West Seattle, Washington
15 Thursday
Thanks to Philip for pointing this out to us via Twitter – one of the newest celebrity videos in the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS awareness, just published on YouTube today, stars West Seattleite and Pearl Jam leader Eddie Vedder, with the bucket wielded by bandmate Mike McCready. Looks like it was recorded on the West Seattle shoreline, too, as Philip noted in his tweet.
7:20 PM: Just as soon as the gates opened at 6:30 pm, the first of what looks to be another sizable West Seattle Outdoor Movies crowd started staking out spots in the courtyard next to Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor), where “The Goonies” will be onscreen at dusk. If you’re going, don’t procrastinate! This is the second-to-last movie of the season (already!) – WSOM wraps up 2014 next Saturday (August 23) with the blockbuster “Frozen.”
7:51 PM: Just added that updated crowd view.
(Video from Straight Blast Gym’s Indiegogo page)
Being in business isn’t easy anywhere. You take a chance, hope you’re offering something people want and need, in a place where they want it, need it, and will spend money for it, and then you take the leap.
Sonia Sillan knows how that goes. She and partner Jei took the leap two years ago with a big empty building in North Delridge. They put everything into it, even lived there when they opened in October 2012, found places to shower off-site, ate cheap pizza almost every night. Six months later, things weren’t going well – yet – they parted ways with a business partner and rebranded last year as Straight Blast Gym of Seattle (WSB sponsor). That’s when, Sonia says, things took a turn for the better. They started to grow, started to really fix up the building, added walls, equipment, a heater, a kids-after-school room, a gym-specific van for tournaments and their before/after school program … Now, they need to do more. And they’re looking to do it as a community partnership – mat expansions, showers, bathroom remodels (Sonia says the women’s restroom hadn’t been used in at least a decade when they moved in).
We feel that we are close to being the change that needs to happen in this neighborhood; however, we are not quite there. Most gyms are just a place where you go to sweat; our goal is to become a community center where adults and children thrive through various programs and activities.
To get this done, they’re crowdfunding. This week, Straight Blast Gym launched an Indiegogo campaign, and they’re already a third of the way to their goal. And they’re stressing that this isn’t just a request for contributions – they’ve come up with a list of perks, traditional to crowdfunding campaigns, to give back.
As explained on the campaign page, the projects they’re hoping to get funded are broken into three parts:
SPACE: $6,100 toward new mats and a platform extension
VISIBILITY: $8,400 toward new glass and insulation for the storefront, so it’ll be clear (literally!) when they’re open
EQUIPMENT: $5,840, with resulting expansion in programs including Warrior Woman and Growing Gorillas (kids)
They’re offering perks equal in some cases to discounted services, such as three private lessons for a $200 contribution (worth $300), and also ways to help the community even before the upgrades – a $1,500 donation sponsors a child through SBG-Seattle programs for a year. “We really want to make this about the community,” says Sonia.
(WSB PHOTO: M/V Evergreen State idled at Vashon)
1:55 PM: Traffic was already expected to be heavy on the Washington State Ferries Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth runs today, because of a big event on Vashon Island, and now there’s word of a complication – a boat breakdown (the un-mothballed M/V Evergreen State) has put it on a two-boat schedule. Check here for the latest alerts.
10:54 PM: Late night now, and it’s still a two-boat schedule. We’ve seen some of the results firsthand, having to go to Vashon for a family-related event this afternoon, and finally on the boat back home right now (the Issaquah departed Vashon for Fauntleroy via Southworth about 10 minutes ago). No word if there’s any chance this will be fixed tomorrow, so if you’re planning a trip on the “triangle” route Sunday, add extra time to your plan.
Yes, even the Christmas lights have to come off the tower cranes once they’re taken down. After eleven months on the job, the tower crane for 4730 California is being dismantled today. We arrived in The Junction just in time to see its jib brought down – from California/Edmunds, you could see it had been harnessed:
What goes up, must come down … @4730ca crane, 11 months later. pic.twitter.com/JI7B6vKadO
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) August 16, 2014
Then it was lowered to the street:
Looking south down California, that made for an interesting pattern:
And the entire operation, as was the case when it went up last September, held a fascination for onlookers, especially some of the smaller ones:
4730 California is expected to open by year’s end, with three retail spaces, 88 apartments and 71 offstreet-parking spaces, according to its commercial-leasing flyer. We haven’t heard of any tenant signings yet.
SIDE NOTE: This will leave The Junction with “only” two cranes for now, at the Equity Residential two-building California/Alaska/42nd project and Spruce (formerly “The Hole”) at 39th/Alaska/Fauntleroy, but two more will arrive before long, with demolition over and site prep under way at 40th/Edmunds and 35th/Avalon.
Thanks to Bob Venezia for the photo of Lincoln Park’s famous birds (that’s sort of how we felt this morning, too). Before we get to the highlights for today/tonight from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, the ferry in the background is a cue for one of today’s traffic notes:
BIG VASHON ISLAND EVENT: The Washington State Ferries notes weekend traffic between Fauntleroy and Vashon is likely to be heavy because of the Raft Up kayak/canoe/music event expected to draw thousands.
JUNCTION CRANE COMING DOWN: We will be checking on this for an update shortly, but the block of California between Alaska and Edmunds was scheduled to be a little busier than usual this morning, through mid-afternoon, as the 4730 California project’s tower crane comes down.
CITYWIDE ALERTS FOR THIS WEEKEND … If you’re heading off-peninsula, check this SDOT-published roundup first.
Now, ways to spend at least part of your Saturday here at home:
MOBILE BLOOD DRIVES: Two of them today – follow each link for details: 9 am-3 pm at 42nd/Alaska in The Junction; 9:30 am-3:30 pm at Westwood Village.
RIVERSIDE WALKING TOUR: Join the Southwest Seattle Historical Society on a walk through a neighborhood full of stories to tell and sights to see, 10 am, details (and a map) in our calendar listing. (W. Marginal Way/Marginal Place SW)
POCKET PARK MEETING: Remember our story earlier this summer about the Gatewood home donated to Seattle Parks by a local family? 10 am this morning, at the house, neighbors are invited to the informational meeting about plans for demolition and restoration at the site. (3823 SW Willow)
ADOPT A SHELTER PET! Noon-3 pm at West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) as part of its ongoing Dog Days of Summer. (California/Fauntleroy/Morgan)
ARBOR HEIGHTS BLOCK PARTY: Noon-4 pm at ARK Park, Arbor Heights Community Church throws its annual summertime party for neighbors! (4113 SW 102nd)
GET SCHOOL SUPPLIES! 2-5 pm at Delridge Skatepark, school-supplies giveaway plus food and fun, courtesy of The Way Church of God; details in our calendar listing. (Genesee/Delridge)
CHIEF SEALTH CLASS OF 1984 REUNION EVENTS … continue with dinner at Talarico’s in The Junction tonight, 6 pm, info here. (4718 California SW)
‘GOONIES’ AT WS OUTDOOR MOVIES: Every year, West Seattle Outdoor Movies asks for suggestions, and this year brought double-digit requests for “The Goonies,” so if you’re a fan, come see it TONIGHT on the big screen in the courtyard by Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) tonight! Movie’s at dusk (8:30-ish, depending on how clear/cloudy it is by sunset), but gates open at 6:30 pm and you’ll want to come stake out your space early – bring your own chair/blanket. Free but bring $ for nonprofit-benefiting raffle/concessions if you can! (4410 California SW)
MUSICAL THEATER X 2: “Hello, Dolly!“ presented by Twelfth Night Productions; also at 7:30 pm, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” presented by the ArtsWest youth – click on either production’s name for details.
LIVE MUSIC X 6: Five Buck Band at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7 pm; Tom Kell & Emiko Woods at Kenyon Hall, 7:30 pm; Travis Hart Trio at The Cask (WSB sponsor), 9 pm; Red House at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 9 pm; hip-hop slate at Skylark, 9 pm; Tom Price Desert Classic (and more) at Benbow Room, 9 pm.
While everything is status quo with the Alaskan Way Viaduct/Highway 99 north of the West Seattle Bridge THIS weekend, WSDOT reminds you that won’t be case by this time NEXT weekend. The map above shows the planned closure – for various reasons you can read about here – starting 10 pm next Friday night, August 22, with the exception of two access points for traffic exiting the Seahawks game until midnight. By Monday morning, August 25th, the WS Bridge-to-Battery St. Tunnel section should reopen, but the tunnel-to-Valley St. section will stay closed two more days:
Again, that all starts NEXT Friday night. And we’ll be reminding you daily in our regular WSB traffic coverage between now and then.
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