West Seattle, Washington
08 Thursday
From the anonymous good-doer(s) West Seattle Art Attack (some background here; that’s a helpful elf in the photo), two photos arrived along with this response to this WSB Forums post from someone whose Christmas decorations were vandalized:
Poor Ed & Gail Swartz. Somebody cut up their decorations. They lamented on the forums that Something bad is happing (sic) in West Seattle. Well, West Seattle Art Attack is at it again. The Swartz family has been attacked with a pumpkin and a few other surprises. Hopefully this will counteract the bad vibes from the vandals. There will be more attacks for the holidays throughout West Seattle.
Two nights after West Seattle High School‘s basketball teams faced Chief Sealth International High School, they played the peninsula’s other major high school tonight, Seattle Lutheran High School. WSHS won both varsity games – 30-25 was the girls’ score, 61-30 was the boys’ score. We’ll add toplines later.
When Banda Vagos took the stage at Denny International Middle School last night toward the end of Denny’s first-ever Posada Navideña holiday celebration, teacher Roxana Amaral had extra reasons to be proud. Not only did she help organize the Posada, with lots and lots of volunteers also part of hte effort, she explained regarding the band: “That’s my family.” Doubtless there were some among the estimated 150 attendees who hadn’t heard the rollicking banda style of Mexican music before – and that would be part of the event’s success, according to Denny principal Jeff Clark, seen here with some of the many volunteers and organizers:
Clark stressed, talking with us during the three-hour celebration, that it was more of what an “international” school is about – celebrating a culture’s rich traditions, with participants of many cultures. One big hit, literally, was the piñata-whacking right after the potluck dinner:
To avoid too much of a crazy scramble once the piñata was finally open, candy was handed out in a somewhat-more-orderly fashion. Raffle prizes were announced from the stage, by Amaral and young helpers:
(Amaral leads Proyecto Saber (explained here) at Denny.) In addition to the prizes, food, labor, and entertainment for the night also were donated, all to make it a more successful fundraiser for the Denny PTSA. That entertainment, incidentally, included mariachi music from Mariachi Seattle Azteca as well as the aforementioned banda group:
While we didn’t get there early enough for a look at the many traditional Mexican dishes brought for the potluck, the desserts remained in abundance:
Organizers hope the Posada will become an annual tradition for Denny – and if they do indeed have it again next year, they’ll be in the school’s brand-new building, getting close to completion on the Chief Sealth International High School campus across the street – with move-in scheduled immediately after this school year ends, so that, according to principal Clark, summer programs can be held in the new building and many members of the Denny community will be quite well acclimated to it by the time next school year starts in September 2011.
Considering how windy it was all night long – we kept watch from midnight till almost 6, surprised West Seattle escaped major power problems this time – it’s no surprise at least one tree was lost. This one is in Arbor Heights, a 40-footer brought down by the 40-mph-ish overnight wind, according to John. The current forecast only suggests breeziness and showers for the next few days. 1:53 PM NOTE: That said, it’s “showering” and gusting fairly impressively at the moment …
Everybody was a little camera-shy but rest assured, the cats that Friends of the Animals Foundation has brought to VCA West Seattle for an adoption event today – their first one there, VCA says – are just waiting for you, or anyone else who can give them a forever home. This event goes on till 2 pm. Seen at left is Frank, who’s 12 years old and needs someplace new because his people just couldn’t keep him any more. Below, Marianne and Barb with a few more candidates:
VCA West Seattle is at 5261 California SW. (P.S. Even if you can’t give someone a new home this Christmas, there are several other ways to help local pets in need, including pet-food donation drives – listed in the “Holiday Giving” section toward the end of the WSB West Seattle Holidays page.)
(Photo from 2/2010 WSB story, republished with permission of Rick Miner)
Back in February, we reported on a one-of-a-kind West Seattle real-estate listing – 3221 Point Place, a rundown bungalow on an amazing waterfront site next to the Alki Point Lighthouse. At the time, it was listed for $1.3 million; we spoke with its listing agent Rick Miner (who shared photos including the one above) for our story. We lost track of it until Tim at Seattle Bubble pointed out that it has just been sold, for $965,000 per this Redfin page. County records say the new owners are a couple with an address elsewhere in Alki. So what will become of it? For that, we’ll have to watch the city page for the site. As noted in our February story, the relatives who inherited it from its previous longtime owner had met with the city to evaluate the site’s “buildable potential”; there is no indication of any action beyond “initial information collected” in October of last year.
After a windy night, a busy day, with one week till Christmas. Our mystery photo above by Bill Bacon (he thought maybe a sanderling, we can’t confirm with photos) is in honor of the Seattle Audubon Society‘s seabird viewing/ID/appreciation walk this morning – everyone welcome, meet at Alki Bathhouse, 9 am … Two Seattle Parks facilities have special events with family fun – Reptile Man and his “band of creatures from around the globe” are at High Point Community Center (6920 34th SW), 10:30 am, and the Zambini Brothers puppeteers present “The Tasty Holiday Tale” at Alki Bathhouse, 1 pm … Be a holiday life-saver – give blood at today’s mobile drive, Westwood Village, 9 am-3 pm with a break 11 am-noon … Westwood is also where you’ll find Santa, noon-4 pm (breezeway across from 24 Hour Fitness), bring a food-bank or diaper donation … Three animal-related events – local animal-advocacy volunteers will wrap your presents for donations, 1-6 pm at Rocksport (4209 SW Alaska) … Friends of the Animals Foundation has a cat-adoption event at VCA West Seattle, 10 am-2 pm … Kitty Harbor cat shelter (3422 Harbor Ave SW) is open for its final weekend till next June, 1 pm-6 pm … Need something to put together a Christmas present or fix storm damage? Or? Remember the West Seattle Tool Library is open 9 am-2 pm Saturdays (north end of campus) … And whether you’re shopping in the Admiral District, Luna Park, or The Junction, you’ll find deals and holiday-hours information from 23 ***local*** stores in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Shopping Guide.
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