West Seattle Car Show is saved! New community-suggested location

(WSB photo from 2014 West Seattle Car Show)
When the new presenters of the West Seattle Car Show had to regretfully announce one month ago that it wouldn’t happen this year, because the streets in The Junction wouldn’t be available, community commenters suggested South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) as an alternative. And now – it’s happening! Just in:

Swedish Automotive and West Seattle Autoworks are pleased to announce that the 2015 car show will happen on Sunday, September 13th, at South Seattle College! We are excited about this new collaboration with the college and thank the West Seattle Community for the idea. Registration and more information to follow soon!

WSAW and Swedish (both WSB sponsors) took over the show after its founder and longtime organizer Michael Hoffman died suddenly last year at age 47, and last September’s show was the biggest one yet.

WSince86 June 3, 2015 (4:58 pm)

That’s the BEST news I’ve read in a long time !

Rick June 3, 2015 (5:08 pm)

Great news. It’s unfortunate it can’t stay in the Junction but I’d guess that the 7-11 by the fire station in that area will have a busy day. Great work guys!

dsa June 3, 2015 (5:08 pm)

South is an excellent location. Here is Sept sched:

http://www.moseslakeclassiccarclub.com/id28.html

Rick June 3, 2015 (5:10 pm)

Great news. It’s unfortunate it can’t stay in the Junction but I’d guess that the 7-11 by the fire station in that area will have a busy day. Great work guys! I don’t believe the 128 runs to the school on weekends, maybe Metro would extend the run for the day?

JayDee June 3, 2015 (5:39 pm)

Get the Food Truck Rodeo going and have the SSC Wine program throw open their doors, though they may serve merlot…

miws June 3, 2015 (5:46 pm)

Wow! And Yay!!

Huge, huge thanks to Swedish Automotive and West Seattle Autoworks!

And double yay, that Metro route 125 will start Sunday service as of this coming Saturday’s shake-up. Otherwise, I likely wouldn’t be able to make it, as the walk from Holden to the College and back would be a bit much, especially the hill southbound.

Rick, you could take the 128 to 16th & Holden, cross 16th, and catch the northbound 125. If there would be too long of a wait to transfer, another option would be the “C”, to Westwood, (or even the 22, maybe), then catch the 125 at the bus stop by Bank of America, across from the DMV.

Mike

LBJ June 3, 2015 (6:03 pm)

To one and all hoping to attend; Metro does NOT run by the College on any route on Sundays. Just sayin’

Tbone June 3, 2015 (7:09 pm)

AWESOME!!!

AJ June 3, 2015 (7:30 pm)

That’s great news! Yes, food trucks/booths and wine, please! This could be a good opportunity for SSC to show off its Culinary Arts and NW Wine Academy programs.

themightyrabbit June 3, 2015 (7:34 pm)

Fantastic news. The junction’s going to miss out on the extra revenue and might want to reconsider that choice. We’ll frequent businesses closer to the college instead. Good news all round.

West Seattle Hipster June 3, 2015 (7:48 pm)

Thanks for reporting this WSB, and thanks SCC.
.

Dreams do come true.

West Seattle since 1979 June 3, 2015 (8:13 pm)

Great news!

miws June 3, 2015 (8:46 pm)

LBJ, that has been true for some time now, but beginning this coming Saturday the 6th, Metro is restoring Sunday service on the 125:

http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/sc/rideralert/2015/june/route-revisions.html

Mike

jason June 3, 2015 (9:12 pm)

That is great news.

I still don’t understand why the car show at the junction won’t work. When the West Seattle Street Fair takes up an entire weekend, and the sunday farmers market takes up the junction every sunday to have their events, how is a single day car show once a year not viable?

Anne June 3, 2015 (9:44 pm)

I can’t remember why the car show can’t be in the junction- but maybe because the farmers market will move permanently to Calif Ave Sunday’s starting in mid-June ?
Moving to South Seattle is an awesome alternative – hope it becomes a yearly event there.

KT June 3, 2015 (10:08 pm)

We have beaten the “Why no car show” topic to death in a previous WSB article. But I must say that looking around at the development and seeing the attitude of the Merchants Assoc, one wonders when the soul will be completely sucked out of West Seattle?

Curtis June 3, 2015 (10:12 pm)

This is terrific. Thank you Tracy – this is 100% due to the West Seattle Blog and the high level of community involvement you foster here. I suspect that the car show will be back in the Junction next year unless the food truck rodeo turns out to be a big event as well (which could very well happen). Either Way, I’ll be sure to visit the show this year just as a show of support.

Me June 3, 2015 (10:41 pm)

I will attend too bc the cars are fun but even more so, I hate the idea of West Seattle losing its soul…..and losing this car show is an indicator we have!

LBJ June 4, 2015 (5:34 am)

Mike – thanks for the Metro link. But it says ‘Route 125
On weekends, service frequency will improve to every 30 minutes between about 6:30 am and 6:30 pm’ That doesn’t say restored on Sunday to me.

miws June 4, 2015 (7:28 am)

LBJ, on Saturday, or after, check the 125 schedule on Metro’s website, (or grab a paper one if you run across it in the next couple of days), it will show actual Sunday service on the 125, which I believe existed before, but was eliminated at some point. Saturday service was changed to every 45 minutes.

On one of the recent WSB articles regarding the upcoming Metro changes, I was telling somebody about the restored service, but in the explanations, didn’t really commit to absolutes, in case I had misread, or misunderstood something along the way of Metro’s mentions of the proposed, then implemented changes.

BUT, I picked up a paper schedule yesterday, and it indeed shows restored Sunday service, as well restored 30 minute service on Saturdays. I believe the schedule shows buses leaving the Westwood Terminal at around :01 and :31, throughout both days, with the last run of the day leaving at 6:31 pm.

The only thing I don’t know for sure, is if the buses will pull all the way up into the College, or drop off at the street level stop northbound.

I don’t ride the 125 as far as the College very often, but recall one time the bus stopped at street level on a Saturday, when I’m pretty sure before they went up into the College. But that may have been driver error.

Mike

JcK June 4, 2015 (7:56 am)

Great news, hubby will be happy. And I love West Seattle. I love that most of the comments about a *car* show are how to catch the bus there!! Truly wonderful.

Alan June 4, 2015 (9:06 am)

@Mike and LBJ – I started to post this before I saw Mike’s confirmation. Yay. Mike is right on the restored Sunday service for the 125. Otherwise the wording should have been that the improvement was for Saturday, rather than for the weekend.

The 128 cannot serve the school on weekends because the south gates are closed and it needs that loop to turn around. The 125 did (hopefully will) serve it with the street stops located by campus.

We lost all of our Sunday service in two steps. The first step was to extend the 128 route to continue on to Alki. With no need to turn around, it could serve the school on weekends. They decided that meant we didn’t need the 125 to run on Sunday, as we could use the 128 and transfer to the 120. Then cutbacks eliminated the extension of the 128 route and failed add back the 125 Sunday service. Suddenly some were as much as a hilly mile away from service on Sunday.

Alan June 4, 2015 (9:12 am)

@JayDee – If they serve Merlot, it will be the 2012 Merlot, which just won Gold at the Seattle Wine Awards.
http://www.seattlewineawards.com/seattle-wine-awards-winners

All of their winnings:
GOLD 2012 NW Wine Academy Merlot Sagemoor, CV
BRONZE 2012 NW Wine Academy Sangiovese, YV
GOLD 2013 NW Wine Academy Zinfandel, HHH
DOUBLE GOLD 2013 NW Wine Academy Wyckoff Chardonnay, YV
DOUBLE GOLD 2014 NW Wine Academy Muller Thurgau, PS

Alan June 4, 2015 (9:16 am)

I should have also mentioned that I wouldn’t wait until the car show to stop by and taste the Northwest Wine Academy wines. The Wine Academy Spring Release starts today at 3 and continues through Saturday. This is always a fun event.
http://nwwineacademy.com/

WSB June 4, 2015 (9:24 am)

Thanks, Alan, I think we have that in our calendar, checking. Meantime, you might know this, but for anyone else head-scratching over the mention of merlot, it’s a WSB meme of sorts, relating back to a story (which drew 144 comments) which could be memorialized as “how NOT to announce your new restaurant.” (The restaurant in question closed after a few months.) https://westseattleblog.com/2013/03/west-seattle-restaurants-alkis-bada-bistro-plans-to-open-next-week

miws June 4, 2015 (9:46 am)

Alan, I definitely agree Metro’s wording on that should have been clearer. Would have saved a lot of confusion!

Mike

Alan June 4, 2015 (10:45 am)

@WSB and JayDee

I knew JayDee was being humorous. I didn’t know about the Bada Bistro Merlot fiasco, which was hysterical to read. Who know there was such passion in WS for Merlot?

Ironically, the 2012 Merlot is the only school wine that has been available for some time. Everything else sold out quickly. Until today, when they release five new wines.

For anyone interested in tasting the school’s gold winning Zin or the double-gold winning Chard, the only place I know you can get it is at HPIC tomorrow night. And hear some great music as well.
http://www.hpic1919.org/hpic-corner-bar-welcomes-mctuff-and-welcomes-back-dj-rich-this-friday-65/

Lindsey June 4, 2015 (11:12 am)

Tracy is being humble here saying “community” members suggested alternatives. It was WSB readers! I second Curtis’s thanks for fostering a wonderful community here and providing a space for neighbors to come together. You guys rock.

sam-c June 4, 2015 (11:52 am)

Wow! thanks for the confirmation miws and Alan. Such great info here in the comments. When I read that Metro update, it wasn’t clear to me that 125 Sunday service was restored. That’s great!

though we will be able to walk to the car show, it will be nice to be able to catch the 125 to go downtown on Sundays again…(The walk along hilly Oregon/22nd/21st/Dawson with kids and toddlers is too exhausting and terrifying with cars whizzing by at 30 mph and no separation between the 5′ sidewalk and the street.)

LBJ June 4, 2015 (1:40 pm)

THANK YOU, MIKE!! I did it, too! It will be so awesome for us SSC neighbors to have Sunday bus service again!!!!! Thanks again, Mike!

miws June 4, 2015 (2:16 pm)

You’re welcome sam-c and LBJ!

Mike

Mat June 4, 2015 (2:18 pm)

The timing doesn’t seem great, that’s the same day as the LeMay Museums Concours d’Elegance which is arguably one of the more important car shows in the state for the year: https://www.americascarmuseum.org/event/pnw-concours-delegance/

WSB June 4, 2015 (2:56 pm)

Interesting. Looks like the two were a week apart last year. Don’t know how much overlap they get in terms of those showing off their cars but I do notice one huge difference – a $35 admission fee ($30 in advance) for the Tacoma show, while this has been free since the start.

AJP June 4, 2015 (5:49 pm)

What great news! If the auto programs join in, then I think it’s really terrific. I don’t think West Seattle loses its soul if the location moves. Geez people.

Gary June 5, 2015 (2:26 pm)

I presume that having this car show at the college will also have easier parking for those of us who attend? It would be nice since the junction was really hard to find a parking place. I might be there but also see the Edmonds show is the same day so who knows.However it is closer at the college coming from the south end.Glad the show is on and this might be real good location for it.

Gary June 6, 2015 (3:15 pm)

I was at the Duvall BIG rock car show today talking to several about the WS show being on now and moved to the college.Most people said while it’s nice the show will go on this year,the college location is too far from any business and that itself “might” be a draw against using the college next year.It’s a done deal for 2015 __but___a lot of people I know who have cars at car shows say that next year,2016,the sponsors should check into having the car show at the WestWood Village on SW Barton street.There you have places that sell food,etc and the parking lot and the street to the north side (next to the school field) could both be used to display cars.This is something that needs to looked into,especially if the college location doesn’t work good this year.But for now,the car show needs plenty of advertising,online and with flyers being passed out at the upcoming car shows.I did all the flyer work last year going to shows all over this area and the 2014 WS show was the best they ever had.Will that happen again??….stay tuned.

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