Totem-pole touch-up at West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park

(WSB photo: Artech’s Shawn Nordfors and Roger Waterhouse)
A few days after the second anniversary of the West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park totem-pole re-dedication, the pole got a touch-up today. Visiting West Seattle to get the job done: Roger Waterhouse and Shawn Nordfors from Artech, the Renton-based firm that restored it in 2010, months after the bizarre theft-and-recovery saga ended.

Their work today at the park (35th/Alaska) left it shining in the late-morning sun:

By now, the light preservative they applied has likely soaked all the way in; they cleaned the pole first, and did some paint touchup afterward. We stopped by just as they were wrapping up:

Roger told us the Rotary Viewpoint Park pole is in great shape – evident if you look closely at features like the “paws” toward the bottom:

An even closer look at its base is revealing because of what you don’t see – no moss, no sign that the pole has been permeated with new moisture.

Since it was in such good shape, they needed less than half the 3 1/2 hours they originally scheduled for the job, and packed up, planning to check back on it in another 2 years or so. As reported here after the pole’s brief absence in late 2009, it was carved in 1976 by Robin Young, a Native American who at the time taught woodcarving at Highline Community College, and donated to the city along with the park site by the Rotary Club of West Seattle.

10 Replies to "Totem-pole touch-up at West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park"

  • LatteRose August 15, 2012 (8:40 pm)

    Wow, it looks great!

  • dsa August 15, 2012 (9:12 pm)

    I noticed how great it looks riding by today. I wish the Admiral one looked better than it does even though it is a youngster.

  • Kelly August 15, 2012 (10:13 pm)

    This makes me happy every time I see it. Thanks to everyone involved in keeping it in shape (not to mention in it’s rightful place!)

  • old timer August 15, 2012 (11:49 pm)

    Thanks for keeping things on display WSB.
    These things – the totem, it’s care, and the community’s recognition of it all, help so much to make West Seattle a special place.

  • rico August 16, 2012 (7:30 am)

    I sure hope this is being paid for by the Ass&%$#@ who stole it a few years ago, and who received no punishment. What was his name again?

  • Brian M. August 16, 2012 (1:13 pm)

    So glad to see the totem pole in it’s rightful place, rather than in the vacation home of the suspected North Admiral thief!

  • I. Ponder August 16, 2012 (2:19 pm)

    “So glad to see the totem pole in it’s rightful place, rather than in the vacation home of the suspected North Admiral thief!”

    He wasn’t suspected. He stole it outright, was caught, and made a plea bargain.

    He is a thief and always will be.

  • love August 16, 2012 (11:33 pm)

    It’s beautiful.

  • West Seattle person August 17, 2012 (8:54 am)

    The story of that theft still amazes me. An ultimate example of people with some serious nerve. Still bothers me he got to buy himself out of it.

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