West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(WSB photo from Seafair Pirates Landing 2010)
Just in case you’re new … and thinking it’s a little quiet around here for summer … the big events are right around the corner. The Fourth of July, of course, goes without saying (our roundup on that is almost done – look for it tomorrow). Three days later – next Saturday (July 7th) – the Seafair Pirates land on Alki – always a spectacle, with a flotilla offshore, a landing craft sailing right up to the beach, the Pirates storming the shore, and all manner of mild mayhem after that, before they board their landcraft Moby Duck and sail, er, drive, away. You can arrive at the beach early and check out vendors and kids’ activities. One possible twist this year – remember our story earlier this month about people being sought for some kind of political demonstration? Still haven’t heard who that might be and what it might be about – organizers promised it would “be on the news” but haven’t revealed it to “the news” yet, so far as we know. The Pirates’ Landing itself always makes news anyway, and you can be part of it – their website says, as usual, they’ll land between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm, but it could be earlier, could be later. Arrrrrrr!
You’ve often heard about the importance of donating to local food banks – West Seattle FB and White Center FB. We don’t hear as often about the need for pet-food donations, but that need is great too – so Alki Mail and Dispatch plans to collect it throughout July, according to Bree, starting tomorrow:
We will be collecting dry and canned food (and treats too!) with cat food going to Kitty Harbor and dog food going to an organization called Dogs Deserve Better. They are a wonderful organization working to raise the awareness of the plight of chained and tethered dogs that are forced to live outdoors. We will be collecting here in the shop (we are at 4701 SW Admiral Way) for the whole month of July and we want to see everyone bring something in!
Question? You can reach Bree at staff@alkimail.com. Alki Mail’s hours are listed here.
Just heard from Donna Sandstrom of The Whale Trail that orcas are visible off Me-Kwa-Mooks, looking toward the Vashon ferry terminal. More as we get it!
A long-empty space on the north end of The Junction is being readied for its new life as a café and creperie – though the name is still being worked out. Charell Estby started a Facebook page a week and a half ago for her future operation at 4160 California SW, the long-closed former Divina, under the name Firefly Café and Creperie, but when WSB contributor Keri DeTore talked with her earlier this week, she explained that might not turn out to be its official name. Nonetheless, you can track her progress at that page. Charell told Keri that she’s “over the moon about the possibilities” the space offers. She’s planning to offer soups, salads, and pastries along with sweet and savory crepes that will be served all day. She is aiming for a September/October opening.
POSTSCRIPT: Charell says she has the OK to use the Firefly name.
(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB unless credited otherwise)
Every year during the Blue Angels‘ visit, the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field becomes a virtual honorary West Seattle annex. Today, it’s even more so, not just because NASA‘s distinctive Super Guppy brought the crew-cabin section of the space-shuttle trainer that’s being assembled at MoF for display, but because it was piloted by a West Seattle High School alum, from the clas of 1972, astronaut Greg Johnson (cool onboard feature here).
Our partner The Seattle Times has more on the exhibit-in-the-works; today, you still have time to get over to be part of the festivities surrounding the arrival (till about 5 pm), which was delayed a bit from the original schedule. WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli is there for WSB and just sent this view as they begin to open the plane:
ADDED 2:37 PM: Craig Young has this view from West Seattle of the Super Guppy’s flyover – just after it passed over the other eye-catching star of the weekend, the Seattle Great Wheel:
(Click photo for larger view)
And from JayDee – his view as it flew over the 4th Avenue Costco lot (a popular place for viewing Boeing Field-bound aircraft):
More later! We should also note that the Super Guppy is scheduled to stay at the MoF till Monday morning, so you can see it if you go there Sunday, too.
ADDED 11:20 PM: More views – and info – from Christopher Boffoli’s coverage at the MoF for WSB:
The Super Guppy is the only aircraft of its kind still flying, cruising at about 200 knots, with four Allison T-56 501-D22C engines like those that power C-130s such as the Blue Angels’ Fat Albert.
It was preceded by a T-38 Talon, the standard NASA chase plane you might remember from shuttle landings, and accompanied to Boeing Field by a Lear Jet chase plane, flying over the airport around 10 till noon.
Capt. Johnson (U.S. Navy, Retired) says they went up over the city, over the Ballard Locks and part of Lake Washington, then flew an approach to Paine Field in Snohomish County, before landing at Boeing Field, with a crowd there to watch:
The plane taxied in and then shut down just at the edge of the taxiway where a tug pulled it to an unloading area set up just off the back parking lot of the Museum of Flight. They loaded the plane with fuel and then opened the nose of the aircraft, which is hinged on its port side.
Then they brought in an Air Force “Tunner 60K loader.”
Its deck elevates from 3.25 feet to 18.5 feet and has a power conveyor built into the top. The Tunner is about 50 feet long, with a maximum payload of 60,000 pounds.
The cargo compartment is 25 feet tall and 111 feet long. The plane can carry a maximum payload of more than 26 tons. There is 39,000 cubic feet of usable volume within the aircraft.
As for the shuttle crew compartment that it carried, it is 28.75′ long and weighs about 28,000 pounds, almost half the 60,000 pound capacity of the SG.
It was cradled in a steel truss system adding weight to the cargo. The steel truss system will return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston inside the Superguppy when it departs on Monday morning. Once the crew cabin was out of the cargo bay, the Tunner lowered it down and then took it across East Marginal Way to the new Charles Simonyi Space Gallery.
Cranes lifted the crew compartment off the Tunner and rolled it into the gallery through an enormous door on the back wall.
The next part of the Shuttle Trainer to arrive will be the payload bay, in the second of three planned Super Guppy flights to bring the trainer components here. Museum officials said they hope to have the exhibit complete and open by this November.
Notice the line of scooters outside Skylark Café and Club in North Delridge this morning? Paul from neighboring PB&J Textiles (WSB sponsor) did, and shared the photo. It was a brunch stop for the 25th annual Scooter Insanity, the Northwest’s longest-running annual rally of its kind (per its Facebook page). The schedule posted online by the local Westenders club shows the group was to head out on a Poker Run afterward, ending up on Capitol Hill this evening, and finishing the rally in Georgetown tomorrow.
You have another hour to get over to Admiral’s Umpqua Bank (WSB sponsor) branch to see if Arnold (above) and Brinkley (below) have found forever homes yet.
They are two of the dogs Saving Great Animals brought to today’s adopt-a-thon, continuing at Umpqua till about 1:30 pm. The branch is on California SW immediately north of Admiral Safeway.
Once they were shiny, new, cause for excitement in somebody’s home … right now, TVs, computer monitors, and other no-longer-wanted/needed/operable electronics are filling a truck at the West Seattle Junction Association-presented recycling/shredding event happening right now. It’s free, as is the shredding service also being offered:
You have about an hour to get to the lot in the 4500 block of 42nd SW (between Oregon and Alaska).
A day or so after we showed you the plastering operation that was the final stage of major renovation work at Colman Pool, local photographer/pilot Long Bach Nguyen shared that image of the pool partly filled. It’s since been completed – fully filled, too! – and reopens today, which is just one of the highlights from the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar:
REMEMBER – SOUTHBOUND VIADUCT/99 IS CLOSED … and scheduled to remain that way till 9 am Sunday.
EX-WEST SEATTLEITE ASTRONAUT PILOTS SUPER GUPPY TO MoF: Today is the day the not-far-from-West-Seattle Museum of Flight celebrates the arrival of the crew cabin from the space-shuttle trainer it’ll house in a permanent exhibit. As reported here 2 weeks ago, it’s arriving in a Super Guppy cargo plane piloted by astronaut Greg Johnson, a West Seattle High School alum. The whole day’s schedule, starting at 9:30 am, is on this page of the MoF website.
FREE ELECTRONICS RECYCLING & SHREDDING: The West Seattle Junction Association-presented event is happening 10 am-1 pm today in The Junction’s parking lot along 42nd SW between Alaska and Oregon. More details here.
PET ADOPTION EVENT: Room in your heart and home for a new friend? Go to Umpqua Bank (WSB sponsor) in Admiral (just north of Admiral Safeway) 10 am-1:30 pm today. Details here.
EXPLORE RIVERSIDE: Southwest Seattle Historical Society walking tour, with Judy Bentley and Frank Zuvela, 10 am-noon, learning about the fishing community founded near the mouth of the Duwamish River. Details here.
‘INVENTORY BLOWOUT’ PLANT SALE AT SSCC: 11 am-3 pm at Puget Ridge Garden Center on the north side of the campus (6000 16th SW), 30 percent off all plants.
COLMAN POOL REOPENS: Noon today is the first session of 2012 for the outdoor pool at Lincoln Park, which has undergone major renovations – new plaster, mostly new deck, new piping and electrical work and boiler and more – in recent months. Here’s its webpage, including a schedule link. (And here’s our most recent story about the renovations.)
K-5 STEM PLAYDATE: Families enrolled in or interested in West Seattle’s new public school are invited to a playdate at the south Lincoln Park playground, 2-3 pm today (details here).
WEST SIDE MUSIC ACADEMY BANDS @ SKYLARK: Thanks to the tipster who let us know that West Side Music Academy‘s rock bands – Rhythm Jam, Beginning Rock Band and Beginning Girl Band – will be performing at 4 pm at Skylark Café and Club (3803 Delridge Way SW). Free, all ages.
DUWAMISH TRIBAL SERVICES’ GALA DINNER/AUCTION: Tonight at the Duwamish Longhouse (4705 W. Marginal Way SW), 4:30-8 pm, it’s the benefit gala – details here.
GRAND OPENING PARTY: Cycle U (3418 Harbor SW) is throwing a grand-opening party at 6 pm in honor of its recent move.
LIVE MUSIC TONIGHT: The Twitch plays “unplugged rock” at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 6-8 pm … Acoustic blues at Kenyon Hall, Orville Johnson with Grant Dermody and John Miller, 7:30 pm … Disco Cowboys, John Hammock and the Rooster Run Band at Skylark, 9 pm … West Side Sally at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 9 pm … The Badlands, Local Dudes at The Benbow Room, 9 pm.
Way outside West Seattle, but of local note:
EMERALD DOWNS CELEBRATES ‘WEST SEATTLE BOY’: The 21-race-winning 13-year-old named West Seattle Boy is retiring at the South King County track, and special events galore are planned today – detailed here.
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