS PAGE: With so many lost cats reported and never found – all the coyote activity in West Seattle, among other things, can lead you to fear the worst sometime. 
But tonight we have just received word of a lost cat posted on the WSB Pets page, finally found after six weeks. At left, that’s Eddie, posted on the Pets page on Thanksgiving. Tonight, we got a note from someone whose friend had spotted a similar-looking cat, and in short order, we heard from Eddie’s owner Melissa, who said he was finally home. We’ve also added several more lost/found pets to the page, which is among the WSB features we’ll be improving in the months ahead – low-tech as it is, it’s helped reunite many pets and owners in its three years of existence, so if you have a lost/found/sighted pet to report, please let us know. (And if you don’t see it on the page shortly thereafter, do send a reminder – our mailbox gets a little bollixed sometimes – working on that too.) P.S. Just noticed tomorrow is the third anniversary of the day we launched the Pets page — January 5, 2008. Thanks to everyone for helping the dogs, cats, birds (and a few others) get safely home.
(12/15/2010 video of Westside Symphony performing “Nutcracker” selections)
From Rob Duisberg with West Seattle Community Orchestras – one week from tonight, your chance to join!
The West Seattle Community Orchestras are beginning their spring season on Tuesday evening, January 11th, at Chief Sealth International High School at 2600 SW Thistle.
The orchestras welcome all musicians. There are three different orchestras to suit your individual skill level, from our beginning strings ensemble to the Westside Symphony playing the great standard orchestral repertoire, and each group is open to all ages.
We are particularly interested in recruiting string, double reed and percussion players. So if your instrument has been in the closet too long, make this New Year the time to reconnect with the joy of fine music-making in a fun, inclusive atmosphere!
Visit us at wscorchestras.org and click on the Registration Page, or e-mail us at westsidesymph@gmail.com, or call Toni Reineke at 206.243.6955 for more information.
Seattle Public Schools is in the midst of cleaning up a particularly prolific outbreak of tagging on the boarded-up ex-Boren Junior High School building (5950 Delridge Way), vacant after two years of serving as interim home to Chief Sealth International High School. Some had worried the building would become especially attractive to spray-paint vandals once boards went up over the Boren windows three months ago (WSB coverage here). Delridge-area advocate Pete Spalding noticed the many tags on the building over the holiday weekend and called it to the district’s attention. We took a partial “before” photo of just one of the many tagged areas (tags mostly blurred, as per our editorial policy) before it was covered up on Monday:
One issue that arose before the cleanup: If you see something like this — or any other maintenance problem/damage at a vacant school building, where neighbors will likely be the first to notice – how do you report it? ? Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Tom Redman provides this phone number: 206-252-0550. (He also says that the initial covering-over of the tagging vandalism was just the first phase; the boards will be painted over, too.)
If you go play trivia tonight at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), wish Charlie Beck luck at the upcoming 14th annual Seattle Elvis Invitationals. He’s the second West Seattleite to enter the Kingly fray, according to Marlow Harris, who notes that Charlie not only hosts Tuesday night “Entertainment That Rocks” trivia at The Feedback, he also performs with the popular local band Memphis Radio Kings. According to Marlow, he’s got a hunka-hunka “Burnin’ Love” on tap for the contest. At left, she provided a photo of him from The Feedback’s Elvis Death Day event last August. Also contending, Bret Wiggins, who came in second last year – here’s video from that almost-winning performance. You can see them face off (along with more than two dozen other Elvises – or if you prefer, Elvii) — fringe, sequins, sideburns and all — at Club Motor in SODO this Saturday – the day The King would have turned 75. Marlow notes that the treats on sale will include fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches (“with and without bacon”).
A big game at a big venue is ahead for the Chief Sealth International High School boys’ varsity basketball team: They’re playing at the University of Washington‘s Hec Ed Pavilion on the second day of the King Holiday Hoopfest, Monday, January 17th. Sealth is just starting to get the word out; that day is the officially observed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day holiday, and schools are closed. The Sealth boys will play Bellevue High School at 11 am. You can buy tickets – with proceeds going to two nonprofits – by going here, where you’ll also find the full schedule of 11 Hoopfest games over two days.
We promised a followup on a story first reported here last week – police shooting one of two loose dogs in Fauntleroy. The original report has generated 60 comments, including two from someone claiming to be the dogs’ owner, writing that one of the dogs later died (not the one that was shot). We have since confirmed that with police, who have provided other details of the incident, which unfolded in two encounters with officers over the course of New Year’s Eve morning/afternoon/evening – read on: (FRIDAY UPDATE: Photo at right, sent by dogs’ owner)Read More
(Photo by Cleary O’Farrell)
Just announced by McQuaid Commercial Real Estate – they’ve sold a 24-unit West Seattle apartment building, Sound Crest at 3515 SW Ocean View Drive (map) in Arbor Heights, for $2,050,000. The announcement quoted broker Michael McQuaid as saying, “We are pleased to get this property closed in 2010, after an exhaustive marketing effort over many months.” The firm adds that this is the first-ever sale of the building, built in 1979; they identify the buyer as local investor David Katt, who they say plans to spend $200,000 on the building for “deferred maintenance and upgrades.”
SIDE NOTE: We just checked the current commercial listings to see what other apartment buildings are on the market in West Seattle right now. Top of the price list is Ivy Court in Morgan Junction, 6525 California SW, listed for $5.6 million – 33 units and three commercial spaces (currently bicycles, mailboxes, fitness).
Two West Seattle coyote sightings to share. First, this is just out of the WSB inbox, from Paul and Karen:
We would just like to let you know that we saw a coyote walking south down 44th St. at the intersection of Portland St. (Gatewood area) this morning about 10:15 am. It was a very healthy-looking animal, maybe 35 lbs. It trotted to the dead end of 44th just south of Portland [map] and disappeared down the slope toward Lincoln Park. Beautiful animal!
Via Twitter, James reported a coyote sighting on New Year’s Day – 27th/Othello vicinity (map). He says, “They were going after cats. I threw rocks at them.” (That is part of the official advice offered on this federal-government webpage.)
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli, after Blue Angels’ August 2010 arrival in Seattle)
Just in from Seafair – a heads-up for tomorrow, for those who love the Blue Angels and those who don’t:
The familiar summertime roar of a U.S. Navy Blue Angel may be heard over the skies of Seattle Wednesday as Blues Jet #7 visits the Northwest for the annual winter planning meetings. While in Seattle the Blue Angels will meet with Seafair and air show officials, laying the foundation for the 2011 Boeing Air Show in August.
It’s Blue Angels Jet #7, with #7 Lt. David Tickle and #8 Lt. Todd Royles on board, expected to arrive between 12:30 and 1:30 pm. Seafair spokesperson Melissa Jurcan says the jet will be at Clay Lacy Aviation (not on public display) while here till Thursday, when it’s scheduled to take off around noon. As the announcement reminds us, the Blue Angels are helping mark the Centennial of Naval Aviation this year, and the Seafair air show/fleet arrival are part of the yearlong event, which starts in San Diego on February 10th.
With less than one month left to reach its latest fundraising goal – required for a city matching grant – the playground-improvement project at West Seattle’s most populous elementary school is in a new phase: Lafayette Elementary has made it into the latest monthly Pepsi Refresh grant competition. In order to have a chance at one of this month’s $50,000 grants, they need a lot of votes between now and January 31st, and you can vote daily. There are two ways to vote: Online, by going here (which requires registration), or texting, which doesn’t: Text 105273 to Pepsi (73774).
For background on the project – here’s our story from November about the push to match the $100,000 city grant by the end of this month, or lose it. We checked in this morning with Deborah Hazlegrove, one of the project co-chairs, who says the fundraising total is getting close to the goal, but it’s still coming down to the January 31st wire. The project’s “Play It Forward” website has more information about other ways they’re raising money, including a current anonymous offer to match all cash up to $5,000 donated between now and January 15th.
(Anchor/Luna Park photo by Flickr member Nakean, from the WSB Flickr photo pool)
Part of today’s look ahead is warmer, if cloudier, weather – last night was the last subfreezing night expected for a while. Also, one more road reminder, if you haven’t already been through it, today is the day 1st Avenue South is down to one lane each way by the stadiums until April, because of Alaskan Way Viaduct south-end replacement work, which also brought southbound changes to some Metro routes that previously used 1st Ave. S. in that area, including a few serving West Seattle. Besides that reminder, the schedule’s light today; folk-rocker Abi Grace is onstage at Skylark Café and Club (WSB sponsor) tonight at 9 (heard about their menu changes yet?), and it’s trivia night at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor).
NON-WEST SEATTLE P.S. In case you are interested in seeing this: The Seattle Fire Department has sent word that the traveling Patriot Flag, a 9/11 memorial, will hang between two 100-foot ladder trucks at Seattle Center between 2 and 2:30 this afternoon, south side of the International Fountain. It’s traveling between fire departments across America (previous stop: Olympia), final destination New York City for the 10th anniversary this September.
| 8 COMMENTS