Two questions in search of answers

As they used to say in the print heyday, “from the mailbag” … in this case, e-mailbag: Two people have written with questions to throw out to the WSB world — one about a restaurant, one about a “mysterious light.” They’re kind of LONG questions, so we’ll excerpt both e-mails “after the jump” … and if you have any answers, please leave them as comments …
First one:

  I am curious if any other WS Blog readers recall an Admiral area
restaurant named something along the line of the Skippers House?  It
was near the then Kings Table Buffet which is now the chain video store.
It might have been housed in the same building as Pailin.  I remember
going to the place once in the winter of 1988/9 when I first arrived in WS.  The place just seemed to have vanished.

It was a wild place, run by an even more wild family.  I remember dad
tossing knives in the kitchen, which was very close to the small dining
area.  Said knives were directed at his staff, otherwise known as his
children.  It was hard to know whether it was all in fun, or worse. The
operation kept no hours and they were open when dad wanted to cook.
The ‘menu’ was a three ring binder that was full of all the recipes.  It
was only moments after ordering your entree you would find your table
completely covered with all kinds of starters and hors d’oeuvres presented on ornate serving platters and such.  Dessert was a baked Flaming Alaska.  It was almost as if it was a blend of the old Benbow Inn and the movie The
Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Delicatessen wrapped up and
served hot.

Second reader question:

For at least a couple of weeks there has intermittently been an extremely bright spotlight turned on in the evenings at the north end of Vashon Island, at the highest point above the ferry terminal at Vashon Head.

I live … on Alki Point … and have watched this thing with amazement at its intensity.  You know how bright football stadium (even high school)
lights or movie search lights can be over a long distance?  Well, this thing is much brighter. And to top that off, whoever is turning it on (tonight at 10 pm), is turning it this way and that over the water to the north of Vashon.  I can see the beam shining out over the water, sometimes directly at my living room windows. It’s even brighter than the search lights the fast passenger ferries from Vashon and Bremerton use to look for debris/deadheads in the water as they travel at 25-plus knots in the dark. Tonight it appeared to move slightly from the west side of Vashon head to the east.  It is definitely on the highest part of the island and later on in the evenings diminishes in intensity, then is shut off.  My guess is someone with a thing for bright lights has mounted one on his house and just likes to shine it out over the water, but it sure gets my attention.  Anyway, I’m dying to know what it is.

Anyone?

11 Replies to "Two questions in search of answers"

  • Eric February 10, 2007 (9:20 am)

    question no. 1… I believe it was called “The Skipper” and yes, it was located where Palin is.

  • Chris King February 10, 2007 (9:25 am)

    The resturant was called Skipper’s Galley. I was just talking to a friend of mine the other night about the resturant

  • Jim February 10, 2007 (11:52 am)

    My first job was at Skipper’s galley restaurant in 1978. It was an adventure to say the least. If you were not dodging knives, you were dodging the flaming Alaska. That binder of a menu was like a 110 pages.

  • Patrick February 10, 2007 (11:55 am)

    Yes, Skipper’s Galley – fabulous. Meals were all finished with baked alaska, cigars and port. A really incredible experience. I remember the next table telling the waitress, “we haven’t ordered yet,” when the table was crammed with appetizers.

  • Mike February 10, 2007 (8:01 pm)

    Thank you all for responding to my query and helping me to realize that such a place actually did exist and that I did not dream it up nor was I nuts:)

    Here in Seattle they just don’t make restaurants like that anymore….

  • Administrator February 10, 2007 (9:08 pm)

    Now that we know its name … turns out somebody asked the P-I about it in 2005 and they tracked down its former owner:
    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/239556_ask07.html

  • Gina February 11, 2007 (8:01 am)

    When I was in Jr. High there was a rumor that presidential candidate Jimmy Carter ate there while campaigning in Seattle. This would have been 1975?

    Never ate at Skippers. If we were going to waste money eating out my father wanted a view. Always the Beach Broiler for us.

  • Dave February 11, 2007 (8:55 am)

    Q#2 – I noticed the lights the other night from my place in The Junction. My take on them was that they are portable construction lights sometimes used by highway department for night time work. Just a guess.

  • Jan February 11, 2007 (1:17 pm)

    Gina…the Beach Broiler…wow…haven’t heard of that in a long, long time….

  • lifer February 12, 2007 (12:14 pm)

    I’ll have to get my telescope on that Vashon light during the daytime. I looked at it at night, but couldn’t see much. I’m not surprised so many Seattleites have noticed it – its by far the brightest thing out that direction!

  • Pelicans February 12, 2007 (8:52 pm)

    Talked with a coworker today who is a resident of Vashon. His neighbor on the north end said that a movie has been filming there during the day as well as night. Hopefully will have more info tomorrow on any details…

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