Alki ‘car-free day’ aka Seattle Summer Streets, report #2

| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news

(Our first report on “car-free day” is here; our coverage of the West Seattle 5K is here)

(South/east end of the Alki closure; if you are trying to drive westbound, you’ll be detoured up California)
Back to the beach after a break for other news. Good news: Sunny! Not-as-good news: Admiral is of course taking the detoured traffic, and much busier as a result; parking is challenging too. Take the Water Taxi shuttle from The Junction (or elsewhere) if you can – but do come down; it’s a lot warmer and great weather for a walk, ride, etc.

2:52 PM UPDATE: The section of street across from Coastal is the busiest – with a skateboarding ramp, a tent-covered inflatable “surfing” zone, and other activities.

A short distance east, there’s live music outside at Christo’s on Alki (and a few blocks west, a band was playing outside at Bamboo Bar and Grill, too).

3:22 PM: Craziest thing we’ve seen so far actually looked crazier in the prep than in the execution – the “skateboard slingshot” in that short clip. Otherwise, just a steady stream of foot-powered folks going by, except for the Water Taxi shuttles and local residents’ cars in the eastbound inside lane:

3:46 PM UPDATE: Another clue it’s not completely balmy – the beach-volleyball players are wearing long pants:

Also notable, it’s the first car-free day/Seattle Summer Streets since the 53rd Avenue Pump Station project (which started in early 2008 – the first of these events was in September 2008, second in May 2009):

Still time to take a walk in the middle of the street – which doesn’t reopen till 5. The breeze is picking up, though, so bring a jacket/sweater. 5:36 PM UPDATE: All over now … couple more things to add, first, our video of the Dizzy Crabshaw Band outside Christo’s at mid-afternoon:

And the chalk art outside Coastal:

marty May 23, 2010 (4:18 pm)

I live on the 1300 block of Alki ave. and these photos make it look like a lot more people are there than I can see from my deck. I have seen more people out on a rainy week day. You can’t depend on Seattle weather until August!

david May 23, 2010 (4:24 pm)

Great idea to do this, but a warmer day in July or August would bring out a lot more people. We were there this afternoon and one of the best aspects was the music. Both bands sounded great! Would like to see more food, maybe more booths/tents?, and certainly more people.

sam May 23, 2010 (4:54 pm)

we were there from about 10:30 to 12:30
while the weather wasn’t sunny and hot, we still had fun riding our bikes down the middle of the street.
i was a little disappointed, I’d never been, and I thought there would be more ‘stuff’/tents. it seemed like people were still setting up when we left.

there were tons of police too. everywhere.

WSB May 23, 2010 (5:40 pm)

Sam, I noticed the same thing – more police than the past two years, and also the same relative sparseness of activities/”stuff.” I would love to hear from local businesses/organizations if there has been a barrier to entry – the same folks have been doing things the past few years, Coastal, CoolMom, bike/board businesses, but this would SEEM like a great opportunity for many other West Seattle businesses/organizations to come down and set up, like a street fair on wheels! – TR

eileen May 23, 2010 (8:08 pm)

We came down between 12 and 3- and had a great time. My daughter got a new bike helmet and we were able to ride the road and have a blast. nice people from Cascadia alliance with bicycle maps and good info as well. Had lunch at slices – all around great day. A little windy heading back west/south but still great fun.

cleat May 24, 2010 (12:36 pm)

Across the street from Luna Park it was one of the quietest Sundays in some time… a lot more people and activity on a normal weekend day … seems all those police kept away the usual visitors… as well as kept us inside… why they pick a street to close that has no alternate for locals to use is beyond me. The detour route is not handy at all if you live down towards the Harbor Ave end of Alki… just my opinion…

dsa May 24, 2010 (2:08 pm)

Cleat, are you saying the street was closed to local traffic? I agree with your comment about no alternative route, no alleys or backroads out of there.

sam May 25, 2010 (7:37 am)

the more I think about it, this car free day just seems ridiculous as a concept.
Seattle has Parks, community centers, wading pools, etc, that already foster the concepts that ‘car-free days’ are supposed to promote. there is already a bike path along the beach.
Seattle Parks’ budget is a disaster, wading pools might not even open this year, but yet the City spends all this extra money to enforce street closures with cops working on overtime, probably, tow trucks, etc…
help me understand the point.

Tim May 25, 2010 (11:34 am)

I agree with you Sam. It just seems like a ridiculous idea to close a street to cars that already has some of the best pedestrian and bike lanes in the city. Is it just to say you did? There is so much space down there that you can keep the road open and still put on great events on the promenade. Like they already do for the Seafair pirate arrival with bands and games. I just think the cost to both the parks and the business’ is way to high for this needless exercise. It screams of green beuracracy doing something because they can but they failed to actually use common sense. We already have a street fair. It’s called West Fest.

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