West Seattle’s Night Out 2009 block parties: Report #1

| Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

(added more photos inline @ 9:30 pm)

(47th/Admiral-area barricades)
ORIGINAL 6:35 PM REPORT: So far, we’ve seen more barricades than people gathered in the streets beyond them – but we know, everyone’s just getting home to work. Just stopped at 44th/Hill, where neighbors are gathered in a triangle between streets, rather than closing off the road; they’re getting ready to barbecue.

It’s their first-ever Night Out party; thanks to Kim for the note. More to come – we’ve got two people roving, one north, one south.

6:48 PM: Just stopped in the Sunset/48th vicinity – they’ve got a long table, beautifully decorated, with homemade desserts planned later after their barbecue (and lights strung in the trees to enjoy when the sun goes down).

Thanks to Deborah for welcoming us there.

7:02 PM: 47th/Admiral, where Charla (at left) gave us the party tip:

They’re hoping for a candidate visit before the night’s out. We expect to see at least one ourselves – we’ve got word of where the mayor will wind up his rounds tonight.

7:20 PM: We’ve been to two stops south of Admiral, including the Hinds/45th party, where the Block Watch reins have just turned over after a quarter-century; we found Eric in charge of the hot dogs:

Then, Al‘s party near 42nd/Hinds:

Al had a luau last year (went with the theme for his 60th birthday party just before Night Out), and this year it’s a Mexican beach fiesta (we said hi just as he was preparing the fajitas), including this decorated tent-side:

7:31 PM: About to check out Howie‘s party near 32nd/Andover, over the Luna Park business district. First, just got this photo from Desiree in Gatewood:

7:44 PM: The party up here (on the other side of the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge) is the biggest one we’ve been to so far. Here’s the long shot before you finish walking up the Andover dead end:

Howie invited us, but turns out, it’s Dave’s house – and he counted 70 people! (Sorry this crowd shot’s a bit blurry.)

Meantime, the other half of the team is in Highland Park and spotted our first SPD sighting of the night – Officer Adonis Topacio, near 12th/Trenton.

And we’ve received a photo from Daniel at the big party near 31st/Othello:

Next, we’re heading to Junction-area stops, including one that reportedly has a live band!

8:10 PM: Live band indeed – and a live young musician, 9-year-old Connor, in the 4400 block of 40th SW.

~~We’ll add a bit of video later~~ (here’s the video, added 10:43 pm)

Just passed Ercolini Park, where Engine 32 is visiting block-partiers.

And now we’re headed south of The Junction. Sunset’s getting close – fiery pink-red again tonight.

8:22 PM: Just checked in with Cheryl, Rosina and dozens of neighbors on 48th in the Erskine/Dawson vicinity. They were kind enough to gather for a group shot:

Ladder 11 just wrapped up its stop here as we walked up (one thing about Night Out – you can’t just pull up, hop out, shoot a photo and go – you’ve got to park near the barricade and walk to where the people are), and two parties in adjoining blocks have agreed to combine forces next year.

8:53 PM: We’re folding up the Night Out caravan. Lots more pix to add from these stops and others – tried to catch up with the mayor here in his North Admiral neighborhood and we seem to have missed him. Reminder, if you have pix from your party, we’d be happy to publish some of those too – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks! (Once we’re done filling in the pictorial blanks in this report, we’ll start on a second report from our travels on the south half of the peninsula.)

Karen August 4, 2009 (8:37 pm)

The bar has been raised in the 4100 block of 46th Ave. Live surf music from The Mercury Four, and a wonderful sunset to boot!

charlabob August 4, 2009 (8:43 pm)

Dorsal Plants (City Council candidate) appeared and met the folks. Dow Constantine was rumored to be in a car not far behind. It was great to see everyone again and to hear even more good news (one person had a new pacemaker and another had a new job.) Next year — a band. :-)

fiz August 4, 2009 (8:47 pm)

4400 40th update: Conner played a forty-minute set. Not bad for a nine year old.

WSB August 4, 2009 (10:27 pm)

Thanks again to everybody who gave us clearance to stop by – this year we made it to more than half (putting up Report #2 with Patrick’s stops next) but that still wasn’t enough – I wish the window wasn’t so short – we started driving around at 6 but nobody really seemed to be revving up till 6:30, and then most we passed post-sunset were folded up by 8:30. Great night overall, though, so glad the weather was back to normal, imagine if it had been more like last Wednesday! – TR

Digidoll August 4, 2009 (11:25 pm)

I was driving all around WS from Roxbury to Andover this evening, helping a friend move, so missed my own block party (and recognized several of the photos above)… I have to say I am really impressed by the number of closed streets! Makes me proud to be a WSeattleite for 28 years (and 6 as a homeowner!). Honestly, I feel even more “connected” to this area after observing all of the participation this year, than I have in past years when staying in my own block’s Night Out! Well done, West Side!

I’d love to see some sort of “participation map” of the neighborhoods some day… Are the street closure permit applications for tonight publicly available?

WSB August 4, 2009 (11:37 pm)

They haven’t been in our experience. If that doesn’t change by next year, we’ll just ask people to share their location, not just whether it’s OK if we drop by for pix … since we hadn’t asked people if we could publicly mention their location ahead of time (and a few specifically asked us not to, hoping that burglars wouldn’t take advantage of the occasion and look for the empty homes whose residents were down the block celebrating!), we didn’t feel we could share a map. Since Benjamin Kinlow, crime prevention coordinator, mentioned 250+, you can bet they were all over the peninsula. While I was out checking out my half of our list, largely the northern half of the peninsula, we passed some side streets where several in a row were shut down! Impressive indeed – TR

diane August 5, 2009 (12:37 pm)

re: “Are the street closure permit applications for tonight publicly available?
Comment by Digidoll — August 4, 09 11:25 pm #
They haven’t been in our experience. If that doesn’t change by next year, we’ll just ask people to share their location, not just whether it’s OK if we drop by for pix … Comment by WSB — August 4, 09 11:37 pm”
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I asked for this last year, and again this year; glad to hear about so many blocks participating, but didn’t feel quite as “neighborly” as being professed to have a secret list held by just a few; I contacted Benjamin Kinlow, asking for party locations in my neighborhood and gave him my address; no response
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there were no parties on my block, so I walked up and down streets within 6 –7 blocks to check out parties; finally came upon one with familiar face and welcoming; thank you Mark and Jane for your gracious hospitality!!!

KSJ August 5, 2009 (12:55 pm)

Thanks for stopping by ours at 44th & Hill, Tracy. We had about 1/3 of the block turn out for our first ever block party. We had hoped for better turnout, but starting from scratch we didn’t have e-mails or phone numbers, so we had to go door-to-door with flyers to promote it.

At our party we had a potluck, chatted with neighbors, started a neighborhood contact list for emergencies and worked together to add watering bags to our street trees. Next year, we’d like to invite more blocks around ours and get to know even more neighbors.

roddy August 5, 2009 (8:28 pm)

Regarding Tracy WSB’s comment on the short window of time, I wonder why it has to happen on a weeknight? I had to work, then go run a bunch of errands, and although I was still able to spend an hour at our party, if it could be moved to a Sunday, shut down the streets from noon to whenever…well, now that would be even better!

Sorry, comment time is over.