West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
In our windstorm-followup report earlier today, we included tweeted word from Seattle Parks that Southwest Pool is closed because of a boiler problem related to the storm. Tonight, Erin Bruce from pool management sent word that the closure could last longer than the rest of the weekend:
Southwest Pool will be closed for the rest of the weekend and possibly into early next week.
Due to damage from Friday night’s windstorm, we have no domestic hot water, and cannot re-open until the problem is fixed.
We have no estimate for the repair timeline, but Parks staff are working as fast as they can to get the pool up and running as quickly as possible.
Southwest Pool is the city’s only year-round aquatic facility in West Seattle. Evergreen Pool in nearby White Center is also closed right now, for resurfacing work that’s scheduled to continue until early January.
(Photo courtesy Kay Kirkpatrick)
8:51 PM: Seattle Fire has escalated a call near 10th/Kenyon in Highland Park [map] to a “full response” for a possible house fire. Updates to come.
8:54 PM: SFD says it’s a garage fire and that it’s under control.
8:57 PM: Via radio, firefighters say the fire’s out.
9:35 PM: SFD’s investigator has just arrived to look into how the fire started. No injuries reported.
Just about every night of the season, the Menashe Family Lights (5605 Beach Drive SW) draw a crowd. Tonight, an extra reason to visit – it’s the one night of the year that you’ll find Santa there for photos.
Until 10 pm, bring nonperishable food for the West Seattle Food Bank, and get your Santa photo with a bedazzling backdrop – one that impresses all ages:
With Christmas less than a week and a half away, your Santa photo ops are dwindling – he has to get back to the North Pole sometime, after all – but we can tell you he’ll be on the Santa Bus in The Junction 10 am-2 pm tomorrow, too.
(Mas Tahara – photo courtesy SWSHS)
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 2 pm, you’re invited to the Delridge Library to hear Mas Tahara talk about the Tengu Fishing Club, in the next Southwest Stories presentation from the Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Here’s the SWSHS announcemen:
The “Tengu Fishing Club” was founded by one of several Japanese-American tackle shops that had been established in downtown Seattle. One particular shop started a salmon fishing competition, later called the “Tengu Fishing Club,” around 1936 or 1937.
Fishing competitions like this were common at the time, but the Japanese-American population was not welcomed during the typical salmon fishing season during warmer weather (spring or summer). They began their own tradition, with the distinct difference of welcoming any participants, regardless of their ethnic background or gender. Held during the cold winter months of November through January, each weekend of the competition would document who had caught the largest fish, and the ultimate winner was chosen at the end of the 12-week period.
There was a notable interruption to the Derby’s history when, beginning on December 7, 1941, the national intolerance toward Japanese-Americans (and even naturalized American citizens of Japanese descent) was severely heightened, leading to the internment order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.
The fishing derby resumed in November of 1946, one year after the war had ended, and has continued in Seattle (with periodic closures due to fishing moratoria) ever since. In the past most of the fishermen and women launched their crafts from a structure known as the Seacrest Boathouse, at the present location of Marination Ma Kai on Harbor Avenue in West Seattle, which, now rebuilt, is still known by the same name. Today many of the participants launch from the Don Armeni Park Boat Ramp.
What is a “Tengu”?
The “Tengu” are mythical folkloric creatures from all over Japan. They were thought to have the power to create the wind out of nowhere. Sometimes good and sometimes bad, these supernatural beings take a human form that can also change, sometimes depicted with dog-like characteristics and sometimes taking an avian form. Common features include a red face, golden eyes, and a prominent, protruding nose. The fishing club took this name partly because of the unpredictable nature of Tengu, and also because the enlarged nose is like a “boast” or “exaggeration” that can sometimes be associated with a “fish tale.”About Mas Tahara
Masaru (Mas) Tahara is a longtime Seattle resident and former University of Washington microbiology researcher who was born in Japan in 1936. Mr. Tahara moved to Seattle in 1955, originally to attend school, and met his future wife while attending a vocational training school based on the G.I. Bill where they were both attending. This happy union changed his plans, and he ended up staying in the US and making his life here. Having chaired the Tengu Fishing Club for over 40 years, in 2015 Mas Tahara wrote and self-published a book on his experiences, “Tengu – Tales Told by Fishermen & Women of The Tengu Club of Seattle.”Please come and hear Mr. Tahara as he is interviewed about his amazing fish-tales on Sunday, December 16, 2018 from 2 pm to 4 pm at the Delridge Library.
The library is at 5423 Delridge Way SW. Admission is free – first come, first served.
(WSB photos)
West Seattle’s biggest party venue was a wonderland of Christmas fun for four hours today. Sea Mar Community Health Centers hosted hundreds of kids and their families at its King County holiday party in the Brockey Center at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) on Puget Ridge. Each child got three presents – and a chance to meet Santa and friends:
The party also offered craft activities, food, and entertainment:
Sea Mar is headquartered in South Park and runs almost 100 clinics in 13 counties. In eight of those counties, including King, it hosts holiday parties, sending excited kids home with toys funded by proceeds of benefit golf tournaments held in Seattle and Yakima each year.
Thanks to Jim Borrow for the photo of a U.S. Navy submarine seen headed northbound past West Seattle after leaving Bremerton earlier today. We have yet to learn the secrets of IDing submarines, but as noted in this recent Kitsap Sun report about submarine maintenance, Bremerton is homeport to two.
(Find the City Light “live” outage map here)
8:09 AM: As noted earlier, though the windstorm is long over, new outages have hit this morning, in High Point and toward the east end of the Roxbury corridor. We’ll be covering those in the hours ahead, and checking out windstorm damage/cleanup around the area. Thanks for all the tips and updates in our past 14+ hours of coverage – more to come!
8:24 AM: That end-of-Roxbury pocket, and the North Highline outage area it was part of, is back on. The SCL map shows a few hundred, mostly in North Delridge/Puget Ridge/Highland Park, still out since last night.
9:27 AM: Anyone on the water missing this?
Karen sent the photo and says it’s beached in Lincoln Park.
10:52 AM: We’ve been out for an hour looking for aftermath such as downed trees. Thanks to a tip, finally found one:
That tree has SW Orchard closed just north of Dumar.
12:22 PM: Oregon is blocked between 38th and 39th because of this:
Police say the house’s residents heard it crack during the wind. They have evacuated. City Light has been called.
1:18 PM: The SCL outage map now shows only scattered, single-customer outages in our area. If you’re out and the map doesn’t show it, be sure SCL knows – 206-684-3000. Their map shows 2,500 still out, service-area-wide.
2:42 PM: Another storm-related closure, tweeted by Seattle Parks:
Southwest Pool is closed the rest of today (Saturday, Dec. 15) and tomorrow (Sunday, Dec. 16) due to problems with the boiler following yesterday’s power outage. Please call the pool or check here for updates.
— Seattle Parks (@SeattleParks) December 15, 2018
(Snow in the Olympics, photographed earlier this month by David Hutchinson)
Most of the West Seattle areas affected by last night’s windstorm outage have their power back, so as far as we know, everything originally scheduled for today/tonight is on – please let us know if there are any changes and we’ll update! We will also be launching a new outage update/windstorm-cleanup report shortly. In the meantime, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and Holiday Guide:
SANTA AT CAPERS: Third-to-last chance to get your Santa photos at CAPERS in The Junction, 9 am-noon, by donation benefiting the West Seattle Food Bank. (4525 California SW)
NATIVE NORTHWEST HOLIDAY GIFT FAIR: Second day of the December edition of the Duwamish Native NW Holiday Gift Fair, 10 am-5 pm at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse. (4705 W. Marginal Way SW)
GIFT WRAPPING: Shopping in The Junction? Go get your purchases wrapped at Quail Park Memory Care Residences of West Seattle (WSB sponsor): “On Saturdays in December, between 10 am and 4 pm, we’ll GIFT WRAP any gifts you purchase from Junction businesses! Bring your gifts down the hill, and enjoy some hot cider while we wrap your gifts! The service is on us, but if you’d like to leave a donation for the Alzheimer’s Association, we’ll have that opportunity available!” (4515 41st SW)
MOMENTIA MIX: “A free monthly event for community members with memory loss and their family and friends … Enjoy community, tasty treats, and a different creative activity each month, including music, movement, improv, art, bingo, and more!” 10:30-noon at Camp Long. (5200 35th SW)
VISCON CELLARS WINE RELEASE: 2-7 pm at the Viscon Cellars (WSB sponsor) tasting room: “Your local West Seattle award-winning winery Viscon Cellars is releasing two new wines for the Holiday Season: 2014 Long Road Red Cabernet Sauvignon and 2014 Another Story.. Petite Sirah. Beautiful wines to enjoy for the Holidays, also make great gifts. Stop by to try, and pick up, these wines.” (5910 California SW)
ALKI LIGHT SHOW: First night for the 2018 Uehara-Bingen Xmas Lights Show on Alki! Be there at 5:30 pm for the 30-minute show that starts at 5:45 pm. More info in our Holiday Guide. (1708 Alki SW)
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS: Second and final chance to catch the new outdoor Winter Festival of Lights:
(Friday night photo courtesy Max)
“Lafayette Elementary students, teachers and families will create a beautiful outdoor display of lights to share with our community, 6 pm-8 pm. Come sip hot cocoa and enjoy a cookie while walking through our outdoor display Winter Festival of Lights. Suggested donation $2 per person.” (California & Lander)
SANTA AT MENASHE FAMILY LIGHTS: Photo night with the Christmas-iest person around, at the Christmas-iest spot in West Seattle, the Menashe Family Lights, 6-10 pm.
(Photo by Robert Spears)
Bring nonperishable food for the West Seattle Food Bank. (5605 Beach Drive SW)
WEST SEATTLE SANTA PUB CRAWL, 6 pm-midnight: “Come celebrate the holidays with us by throwing on a Santa suit and enjoying delicious holiday beers at 6 great West Seattle bars. This year we will be doing things slightly different… this year all 6 bars will start handing out raffle tickets starting right at 6 pm, for every pint of beer from of any of the 6 brewery sponsors.” Here’s the list of bars and times:
Shadowland– 6 pm-7 pm (drawing at 7)
Beer Junction– 7 pm-8 pm (drawing at 8 )
Corner Pocket– 8 pm-9 pm (drawing at 9)
The Lodge– 9 pm-10 pm (drawing at 10)
Poggie Tavern– 10 pm-11 pm (drawing at 11)
Talarico’s Pizza– 11 pm-12 am (drawing at 12)
Collecting Toys for Tots donations along the way. (Starting spot is at California/Oregon)
CASPAR BABYPANTS: 6:30 pm, Caspar Babypants performs at Easy Street Records. Admission free, courtesy of Verity Credit Union (WSB sponsor), their gift to CB fans. (California SW/SW Alaska)
ROO AND THE FEW: Live music, “with special friends,” at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL’: Last night they performed by lantern-light. Now the power’s back – so don’t miss Twelfth Night Productions‘ “A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play.” 7:30 pm at Kenyon Hall. Buy your ticket(s) online at this Brown Paper Tickets link, or at the venue box office. (7904 35th SW)
MORE … in our Holiday Guide and Event Calendar.
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