West Seattle, Washington

19 Friday

54℉

month : 05/2008 334 results

Attention, Patches Pals: JP is West Seattle-bound
May 11, 2008 8:01 pm
|      12 COMMENTS
 |   Admiral Theater | Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news | WS culture/arts

jppatches.jpg

(WSB photo of JP Patches in July 2007 West Seattle Grand Parade)
Seen on the Admiral Theater marquee and website: A morning with JP Patches, legendary TV clown, 11 am next Saturday, May 17; tickets available online. So we don’t have to wait till parade season to see him here in West Seattle! The campaign for a JP Patches statue continues, by the way; find out more at his site.

Share This

Time and tide: Looking back, looking ahead
May 11, 2008 6:07 pm
|    Comments Off on Time and tide: Looking back, looking ahead
 |   Seen at sea | West Seattle history

lunaparkbones.jpg

One more look back, not just at this past week’s megalow tides, but into history … Susan Grossman of Singingpixel Photography sent that photo of the old Luna Park pilings during one of their low-low-tide appearances. This gives us an excuse to remind low-tide fans to mark the calendar for the first week of June (tide table here), when we will again see this type of low tide (and even lower, with two minus-4 tides, “bottoming out” just before noon on June 4th, with a -4.1).

Share This

Online onboard: Rate changes for Washington State Ferries wi-fi
May 11, 2008 3:01 pm
|    Comments Off on Online onboard: Rate changes for Washington State Ferries wi-fi
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle online

ferryrainbow.jpg

(Fauntleroy/Vashon ferry photo by Jessica Stewart of West Coast Image & Design)
Thought this was worth a mention since it doesn’t seem to have received wide exposure; we stumbled onto it while reading a news release about dockside wi-fi service in the North Sound. The company that provides wi-fi service for Washington State Ferries wi-fi routes, including Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth, recently unveiled “new pricing options” (follow the link on its website). We haven’t had occasion to use the service, but looking back into online archives, it appears the most significant change is in the short-term rates.

Share This

2 WSCGSD followups: Sale today; playground meeting Friday
May 11, 2008 11:54 am
|    Comments Off on 2 WSCGSD followups: Sale today; playground meeting Friday
 |   Community Garage Sale Day | West Seattle parks | West Seattle schools

First, the Sunday sale: The folks at Community School of West Seattle want you to know their megasale (100+ families) is continuing today, till 4 pm. (And yes, they have tents, so don’t let the rain stop you! Address and Saturday picture are here.) Next, a sale report from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council, which sent this Saturday photo (we showed a pic of the NDNC bake sale yesterday):

ndelridgesale.jpg

That sale raised money and volunteer hours (important for matching funds) to expand the play area at Cottage Grove Park (5206 26th SW; city info page here) with tot-size equipment, particularly in hopes of affording a fun setup similar to this:

cottagegrove1.jpg

Next step is where you come in, if you can help: An organizational meeting Friday morning. Here’s the invitation from organizers:

Neighbors are planning to build a playground for babies and toddlers at the Cottage Grove Playground in Delridge. We need YOUR input – which playground design should we choose? Which equipment do we want? How can we best raise money? Come give your input at a playground meeting.

Friday, May 16, 10 am at Cottage Grove playground if the weather is good; or at the Delridge Community Center common area if the weather is bad. If the indoor play area is open we’ll meet there. Bring kids, blanket for the grass & snacks for your family.

Questions? Betsy(at)hoffmeisters(dot)com

Share This

West Seattle Farmers’ Market: WS 101, plus the “fresh sheet”
May 11, 2008 6:07 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Farmers’ Market: WS 101, plus the “fresh sheet”
 |   West Seattle 101 | West Seattle Farmers' Market

bookcover1.jpgThe author behind one of our newest WSB sections — West Seattle 101 (note the “tab” link on our header) will be at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market today; you can meet Lori Hinton. lorimugshot.jpg and talk to her about the “West Seattle 101” book, which will also be available for purchase. In honor of this, we’re adding the West Seattle Farmers’ Market feature from Lori’s book to the list of “West Seattle 101” stories available on WSB; read it here, and see the full WS 101 on WSB archive here. And as always, we want to bring you this week’s Farmers’ Market fresh sheet — here you go:Read More

Share This

West Seattle birthday bash of the year!
May 10, 2008 11:05 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle birthday bash of the year!
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle people

sixtysaltys.jpg

E-mailed to WSB by Ruthie Winter, who explains:

We called our event: Sixty@Salty’s!

In the attached picture are 57 women classmates from the West Seattle High School graduating class of 1966, born in 1948 and celebrating their 60th birthday together. It was a girls-only event … sorry guys!

Most of these classmates had not seen each other in over 40 years, so it was a joyous celebration of old friendships. Classmates came from far away as Texas, Montana, Alaska, Arizona, California, Oregon etc etc. A joyous time was had by all.

Share This

West Seattle Saturday scene: Pathfinder K-8 facelift
May 10, 2008 9:55 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Saturday scene: Pathfinder K-8 facelift
 |   Genesee Hill | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools | West Seattle video

That’s just one tiny cross-section of the HUGE volunteer cleanup/beautification work at Pathfinder K-8 on Genesee Hill (map) today … the amphitheater on the lower field, cleared from under a serious case of overgrowth. Even more impressive, a huge painting project splashing brighter colors onto the portables up on the main grounds … our video of that, unfortunately, did not survive a serious case of user error, but the Pathfinder folks promised us before/after photos for a followup. They had more than 100 volunteers on hand (including dozens from Seattle Works and West Seattle school-board rep Steve Sundquist) and also were grateful for donations from local businesses (a Pathfinder parent gave them a shoutout in this thread in the WSB Forums). Pathfinder, you may recall, needs a better building but almost got moved to an arguably worse one in the recent round of school closures/consolidations; since no new building is likely any time soon, this was a case of the school community working to improve the livability of what they have.

Share This

No need for speed: A Fauntleroy plea
May 10, 2008 7:51 pm
|      17 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

fauntleroyspeeding.jpg

It takes more than a sign like that one to “calm” traffic along Fauntleroy — this “open letter” sent to us asks drivers to just keep the pedal off the metal:

Residents of West Seattle, Vashon, and Fauntleroy Ferry users,

I write this letter as a respectful request. Please treat the neighborhoods that you pass through on your commute with the same respect that you would ask of someone traveling through your own neighborhood.

For example, Fauntleroy Way SW between SW Morgan St. and SW Alaska St. has a speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Thirty-five, not 45, not 65, and certainly not 75. Please share the road with your fellow drivers, bikers, and pedestrians. There are many of us who live along Fauntleroy and have to try and cross the street without the aid of marked crosswalks, dodge traffic to get to our buses, and walk and ride our bicycles along our neighborhood street. We choose to live here and acknowledge that this street is a major corridor, however dangerous, rude, and disrespectful driving is not an inherent right of anyone – even if it is a heavily traveled thoroughfare. This also applies if you are late for your ferry, dinner date or whatever reason you might have.

We have witnessed many examples of poor driving behavior ranging from reading in the car while driving, blatant disregard of other vehicles around them, excessive tailgating and late night racing, to honking horns at children and physically challenged people trying to cross the street at an intersection (this IS legal – look it up).

All we ask is that you treat our neighborhood as if it were your own. Someday the Seattle Police Department will start to live up to their responsibilities and do something about excessive speed and reckless driving. Until then I only hope that people remember, do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.

Sincerely,
A concerned West Seattle resident

Share This

Sign sightings: 1 closure, 1 future opening
May 10, 2008 4:12 pm
|      13 COMMENTS
 |   Delridge | High Point | West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

washhouseclosed.jpg

Thanks to Shell Marr for that photo and word that The Wash House laundromat on 35th (between Morgan and Graham) has abruptly closed. Shell adds, “It’s really too bad they did not make it, Vicki & Jim were just the nicest people and really made doing laundry somewhat enjoyable if that is possible. Thank you, Vicki & Jim …” Meantime, another sign just sighted, this one on Delridge:

olympia.jpg

We first told you two months ago that Olympia Pizza and Pasta was taking over the short-lived Pacino’s Coffee spot; it’s had a temporary banner up for a while, but the official sign just appeared this week. We don’t have any info yet on a targeted opening date.

Share This

WS Community Garage Sale Day aftermath: Open thread
May 10, 2008 3:01 pm
|      29 COMMENTS
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

garagesaledaysmalllog5.jpgDid you shop? Did you sell? Did you have fun? Since we filed so many separate updates, we thought we’d put up this “open thread” post specifically for comments wtih WSCGSD reports, if you care to share ’em. We’ll have an official survey within a few days seeking feedback for next year, but if you have something to suggest now, that’s welcome here too. (P.S., don’t forget the contests.) Thanks to EVERYONE who was part of the 4th annual West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day in some form or another; our first time organizing it has been intense but fun! (Now it’s off to round up the sandwich boards …)

Share This

7th Garage Sale Day report: More stops
May 10, 2008 1:59 pm
|    Comments Off on 7th Garage Sale Day report: More stops
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

christmasatskylark.jpg

“Christmas at Skylark” (3803 Delridge), as dubbed by Patrick the Sales Guy, who has been making most of the photography rounds today. However, in the past hour, your editor here and Junior Member of the Team broke away from WSB HQ to see what’s up. Dropped by a couple sales incognito, west of California, north of The Junction; bought strawberry lemonade from the kids at 47th/Dakota, wandered into an alley sale a few blocks east and got the unsolicited proclamation from the saleholder that “All the good stuff’s gone; it’s been a busy morning.” Well, not ALL the good stuff; Junior Member was furious we wouldn’t let him spend $5 on a big hulking scanner. Meantime, back at the sales – here’s the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle sale at 5637 42nd SW:

kiwanissale.jpg

Along Fauntleroy (5962), two pix from the PB&J Textiles sale:

dogshirtpbj.jpg

pbjwide.jpg

We drove through The Junction and noted group sale sites in the vicinity were still jumping, as were Junction businesses (megaline outside Bakery Nouveau, even at 1:30 pm). There’s still an hour to shop; get a map here if you need it.

Share This

6th WSCGSD update: More group/business sales
May 10, 2008 12:15 pm
|    Comments Off on 6th WSCGSD update: More group/business sales
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

BULLETIN! Sunshine just broke out at the halfway mark. Now, more of the bigger sites:

ndncbakesale.jpg

That’s the bake sale at the North Delridge Neighborhood Council sale, 2512 SW Genesee, raising money for tot-size play equipment at Cottage Grove Park. Heading northwest from there:

loghouse2.jpg

loghouse1.jpg

Booming business when we stopped by the Log House Museum sale (3003 61st SW). Next – in the Admiral District, Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor; 2210 California SW) is participating:

clicksale.jpg

South of The Junction, there’s a group sale (like Hotwire & Freshy’s, both shown earlier) at C and P Coffee (5612 California SW):

candp.jpg

Alki UCC church (6115 SW Hinds) is having a plant sale as part of WSCGSD:

alkiucc.jpg

And here’s another one of the fundraising sales – a multifamily sale at 4136 Beach Drive, raising money for the American Cancer Society:

alkicancer.jpg

Sales continue till 3 pm; get your map here.

Share This

5th WSCGSD update: Don’t forget the contests!
May 10, 2008 11:47 am
|    Comments Off on 5th WSCGSD update: Don’t forget the contests!
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

ambersign.jpg

That’s Amber Bennett, proprietor of Freshy’s Coffee at 2735 California SW, holding their entry for the “Best Sign” contest – one of two contests we’re having as part of West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day today — “Best Sign” is for sellers; photograph your creative sign(s) and e-mail the photo after the sale to garagesale@westseattleblog.com; “Most Unusual Item” is for shoppers OR sellers – e-mail a photo and tell us which participating sale you bought/sold it at – same address, garagesale@westseattleblog.com. Prize for “Most Unusual Item” is a Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor and sale location today) card; prize for “Best Sign” is an Illusions (WSB sponsor) gift certificate; whichever contest gets the most entries will also have a second prize awarded, a gift certificate from the new Body Bar massage/skin care dayspa; winners will be announced Monday night. Back to Freshy’s for a sec – they’re doing the “Handmade Brigade” arts/crafts sale as well as yard-sale stuff – here’s a look down their sidewalk across from Hiawatha:

freshyswide.jpg

More group-sale updates coming up next. The sales continue till 3 pm; get your map here.

Share This

4th WSCGSD update: Forum Community sale
May 10, 2008 11:10 am
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

ginajan.jpg

That’s Gina (left) and JanS from the WSB Forum Community, at their sale @ 2655 45th SW (near Lafayette). Part of the sale is raising $ for Jan, a longtime WSB’er who’ll be out of work a while after hip-replacement surgery this week – some items are offered at whatever you’re willing to pay as a free-will donation; read more about this sale in this thread on the forum. (More updates to come; sales continue till 3 pm; get your map here.)

Share This

3rd WSCGSD update: Shoppers galore; assorted info
May 10, 2008 10:01 am
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

lemonadestand.jpg

lemonadecloseup.jpg

ADDED 10:29 AM: Those are photos from 7138 32nd SW, a sale raising money for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which fights childhood cancer. The family hosting the sale has a child fighting cancer, and is telling their story online here. (Click the address in that sentence to see where it’s at on the Google version of the WSCGSD map; get the printable map here.) ORIGINAL UPDATE: Another round of photos is headed this way – first some anecdotal observations, as the WSB team member who’s not on photo patrol took a quick side trip down the hill to the store – saw lots of folks browsing the sales in the Gatewood/Upper Fauntleroy area – and the sky’s getting lighter all the time! P.S. If you just can’t find a preprinted map (we know our official locations still have some, we checked this morning), we’ve also put a few out in a box by our sandwich board sign near WSB HQ – look for it @ California/Thistle.

Share This

2nd WSCGSD update: The big and the not-as-big
May 10, 2008 9:16 am
|    Comments Off on 2nd WSCGSD update: The big and the not-as-big
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

hotwire.jpg

That’s the courtyard next to Hotwire Coffee, one of today’s group-sale spots (proprietor Lora offered space in exchange for a nominal donation to Furry Faces, a West Seattle-based animal-rescue group). Next — after stopping at the Community School of West Seattle megasale (see previous post), we hopped a couple blocks over to 9211 21st SW, where the sale’s in the back yard:

21st.jpg

(Map/list of all sales available here.)

Share This

1st West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day update: CSWS
May 10, 2008 8:14 am
|    Comments Off on 1st West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day update: CSWS
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

csws1.jpg

Brief shower at 8 am. We can see breaks in the clouds behind it, so don’t panic. Meantime, our roving field crew just stopped at the Community School of West Seattle; they started at 8 am – by 8:05 they’d already made $100! 9450 22nd SW. (Photo above) (Map/list of all sales available here.)

Share This

WS Community Garage Sale Day forecast update
May 10, 2008 6:25 am
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

From the National Weather Service, updated at 4 am, still looks like the rain (aside from a spatter or two) SHOULD hold off till AFTER West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day‘s official shopping time ends @ 3 pm:

TODAY…MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF RAIN THIS AFTERNOON. HIGHS NEAR 60. SOUTH WIND TO 10 MPH.

TONIGHT…RAIN LIKELY IN THE EVENING…THEN CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

Need a WSCGSD map/list? Get it here.

Share This

Also happening today: Food drive @ your house; spruceups
May 10, 2008 6:16 am
|    Comments Off on Also happening today: Food drive @ your house; spruceups
 |   How to help

FOOD DRIVE AT YOUR HOUSE/APT/CONDO/ETC.: Please put out a bag of nonperishable food by your mailbox or mail slot this morning – it’s the big day for the annual Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers’ food drive.

SPRUCEUP #1: All volunteers welcome as Pathfinder K-8 families and staff, with help from Seattle Works, brighten up their campus, with painting and landscaping projects and more, 10 am-2 pm, drop by and join in.

SPRUCEUP #2: Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s quarterly Adopt-a-Street cleanup is today; you can join in by meeting the group outside Metropolitan Market for free coffee/snacks at 9 am. (Plenty of time to shop the West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day sales after this wraps up @ noon!)

Share This

Reader reports: Vandalism in Admiral, Gatewood
May 10, 2008 6:10 am
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Gatewood | West Seattle news

(Updated 8:44 am to add the Gatewood report)
First, from Karla:

It’s 12:48 a.m. and my husband, son and I just got through cleaning up the two dozen eggs that were thrown at our house at approximately 12:30 p.m. We live just across from the Admiral Lookout — when I heard the first few eggs hit, I saw a boy approximately 17 years old in a black sweatshirt and black pants run north on 36th Avenue SW and then around the corner on Olga. I ran downstairs to tell my son who ran out our garage and saw some teenagers drive off in a black car. My husband saw the black car from our upstairs bedroom window as well. Just wanted to give everyone in our neighborhood a heads up.

Hours later, from Chris:

Just thought I’d write in about some vandalism that happened last night on Rose Street in Gatewood between 39th and 41st Avenues. It looks like someone drove up the street with a baseball bat, breaking all the drivers’ side mirrors on cars parked along the north side of the street. A neighbor of mine said he heard it happen around 2:30 Saturday morning. I don’t know if other streets were hit as well.

Share This

West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day eve: The biggies
May 9, 2008 11:30 pm
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day eve: The biggies
 |   Community Garage Sale Day

pigeonpointwide.jpg

More updates as West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day approaches (9 am-3 pm tomorrow): Just before their second night of donation-accepting ended at 8 pm tonight, we stopped to see the Pigeon Point Neighborhood reps at Cooper Elementary (which benefits from their sale) …as you can see above, quite a haul. Also a possible candidate for the Most Unusual Item contest (can you guess what it is? PP Council prez Pete Spalding showed it off):

dscn4731.jpg

If you’re going to Pigeon Point, the North Delridge Neighborhood Council sale raising money for Cottage Grove Park play equipment is a stone’s throw away at 2512 SW Genesee. Here’s one of the items they hope to buy for the neighborhood’s littlest kids to play on:

cottagegrove.jpg

Other neighborhood/block/business/group sales: The Community School of West Seattle, 9450 22nd SW, with more than 100 families participating – this was the first sale to sign up this year! … Block/multifamily sales include 8818 18th SW, 4115 32nd SW, 4136 Beach Drive, 6701 21st SW, SW Dakota between 46th and 47th, 3260 42nd SW, 5406 36th SW. Three coffeehouses on California SW have multi-participant sales: Hotwire (WSB sponsor) at 4410 California, C and P at 5612 California, and Freshy’s at 2735 California … Other businesses with sales include Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor) at 2210 California, Skylark at 3803 Delridge, PB&J Textiles at 5962 Fauntleroy, Westside Glassworks at 1904 SW Dawson. And while we don’t know how big their sale will be, we were excited that our first West Seattle Neighborhood Garage Sale Day sign sighting — a sign not put up by us, anyway — was on a utility pole steps away from WSB HQ!

signonpole.jpg

Quick links again:
*Printable map with sale listings (8-page PDF)
*List of places to get preprinted map if you don’t have printer access
*Clickable Google map showing all sales (so you can take a closer look at locations)

Share This

Another “Teacher of the Week” in West Seattle
May 9, 2008 10:01 pm
|    Comments Off on Another “Teacher of the Week” in West Seattle
 |   Arbor Heights | West Seattle news | West Seattle people | West Seattle schools

The STAR 101.5 “Teacher of the Week” promotion had another West Seattle winner today — congrats to Arbor Heights Elementary second-grade teacher Sally Shavey. This comes six weeks after Lafayette Elementary fifth-grade teacher Catherine Bloom won the same honor.

Share This

Another West Seattle coyote caught on cam
May 9, 2008 9:18 pm
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Coyotes | West Seattle news | Wildlife

coyote2.jpg

coyoteframed.jpg

Haven’t had any coyote pictures in a couple weeks – till these pix taken by Pam at Fauntleroy/Mills (map). She writes:

On our way to work this morning, we saw a coyote roaming on Fauntleroy at the bottom of SW Mills St. I called Animal Control, thinking they might take some action – but they were totally unconcerned and said that coyotes are all over the place in Seattle. (Ironically, we had just seen a news story this morning about a coyote who had dragged a two-year-old around by her head…)

A neighbor said she’s seen coyotes in Lincoln Park on occasion – but it was still really interesting to see one roaming in people’s bushes in our neighborhood. Watch out for your kitties and little pups!

As previously noted, the official government position is to promote coexistence, including avoiding behavior that will encourage coyotes to get too close to people for their good or ours; some tips are in this article we wrote in February. (The news story Pam mentions, by the way, is this one from the mountains east of L.A.)

Share This