West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Yet again tonight, police repeated the mantra of community watchfulness being the key to helping them catch criminals and solve crimes. While we’re finishing the story about the Beach Drive community-safety walk – during which that message was repeated – here are a few West Seattle Crime Watch notes from the WSB inbox:Read More
Here’s a chance for kids and tweens to be mentored for a day by high-school students: Children in grades K-5 are invited to the one-day Mini Cheer Camp that West Seattle High School cheerleaders are planning for Saturday, June 9th, 10 am-1 pm. They’ll learn cheers, make crafts, and get a chance to follow up the fun this fall by performing at a home football game as an honorary WSHS cheerleader. $30 for the day includes a T-shirt, and more; see the flyer here, and the registration form here. Contact Bev Corey at coreym_b@comcast.net if you have any questions.
Back in 2008, we got that vintage photo from Tom J, when the fate of the 1923-built Shoremont Apartments at 2464 Alki SW – the buildings seen behind Tom’s uncle and dad – was still in flux.
A year earlier, in 2007, the stately brick buildings were proposed for teardown, to be replaced by townhomes.
But then, the site was bought by architects known for their modern design projects, who proposed one instead of townhomes:
(2008 rendering)
The plan never came to pass, and eventually, the site became bank-owned. Exactly two years ago today, we reported a for-sale sign going up at the site.
Then came Dennis Schilling:
We photographed him at the Shoremont yesterday afternoon. But we first talked with him more than a year ago, after he bought the by-then-very-rundown buildings because he “liked” them; he told WSB at the time he planned to fix them up.
And he has made good on that promise. Most of the work is done, and two of the eight Shoremont Apartments are rented, more applications are in the works. Schilling gave us a tour:
Great beach view, from one of the lower units – note the original clear-grain fir floor. Upstairs, while he would have liked to have kept the flooring, noise rules meant they had to be carpeted:
The stairs are original:
And there are walk-in closets – including this one upstairs with a view!
The floor plans are close to the original layouts, says Schilling, adding that the work they had to do included some foundation improvements, especially for seismic reasons (including “shear walls”), plus all-new wiring. Out front, they had to build up the area in front of the main entrance door:
There had been something in front of that blank concrete wall for a bit, and therein lies a twist to this story – which Schilling e-mailed us (and King County Executive Dow Constantine) about on Wednesday:
During the construction process we have noticed that bus patrons did not have a place to sit while waiting for the bus at the stop in front of our property. We decided to make a gesture to the city and commission a custom bus bench at our expense.
While this bench was being constructed there must have been fifty people who expressed appreciation for the bench. Today a representative of the city approached us and told us to remove it or face daily fines. Apparently while the bench is not on any part of the sidewalk it does encroach on the City’s property.
The inspector did admit that there had been no complaints but that he was just driving by and doing his job. In order not to incur any fines we removed it while he waited. We just wanted to let people know that we were trying to do something nice for the city but have run afoul of bureaucracy.
The bench is now sitting on the west side of the Shoremont site:
We haven’t figured out yet which agency to ask about the bench beef, but plan to follow up. Meantime, if you’re interested in renting one of the Shoremont Apartments, you’ll have to go take a look at the postings on the windows at the site, which have more information.
Chief Sealth International High School athletic director Sam Reed and Illusions Hair Design (WSB sponsor) proprietor Sue Lindblom – in her Rotary Club of West Seattle vest – are two of the people we caught up with this morning at Rainier Golf and Country Club, scene of today’s 2nd annual Sealth Athletics benefit golf tournament. The late-spring showers were coming and going as participants hit the links around noontime, with the afternoon of golf scheduled to be followed by dinner and a raffle.
Some Seattle Public Schools parents may already have seen this in e-mail directly from the district (we got first word from Cami MacNamara of Webcami Site Design), and after what they describe as a few tweaks, the communications team has shared it with news media too: The bell times are out for next school year. Here’s the list. You might remember the uproar earlier this spring when the district suddenly pursued a transportation-plan change that might have drastically changed times for many, then scrapped most of the plan; this is the final result, and except for six schools (NONE in West Seattle), they’re described as mostly the same. Read on for the explanatory letter sent to families:Read More
(Photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand, added Friday night)
Just got word from Sharon Bang, co-owner of Alki Café, that they’re finally going to add dinner service. She says they’ll be open 8 am-8 pm seven days a week starting two weeks from today – Friday, June 15th. They’ll also have happy hours 3-6 pm (including beer, mimosa, and appetizer discounts), plus, Sharon says, they’ll have the breakfast/lunch menu available through dinnertime too.
Meantime, she says, across the street at their Beachside Café, there are some new team members including Sarah (photo below), former manager of the Alki Bakery that used to be at that location, and they invite customers old and new to drop by and say hi.
Beachside is currently open till 7 pm.
Last week, WSB commenter Petert suggested we make a map of who planned to sell liquor in West Seattle once privatization took effect. Today’s the day, so here’s the map. 17 retailers – but please note, we have not directly confirmed that each and every one of them is selling liquor right this moment; we can only verify that these are the places that sought licenses – both former state stores, now under private ownership; supermarkets (WSB sponsors Metropolitan Market and West Seattle Thriftway as well as all three Safeways, both QFCs, Trader Joe’s, and Target); and drugstores (Bartell Drugs, Rite Aid, and Walgreens, each with two locations in West Seattle). Please let us know through a comment or a note/text/call/etc. if you discover any of them NOT selling liquor yet – we know for sure the supermarkets were ready to go, for starters.
ORIGINAL 10:35 AM REPORT: Just getting notes from people who live/work in Highland Park. Not sure yet how widespread – it’s not on the Seattle City Light system-status map so we’re checking with them directly.
(Screen grab of affected area – except for Pathfinder, an isolated spot shown on the live map)
10:40 AM: Peter Clarke at Seattle City Light tells us the cause is that branches have fallen onto a line – almost 1,000 homes and businesses are affected. A commenter says Pathfinder K-8 is in the outage zone too. Restoration could take as little as an hour, or up to four hours, according to Clarke, who says a crew is on the way. (The outage is mapped now, too.)
11:07 AM UPDATE: The City Light map shows some spots in South Park are affected too (that’s also been mentioned in discussion on the WSB Facebook page). Pathfinder is apparently an isolated spot in Pigeon Point, which otherwise does not appear to be affected. If you’re in the outage zone, let us know when your power’s back – thanks! (And thanks again to everyone who sent word of this quickly, even before SCL had it mapped.)
11:35 AM UPDATE: Some are apparently back on, per SCL map. We went over to Highland Park Elementary after hearing they had lost power – they are continuing with classes, and all’s well otherwise.
12:02 PM UPDATE: Between the SCL map and comments, sounds/looks like just about everyone is back on. Let us know if you’re not.
From the weekly “lookahead” sent out on behalf of SDOT and WSDOT – it’s online, here – we get advance word of the next all-weekend Alaskan Way Viaduct/Highway 99 closure: Friday night 6/15 till Monday morning 6/18, so here’s your early warning.
(Sleeping hummingbird, photographed by Machel Spence)
Welcome to a new month! Here are the highlights for today/tonight:
EARLYBIRDS: If you see this within an hour or so of when we’re publishing it, you’re in time to go meet the West Seattle Earlybirds Toastmasters Club, meeting Friday mornings, 7:30 am, ArtsWest in The Junction.
HARBOR ISLAND TRANSFORMATION: Remember our story almost two weeks ago about Harbor Island People for the Environment? Come celebrate their cleanup/beautification achievement 4-6 pm today at 13th/Florida on Harbor Island.
WSHS ALL-SCHOOL REUNION: Whenever you went to West Seattle High School, you’re welcome at this annual event, which starts with classic cars on display along SW Stevens, 4:30 pm. The schedule of events is in our calendar listing.
SEALTH ATHLETICS BENEFIT GOLF TOURNAMENT: On the links at Rainier Golf Course and Country Club this afternoon! Here’s our most recent preview.
NEW TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION LOCATION IN WHITE CENTER: The Technology Access Foundation‘s project at Lakewood Park is open for previews tonight, 5-8 pm – more on our partner site White Center Now.
BATTLING BULLYING: Free screening of “Finding Kind,” suitable for 11 and up, at Pathfinder K-8 (details here).
TR RITCHIE AT C & P: Live music tonight at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), with TR Ritchie, 6-8 pm, an “unreconstructed folkie.”
TAKE A STAND FOR SAFETY: The long-awaited “safety walk” along Beach Drive is tonight, 6:30 pm, planned in response to the still-unsolved March murder of Greggette Guy, but magnified, in terms of the importance of community safety, by what has happened more recently. Meet at Emma Schmitz Viewpoint; all welcome.
WINE TASTING: Bin 41 is “showcasing some neat Austrian wines including a couple cult Gruner Veltliners perfect for pairing with fresh asparagus and Copper River salmon. 6-7:30 pm.” 4707 California SW in The Junction.
MUSICA SACRA AUCTION AND WINE TASTING: 7 pm tonight, The Sanctuary at Admiral, your chance to support the chorale (find out more about Musica Sacra here).
PRIVATIZED LIQUOR, DAY 1: Voted in last fall, in effect as of early today. More on this later today, but it’s now on sale, basically, at all but 1 West Seattle supermarket, all drugstores, the two former state stores, and Target.
3:45 AM: Continuing the overnight watch – police are checking out a report of a possible gunshot heard somewhere in the High Point/Gatewood area. So far, no report of anyone actually being shot, but after the dispatcher put out the word of calls that had come in, one officer said he had heard it while “near the cemetery” (east of High Point) and thought it sounded like a shot and glass breaking. We’ll update if anything conclusive is found.
4:06 AM: Nothing so far – and with apparently no one reporting damage or injury thus far, police have hit something of a dead end.
| 2 COMMENTS