West Seattle, Washington
11 Sunday
Story and photos by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
It’s fair to say that among the things West Seattleites have in common, a love of food is probably at the top of any list. You probably have a favorite breakfast or pizza place, special dessert destination, preferred grocery store, produce stand, mobile food truck. The West Seattle/White Center area has grown into a neighborhood with an abundance of some of the best and most inviting food destinations in the city. New places continue to open up and we just can’t seem to get enough.
But for some folks, even the plethora of commercial culinary awesomeness surrounding us isn’t quite enough. These people not only like to eat, they like to cook – a lot. And they would like to find others with great recipes who might want to share with the club – and eventually help publish a charity-fundraiser cookbook – while getting inspired and meeting new people.
So the stage is set for a growing group of people who share a passion for cooking: The West Seattle Cooking Club.
Be careful! A tree has fallen onto the eastbound (bridge-bound) lanes of Admiral Way near the West Seattle Bridge, according to notes we’ve received. Thanks to those who e-mailed to let us know about it. Off to check out the scene.
5:38 PM: It’s been cleared, so all is OK now.
2 West Seattle Crime Watch reports from the WSB inbox, an attempted burglary and a case of vehicle vandalism – read on:Read More
If you saw a sizable contingent of scooters zipping through West Seattle streets, here’s the occasion: The final day of the Vespa Club of Seattle‘s four-day “Rally to Restore Insanity” brought dozens of scooter riders (a few of whom are pictured above) to Skylark Café and Club in North Delridge for brunch this morning. From there, they were heading to Vashon via the Fauntleroy ferry, on a ride led by West Seattle’s own Westenders (who have their own rally coming up later this month).
(Click image for a larger view)
Making a very public West Seattle appearance on the eve of the most patriotic of holidays, it’s our national symbol, the bald eagle, times two, on a stretch of Alki sand revealed as the tide goes out (it’ll be -2.0 at 1:56 pm). Thanks to Debra Salazar Herbst for sharing the photo!
Suddenly, it’s July, and all the big summer events are in view. Two weeks from today, you can spend the day wandering the 10 gardens on this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour 
on your own schedule between 9 am-5 pm, and learning perennial-design secrets from this year’s guest speaker Sue Goetz (that’s the one event with a fixed time – noon at West Seattle Golf Course). Ticket books are $15 (kids 12/under = free), and they’re more than just your ticket to get into the gardens and lecture on July 17th – they contain maps and information, plus coupons from some of the sponsors (totaling savings, by our informal estimation, that could exceed the $15 price). The WS Garden Tour is a fundraiser with multiple beneficiaries (listed here). WSB is proud to be a WS Garden Tour sponsor again this year (with many others, including these businesses that are also WSB sponsors: Budget Blinds of West Seattle, Highline Medical Group/West Seattle Family Medicine, Jackson, Morgan & Hunt PLLC, Stonehedge Tree Experts, Tom’s Automotive Service, WEdesign, Ventana Construction). You can buy your ticket book today at the locations listed here, or online. (Photo of “Sculptural Greens Garden” by Clay Swidler, from WSGT website)
(December 2010 photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)
That’s just one of the sights we saw on a boat tour of the Duwamish River last December. You can get an even better look at the people, wildlife, industry, and history of the river that borders much of easternmost West Seattle by taking an evening community-kayaking tour this summer. The Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition presents the tours along with West Seattle’s own Alki Kayak Tours, and this summer’s tour series is about to begin. Every other Wednesday night, from this coming Wednesday (July 6th) through September 14th, a tour will leave either from the West Seattle or South Park shore of the river. The full schedule is here, along with the cost and other parameters.
(WSB photo from a West Seattle Farmers’ Market day in June)
Day before the holiday (here’s our West Seattle 4th of July page), so while it’s fairly quiet, a few things are up:
SUNDAY SOCCER: 8 am, Delridge Playfield, the ongoing “adult/big kid” pickup soccer game, all ages/skill levels. Check out West Seattle Sunday Soccer on Facebook.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm in The Junction (44th/Alaska) . From market manager Catherine Burke, update for today’s market:
FRESH SHEET:
Pipitone Farms w/tree-ripened “pipicots!”
Fresh WILD Sockeye and King Salmon at Loki Fish
Martin Family Orchards – Cherries
Welcome our Newest Farmers from Whidbey Is. Five Acre Farm!
Music: Pasquale Santos
Kids’ Tent: WS Helpline
You’ll also find Sustainable West Seattle and Kiwanis Club of West Seattle tabling today.
ADOPT A CAT: Friends of the Animals Foundation will have volunteers on site at Next to Nature in The Junction every Sunday in July from 11 am – 3 pm to help you find the perfect rescued feline companion.
TRAFFIC REMINDER: Venturing outside West Seattle? Citywide alerts for big events today (and through Tuesday) are listed here.
(Photo added 11:30 pm)
10:33 PM: A crash has brought down a pole and wires at Delridge/Sylvan (map), so police are blocking Sylvan at Holly. A medic unit’s now being called.
11:15 PM: The crash is nowhere near Delridge – it’s along the greenbelt area of Sylvan, halfway between Forest Lawn (WSB sponsor), where police have a roadblock on the north side, and the Vietnamese Cultural Center across from Home Depot, where the south roadblock is. So the Delridge-to-35th route through High Point is cut off till City Light finishes repairs. Police said some power was out as a result of the crash, though nothing’s showing on the City Light map; some of the street lights did appear out as we hiked in. The crashed car itself is off the road, so the roadblock is purely for safety reasons.
ADDED SUNDAY AFTERNOON: While Ken noted in comments that the road was still blocked at 8 am, we drove through at noon, so it’s clear now.
It’s a learning experience not only for campers, but for their coaches, at Chief Sealth International High School‘s 14th annual Basketball and Life Skills Camp. We stopped by the school Friday as the first of this summer’s three weeklong sessions concluded. Coming off his CSIHS team’s amazing year, going all the way to the state 3A Final Four at the Tacoma Dome, award-winning Coach Colin Slingsby was talking with some of the young men and women who help coach the campers.
Slingsby co-directs the camp with Sealth athletic director Sam Reed and Denny International Middle School‘s Coach Diallo Jackson. (When we stopped by on Friday, we spotted CSIHS principal John Boyd there too.) Check out the brochure here – it breaks down the typical day and explains how “life skills” figure into it as well as basketball skills. Two more one-week sessions for 2nd through 9th graders (fall ’11 grades), for both genders, are ahead, one starting July 11th and another starting August 8th;
Less than a week till West Seattle Summer Fest 2011 (with co-sponsors including WSB) rocks The Junction … and there’s more information online now, so you can start planning your time there:
GREENLIFE AT SUMMER FEST: Exhibits and live demonstrations will be the highlights of this year’s sustainability expo on the south end of the festival zone – and the list of demonstrations is now live on the Summer Fest website; 
find it here. For example – 4 pm Friday (July 8th), Connie from West Seattle Nursery has the (s)coop on raising backyard chickens; 5 pm Saturday (July 9th), Micah from the West Seattle Tool Library shows you how to make beer at home; 1 pm Sunday, Stu from Alki Bike and Board shows you how to make your bike electric-powered … and lots more before, after, and between all those.
REMEMBER, STREET FESTIVAL MEANS STREET CLOSURES … If you’re new, or otherwise in need of reminding, Summer Fest setup, enjoyment, and breakdown means the streets in the heart of The Junction will close starting this Thursday evening and will stay closed till next Sunday (July 10) night. The north edge of the closure tends to vary slightly year to year but keep in mind that the blocks of California from Oregon to Edmunds and Alaska from 44th to 42nd are closed no matter what.
… WHICH MEANS A FUN CHANCE TO EXPLORE ON SUMMER FEST EVE: Come down and wander those closed streets during Shop Late Thursday in The Junction, 6 pm-9 pm.
YES, THERE’S ONLY ONE STAGE, BUT … one act on the Summer Fest music list (see all 24 acts listed here) will be in the informal performance area at California/Alaska (by the Information Booth, where we’ll be helping out again this year). That would be Caspar Babypants, performing at 6:30 pm Friday, and you’ll see other types of fun performances and demonstrations in that area throughout the festival. P.S. The official stage for the other 23 performers/groups is on the north end of the festival zone, California SW between SW Oregon and SW Genesee (see the map above).
REMEMBER THE ‘HASHTAG’ … if you use Twitter, include #wssummerfest with your Summer Fest tweets.
Next Summer Fest update, we’ll explain what “Hack-Cycle” – which you might have noticed on the map – is all about, and introduce you to the artist who’ll be helping you do it!
(Photos by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
Since our report of two “open” dates for West Seattle’s celebrated Walker Rock Garden revived questions about its status and fate since it went up for sale earlier this year, we asked WSB contributor Ellen Cedergreen to check out Friday’s two-hour “open” window. She talked there with its listing agent Brad Cooper, but he would not comment on its status, whether it’s been sold, is still for sale, etc. The sale listing for the 12,700-square-foot site still has the notation “pending feasibility.”
Cooper did say that the current overgrowth visible in some areas of the rock garden is about to be cleaned up for a magazine shoot.
The next listed public “open” date is 9:30 am-10:30 am on July 16th (5407 37th SW); watch walkerrockgarden.net for other dates (and we will too – whenever we find them in advance, we’ll add them to the WSB West Seattle Events calendar.).
Two reader reports with words of warning – one a scare in Alki traffic this afternoon, one a sort of road-rage incident along California SW between Morgan and Alaska Junctions earlier in the week – read on:Read More
Two local businesses with new features:
That’s the back patio at Locöl (7902 35th SW), where Kyle Duce asked if we’d help get the word out about it, now that the sun is back. He says it’s open 7 days a week with full service, closing at 11 pm Fridays/Saturdays, 10 pm other nights. And while Locöl will be closed on the Fourth of July, Kyle says its new summer hours kick in Tuesday: 4 pm-2 am weekdays, noon-2 am Saturdays/Sundays, kitchen open till midnight 7 days a week, live music around 7:30 pm Sundays and Mondays. Data point: We believe Locöl is the southernmost bar-with-patio in West Seattle. Runner-up, Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor, 6451 California SW), with lots of sunshine on its west-facing deck out back.
Now, heading farther south, into White Center:
WSB/White Center Now contributor Deanie Schwarz snapped the photo during a recent visit to Zippy’s Giant Burgers (9614 14th SW), now the newest biz with a photo booth … something they certainly couldn’t have fit into their original, mega-cozy quarters in Highland Park.
(WSB photo from 2008 Seafair Pirates Landing on Alki)
While the biggest West Seattle event next weekend is Summer Fest in The Junction (3 days starting Friday), we know a few (thousand) folks will likely duck over to Alki next Saturday to provide a welcoming party for everyone’s favorite marauders, the Seafair Pirates. Saturday, July 9th, is indeed the annual Seafair Pirates Landing, and we hear that there might even be a Moby Duck sighting (you’ll recall their beloved landborne “ship” ran into hard times last fall). The landing itself is between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm, per the Pirates’ page – but here’s a good reason to get to the beach long before then (besides securing yourself a better parking/viewing spot): From 7 am till 10 am that same morning, the annual Pirates and Pancakes breakfast fundraiser will be happening at Alki Bathhouse, right in the landing zone. $5 gets you pancakes and coffee or juice, and it’s a benefit for Sports in Schools, which is sponsoring WSB this week to promote the event.
A note for those tracking Downtown Emergency Service Center‘s proposal to build a 75-unit apartment building in the 5400 block of Delridge Way for homeless people dealing with mental illness and other challenges such as substance abuse: Three weeks after DESC started contacting neighborhood leaders about the plan, it finally has a page on their website. (We have been checking for one, but nothing’s been there; a Google Alert just brought this up overnight, so it’s new.) It includes an overview of the project, plus links to the neighborhood letter/flyer circulated before last Monday’s Delridge Library meeting and the information sheet circulated at the meeting, as well as the images that were displayed on easels at the meeting, including a possible configuration for the building (shown above), and news-coverage links (so far, just us). DESC has not announced any additional community meetings but it would seem a sure bet to be on the next North Delridge Neighborhood Council agenda, 6:30 pm Monday, July 11th, location TBA.
As is usually the case for holiday weekends, things are fairly quiet on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar, but we have a few things to note for those who haven’t left town:
LINCOLN PARK WORK PARTY: Friends of Lincoln Park restoration party 9 am – noon. Meet at the kiosk in the north parking lot (SW Rose St and Fauntleroy Way SW). Bring garden gloves and clippers – or, they’ll have extras.
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY: Haven’t had time to check it out before? Got something to do in the home or garden? Today you can visit the West Seattle Tool Library in its new Youngstown Cultural Arts Center space (east side of main building), 9 am-2 pm
EARLY 4TH OF JULY BARBECUE: 40th anniversary celebration at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor, 2320 42nd SW) continues today, 11 am – 6 pm, with a pre-Independence Day barbecue.
TOUR THE LIGHTHOUSE: You can tour the Alki Point Lighthouse, 1-4 pm.
FAMILY ACTIVITIES AT THE LIBRARY: “Games Around the World,” free family program at the High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond), 1 pm.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: US Open qualifier, AVA beach volleyball on Alki, see full details here
SALSA ON ALKI: Dance on the beach, 6 – 10 pm, sponsored by Belltown Dance Studio & Century Ballroom.
OUTDOOR MOVIE: First “Movies on the Lawn” screening, presented by Unique Families of Seattle. “Flight of the Navigator” is the free outdoor movie at 9246 36th Ave SW, arrival time: 8 pm (donations welcome). Private residence so space is limited, must RSVP to attend. Email joanna@uniquefamiliesofseattle.org
‘ROCKY HORROR’: First Saturday night of the month means that at midnight, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” complete with shadow casting is presented at The Admiral Theater.
It was a short parade, but memorable – A Terrible Beauty‘s co-owner Jenna Shannon Garvey O’Brien led the way, carrying the Irish flag, as members of the Eastside Firefighters Pipes and Drums and Seattle Firefighters Pipes and Drums paraded on a Junction sidewalk tonight, from California/Alaska to California/Edmunds, where the flag was taken up a ladder for ceremonial placement on the roof by Jenna’s son Mick:
(added) Thanks to Aaron Bocchetti for this view from behind the pipers/drummers – with their detailed outfits, head to toe:
Though A Terrible Beauty has been open since Tuesday, tonight is the official “grand opening” night, and the pipes and drums were scheduled to play inside again right about now. It was a full house as the parade arrived at 7 – and as we drove along West Seattle thoroughfares from California SW to Alki SW, we noticed most places were jumping on this wonderful clear night kicking off the holiday weekend.
The construction fence is up around the original Denny International Middle School, which will be demolished before summer’s end, to be replaced by tennis courts, a softball field, play equipment, and a big open field where another school might be built someday – Denny reopens in its new building adjacent to nearby Chief Sealth International High School this fall. The old-Denny site’s contractor BNBuilders has sent a newsletter to share with the community – detailing which buildings will go first, with a site map included; you can see it here (PDF).
Just in from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: Charges are now filed against 40-year-old John C. Siegel, the man arrested Tuesday night in connection with the fire that investigators say was set that morning at the Gatewood home he co-owns. The charges are 1st-degree arson/domestic violence and domestic violence/violation of a court order. Siegel remains in jail, awaiting arraignment on July 14th; he was arrested after being treated at Harborview Medical Center for a wrist injury that has been described as self-inflicted. Prosecutors have asked that his bail be set at $1 million. More after the jump:Read More
SDOT has sent word of upcoming closures small and large – from a lane on the West Seattle Bridge, to overnight closures of the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct (the bridge between Highway 99 and I-5). The SSV closures are set for the nights of July 12th-14th; details here, along with word of some 1st Avenue South closures, all part of the ongoing Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project. Then, next Tuesday, you’ll see a lane closure near the Fauntleroy end of the bridge; details here, along with some Harbor Island work next week.
From our partners at the Seattle Times: Isaiah Kalebu has been found guilty in the 2009 South Park murder/rapes case. The woman he killed, Teresa Butz (right), had heroically taken action that saved her partner’s life, before losing her own. His sentencing in August is a formality, as the aggravated-murder conviction automatically means life in prison with no chance of parole, since the death penalty was not sought because of his mental-illness history. Details in the Times report here.
Just got word from Southwest Precinct that there has been an arrest in connection with the May 8th attack that left a Fairmount Springs woman badly hurt. The case raised so much concern, there was a special neighborhood meeting about it a few days later, with precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen and City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen in attendance (here’s our coverage). Precinct operations Lt. Pierre Davis tells WSB an arrest was made just before 5 pm yesterday: “Our detectives did a fantastic job with this case. The arrest warrant was served on the suspect without incident.” We are working to get more details about the arrest, the suspect, and the circumstances of the case, which were all something of a mystery back in May.
ADDED SATURDAY MORNING: Inquiries with police and prosecutors on Friday afternoon didn’t yield much, but overnight we did get a bit of extra information from SW Precinct Lt. Alan Williams, who says the information he could access shows that the suspect (whose name we still don’t know, so we can’t check his/her status through the jail register, and there are way too many people booked for assault/burglary type charges for anyone to stand out as the likely arrestee) “was located in the 1000 block of 4th (Avenue) South and taken into custody without incident.” Because of government closures for the Monday holiday, we don’t expect to be able to get more information before Tuesday.
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