West Seattle, Washington
21 Wednesday
West Seattle Crime Watch reader report from Linda:
Stolen truck: 1990 Dodge Dakota – 4X4 – 2-tone brown. Last seen on Friday, March 16th in the 5200 block of California Ave. in the back parking lot. The plate number is B68460L.
If you see it, call 911.
As we first mentioned a week and a half ago, next weekend brings what just might be the last of the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s twice-yearly inspection closures. It’s officially scheduled for two days as usual – 6 am-6 pm Saturday, March 24th, and 6 am-6 pm Sunday, March 25th – but these closures have tended in recent years to just need the first day.
For history fans, summaries of the inspections going back more than 15 years can be read here. As for why we note that this might be the last semiannual inspection, yet another briefing last Thursday (like this one three weeks ago) suggested the AWV might be out of service before October arrives.
(Cooper’s Hawk in Seaview sunshine, photographed by Jeremiah Holt)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: See what’s fresh at the last market of winter – spring starts Tuesday morning. 10 am-2 pm in the street in The Junction. (California SW between SW Oregon and SW Alaska)
RUN CLUB: Kid- and dog-friendly run leaves Ounces in North Delridge at noon on Sundays. All levels welcome. (3809 Delridge Way SW)
SIGN-MAKING FOR THE MARCH: Looking ahead to next Saturday’s March for Our Lives, you’re invited to Admiral UCC to make signs, 12:30 pm-1:30 pm. (4320 SW Hill)
JAMTIME: Live music at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 1-4 pm. (5612 California SW)
SOUTHWEST STORIES: The speaker series presented by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society and Seattle Public Library returns with curator Phil Hoffman talking about the Log House Museum’s new “Navigating to Alki” exhibit. 2 pm at West Seattle (Admiral) Library.
GOT SOMETHING FOR THE CALENDAR? editor@westseattleblog.com – as far in advance as possible – thank you!
It’s been a week and a half since Tully’s Coffee on Alki suddenly shut down, posting signs describing the closure as temporary. While the neon OPEN sign has continued glowing in the front window, the shop remains closed. Hours after our report, The Seattle Times reported Tully’s was closing all its shops, telling staffers it was because they were out of coffee. But other troubles seem to have percolated in the meantime. Reader Paul sent us images of a “pay rent or vacate” notice he reported seeing on the shop door Thursday evening; it said parent company Global Baristas hadn’t paid March rent, and that they had to pay $5,103 or vacate within three days, or else court action would be pursued for eviction. That’s already happened for some other Tully’s locations; court records show “unlawful detainer” complaints filed for two more just this week, in the 625 Union Station building on the south end of downtown and at 1171 NW Sammamish Road in Issaquah.
Thanks to Cub Scout Pack 799 parent Jason T. for the photos from and update on today’s Scouting for Food door-to-door-and-dropoff food drive:
Last Saturday 3/10, twelve Cub Scouts (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos) and families put out approximately 850 door hangers, requesting food donations from their local neighborhood.
This Saturday, March 17, eleven Scouts and their families collected 952 pounds of food for West Seattle Food Bank!
Our kids are very grateful for the kind and incredible response from community, and they had an absolute blast (and great exercise) walking their neighborhood, representing Pack 799.
Overall, 21 Scouts and families participated in the drive, collectively putting almost 8 hours of community service, applying stickers to door hangers, distributing hangers, collecting food, and helping weigh and sort food at the West Seattle Food Bank.
P.S. Next door-to-door food drive is Stamp Out Hunger on May 12th – same day as West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, as always – leave a bag of food by your mailbox that day for your carrier to pick up.
After a win over Whitman late today, the Denny International Middle School girls are celebrating a championship! The report and photos are from Denny principal Jeff Clark:
Denny Girls are City-Wide Middle School Basketball Champions!
Congratulations to the Denny International Middle School Girls Basketball team on winning the city-wide championship! We are very proud of our team for an outstanding season, filled with teamwork, hustle, and great sportsmanship!
A big shoutout to Coach Espinoza, Coach Hyde, Coach Johnson, and our Athletic Director, Mr. Rodriguez, for all that they do for our kids! Thanks also to our fantastic parents and staff who support our team and open our gym every Saturday for teams across the city to play. Go Dolphins!
Today’s championships followed a two-month season – you can see the schedule here. Today’s final score (thanks to parent Krista for the added detail) was 57-39.
Just one week until the first egg hunt of the season (longtime WSB sponsor Forest Lawn is having one next Saturday, while the rest are on Easter weekend March 31st and April 1st) – and the first take of our seasonal list is up: See it here. If you have a seasonal event, service, brunch, etc. to add, please send us the info ASAP so we can add it! Graphics, flyers, press releases not required – just some info in plain text in the body of your e-mail – editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
Seen in West Seattle on St. Patrick’s Day 2018:
We of course had to go see if the legendary green stripe on 41st SW north of Admiral Way had been refreshed for another year. The pictorial proof is above. (We’ve featured it many past years – including 2017, 2016, 2015, 2011, 2010 – and it remains a mystery.) The next photo is from Suky:
Suky explains, “No shamrocks at Lincoln Park this morning – Just clamrocks!”
Before the day went gray … three colorful views:
Above – thanks to Frank S.! Below – thanks to Chris Frankovich:
And thanks to Jim Borrow for this view, as fog rolled in:
If you have lost track — spring is just three days away! It arrives at 9:15 am Tuesday.
(Some “wearing of the green” for this Anna’s Hummingbird, photographed by Mark Ahlness, shared via the WSB Flickr group)
Welcome to Saturday! First, some transportation notes:
DOWNTOWN TRAFFIC/TRANSIT ALERTS FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY: The St. Patrick’s Day Dash downtown this morning will bring reroutes for buses including these serving our area – each route number links to the reroute explanation: RapidRide C Line, 21, 131, 132. The reroutes are scheduled to end around 11 am. No local bus routes are on the list to be affected by the St. Patrick’s Day Parade that travels along 4th Avenue downtown starting at 12:30 pm, but if you’re headed downtown, be aware of the road closures.
And now, highlights of what’s happening in West Seattle:
WEST SEATTLE LINUX USERS GROUP: 9 am at the Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor), all Linux enthusiasts welcome. Coffee and doughnuts promised. (9140 California SW)
SCOUTING FOR FOOD: At least two local troops are picking up food donations today at homes where they left doorhangers last weekend – Boy Scout Troop 284 (details here) and Cub Scout Pack 799 (details here). 799 will also be accepting dropped-off donations 10 am-11:30 am at Arbor Heights Elementary. (3701 SW 104th)
MAD ABOUT MAHONIAS: It’s not just a work party, it’s science too. 10 am-noon, the Mahonia Evaluation Project welcomes you to South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) – here’s why. (6000 16th SW)
CLEAN UP ALKI BEACH: 10 am-noon, Puget Soundkeeper would love to have your help – details here. Meet at Statue of Liberty Plaza. (61st SW/Alki SW)
UNDERSTANDING AUDIOBOOKS: 10:30 am at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, this free and fun event with West Seattleite, TV host, and audiobook producer Brian Callanan and author Wendy Terrien takes you into the world of audiobooks. All welcome. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
JEWELRY POP-UP: Susan Goodwin is at CAPERS in The Junction, noon-6 pm. (4525 California SW)
LEARN TO MAKE FRY BREAD: 1-3 pm class at the Duwamish Longhouse – learn fry-bread-making from the tribe’s chair Cecile Hansen. Call for your reservation – info’s in our listing. (4705 W. Marginal Way SW)
ST. PATRICK’S DAY SCAVENGER HUNT: 1:30 pm, bring your team to Ounces for a scavenger hunt! (3809 Delridge Way SW)
LIONS CLUB ST. PATRICK’S DAY DINNER: No-host bar opens at 5 pm, dinner at 6 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle. Details in our calendar listing. All ages. (4217 SW Oregon)
ST. PATRICK’S DAY WITH SUSTAINABLE WEST SEATTLE: 6:30-9 pm, come hang out with SWS at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) and learn about getting greener while celebrating the saving of C & P. (5612 California SW)
NORTHWEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: In concert tonight at Holy Rosary, 8 pm. Program details are in our calendar listing, as is ticket information. (42nd SW/SW Genesee)
LOTS MORE … happening today/tonight; check our full calendar.
That’s what the Friday night sunset looked like to us. @WestSeaWx explained it as “debris clouds” left over from terrain-based thunderstorms (we had tweeted an afternoon view). Thanks for the photos! Above, from Dan Ciske; below, from James Bratsanos:
And the wider view of that colorful phase, from Kersti Muul:
Photos are always welcome – 206-293-6302 for phone photos of breaking news, editor@westseattleblog.com is best if non-breaking.
Two big topics on the agenda for last night’s Alki Community Council meeting, and we have video of both. First – the week’s second discussion of Sub Pop Records‘ August 11th Alki Beach 30th-anniversary megaparty:
“We’re really excited,” declared Sub Pop CEO Megan Jasper as she led the briefing and discussion, as she had at the Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting two nights earlier. Most of the details were the same – as reported in WSB coverage that night – but we heard a few other details, as well as Alki residents’ questions:
Thanks to Val for the tip and the photo of that notice posted on the door at the West Seattle Junction Post Office. We don’t know if the new closure time is actually in effect yet – after getting Val’s note, we went over to verify, and a door was still wide open at 7:55 pm (the USPS website, meantime, cites an even-earlier closure time) – but we do have a potential answer to Val’s question of what the reason might be: Multiple readers told us this week that a local accounting firm had told customers they had been “notified by the U.S. Post Office that mail thieves broke into approximately a dozen post office boxes at their West Seattle Branch on or around February 16th.” We hadn’t found a corresponding police-report number yet so have no further details, but are mentioning it given the lobby-closure notice.
The aerial imagery is from Arbor Heights Elementary, just before school got out for the weekend. Staff and students assembled on the playground in the shape of a heart, as a sign of support for the survivors in Parkland, Florida. The image was made with a drone piloted by a parent volunteer.
ADDED SATURDAY: Here’s the official photo:
There was a (Komodo) dragon in the kitchen with South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) Pastry and Baking Arts students and faculty today!
That’s Chef Instructor Christopher Harris with the finishing touches on what’s actually a cake “for a very lucky four-year-old’s birthday party this weekend,” as SSC’s communications director Ty Swenson explains.
The real-life Komodo dragons are native to Indonesia and grow to about eight feet long.
P.S. The program does do work like this by commission – “generally ¼ to ½ what a retail cake artist would charge,” per SSC.
(Photo by Gary Jones)
Seen in Elliott Bay this afternoon: Above and below, USCGC Polar Star, the heavy icebreaker just back from a three-month-plus mission to Antarctica, as previewed here last night.
(Photo by Don Brubeck)
And below, Zhen Hua 33 has finished delivering the drydock Evolution to Vigor on Harbor Island – its appearance without cargo startled at least a few people into thinking it was a sinking ship:
No photo, but someone texted about a passing submarine today, too.
(WSB photos)
When we reported last November on the first-anniversary party at Ounces, North Delridge’s taproom and beer garden (3809 Delridge Way SW), we showed you the newly unveiled rendering of what has since taken shape in the outdoor space that was formerly under a tent. Now, it’s almost finished! We stopped by for a followup.
Above are Ounces co-proprietor Laurel Trujillo and the architect of their project, North Delridge-based Parie Hines of LD Arch Design (WSB sponsor). We talked with them at Ounces on Thursday afternoon. They say this will be mostly complete within the next two weeks or so.
Laurel assembled the tabletops; an Ounces bartender did the welding; and the contractor is Avid Builders, making it an all-West Seattle project.
(If you’re a fan of the old “spool” tables, don’t worry, a few of them are outside the structure on the north side.) The finishing touches will enable the space to be enclosed when need be – including garage doors on the way for both the north and south sides, and permanent material on the roof (which currently has a temporary covering):
Laurel says that after she shared her vision for the replacement of their former tent, “Parie nailed it” in one take. It includes some inspiration from Hines’s design for the West Seattle Nursery expansion. Laurel says you can watch for news of a grand opening when it’s all done in four to six weeks. But the timing will be a bit of a balancing act because she’s expecting something else in about six weeks – her first child – she and husband Andrew Trujillo are about to become parents as well as co-proprietors and spouses.
P.S. If you haven’t been to Ounces lately, or even if you have, you can get a peek at the project tomorrow when they host a St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt – starting at 1:30 pm.
FRIDAY: Just heard from Southwest Pool – it was originally expected to reopen tomorrow after almost three weeks of maintenance, but they won’t be ready to go because it’s not heating up fast enough for the water to be warm enough for Saturday swimming. They’re hoping to be able to reopen on Sunday, instead. (We’ll check in again tomorrow.)
2:26 PM SUNDAY: As noted in comments, we’ve verified that the pool did reopen today. (Here’s its schedule.)
In case you haven’t already seen this in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for tomorrow – it just might be Saturday’s most unusual event:
West Seattleite and local TV host Brian Callanan will be hosting an event, “Understanding Audiobooks,” at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on Saturday, March 17, at 10:30 am. Brian has been a narrator for Audible for the past three years, and he’s holding the discussion session to talk about his work and how audiobooks are produced. Award-winning author Wendy Terrien (for whom Brian has produced three audiobooks) will join him for the event. Come by for a fun discussion, some coffee, and a free book or two for the lucky readers/listeners who show up!
From Alex:
We did our usual jaunt to Starbucks on California & Fauntleroy this morning. 7:40 ish, parked in the parking lot as usual – side lot – closer to Subway. Full daylight. not there 15 min. Smash & grab in that pretty public lot, in a spot very close to the street (California). Took my daughter’s stuff – a bag not on the seat, in the wheel well. An older iPad – but the bag itself was special. We just got it on ‘girls’ day’ at the Museum of Flight – a WWII P52 warhawk bag – the girl loves WWII planes. It was a really sad morning – a sad morning for West Seattle. I don’t think I would be this much taken aback if this had happened overnight on the street :(
We’re checking for the police report #, so you can refer to it in case you happen to spot Alex’s daughter’s bag tossed aside somewhere.
(Our favorite bird! Steller’s Jay, photographed by Mark Ahlness)
Here are highlights for your mid-March Friday, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
FRIDAY AFTERNOON AT THE MOVIES: “Lust for Life” from 1956 is the movie this afternoon, 1 pm, at the Senior Center of West Seattle. (4217 SW Oregon)
DAVE HOLO TRIO: Music at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor), 5-8 pm, New Orleans jazz with a view! (1936 Harbor SW)
ORCHESTRA CONCERT: Tonight you can enjoy the West Seattle Community Orchestras‘ Wind Symphony and Percussion Ensemble in concert, 7 pm at Chief Sealth International High School Auditorium. From the former’s rehearsal, conducted by Anton Coleman:
(Thanks to WSCO for that video from a rehearsal for tonight’s concert!) Admission free; donations accepted. (2600 SW Thistle)
STEVE ITTERLY: Singer-songwriter performs at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 7-9 pm. (5612 California SW)
GET QUIET: 7-8 pm at Our Lady of Guadalupe, all welcome for quiet “prayer, meditation, adoration.” (35th SW/SW Myrtle)
WATCH THE SUNSET: 7:16 pm tonight, the first Friday of Daylight Saving Time, per the WSB West Seattle Weather page. Robert Spears shared this from last night’s sunset:
Also tonight:
AFTER-HOURS STOMP: 7:30 pm at Kenyon Hall, Arthur Migliazza and Carole J. Bufford perform “a knockout musical road trip.” Ticket info is in our calendar listing. (7904 35th SW)
PREVIEW THE WEEKEND while seeing what else is up today/tonight, via our complete calendar!
(WSB photo, Thursday morning)
For reasons from development to storm damage and beyond, trees are taken down in West Seattle (and elsewhere) often. But removals seldom generate the notice and concern that has resulted from one tree being taken down in North Delridge on Thursday – a big cherry tree in the front yard of a small house on the east side of Delridge Way SW by Dakota. After receiving questions about it, we stopped to take the photo above while passing through the area as a tree service worked on the removal yesterday morning. This photo from Google Street View shows what the tree looked like while fully leafed out:
Last night we did research to see if the property had a development proposal or recent sale. No on both counts. And we happened onto a social-media discussion with numerous laments about the loss of the tree. We have since reached the house’s owner via e-mail, and here’s the reply we received this mornig from Jodi Opitz:
I knew I would hear about this and almost posted a sign for the public. It was a heartbreaking decision to fell the tree; I’ve avoided this for a few years. The tree had definitely run its life-course and was becoming dangerous from internal rot and fungus running the entire trunk.
I’ve had more than one arborist look at the tree in order to make an educated decision on this, I’ve owned the house since 1993 and have always loved the tree even with its considerable damage over the years to all my plumbing and concrete due to its root system.
So did many who passed by. If you were among them, now you know.
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
6:45 AM: Thanks for the tips. Emergency responders are being sent to a crash on the bridge. SDOT describes it as “blocking the left eastbound and left westbound lane at SW Avalon Way.” The most-recent caller tells us it’s by the pedestrian overpass.
6:57 AM: Another tipster says this has pushed out the jersey barriers, which would add time to the crash-clearing work.
(SDOT image of bridge crash scene, via Twitter)
7:14 AM: Still blocking, per SDOT. So avoid the Fauntleroy bridge entrance, as that’s the section affected.
7:37 AM: Metro just sent a late alert that the 7:20 am Route 57 didn’t run.
8:03 AM: Two more problems – police are headed to a crash at 11th SW and SW Elmgrove, no injuries reported. And there’s a medical callout to 42nd and Admiral – a vehicle/pedestrian collision is reported.
8:09 AM: The pedestrian’s injuries are not major and won’t require SFD medic-unit transport, per scanner.
8:19 AM: Per Bill‘s tweet from the scene, the Admiral/42nd incident is at the southeast corner.
8:24 AM: And in case you were wondering, still no “all clear” from the bridge crash scene.
8:43 AM: After two hours, SDOT says, the bridge crash scene IS now clear.
| 1 COMMENT