The Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s next “Words, Writers, & Southwest Stories” presentation is Thursday, online. If you register, you’ll get to see and hear longtime Seattle broadcaster Ross Reynolds talk about “How Audio Technology Changed the World.” Here’s the announcement:

“Words, Writers, & Southwest Stories,” a speaker series of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, is pleased to announce that it is hosting veteran broadcaster Ross Reynolds for a live Zoom presentation on Thursday, November 10th at 6 PM.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Although we live in a visual world, audio still has the power to create intimacy and spark the imagination like no other medium can. Veteran broadcaster Ross Reynolds explores the impact that audio transmission has had on society and storytelling, beginning with the first century of radio up to the modern age of audiobooks, internet streaming, podcasts, and smart speakers. How has audio transmission changed society, and what makes it such a still powerful form of communication?

Attendees will be encouraged to share stories of their formative audio experiences.

Ross Reynolds (he/him) is an interviewer, moderator, and convener. He recently served as KUOW’s executive producer for community engagement, before which he was a program host for 16 years. His awards include the 2011 Public Radio News Directors First Place in the call-in category for Living in a White City. In 2015, he was named to the University of Washington Communication Alumni Hall of Fame. Reynolds lives in Seattle.

Registered participants will be emailed a link to the presentation on the date of the event.

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society has words of gratitude as well as questions for you:

The Southwest Historical Society would like to send a big THANK YOU to the many supporters for funding the new roof on the Log House Museum! Members of the board of trustees, facilities committee members, advisory board members, former Executive Directors and volunteers gathered for a big group-hug photo to celebrate the new roof and the next 30-plus years of protection for the 114-year-old Log House!

As the Society looks ahead to the next 30 years, the community is invited to share their ideas for the Future of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Click here to take the survey.

P.S. Though the roof work is complete, the Log House Museum will remain closed to the public through the end of this month.

(Southwest Seattle Historical Society photo)

History fans are going to have to wait until November for their next look into our area’s past. Just got word that the Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s Log House Museum is closed to the public for the rest of October because the city-landmark building is getting a new roof.

That’s a historic photo of what was the Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist, at 42nd/Lander, more recently known as The Sanctuary at Admiral. In 2009, the city Landmarks Preservation Board designated it as an official city landmark. It’s spent much of the time since then as an event venue, but now it’s up for sale – one of two city landmarks in West Seattle that are currently on the market, along with the Campbell Building in The Junction. The Sanctuary is a 9,000-sf building on a 10,000-sf lot, according to the brochure for the $3.5 million listing, which touts the 93-year-old building’s “endless potential.”

(2015 photo by Long Bach Nguyen)

Heads up in case you were thinking of touring the historic Alki Point Lighthouse this Sunday – it won’t be open because the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers who make the tours possible will be involved with supporting safety and outreach during Seafair,” explains Debra Alderman from the Auxiliary. The free tours are scheduled to continue for the remaining summer Sundays after that, though, through Labor Day weekend – find tour info here.

(Southwest Seattle Historical Society photo)

The home of West Seattle’s history, the Log House Museum at 61st/Stevens, is about to reopen its doors to the public after its latest pandemic-precautionary closure. The Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s interim director Maggie Kase sent the announcement:

We are very excited to announce that the Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s Log House Museum will be re-opening to the public Friday, April 8th, 2022. Our hours of operation are 12:00 to 4:00 pm Friday-Saturday. Face coverings are still required in the Log House Museum for all visitors age 5 and older regardless of vaccination status. No appointment required, walk-ins welcome. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Information on visiting the museum is here.

P.S. You can learn more about the SWSHS in the latest episode of Keith Bacon‘s podcast All Ways West Seattle.

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

For the first time since its move from a redevelopment site, the Stone Cottage welcomed a crowd of visitors this morning. Historic Seattle is hosting events that spotlight recipients of its Preservation Awards, and the volunteer group that rescued the stone-studded beach bungalow is among them. So this morning – seven months after the specialty moving firm Nickel Bros towed it off its original site – more than three dozen people gathered at the Port of Seattle lot where the century-old house, up on blocks and behind fencing, awaits its future.

Three West Seattleites from Save The Stone Cottage LLC told its story. Entrepreneur John Bennett recapped its history, from how its quirky owner Eva Falk decided to cover it in rocks, to how local advocates first tried to buy it 20 years ago to the recent rescue operation.

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(Undated photo from landmark-nomination document)

Five years after local preservation advocates got two buildings in the heart of the West Seattle Junction designated as city landmarks, one of them is up for sale – the Campbell Building on the northeast corner of California/Alaska. A check of commercial real-estate listings shows the century-old brick-clad building went on the market Thursday for an asking price of $6 million. It’s a mixed-use building, with apartments and offices over business spaces, including the three currently occupied by Cupcake Royale, City Mouse, and Shanghai Hair Studio. Landmark designation does not necessarily guarantee preservation of a building; the listing for this one notes, “NC3P-95 Zoning allows a significant development opportunity for one of the most important corners in the Junction.” By vote of the city Landmarks Board in April 2017, the exterior of the building was declared a landmark, but not the interior; elsewhere in the city – Capitol Hill, for example – redevelopment projects have preserved historic facades at the bottom of new buildings. As reported in our 2017 coverage of the Campbell Building designation, the building’s been owned by the same family for almost 80 years, and they did not object to the designation. (Here’s the city document on the building’s landmark status.)

(WSB file photo)

The landmark Log House Museum on Alki is home to the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, which is looking for new staff leadership:

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society has begun a search for a new Executive Director who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the society, including the Log House Museum, focusing on its fundraising, community outreach, administration, and financial management.

The society’s mission is to preserve and promote local history through education, preservation, and advocacy. Per our mission, and because we are committed to welcoming and affirming a diverse community, it is our priority to incorporate Diversity, Equity, Acessibility and Inclusion (DEAI) into every area of our operations, exhibits, and programming.

We would like candidates to have knowledge and appreciation for the history of the Duwamish Peninsula and to understand the role the society plays in the community – to help us be aware of, understand, and appreciate the stories and contributions of each neighborhood, from Alki to the Alaska Junction to White Center and South Park.

We are grateful to our previous Executive Director, Michael King, who navigated our organization through the pandemic, ably pivoting our programs from in person to online, at the same time building more robust and diverse offerings. We congratulate him on his new opportunity with the Washington State Historical Society.

Preference will be given to applications received before April 8, 2022.

For the full job description and how to apply, go here.

Thursday night is the next Words, Writers, Southwest Stories presentation from the Southwest Seattle Historical Society – this time, an online conversation involving two well-known West Seattleites:

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society is excited to announce that it is hosting John Bennett and Clay Eals in conversation for a live Zoom presentation on Thursday, March 10 at 6:00 PM.

John Bennett, author of “The Shyvers Multiphone Story” and a longtime sponsor and board member of the historical society, will be interviewed by Clay Eals, a founding member and former executive director of the historical society. Registration is required. Register here.

Bennett’s 152-page, large-format book, illustrated with hundreds of photos and news and magazine clippings, recounts the fascinating history of a little-known precursor to the jukebox. First called the Shyvers Music Phone and later the Shyvers Multiphone, this Seattle-based invention was placed in restaurants and bars. It allowed a patron to drop a nickel into a slot and select a song to be heard on a speaker as transmitted by phone lines from a 78rpm record that was played by a “hostess” at a centralized, remote location.

The Shyvers Music Phones and Multiphones were popular in the 1940s and 1950s, and they were showcased in the 1949 Doris Day film “My Dream Is Yours.” Their demise followed a music-industry transition to 45rpm records and high-quality jukeboxes. Today, Shyvers Music Phones and Mulitphones are treasured collectibles. Bennett, who operated a jukebox repair and sale business called Jukebox City in Seattle in the 1980s, parlayed his interest in coin-operated music devices and passion for historic preservation into publishing this handsome and evocative book, released in fall 2021. Providing key editing and design assistance was John’s sister, Jane Bennett. The book is for sale via eBay.

You might also know John Bennett for his West Seattle restaurant Luna Park Café as well as his preservationist activities such as participating in saving the Stone Cottage. Eals is a longtime journalist and author whose work includes the well-regarded biography “Steve Goodman: Facing the Music,” now in its sixth printing.

(August 18, 2021, reader photo by Rachel)

Heard about this last night at the Alki Community Council meeting and confirmed it today with Historic Seattle: The preservationist group is presenting a visit to the temporary site of the historic Stone Cottage on March 12th, with tickets available now. It’s the first chance for an update since the quirky structure’s move exactly half a year ago. Participants will include some of the local volunteers/advocates who worked for years to save it from facing demolition when its Harbor Avenue site was sold for redevelopment. The event is in-person, in West Seattle, at 11 am Saturday, March 12th, with a small ticket fee that supports Historic Seattle.

60 years ago, in West Seattle, Carol-Ann Thornton made history in her childhood. It’s history from which many lessons remain to be learned. She is returning to the Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s speaker series in a week and a half to share her insights. Here’s the announcement:

‘Words, Writers, & Southwest Stories,’ a speaker series of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, is excited to announce that it is hosting Carol-Ann Thornton for a live Zoom presentation on Thursday, February 10 at 6:00 PM. Carol-Ann will deliver a presentation titled “Privilege and Entitlement Versus Healing and Restoration?: Exploring a Slice of West Seattle History and Beyond.” Free registration is required. Visit our website to register.

Carol-Ann is returning for her second presentation with Words, Writers, and Southwest Stories. This time, she will explore themes of acknowledging barriers and challenges past and present within the history of the West Seattle community and beyond and exploring tools and options that facilitate forgiveness, healing, restoration, acceptance, and love of one another.

Carol-Ann Sharp Thornton is the first child of color in 1962 to enter the Seattle Public Schools’ newly implemented Volunteer Transfer Program from an inner-city school to integrate a segregated school in the Alki, Admiral, and Beach Drive communities of West Seattle. She has been honored with invitations to share her life experiences as a child raised through the civil-rights era with various groups and organizations.

Carol-Ann continues to embrace her career of 29 years as a counselor and legal advocate supporting those suffering from abuse and victimization through domestic violence and sexual abuse. As a nationally licensed Evangelist Missionary, she has been able to carry her passion for education, empowerment and outreach into the faith communities regarding abuse issues. As an educator, Carol-Ann conducts frequent trainings on domestic violence and victimization to community agencies and organizations, Carol-Ann has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human and Social Services and a Master of Christian Counseling, as well as national certifications as a Domestic Violence Counselor, Criminal Justice Specialist, Christian Counselor and a Tribal Court Legal Advocate/Attorney. She is currently pursuing her Juris Doctorate Executive Track as a first-year Law School student. Carol-Ann is a member of the Criminal Justice Advisory Board at Pierce College, and an Advisory Council member of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.

To see Carol-Ann Thornton’s previous Words, Writers, and Southwest Stories presentation “Culture Shock: The Awakening of Alki and West Seattle in 1962 and Beyond,” watch this video:

Free registration is required for the February 10th presentation. Registered participants will be emailed a link to the presentation the week of the event.

At WSB, we have just one “year in review” tradition – listing the 10 stories that drew the most comments. (That doesn’t mean they were the most-read stories – since we publish in blog format, and it’s possible to read multiple stories by scrolling down the home page without multiple clicks, it’s impossible to break out exactly how many times an individual story’s been seen.) With hours to go in 2021, here goes the countdown:

#10 – PCC ARGUES AGAINST CITY-MANDATED ‘HAZARD PAY’
January 29, 2021 – 142 comments
Less than a week before workers for large grocery companies were set to start receiving $4/hour city-mandated “hazard pay,” PCC‘s then-new CEO Suzy Monford sent city leaders a letter arguing against it. One PCC worker told us it left them and their colleagues feeling “betrayed and belittled.” The company changed its mind shortly thereafter; six months later, Monford left the job she’d had less than a year. PCC has not yet announced a new CEO.

#9 – POWER OUTAGE FOR ALMOST 10,000 CUSTOMERS
December 2, 2021 – 149 comments
This was not only a very large outage, the Seattle City Light map was slow to show it, so more “we’re out in (neighborhood)” comments amassed in the early going.

#8 – CITY-BACKED $14 MILLION OFFER FOR JUNCTION PARKING LOTS
April 30, 2021 – 155 comments
The land that holds the four West Seattle Junction Association-leased parking lots is zoned for tall, dense development. Community Roots Housing offered to buy it. The lots’ owners, Trusteed Properties, have not publicly announced a decision,

#7 – DISTRICT SUDDENLY ADDS A DAY OFF
November 9, 2021 – 165 comments
Seattle Public Schools startled families two days before Veterans Day by announcing that schools would also be closed the day after the holiday, saying too many employees were taking that day off.

#6 – KING COUNTY’S VACCINE-VERIFICATION PLAN
September 16, 2021 – 173 comments
King County announced where, and when, you would soon have to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination (or negative test results).

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