New ‘Welcome to West Seattle’ sign unveiled

1:16 PM: Adah Cruzen was there this afternoon as the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce officially unveiled the new Welcome to West Seattle sign on the slope along the west end of the West Seattle Bridge long tended by her late husband Earl Cruzen. He was there in 1986 when the Chamber, for which he was a vice president at the time, put up the previous sign; last summer, with a photo of Earl as a backdrop, Adah announced a donation to fund a new one. Then-Chamber CEO Lynn Dennis was also at the site for today’s unveiling.

It was made by South Park-based Waypoint Sign Company, which installed the framework and base last month.

Members of the Chamber committee that worked on the sign project were there for the unveiling. Along with then-CEO Dennis, they were:

 Tim Andes of Waypoint Sign Company
 Paul Prentice, of Prentice Designs Inc.
 Hamilton Gardiner of Holmquist and Gardiner PLLC
 Gary Potter of Potter Construction
 Pete Spalding of Verity Credit Union
 Shannon Felix of Avalon Glassworks

The Cruzen donation also is to pay for a landscape-maintenance plan for the site.

ADDED 7:25 PM: Local historian, journalist, and author Clay Eals was there today too and shares this video.

44 Replies to "New 'Welcome to West Seattle' sign unveiled"

  • Paul P. May 8, 2019 (1:30 pm)

    Thank you Adah and Earl for yet another great contribution to West Seattle!

  • Daniel May 8, 2019 (1:35 pm)

    I’m not sure I ever noticed the previous sign but this one looks great!

  • Kim N May 8, 2019 (1:59 pm)

    Thank you Adah and Earl – what a lovely contribution to West Seattle in his memory. 

  • Blbl May 8, 2019 (2:28 pm)

    Love it!  Thank you, Adah!

  • Rocky raccoon May 8, 2019 (2:41 pm)

    So uninspired.

    • Adam May 8, 2019 (3:55 pm)

      Agreed. 

      • Peeb May 8, 2019 (5:28 pm)

    • Pete May 8, 2019 (4:29 pm)

      Rocky Raccoon….why that comment? 

    • Dawson May 8, 2019 (5:33 pm)

      Agreed. Still trying to figure out if I’m entering a medical clinic, office park or Texas suburb with the current design. 

    • DB Coop May 8, 2019 (8:36 pm)

      We could hope it could at least be bigger than that stupid LA Fitness sign we’re force to look at as we come into West Seattle at Alaska and Fauntleroy. 

  • HS May 8, 2019 (2:53 pm)

    It looks great!!

  • oakley34 May 8, 2019 (3:14 pm)

    Drove by this afternoon…looks great!  Thank you.

  • Yma May 8, 2019 (3:24 pm)

    I’ve been waiting for this to be unveiled! Thank you- West Seattle Chamber of Commerce!@GaryPotter – huzzah!

  • John Hodges May 8, 2019 (3:56 pm)

    With what they’re doing to 35th we’ll sure have plenty of time to look at it. 

    • sw May 8, 2019 (5:59 pm)

      John Hodges for the win.

  • miws May 8, 2019 (5:09 pm)

    Looks great! Thank You,  Adah and Earl! —Mike

  • Norskgirl May 8, 2019 (5:45 pm)

    Thank you for your thoughtfulness on behalf of W Seattle.  I think the sign looks very readable and classy.   It represents W Seattle well, what with the mountains and the blue water.  

  • Mj May 8, 2019 (5:54 pm)

    Elegance in simplicity, thank you West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

  • West Seattle Hipster May 8, 2019 (5:54 pm)

    Great looking sign!   Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

  • Karen May 8, 2019 (6:09 pm)

    I like it.   Thank y,ou, Adah.  

  • Cycleman May 8, 2019 (6:21 pm)

    Afraid I have to agree. The sign isn’t very exciting looking. Not that it needs to hot neon but a little more color and more fun would of been nice. 

    • S.J. Snead May 16, 2019 (12:47 am)

      So, you should have ponied up your money and designed the sign, otherwise, you have no right to complain about a sign that is somewhat similar to the first one. Thank you, Idah. 

  • Mara Haveson May 8, 2019 (6:46 pm)

    love this! looks great!!

  • Peeb May 8, 2019 (7:29 pm)

    Lots of art critics in the house.

  • MJ May 8, 2019 (9:04 pm)

    Yep, very boring indeed. We have so many great artists in West Seattle and it could have been awesome. Missed opportunity.

  • SeaVieu May 8, 2019 (9:12 pm)

    This looks wonderful thank you for your generous contributions to West Seattle.

  • Villagegreen May 8, 2019 (9:25 pm)

    Definitely office parkesque.

  • me on 28th Ave SW May 9, 2019 (7:14 am)

    I think the polite thing to say is “thank you!”.    Come on West Seattle, find a different ugly corner in our community and fix it yourself…to your exact specifications.  There are plenty.

    • TRR May 9, 2019 (11:28 am)

      Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Totally agree!

    • West Seattle Hipster May 9, 2019 (11:48 am)

      My thoughts exactly.  Too many keyboard complainers offering up criticism instead of solutions.   

  • LoveMyCommunity May 9, 2019 (7:45 am)

    I think there can be a balance of “Thank you for the Contribution to the community” and “Wow, this could have been designed more artfully and in reflection of our community”. Agreed that it looks like an office park sign or a spraling suburban housing development sign.

    • Q May 9, 2019 (3:58 pm)

      I think it’s perfectly indicative of the qualities of New Seattle, which in 2019 are in fact more aligned with office parks and suburbs. 

  • Pilsner May 9, 2019 (8:27 am)

    Their are no mountains in west seattle either.

    • KBear May 9, 2019 (8:59 am)

      The Cruzens have been extremely generous to our community. The new sign has a lot more class than some of the comments here.

      • Pilsner May 10, 2019 (1:19 am)

        Appologies

  • M May 9, 2019 (8:33 am)

    Looks great. Wish we could also fix the missing log statue. 

  • Bob May 9, 2019 (9:05 am)

    Very Nice.  Classy. Simple. Suggests our water and mountain views….I really like it.   

  • ARPigeonPoint May 9, 2019 (9:39 am)

    To the art critics:  West Seattleites VOTED on this sign.  Sorry you weren’t paying attention when the design was up for a vote.  Kindly take your negativity elsewhere.

    • Natinstl May 10, 2019 (1:14 pm)

      Non of the choices were really fun. I appreciate the concept, but it is very office parkish.

  • Neighbor May 9, 2019 (10:01 am)

    I look forward to seeing all of the lovely inspired pieces being donated to the community (and maintained) by the critics above. If everyone who’s found fault with this sign is willing to put their money where their mouth is then we’ll soon be living in an even more beautiful community than we are today.

  • Kristina Dahl May 9, 2019 (11:28 am)

    I saw it yesterday as I came home from my commute and I LOVE IT! Thank you for this wonderful new addition to West Seattle. It looks great!

  • Curate May 9, 2019 (9:39 pm)

    I’m glad it’s there and appreciate the work and funds that went into it. It won’t be winning any design awards (seems like a missed artistic opportunity), but it is nice anyway.

  • Brian Hughes May 10, 2019 (5:27 am)

    A whole lot of whinging going on here.  It looks great!

  • JEB May 10, 2019 (11:54 am)

    Although I appreciate the effort to add something nice to our community it’s disappointing how corporate/commercial this sign looks in a city that is being overtaken by the fallout of so many bland corporations. It would have been so lovely for the sign to be created by a local artist and therefore been given a bit of a soul. 

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