West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
As expected, the city council says “Go, tunnel, go.” However, note paragraph number three … can’t wait to see what the council’s definition of “infeasible” is.
F3 has socked us in pretty good here on the south side of WS, at least the upper reaches. I guess it’s technically the Last Summer Fog since the autumnal equinox doesn’t hit till just after 9 o’clock tonight, but let’s not pick nits over 12 hours.
I know it’ll clear up soon; wish the same could be said about some of the hot local topics in which West Seattle has a stake. Let’s see … according to the papers and the Save Seattle Schools blog, nobody’s happy about the latest school-change proposals, not even the Pathfinder people who were so thrilled to win their “No Boren” fight. And right this very moment as I write, city council members are dropping the gavel on the meeting at which they are likely to sing “Kumbaya” over the tunnel option, despite its wallet-wrenching cost, and proclaim that we voters don’t need to worry our pretty little heads over it. Last but not least, I imagine every caffeinated blogger from coast to coast has thrown in their two cents regarding Starbucks adding five cents. Guess that’s what’ll help pay for the Morgan Junction reno work. Meantime, West Seattle’s original Starbucks (the only one when we got here) hasn’t changed much over time.
Later today, something more fun: The weekend highlights, including the WS debut of our city’s most-publicized megachurch, whose leader cannily takes a dig at bloggers … in a blog entry. WWJB?
Besides loving our side of the bay as it is now and as it will become — we find it cool to discover more about its history. If you share that interest, city pages like this are fun to play with. Don’t let the “unknown” on the main page fool you; click on the “view” link and you’ll probably get at least an infobit (such as, Luna Park Cafe was once “Pat and Ron’s Tavern”) as well as a pic. You can follow the “new search” link and also try one of your own, such as this search by street name with all results along Cali Ave.
Also on the subject of history, we discovered at the Morgan Junction Festival last weekend that you can still get a copy of the incredible, picture-laden “West Side Story” at the Log House Museum (and its gift shop has other “memory books” too).
Somebody pulled out the calculator one more time — and now it seems we can’t afford the only two viaduct options the Powers That Be have been willing to consider. According to the almost-amusing update on The Stranger’s blog, Hizzoner, aka Top Tunnel Pusher, is all atizzy. And the real topline on all this seems to be, uh, never mind about that advisory vote, us council guys will just make the decision, hold our nose, jump in, and hope we’ll hit Mega Millions to raise a few more Big Dig Big Bucks. But why not use this as an excuse to save face and join the folks backing The Third Option after all? We can have a heck of an implosion party, round up some work crews to sweep up the debris, and get back to business.
-Maybe it was sabotage. Seattle Public Schools leaders choose to announce the next round of shutdown plans one day before the Initiative 88 vote. Concurrently, they scamper around floating insanely expensive projects like this. So certainly no surprise the vote turned out this way.
-Never thought a building permit could make me laugh but this one did. The one-line project description is something many of us can identify with in our workplaces: “FINISH WORK STARTED BY OTHERS.”
-Speaking of building permits, work crews are burning the midnight oil at the Morgan Junction Starbucks. We’ve driven by a couple times very late at night in the past week and they’re always very, very busy in there. But no sign yet of the “sidewalk cafe.”
-And one more thing from the newest West Seattle Herald (besides the school $$ link above) — here’s a letter-writer who is right up my alley (er, my switchbacks).
-All this kvetching makes me hungry. Hey! The impending Junction location finally made the Garlic Jim’s “coming soon” page!
Ours is one of the last few counties where you can still vote in person as well as by mail. So if you haven’t voted yet — today’s the day, 7 am-8 pm. Remember that this is not “just” a primary, even though two of our 34th District state legislators don’t even have general-election opponents; some things WILL be settled today, such as a couple of the state Supreme Court races, and Seattle Initiative 88, the first half of the push to get more $ for city schools (the second half apparently is still caught up in court somewhere).
New city update out tonight on the road work in The Junction. Bottom line is that it sounds like every repair project ever undertaken on our little old house … “turns out things were worse than we thought, till we went in.” Hope the businesses aren’t suffering too badly … remember, both sides of the street have a fair amount of rear parking!
Just announced by Seattle Public Schools this morning ... now Roxhill is on the chopping block, and Pathfinder is poised for a move to Cooper. Here's coverage from the P-I, and from the Times.
A tiny bit of West Seattle history lives on in San Francisco — one of those trivia tidbits we bump into sometimes while Web-wandering. An SF facility called the Zeum is home to a merry-go-round (carousel, if you prefer) that once graced the long-ago WS fantasyland called Luna Park (which was nowhere near the bridge-vicinity area now carrying that name). Here’s the merry-go-round’s history, including a link to historic photos.
We almost skipped up the Morgan Junction Community Festival, because if you drive by on California, it looks like almost nothing is happening. Luckily, we drove by again on our way back from the Farmers’ Market, and realized all the booths are set up on the BACK (west) SIDE of the “future monorail memorial park” site (formerly Fauntleroy Auto Repair & Video Vault), almost out of view of those passing by on Cali. And it’s a nice collection of booths: wide variety of community staples from the WS Herald to the Log House Museum to Megawatt (taking advance orders for the 2007 WS Calendar!) to Furry Faces Foundation to the Morgan Community Association (natch), plus local faves such as Bird on a Wire Espresso and Sugar Rush Baking Company, and even the new wireless broadband service that’s been putting up towers around WS, Clearwire (the salesperson who’s there says they’re “live” in many WS spots now and can check your location on her map). On the Cali Ave side, there’s entertainment (the WS Big Band was doing a great job when we dropped by; here’s the rest of the day’s slate). If you see this before 6 pm tonight — go check it out!
If you were hoping for a comeback of the Cat’s Eye Cafe just north of Lincoln Park (as we sort of were), closed since a crash last winter, finally there’s proof it’s just not going to happen. The sign’s not up yet as of tonight (though the permit application for it is in), but a Web site proclaims the building’s rebirth as a yoga/spiritual counseling business, the Four Aims Center. The center’s offerings sound intriguing — but the official demise of the Cat’s Eye leaves us a bit misty, as it’s the site of fond family memories from the latter half of the ’90s, when various major life events left us quite dependent on their morning muffins as well as incredible takeout soups and sandwiches. (We remember hearing that the people who ran it back then are the same ones who opened Circa in the late ’90s, but can’t find proof.)
Wow, how’d I miss this one? (Probably because we stayed home all day doing yard work!) A reader writes to tell us the Pacific Northwest BBQ Championships are under way all weekend at Alki:
There are 31 different groups bbq’ing all night long, even camping in tents. Judging starts tonight at 6 pm, finals are tomorrow. The one booth you can buy food from is reasonably priced and good.
Till this tip, I had no idea of the existence of the Pacific Northwest Barbecue Association — but here’s its site, with some info on the competition. Hope it doesn’t rain on the barbecuers tomorrow till they’ve crowned their winners! (UPDATE from a Saturday night driveby: This is quite a scene on the west end of Alki — including RVs parked along the beach that no doubt belong to some of the camped-out cooking teams.)
Second week of Hizzoner’s “We (Heart) Trees” campaign — seen any less cutting lately? Not me. I got spitting mad traveling the switchbacks over Lincoln Park on Friday, watching tree “service” crews kill two big beautiful trees that had been among the few surviving the onslaught of oversized houses suddenly “infilling” the formerly green area. All of which led me to laugh semi-ruefully at this odd little piece from the P-I today.
-Sunday: Morgan Junction Community Festival, 11 am-6 pm at the future site of what I know no one will dare to call the Monorail Memorial Park.
-Saturday: Delridge Affordable Housing & Resource Fair, 10 am-4 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.
-Saturday: Sundodger Invitational regional college cross-country meet through Lincoln Park.
-Both days: First of two weekends for the first-ever Green Living Expo, 10 am-5 pm at High Point.
Anything big that I’m missing?
-Finally tried Cactus. Tasty food, even better atmosphere. Kept thinking about what used to be in that space two lifetimes ago — the original OLD Alki Market, with a crab tank that had a moldy plastic decoration and always one sad crab, right about where the new restaurant has beautiful colored glass panels near the front door.
-Several people have written to ask what’s up with the other half of the market space, the half that Cactus isn’t using. Still listed for lease.
-An eyesore may be finally on its way out … a renewed notice just went up online for the development permit application at the site of the burned-out Schuck’s at California & Charlestown. Interestingly, it mentions restaurant space … interesting since nearby Charlestown Street Cafe is on its way out.
-The teardown-to-townhomes project on Cali Ave south of Morgan Junction, north of the Caffe Ladro etc. business districtlet, now has a name … sign just went up proclaiming these the “Bayberry Townhomes.” From the mid-300s. Wow.
-Last but not least, for lovers of semi-classic ’70s cars … particularly Fords … we spotted a very clean Pinto on a lawn along 62nd just north of Admiral … then seconds later, along the other side of Admiral, a well-preserved Maverick. Sigh.
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Have had this link sitting around a couple days, waiting for a chance to use it … so here goes.
Many mornings, if I leave too late, I am part of the sludging slough of cars oozing out of West Seattle toward downtown. I dutifully wait until the precise start of the broken lines on the bus lane before making my move to get into the queue for the 99 North exit. I predictably fume at those who abuse the lane, getting into it much sooner, or looking for their merging moment much further up the line.
Now the link … a Seattle Times column suggesting law enforcers still do keep an eye on that lane. Gotta keep gridlock from devolving into anarchy …
The Mars Hill-West Seattle blog reveals that the mega-evangelical mega-church will make its WS debut on the campus of Chief Sealth High School, since its new digs at the ex-Doxa on 35th won’t be ready in time for the planned fall debut. Wonder if this will draw any controversy a la Antioch Bible Church’s activities on an Eastside public-school campus. (P.S. If you haven’t read much about Mars Hill, let alone been there, it just got another national writeup, this time on Salon.)
OUT: Just yesterday, the city issued a demolition permit for the old “West Fuel” place on 35th south of Legends. Drove by the site tonight — it’s already rubble. No indication yet what’ll replace it. (Three guesses?)
IN: Next to Pagliacci, the lights were on tonight inside the new little shop “Clementine” next door. As promised on the original butcher paper, it’s displaying purses and shoes. Likely to be a huge hit with all those trendy young ladies we see milling about the hot new Junction nightlife.
OUT: More and more of the pavement in the middle of Cali Ave in The Junction’s south block, scooped away, leaving quite the deep trench in spots. We’re thinking it might be fun to see this filled up a la the canals of Venice. Imagine navigating from Admiral Junction to Morgan Junction in a gondola. Also note, contrary to our observation from last week, in the heart of the construction zone, the NO PARKING rule is in effect around the clock TFN … makes sense since now there’s only one passable lane in each direction, fully utilizing the space all the way to the curbs.
IN: A bigger sign on the window of the forthcoming “Swee Swee Paperie,” just east of Cupcake Royale. It promises offerings including “corporate gifting.” I’m sure it’ll be a swell store, but it’s a shame SSP is participating in the verbing of nouns …
Don’t go to Lincoln Park this Saturday looking for a quiet stroll among the trees. It’ll be the site of the Sundodger Invitational college cross-country meet. Haven’t found the exact times yet, but did find this course map.
(Also on Saturday — one more festival before we officially say goodbye to summer — the Morgan Junction Community Festival. The entertainment lineup is posted here.)
In the seasonal aisles of Westwood Village Target: costumes to transform your dog into Darth Vader or Yoda on Halloween.
Hmph. Cats are generally too dignified for a stunt like that.
Caffe Ladro is closing at 5 tonight for some sort of annual employees’ event. This is bound to be especially disappointing to West Seattle’s Finest, some of whom take coffee breaks there many a night. (What is it about CL? The fine coffee, or the convenient parking right on Cali Ave, easy pipeline to the next call? Just curious.)
From this morning’s coverage of yesterday’s City Council hearing, seems like the Third Option for viaduct (non)replacement is truly on life support, if it’s even still breathing at all. If you have anything to say about it, OR the tunnel, OR the replacement viaduct (thanks to FoS for the direct video links), tonight’s your chance to do it without leaving West Seattle — 5-8 pm, Madison Middle School.
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