It’s the little things. Earlier, the tale of the candy cane; tonight, a tale of greenery, from Jamie and Chelsea:
My wife and I were walking back to our Morgan Junction home from buying half-off garlands tonight at West Seattle Nursery, and in front of the [frame shop] and tae kwon do studio near Juneau, this nice woman appeared out of nowhere and asked if we wanted her spare wreath. Apparently she had an extra and since we were already loaded up with holiday spirit i.e. garlands she must have thought we needed more!
Thanks to this nice woman, and happy holidays to West Seattle!
That’s part of our video from last New Year’s Eve, when Highland Park neighbors launched a new holiday tradition, the “Not-So-Silent Night Parade” (more WSB coverage here). Tonight, there’s word from Highland Park Action Committee chair Dan Mullins that they’re doing it again:
If you want to have some fun this New Year’s Eve, Highland Park is the place to be! Bang on a drum or shake your tambourine as you travel along with the second annual “Not So Silent Night Parade.” March along with us on a 20-30 minute trip through Highland Park, making just enough noise to remind our neighbors that it’s New Year’s Eve.
Afterward, they’re planning more festivities in the parking lot (same as last year), as well as hot cider and cookies. It’ll all start and end at the Highland Park Improvement Club (12th/Holden; map), meet at 6:45 pm, parade starts at 7 and will last about half an hour. Also from the announcement:
Dress warm ’cause we are going, rain or moon-shine, and you may want to bring a flashlight and an umbrella! (or even better a flashlight taped inside an umbrella, so it glows!) Bring the kids in their strollers and your friendly dogs on their leashes.
They’re also recruiting volunteers to help direct traffic along the way – if you can volunteer to be a crossing guard, e-mail Dan at chair09@highlandpk.net.
Forget the mall – your last-minute holiday shopping can stay right here in West Seattle. Many stores are open on Christmas Eve, and right now, many of the shops in The Junction are open till 9 tonight for one last “Shop Late Thursday.” We checked on a few WSB Holiday Shopping Guide participants – you can get your art on at Twilight Artist Collective (4306 SW Alaska), above, or the sweet smell of gift-giving from knows perfume (4536 California SW):
We found Frances Smersh with some of the jewelry – they carry her creations as well as others – at the shop she and husband John recently relocated to The Junction (4540 California SW), Click! Design That Fits, which is open 11 am-3 pm on Christmas Eve:
Shoes? Handbags? Clementine is one option – that’s where we found Lisa:
And a few doors east, Angela is helping shoppers at Funky Jane’s Consignment (4455 California SW):
Thanks to Kirk for the tip on this – which has turned out to be more than a “simple” case of a business closing. SeaMart, the 16th SW/SW Holden (map) mini-market in Highland Park, is closing after Friday. Thanks to extensive research for WSB by contributor Deanie Schwarz, here’s what we’ve found out so far:
The property, which is also home to Zippy’s Giant Burgers and JoJo’s Fine Espresso, is in judicial foreclosure, according to SeaMart’s owner, Ed Choe, the building owner who’s been foreclosed on. Deanie spoke today with him as well as with the owners of Zippy’s and JoJo’s. They have both been trying to find out from the bank that’s taken possession of the building, UniBank*, what the status of their leases is – Zippy’s, for example, has a lease through next April but with a two-year-extension option, and the fate of that extension is now in question (they’re consulting a lawyer). Zippy’s owners Blaine and Rahel Cook say the bank asked them if they had any interest in buying the space and named a price that was too high, based on a valuation from two years ago. The bank reportedly already has bids for a possible “short sale” of the property. Meantime, store owner Choe says he tried to refinance but couldn’t qualify; he and his wife have had a tough year, losing a child a few months ago, and now their business, but he told Deanie, “We still have our health, and we will be OK.” They had been commuting from Edmonds and admit that was rough too. So what’s next? The only thing for sure is that SeaMart is closing after tomorrow and has a closeout sale under way on just about everything except beer and cigarettes. We’ll keep you updated on what happens with the rest.
*DECEMBER 31ST UPDATE: We have corrected the name of the bank in the story – it’s UniBank, not Union.
After three public meetings, official activity on the planned driving range at West Seattle Golf Course is in a lull, according to Seattle Parks’ Garrett Farrell. But local golfers are ramping up their concerns about the most recent proposal (unveiled at the third meeting), which would lead to changes on three holes of the course itself. First, the official update from Farrell:
Parks is evaluating the community feedback to date while gathering better detail on the proposed range and how it fits the site.
A ball trespass study to determine how much netting is required and other pieces that help evaluate costs have arrived in the past month.
I anticipate being back out in front of the community in early 2011 with an update on status.
Now, the latest on concerns. A new “Save West Seattle Golf Course” Facebook page has been set up, urging people concerned about the latest version of the driving-range proposal to contact City Councilmembers and other city leaders. The site includes a version of an open letter sent to WSB by Kurt Niedermeier, who is a member of the West Seattle Golf Club Board, though he stresses his letter is not an official statement on behalf of the board – read on:Read More
It’s not just Christmas Eve-Eve – December 23rd is also the date for Festivus, a cantankerous winter anti-holiday spun off from the classic comedy TV show “Seinfeld.” If you’ve been to Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) in recent weeks, you’ve probably seen the Festivus pole, maybe even written a note for the “Airing of Grievances” which is part of the … event. Hotwire proprietor Lora proclaimed 10 am this morning as the time to come “celebrate” Festivus at her shop in The Junction (where they’ve also been collecting donations for pets – “Festivus for the pets of us”). Christopher Boffoli was there on behalf of WSB, and you can see his video above. (Don’t miss Dharma the dog, midway through!)
To whoever is leaving candy canes on doors–THANKS!!
My wife found a candy cane on our front door with the message: “Thank you for your lights, we love them!” I don’t believe that this is a new thing in West Seattle but it’s new to us. Nice holiday spirit!
Are you alone on Christmas Day and need to burn some humbug energy? Or maybe you just want to get out of the house for an hour and get your daily run on. A small group of us are doing a 10K run along Alki, rain or shine, to raise a few bucks for a friend who is heading to Africa to volunteer for three months in 2011. We’ll meet at 11 am. This is very low key. If interested, e-mail for more details … read30@yahoo.com
Any other activities, let us know; meantime, we are continuing to tweak the list of West Seattle restaurant/coffee shop/grocery store Christmas Eve/Day hours – you can find it here, and it’s linked from our updated-all-season-long West Seattle Holidays page (where you also will find Christmas Eve/Day church services).
Though school’s out till the New Year, you can still send e-mail or leave a message to help with this – WSB’ers have answered the call before:
The marketing teacher at West Seattle High School could use your help.
In January, 30 marketing students from West Seattle High School will go to the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue to compete in marketing competitions. We need judges to judge the marketing presentations for students from all around the Puget Sound Area at the Meydenbauer Center on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011, from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm. If you have any business experience or enjoy helping out students we could use judges to watch and score the student marketing presentations.
Please contact Michelle Sloan, Marketing Teacher, West Seattle High School, masloan@seattleschools.org, 206-252-8861.
*A mystery surrounds a green Ford pickup truck and its driver, seen doing off-roading-style maneuvers in the mud, kicking up dirt and grass and driving through private yards in the 2400 block of SW Juneau on Monday around noon. Alarmed when the driver suddenly stopped alongside the yard of a child-care center and smiled, the caregiver hustled the children away from the area. They were unhurt, and the truck left the area “without further incident.” Here’s the mystery: The truck had a “Seattle City Parks” placard on its side. A parks supervisor told officers that no employees were working in the area at that time, no trucks in the parking lot had mud splatter, and that the partial license plate reported did not match any Parks Department vehicle. The driver was a white man, age 22-29.
From reports on cases handled recently by
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