West Seattle, Washington
14 Sunday
On this date 10 years ago – February 8, 2003 – West 5 opened its doors at 4539 California SW in The Junction. You’re invited to a big party this Sunday night – but before that, co-proprietors Dean Overton and Dave Montoure (center and right in the photo above) commemorated the milestone this afternoon by re-enacting a historic moment: Making a guest appearance as bartender, Dean served a beer and a shot of whiskey to the man who in 2003 was their first customer, Bill Reid (left):
Dave noted that Bill was known as “The Tallest Man in Radio” during stints with KNDD (“The End“) and KJET. Dave and Dean, as pointed out when they announced their 8th-anniversary party two years ago, are “born-and-bred West Seattle natives,” and West 5 has gained fame for its food as well as its cocktails, gaining an especially huge helping of fame for its Astral Mac ‘n’ Cheese. They invite you to be on hand this Sunday night for a “raucous party,” starting at 8 pm.
P.S. Found a party-entertainment hint on West S’s Twitter page:
Happy anniversary to us! Lets have a party this Sunday. twitter.com/Westfive/statu…
— West 5 (@Westfive) February 5, 2013
(They performed outside West 5 on Summer Fest eve last year – there’s video in our report from that night.)
In the West Duwamish Greenbelt, steps away from the south end of the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) campus, a delegation from Seattle Sounders FC took the field – well, the forest – this afternoon. They were there to help the Nature Consortium in the West Seattle nonprofit’s ongoing quest to help heal and restore the city’s longest stretch of contiguous forest. Their task today: Plant trees that NC obtained through the Forterra C3 grant, in which the Sounders are a founding partner. (From left in our photo, Sounders team members Alex Caskey and Babayele Sodade; Nature Consortium’s Monica Thomas; Sounders’ Andy Rose, and Sounders rep Jessica Hancock)
P.S. You can help out in the forest too – find out how here – and the NC also would love to see you at SODO Park on March 21st for their next gala fundraiser, Deep Roots (with WSB among the co-sponsors) – ticket info here.
We take it for granted, turning or pulling a handle and getting it instantly … but water is no sure bet for so many other parts of the world. That’s why Chief Sealth International High School is about to embark on its third annual World Water Week. The mid-March start is more than a month away, but Sealth staff and students are already getting ready.
In that photo are student leaders who spoke during a staff workshop yesterday afternoon focused on issues related to the lessons and events that will be part of WWW – including global sanitation and wastewater.
Social studies teacher Noah Zeichner, who is in his third year as faculty leader for WWW at Sealth, says this year’s keynoter – with a presentation open to the community, preceded by a Water and Health Resource Fair – will be Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, on March 19th. 2.6 billion people in the world have no access to toilets, so it’s a big deal – here’s a preview:
Meet Mr. Toilet | Jessica Yu from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.
Town Hall Seattle is co-sponsoring Sim’s appearance, as announced here.
Admission will be free – thanks in part to a fundraiser in which they’re partnering with Seavuria, connecting local students with counterparts in Kenya. Zeichner says you’ll be hearing from student “champions” as they “reach out to family, friends, and community to help support these important global programs at Chief Sealth International.” You can chip in by going to their fundraising page.
(WSB photo from 2011’s Hiawatha pancake breakfast)
No need to cook your own breakfast this Sunday – join your neighbors at Hiawatha Community Center (2700 California SW) for an annual tradition – all-you-can-eat pancakes, with proceeds going to cover program costs for those having trouble affording them otherwise. Hiawatha’s Tiffani Melake tells us it all starts at 8 on Sunday (February 10), $6 for ages 13-64, $5 for kids 3-12, $4 for ages 65 and up, 2 and under free.
One more advance traffic alert – this one two weeks away, involving the so-called Timber Bridge project on Highway 99 south of the West Seattle Bridge. We first told you about this impending work back in November, and more recently shared WSDOT’s announcement that work would begin on February 25th. We now have details on a weekend closure immediately preceding that, to reorganize traffic on the structure to make way for the crews, and to move underground utility pipes out of the way, as described by WSDOT’s Broch Bender, followed by details of the changes that then will be in effect during the project:
During the weekend of Feb. 22-25, the project will relocate a waterline under the existing timber structure and shift traffic to the west half of the bridge (where the southbound lanes are today). All traffic on SR 99 over S. Spokane Street will be shifted to the west to allow crews room to safely demolish the timber overpass and replace it with a new, concrete supported structure.
Closure details:
· 10 pm Friday, Feb. 22 to 5 am Monday, Feb. 25 – Both directions of SR 99 between the West Seattle Bridge and S. Nevada Street will be closed around the clock.
o Southbound SR 99 will be closed from the Battery Street Tunnel to S. Nevada Street, traffic will be detoured off the highway at Denny Way.
o Northbound SR 99 will be off-limits to drivers between S. Nevada Street and the West Seattle Bridge. South of Diagonal Street, traffic will be detoured to First Avenue S. North of Diagonal Street, signs will direct drivers off of SR 99 at the West Seattle/S. Spokane St./East Marginal Way S. exit.
Then on Monday, February 25th, after the closures, here’s how the traffic flow will work:
·Southbound traffic: South of the West Seattle/Harbor Island exit, southbound traffic will be reduced to one lane between the West Seattle Bridge and S. Nevada Street.
Northbound traffic: Two lanes of northbound traffic between S. Nevada Street and the West Seattle Bridge will be shifted to the west. The third lane remains the drop-lane for the northbound exit to West Seattle and East Marginal Way S.
· Slower speeds: A temporary speed limit reduction to 40 MPH in both directions of SR 99 will be extended south of the Alaskan Way Viaduct through the construction zone to approximately S. Idaho Street.
A map showing all that – as requested at the South Portal Working Group meeting earlier this week – should be available by tonight, and we’ll add it to the story when it is. The project is expected to last into June of next year, as crews demolish and rebuild the overpass one half at a time; once the east half is complete, it’ll handle traffic so work can commence on the west half.
Metropolitan Market‘s Andrew Borracchini is off to Las Vegas for the second year in a row, representing our state in the National Grocers Association‘s Best Bagger Championship competition this Sunday. We photographed Andrew at the store (which is a WSB sponsor) yesterday as he practiced one more time. What’s new this year? we asked. For one, the baggers are using reusable bags – just like us Seattleites – paper and plastic are out.
Store director Glen Hasstedt told us that Andrew’s been practicing with a variety of items, since last year in his competition debut, they learned the baggers aren’t given any hints about what they’ll be bagging until the moment it all begins – the checkout-stand mockups have the items covered until it’s time to begin.
He says he’s ready – he won the state title back in October – and glad to have his entire family coming along. Sunday afternoon’s bagging battle is at The Mirage in Las Vegas; tonight, Andrew said, he and his dad are going to see a concert at the Vegas Hard Rock Café.
4:03 PM P.S. – Researching a commenter question, we learned the Grocers Association plans to stream the competition live – so at 2:45 pm Sunday, you should be able to watch it here.
11:42 AM: Police initially tweeted there was a report of a robbery at West Seattle Coins at California/Oregon. However, the manager told us at the scene that they were NOT robbed – they had to deal with a disruptive person in the store. The store is open for business.
11:58 AM: We also reconfirmed with Seattle Police public affairs that further investigation revealed *no* robbery.
That’s the trailer for the Van Eps’ new music video, shot at the same West Seattle venue that’s premiering it tonight – part of our highlight list from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
SCHOOL TOUR: 10 am at West Seattle’s STEM elementary, 5950 Delridge Way SW, previewed here last night.
CUT-A-THON TO BENEFIT TRANSITIONAL RESOURCES: Ola Salon (2942 SW Avalon Way) in Luna Park is holding a Cut-A-Thon tonight starting at 5 pm, with proceeds benefiting their Luna Park neighbors at Transitional Resources. Full details in our calendar listing.
PARENTS’ NIGHT OUT: At Hiawatha Community Center, 6-9 pm – check to see if any room’s left for tonight, and if not, note that another one is coming up.
INTERSECTION CLOSURE REMINDER: 7 pm is when SDOT plans to shut down the Delridge/Henderson intersection for all-weekend-long repaving work. Here’s the detour map.
‘SHIRLEY VALENTINE’ – second-to-last weekend for the acclaimed ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) show, with tonight’s curtain time at 7:30 pm.
ALKI ELEMENTARY’S “ANNIE JR.” – sold out for tonight at the West Seattle High School Theater, we hear, but check on availability for tomorrow!
AT KENYON HALL: It’s Bill Evans on the banjo, 7:30 pm at Kenyon Hall (7904 35th SW) – details in the calendar listing.
VAN EPS’ VIDEO PREMIERE PARTY AND LIVE PERFORMANCE: Big night of music and video at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), where the Van Eps’ new video was shot (directed by West Seattle’s Jamie Burton Chamberlin – see the trailer above), and where it premieres tonight, along with a live performance by the band, all starting at 8 pm (6451 California SW).
LOW-TIDE BEACH WALK: 8:30 pm at Constellation Park, with volunteer beach naturalists from the Seattle Aquarium. RSVP encouraged but not necessary.
… and even more on the calendar!
A closure-alert sign sparked a question in today’s traffic/transit tracker, which led us to find a couple of major closures scheduled NEXT weekend that you might want to know about before official reminders circulate, especially considering it’ll be a holiday weekend and the closures will therefore last an extra day:
EASTBOUND SPOKANE STREET VIADUCT: The I-5/Spokane Street Interchange Special Bridge Repair project resumes its closures next weekend, and as part of that, from Friday night 2/15 through Tuesday morning 2/19, the eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed at the 4th Avenue South exit – which is where everyone will have to exit. (On the surface, the ramp from Spokane St. to eastbound I-5 and Columbian Way will be closed, too.)
DELRIDGE/TRENTON INTERSECTION: According to the weekly SDOT “lookahead,” President’s Day weekend is also when the Delridge Repaving Project will close another intersection for the entire weekend – this time, it’ll be Delridge/Trenton. Again, that’s NEXT weekend; THIS weekend’s closure is Delridge/Henderson.
These closures and many others for the greater Seattle area are listed on the weekly “construction lookahead” updated by SDOT here.
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
Happy Friday! Nothing unusual as the commute begins …
But tonight’s the night the Delridge/Henderson intersection closure begins; here’s the detour map. According to the project’s official webpage, the closure is scheduled to start at 7 tonight and end no later than 6 am Monday.
The West Seattle Food Bank‘s first open house of the year did double duty – the Thursday night event also served as the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s “after-hours” gathering, first one in a few months. Everyone who visited got a chance to peek behind the scenes at the food bank (p.s. – here’s how to donate).
P.S. Next up for the Chamber – its annual meeting, set for noon February 19th at The Kenney (WSB sponsor) – details here.
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