West Seattle, Washington
22 Thursday
More local fans! Starting with the ultimate pre-game rally, in Upper Alki:
Thanks to Barb for inviting us to her neighborhood, where members of the Seahawks’ drumline Blue Thunder played for a pregame rally a short time ago!
Yes, part of the group did go to Arizona. But others who stayed home had a few gigs like this one.
As for the neighbors – it’s not every Super Bowl Sunday you get to make some great memories BEFORE the game.
Elsewhere in West Seattle:
From the inbox, two more sets of young fans – from Manuela:
From Deborah:
Now, a case of fan creativity: Ian sent “a photo of West Seattle’s own Michelle Heck‘s snackadium. Note the iPhone jumbotron!”
And we just found this on Instagram – @Webcami’s photo from Alki:
Go, Hawks!
Oh so close to game time! Two more scenes of spirit – above, Lynn Hall spotted Seattle Fire crews in a photo-op moment at Don Armeni late this morning; below, another stunning view-above-the-clouds from Gatewood photographer/pilot Long Bach Nguyen:
editor@westseattleblog.com if you have something to share!
1:18 PM: Thanks to Janna for the heads-up: A crash on southbound I-5 just past the West Seattle Bridge is slowing down not only I-5 itself, but also the ramp from the bridge. If you are heading south, consider alternatives. P.S. If you want to check the status before leaving, the city’s Travelers’ Information Map has live video – go here, click “live traffic video” from the lower right, choose “Greater Duwamish” on the dropdown, and then choose the 4th/Spokane view.
1:41 PM UPDATE: The live-video feed shows the offramp and freeway moving at what looks like normal pace now.
Thanks to Heather for tweeting the photo and the news of two West Seattle entrepreneurs tying the knot – in the Super Bowl teams’ jerseys, no less: Naomi Gonzalez and Fran Dunaway, the West Seattleites who founded clothing company Tomboy Exchange in 2013, are newlyweds. Their Saturday wedding, according to a note on the Tomboy X website, was a surprise: “Everyone thought they were coming to play flag football but at halftime they sprung a surprise ceremony amongst their friends and family in Seattle.” Heather adds via Twitter that the game resumed after the wedding, and ended in a 27-27 tie.
Even the reader reports include a Super Bowl “theme” …
ANOTHER FLAG THEFT: We had one in the Saturday roundup, one in a comment, and then this came in today via text, with the photo above:
A warning for neighbors – someone just stole my husband’s 12th-man flag out of our front yard :-( We were home and heard the dog barking, but didn’t check because she also barks at cats a lot. To get the flag, this person had to climb up our porch and take it off the roof in a highly visible yard. Took it all, including the rusty flagpole we use for our Seafair pirate flag. Particularly sad after we spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to find one in a store. Anyway, just a reminder to others that nothing is sacred, even on Super Bowl Sunday. Watch your stuff.
FOUND ITEMS: Melanie didn’t mention where these turned up, but if you have had any of the following stolen recently, check with police:
Some items were left on the parking strip between my house and my neighbor’s house. A report has been made to the police, and the police will come by and pick up the items: … Shoes, bowling bag (no ball), trophy (broken), black shirt, baseball-type cap (with golf logo).
If any more Crime Watch reports come in today, we’ll add them to this roundup, so check back later!
ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: Almost missed this one from Brenda, sent Saturday night:
At 8 this morning went out and my CRV wasn’t in its usual parking place. Instead,
it was a little ways down the street, parked at an angle with the engine running. The front windshield was cracked by my club which they tried to remove. Car completely gone through with stuff everywhere. I don’t keep any valuables in the car and it appears as if nothing was stolen. They also opened my mailbox but nothing in it for them to take. Police notified and report taken. This was on the 9900 block of 33rd Ave., SW.
Inspired by those two proposed float designs (backstory here), West Seattle Hi-Yu‘s 2015 theme is “Sound Respect” – as in, respecting and caring for Puget Sound – and the next step is choosing a button design. Like the float, it’ll be chosen from community-generated designs brought to tomorrow night’s Hi-Yu meeting:
The button design does not have to include any or all of the elements. Use your imagination. Draw several ideas, with color, in a circle that is the size of a Hi-Yu button (2″ across the center of a round button) … After the button design is selected, a graphic designer will make the necessary adjustments to refine it for the button to be printed and the buttons will then be made for the 2015 Hi-Yu Festival.
Hi-Yu buttons are sold at events throughout the summer as a fundraiser for the all-volunteer nonprofit. Tomorrow night’s meeting is at 7 pm in the lower-level meeting room of Admiral Congregational Church (California/Hill).
Big snack spread planned for The Big Game? In honor of that abundance, here’s something more you can do in the next few hours: Score a touchdown against hunger by contributing to one or both of two local churches’ Super Bowl-linked food drives. Before 1 pm or so, take a nonperishable item or two or three or … to Tibbetts United Methodist Church (3940 41st SW; WSB sponsor; backstory here) and/or Peace Lutheran Church (39th/Thistle; backstory here).
P.S. The food drives are part of our West Seattle Super Bowl Spirit list – see it in full here.
They’re on the run again for a Super Bowl Sunday tradition – the West Seattle Fat Ass 25K/50K, billed as “a no-fee, no-shirt, no-aid, no-whining type event,” the most hard-core fun run of the year. It’s also “no roads closed,” so you’ll see the ~200 runners – including the group who sent the photo – along sidewalks and paths in the next few hours, one round-trip to/from Lincoln Park for the 25K, two for the 50K, scheduled to have started around 8 am.
Easy Street Records rocked tonight. Hard. Loud. Local. The band: Toe Tag. Our camera could only handle about half a minute:
They’re longtime musicians, but not fulltime – the lead singer has a day job you might know him from.
That’s Lord Zippy Blaine. Yes, THAT Zippy. But on this Saturday night, he and bandmates Steve (bass), Alex (guitar), and Chris (drums) were all about the music:
The occasion: New 11″ from Toe Tag, “Hide the Knives.”
If you didn’t catch Toe Tag at Easy Street tonight, they’re on the bill at the Benbow at 9 pm next Saturday.
Game Day is just hours away, and Seahawks spirit is everywhere. The Friday night fog couldn’t even stop it, as Craig Young‘s photo above shows – and the photo Mike Russell tweeted:
Sunset #fog from #WestSeattle was cool, but nighttime fog, well… #Seattle @space_needle @westseattleblog pic.twitter.com/CIeEKuazwC
— Mike Russell (@mikerussellfoto) January 31, 2015
This next photo was sent earlier today by the West Seattle Trader Joe’s crew:
And James shared this image of two young 12s in his household:
(added) Spirit at Denny International Middle School – assistant principal Patricia Rangel tweeted photos with the Lunch Ladies:
Cheering on @Seahawks with Denny Lunch Ladies. #GoHawks #SB49 @seapubschools @westseattleblog pic.twitter.com/iUBahcEwOx
— Patricia J Rangel (@dennydolphinap) January 31, 2015
Anything to add? editor@westseattleblog.com – meantime, here’s our list of notes, including where to watch. It’s not all-inclusive, so be aware that if you try to go anywhere after about 2:30 pm tomorrow, particularly restaurants that you wouldn’t expect to have the game on, you just might find them closed. It is a bit of a holiday, after all.
Last night at the West Seattle High School gym, we spotted that familiar-but-not-seen-for-a-while smile in the stands, someone especially familiar to those involved with local neighborhood groups – former longtime Neighborhood District Coordinator Stan Lock. Four years ago, in a round of Department of Neighborhoods changes/cuts, Stan was moved to the Central Area; earlier this month, a DoN rep told the Morgan Community Association (as reported here) that Stan had just retired. Last night, he confirmed it, saying he has no plans right now except to enjoy his first grandchild – a girl born to his daughter on New Year’s Eve. Stan told us he misses everybody he knew and worked with in West Seattle. He was at the game with his brother, a Garfield fan.
They’ve got rhythm! Our quick Instagram clip shows kids getting a demo drumming lesson from teacher Daisy at the grand-opening party for School of Rock-West Seattle (WSB sponsor).
Other demos and live performances are planned, along with door prizes and enrollment discounts, as the party continues through 6 pm at 4701 41st SW (outer east side of Jefferson Square, just south of SW Alaska).
P.S. If you’re a food-truck fan, the Cheese Wizards truck is there until 4.
The most recent reader reports – if you have information on these or any other cases, call 911:
STOLEN CAR: Federico‘s black Dodge Caliber, ANK8969, was taken overnight near California/Brandon.
(added) POSSIBLY STOLEN CAR, FOUND: Nicole reported it to police, but wanted to make note of it here too – a white 4-door Nissan Sentra, plate 035ZWO, at 35th/Henderson for more than 3 days, “contents are ransacked, bag of mail on the floor, body damage to passenger side, spare tire on front passenger side.”
(back to original roundup) STOLEN BICYCLE: Colton reports this was stolen near California/Hinds:
And a PS: “Only thing that’s different on the bike is that it now has a black seat post.”
STOLEN FLAG: On the eve of the big game, no less! Steve reports, “Sometime last night someone came up to our brightly lit driveway and stole my Seahawks flag that has been flying all season. The pole was in the neighbor’s yard…but no flag.”
CAR PROWLS: Emily reports, “Last night on the 1600 block of SW Massachusetts/Bonair/Sunset Avenue, two unlocked cars were gone through. Gloves and a flashlight were stolen, and an ignition was broken.” … Not far away, Melani reports, a trailer hitched to a truck was broken into … on the corner of Massachusetts and 44th.” Taken: Work tools, some heavy-duty, including a chop saw. … Earlier this week near 18th/Elmgrove, Alison reports, car prowlers took “two big boxes of diapers, about 250.”
(added) ANOTHER CAR PROWL: Just after we published this roundup, we got this from Russell, so we’re adding:
I just reported a theft from my truck parked on 41st Avenue SW near SW Monroe Street. The theft occurred between 10 pm last night (Jan. 30) and 8am this morning (Jan. 31). Most of my tools were left in place, however, a very expensive metering device was taken. It was in a black Pelican hard case. The meter is a GEM 2000 Gas Analyzer manufactured by Landtec North America. Serial number: 11456. Also taken was an aluminum clipboard with field notes in it, which I retrieved from a guy on 26th Avenue SW who called me to say it was in his front yard (my business card was inside), between the West Seattle Golf Course and Delridge Playfield. I filed the report with Officer N. Meyst, Incident #15-35175.
ADVICE FOR PREVENTING/DETERRING CAR PROWLS: From SPD’s Southwest/South Precincts Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon (who also discussed some of this at last week’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network meeting):
POLICE CHIEF HERE TUESDAY: Another reminder – 6:30 pm Tuesday at the SW Precinct (Webster/Delridge), you’re invited to Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole‘s first local “community conversation.”
This time next Saturday morning (February 7th), you could be out for a walk exploring some of the best views in West Seattle (or a different part of the city), during one of 14 tours that’ll be part of Seattle Stairway Walks Day, presented by Feet First. Three West Seattle routes are on the list this year:
*Longfellow/Pigeon Point tour
*Fauntleroy/Morgan tour
*Alki From Above tour
All 14 of the routes around the city are taken from West Seattleites Cathy & Jake Jaramillo‘s book, “Seattle Stairway Walks: An Up-and-Down Guide to City Neighborhoods.” The walks will all run 10 am-noon next Saturday; space is limited to 35 per walk – online signups are happening right now, so you can save your spot(s). Admission is by donation but “no one will be turned away,” says FF.
Thanks to Long Bach Nguyen for two more awesome photos of the beauty that rolled in along with Friday’s fog (above and a few paragraphs below). Now on to what’s up for today/tonight:
BENEFIT HAIRCUTS: Final Saturday for Delridge Community Center-benefit haircuts – look for the Airstream on the southeast side of DCC, with Rudy’s Barbershop stylists, 8:30 am-3:30 pm. (4501 Delridge Way SW)
GIVE A LIFE-SAVING GIFT: If you can donate blood, Westwood Village is hosting the Bloodmobile today, 9:30-noon and 1-3:30 pm, walk-up donors welcome, details here. (2600 SW Barton)
SUPER STRING SATURDAY! The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra-presented event, 10 am-1 pm, includes a mini-concert by the SYSO and more, plus West Seattle Community Orchestras say they’ll be on hand with their “instrument petting zoo” 9:30 am-11:30 am. It’s all happening at Chief Sealth International High School. (2600 SW Thistle)
NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS FOR CSO PROJECTS: 10:30 am-noon at SE corner of Delridge/Orchard, 1-2:30 pm on the west side of Barton Place/Henderson, neighbors are invited to come learn about the Seattle Public Utilities combined-sewer-overflow projects that are scheduled to get going soon – more (including maps) in our preview.
SCHOOL OF ROCK-WEST SEATTLE – GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION! 1-6 pm today, check out the brand-new School of Rock-West Seattle (WSB sponsor). Live music, door prizes, food truck selling gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches, registration deals – here’s the schedule. (4701 41st SW)
Then, as the evening continues…
FAUNTLEROY CHILI COOKOFF: 6 pm, chili and cornbread at Fauntleroy UCC Church – $7 gets you food and votes, to help decide whose chili wins! Meat and vegetarian options. (9140 California SW)
TOE TAG @ EASY STREET: 7 pm, longtime Northwest punk-rockers (including a well-known food dude) celebrate a new record release (“Hide the Knives”) with a live show in-store at Easy Street Records, free.
WESLEY WOO @ C & P: 7-9 pm, award-winning musician live at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) with roots in Motown, blues, alt-rock, free. (5612 California SW)
MORE MUSIC, PLUS THEATER, AND … see for yourself on the calendar.
At West Seattle High School on Friday night, the Wildcats played host to the Bulldogs. First, the girls-varsity team with yet another win:
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
That’s junior Lexi Ioane, who led with 18 points and 10 rebounds in WSHS’s 55-39 win over Garfield. Senior Emily Fiso was next with 15 points:
Junior Gabby Sarver, who led in assists with 6, was third in scoring, at 8 points:
In the nightcap, the boys-varsity team lost to Garfield, 82-58. Sophomore Nate Pryor topped the Wildcats’ scoring with 20:
Senior Andre Moore was next with 18:
The regular season wraps up with home games next Friday against Franklin – girls varsity at 6:30, boys at 8.
P.S. A “Blue Friday” sighting among the band:
Another busy Friday night of home games around the peninsula. First, at Chief Sealth International High School:
We caught up with the cheer squad for the first time in a while. They rallied the crowd through a nailbiter in the nightcap, as the Sealth boys-varsity team beat Roosevelt, coming back for a 54-51 victory, after being down 29-22 at halftime. Top scorer: Senior Ahmed Mohamed with 14, followed by Alloney Burris, also a senior, with 12.
Earlier, in the girls-varsity game:
That’s junior Allison Hadaway, who led scoring with 18 points, half the Seahawks’ total as they fell to the Rough Riders, 56-36.
The regular season ends next Friday night with Sealth hosting Eastside Catholic – girls varsity at 6:30, boys at 8.
(2012 WSB photo of Alki Homestead, with part of parking lot visible at left)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
If you own a city landmark, what you do with it is subject to a set of rules that can delve into details as minute as window trim.
And you usually have to go before the city Landmarks Preservation Board to get approval before renovations/changes. If they’re significant enough, before you ever get to the full board, you’ll need to deal first with a subset of the board, its Architectural Review Committee.
This morning on the 40th floor of the city Municipal Tower downtown, that committee met with someone who isn’t even a landmark owner yet: Prospective Alki Homestead (Fir Lodge) purchaser Dennis Schilling, who, as reported here earlier this week, has to decide soon whether to go ahead with a deal to buy the 111-year-old log structure, vacant since an electrical fire six years ago. He made it clear he is seeking reassurance that he won’t be buying himself a long-drawn-out process; toward the end of the discussion, he asked flat out, “How do I get to ‘yes’?”
He didn’t get a specific answer on that, but he did get positive feedback on the part of the proposal that had to be evaluated first:
Sunset splendor tonight, with the fog. Thanks for sharing photos! This one’s from Jeff:
From Cam:
From Mike, looking toward West Seattle from downtown:
And from Clay:
More fog in the forecast for tomorrow – but it’s expected to accompany clouds, no sun sightings, with rain to follow on Super Bowl Sunday.
(At 3:39, WSDOT’s video shows excavation on its final day, today)
Just in from WSDOT, the latest Highway 99 tunnel news: The pit being dug to lift out the tunneling machine’s damaged cutterhead has reached the desired depth, 120 feet.
… Approximately 20,000 cubic yards of material was removed from the ground over the course of excavation, which began in mid-October. With excavation complete, crews can begin construction of the concrete cradle at the bottom of the pit. The cradle will support the machine after it moves through the pit’s southern wall, which is about 20 feet thick.
STP plans to tunnel through the concrete wall. The length of time it takes Bertha to reach the pit will depend largely on her ability to mine through and digest the concrete. If she’s unable to mine through the wall, STP will create an opening from within the pit to give her an unobstructed path forward. Once inside the pit, crews will use the massive red gantry crane … to hoist the front end of the machine to the surface for repairs.
Today’s update also says, “Settlement levels near the pit remain stable.”
(WSDOT photo)
Meantime, for more info on that giant crane – which you’ve likely noticed right next to the Viaduct downtown – check out Seattle Times (WSB partner) transportation reporter Mike Lindblom‘s story from two weeks ago.
(WSB photo)
Lot of questions came in about a police/fire response at California/Admiral a little while ago. We got there as it was breaking up, and here’s what police told us: They were called about a man who was yelling unintelligibly. But he didn’t commit a crime, and wasn’t in need of medical attention, so they all wound up leaving, as did he.
The recent “One Night Count” showed 2,800 people sleeping on the streets of Seattle. City leaders agree there has to be someplace for them to go, and Mayor Murray is pursuing a proposal to allow more encampments. Under the zoning-related rules in his proposed ordinance, they could be allowed in The Junction, at Westwood Village, even, ironically, on the site long home to the encampment calling itself “Nickelsville” until the city evicted its residents more than a year ago. The agenda made public today for a City Council committee meeting next week includes the map you see above, showing the areas of the city where Mayor Murray’s new proposed policy would allow up to 3 “transitional encampments” at any one time. Click the image to see the full PDF version, which you can use to zoom all the way in to specific streets and blocks. It’s in essence a zoning map, as the gist of his proposal is to allow them in “Industrial, NC2, NC3, Commercial (C),Downtown (except DMR, PSM and IDR), and Seattle Mixed Zones.” But this wouldn’t just mean someone can show up, set up a tent and start an encampment – there are a variety of other rules in the proposal, about how they would be managed, how close encampments could be to each other, and more – see documents here and here. While those documents are for a briefing at 2 pm next Tuesday during a meeting of the Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee, the committee’s public hearing isn’t scheduled until 5:30 pm February 26th – here’s the official notice. P.S. Here’s the list of currently authorized encampments in Seattle.
The actual raising of the 1,500-square-foot “12” flag at Delridge/Andover was only one of the attractions during today’s midday rally, second year in a row, co-presented by two companies with their corporate headquarters in West Seattle’s biggest office building, Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) and Bartell Drugs. The crowd yielded sights such as the 12th Dude:
The 12th Buzzcut:
And of course, many variations of Skittles:
The flag made its debut last year, just before the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl win. Here’s hoping it’s a 1,500-square-foot good-luck charm helping them “Re-Pete.”
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