day : 31/07/2016 7 results

(Photos by Ellen Hoke, courtesy The Great Pacific Race)

Another achievement for the West Seattle-residing ocean rower who holds world records including having become the first solo human-powered global circumnavigator: Erden Eruç and a rowing partner completed The Great Pacific Race, billed by its organizers as “the world’s ultimate endurance challenge.” Eruç and Louis Bird, as the Sons of the Pacific team, made the ~2,400-nautical-mile crossing from Monterey, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii in 54 days and 42 minutes, arriving last Thursday.

Eruç had joined the team days before departure, after Bird’s original partner had to drop out because of illness. The two connected after Bird met Eruç’s wife Nancy Board at a memorial service in San Francisco, and Eruç said he felt he had to fill in, “as an elder in the sport of ocean rowing.” (He celebrated his 55th birthday during the race.) Bird is the son of ocean-rowing legend Peter Bird, who set a record with 938 days of ocean rowing before being lost at sea when his son was just 4 – Eruç has come close to that with 933 days in all after this trip.

This was the second running of The Great Pacific Race; the first was in 2014, the next scheduled for 2018. This year, it had six teams of two or four rowers, all starting the journey on June 4th; Eruç and Bird were the fourth to finish (the first was a four-person crew) and the last finishers are due in Hawaii tomorrow.

(Thanks to Vlad Oustimovitch for the tip on this!)

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Sign torched; stolen, priceless bicycle; recognize these golf clubs?

July 31, 2016 7:32 pm

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| Crime | West Seattle news

In West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports tonight:

SIGN ARSON: Within the past half-hour, somebody set a political sign on fire in Gunner‘s yard in Highland Park (7500 block 12th SW). It was a sign for 7th District Congressional candidate Brady Piñero Walkinshaw. A neighbor saw it on fire and knocked on the door to sound the alert; no suspect description. Police have been called. Gunner says another yard sign (for Vision Zero) was untouched.

SHOTS OR FIREWORKS? Several people have e-mailed today about hearing possible gunfire from south Admiral to south of The Junction to Morgan Junction early this morning. The latter appeared to be fireworks, around 4:20 am, according to one person who says she saw the flashes. No confirmed gunfire reports on the SPD log so far, and we can definitively say no shooting victim(s) turned up.

STOLEN BICYCLE WITH EXTRA SENTIMENTAL VALUE: Have you seen this old, but priceless, bike stolen from Justin?

It was stolen out of a secured parking area on California near Morgan Junction Friday night. It’s a green, men’s, mountain-bike style bicycle with no name label. It was built at home with a kit. It does have a Marin County bicycle sticker on it (pink on the sticker). It’s heavy and has toe-clips (not for clip-in shoes). The black handle bars have extensions (also black). It has 26-inch wheels currently with Ritchie slick tires. It has (had) a red Canondale pouch under the seat. Still in good condition, but it’s over 20 years old. My late uncle built it and I’d really like it back.

FOUND, LIKELY STOLEN, GOLF CLUBS: Jessica sent the photo and report:

(Saturday) evening I found a set of golf clubs that had been dumped in an alley between 34th and 35th SW. They were apparently stolen, because the pockets of the bag were strewn about. They are in a blue Wilson Staff bag and one of the clubs is engraved for Travis.

P.S. – NIGHT OUT: Having a Night Out block party on Tuesday? Let us know, so we can potentially stop by for a photo! We’ll also welcome your photos and party updates – editor@westseattleblog.com, texted to 206-293-6302, or tweeted/Instagrammed with a tag to us @westseattleblog – thanks!

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Find It, Fix It followup, plus crime/safety focus group, @ Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council tomorrow

July 31, 2016 5:33 pm

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| Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

One week after a delegation of city officials led by Mayor Ed Murray walked from the Longfellow Creek P-Patch to Roxhill Park – has the Find It, Fix It Walk changed anything? Will it? A followup discussion focused on grants related to the walk is one of two major agenda items for tomorrow night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting.

(WSB photo, July 25th Find It, Fix It Walk)

Lemmis Stephens, an AmeriCorps team worker on the Find It, Fix It team, at right in photo above, will be there. (The grant applications are here – deadline next Wednesday, August 3rd.) Monday’s 6:15 pm meeting upstairs at Southwest Library (35th/Henderson) also will include a “focus group” on crime/safety/policing issues for the area served by WWRHAH, with SW Precinct researcher Jennifer Burbridge. All welcome, whether you want to join in the discussion or sit in the corner and observe.

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BIZNOTE: Grand opening tomorrow for David Goad Violins

July 31, 2016 2:52 pm

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| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

Thanks to Miranda for the tip: Another music shop is opening in West Seattle. Tomorrow is grand-opening day for David Goad Violins (at ActivSpace, 3400 Harbor SW). The shop handles “sales, rental, repair, and restoration of stringed instruments … violin, viola, cello, and bass as well as bows.”

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UPDATE: Students’ annual bake sale benefiting animal advocacy

July 31, 2016 12:30 pm

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| How to help | Pets | West Seattle news

Thanks to Andrea for the photo of Gwen and Muriel toward the start of their fourth annual Seattle Humane Society-benefiting bake sale – a tradition they started as fourth-graders! – now at the halfway point (scheduled to continue until 3 pm). Even if you’re not up for home-baked treats, you are also welcome to stop by and donate cat and/or dog food and/or toys, or $/checks for the Humane Society. Find them at 36th/Dakota (map).

5:44 PM UPDATE: From Andrea:

Huge thanks to the West Seattle community for their awesome support today! These dedicated young ladies raised $457 for the Seattle Humane Society through today’s bake sale!!

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West Seattle Junction history: Andy’s Barber Shop

July 31, 2016 11:11 am

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| West Seattle history | West Seattle news

Remember the work at Talarico’s Pizza that briefly uncovered a decades-old Schuck’s sign back in May? Here’s a little more history from that block in The Junction:

Mariann Petersen shared the photo of her father, Alfred “Andy” Anderson, via e-mail: “I am sending a photo taken sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s. It is a photo of my father standing in front of his barber shop at the Junction. He was there before Schuck’s Auto Parts. He moved farther south on California Ave to make way for Schuck’s. You can see a reflection of a very old car in the window.”

Mr. Anderson retired in 1982 – figuring, according to a Seattle Times clip that his daughter shared, that he was the oldest active barber in the city. That was 14 years before he died in 1996 at age 90.

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West Seattle Sunday: Benefit bake sale; low-low tide; ukulele & handbell concerts; more…

July 31, 2016 8:55 am

| Comments Off on West Seattle Sunday: Benefit bake sale; low-low tide; ukulele & handbell concerts; more…

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Great Blue Heron grooming off Constellation Park, photographed in mid-July by Matt Olson)

Happy Sunday! From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for today/tonight:

LOW-LOW TIDE WITH BEACH NATURALISTS: 9:30 am-12:30 pm, volunteer beach naturalists from Seattle Aquarium will be out at Constellation and Lincoln Parks to assist low-tide explorers. (Today’s low-low tide is -1.7 feet at 9:36 am.)

BENEFIT BAKE SALE: 10 am-3 pm, it’s the fourth year that Gwen and Muriel (now Madison Middle School students) are having a benefit bake sale for the Seattle Humane Society – cupcakes, cookies, brownies, more – cash, or checks made out to SHS, which will receive all proceeds. They also will have a SHS to collect cat/dog food (dry or wet), animal toys, and/or new scratching posts. (36th SW/SW Dakota)

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: Summer freshness continues, 10 am-2 pm in The Junction. (California SW between SW Oregon and SW Alaska)

PLAY GAMES! Noon-6:30 pm, see the right side of the Meeples Games (WSB sponsor) home page for the list of groups playing there today – or just drop in! (3727 California SW)

LAST LIGHTHOUSE TOUR FOR TWO WEEKS: No Alki Point Lighthouse tours on Seafair’s big weekend – next weekend – so today, 1-4 pm, is your last chance to visit until mid-August. (Alki SW/Beach Drive SW)

UKULELE JAZZ, ROCK, LOUNGE, HAWAIIAN, REGGAE … that’s what you can expect to hear from Arden Fujiwara at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) 3-5 pm. (5612 California SW)

KOBE YMCA HANDBELL CHOIR: 6:30 pm at Fauntleroy UCC/YMCA, a benefit concert by this internationally renowned group of 15 ringers (six octaves!) – details in our calendar listing. (9140 California SW)

LOOK AHEAD INTO AUGUST … by visiting our complete calendar page.

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