West Seattle, Washington
10 Thursday
(New moon, photographed from Alki Point by Jim Borrow)
Whether you love or loathe hot weather, brace yourself for another round – the forecast for Sunday now says we could get into the 90s. The last 90-or-hotter high temperature was 91 degrees on July 21st; before that, 95 on June 12th.
For years, there’s been a late-summer run on Alki. Two years ago, after Northwest Hope and Healing stopped presenting the Alki Beach 5K, the Cosmo 7K moved to West Seattle. This year, the late-summer run has another big change: It’s become the Alki Beach Sunset Run, and it’ll happen five weeks from tonight, on Friday evening, September 6. That means an evening road closure on the usual 5K route from Alki Bathhouse to Anchor Park and back; we’re still waiting for the full plan, but the race FAQ says the city is requiring organizers to reopen the road by 7:30 pm, a little over an hour after the 6:20 pm start. As with the past two years’ Cosmo 7Ks, an afterparty with DJ and drinks is planned for racers. Registration is open here.
(Screengrab from SDOT traffic camera at 1st/Madison a few minutes ago)
ORIGINAL FRIDAY REPORT: If you travel home from downtown on 1st Avenue – especially by bus – you know it’s been agonizingly sluggish, increasingly often. People have been begging Metro and SDOT to figure out something. Just forwarded from the office of City Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who’s been talking with SDOT too, a new reply from SDOT:
We recognize that traffic conditions are constrained on 1st Ave, and we appreciate everyone’s patience as we navigate the Seattle Squeeze, Seattle’s period of tough traffic as construction projects change how we get around downtown. 1st Ave is not a long-term plan for buses; this was a temporary relocation due to Alaskan Way Viaduct demolition work. Buses will move off 1st Ave onto Alaskan Way entirely once the two-way Columbia St transit corridor is built. In the meantime, we know there have been impacts to bus riders.
1st Ave is operating at capacity, meaning that an unforeseen event such as a disabled vehicle, or a planned mid-day event in the stadium, can quickly tip the system to failure. Additionally, it takes quite a while for the system to resume normal operation once the problem is resolved. Construction activity along Alaskan Way to demolish the Viaduct at the south end of the corridor is causing additional trips to detour to 1st Ave causing further delay. SDOT and Metro have also been working to make sure buses use the center lane due to the weight restrictions along the curb lanes in Pioneer Square, which causes some additional friction as buses try to access the southbound stop at Railroad Way. Last week, the confluence of these new traffic patterns and evening events at T-Mobile Park resulted in some very long travel times along 1st Ave.
In response, SDOT will implement the following changes in an effort to provide a more reliable experience for all modes, with a special focus for transit and pedestrian users. These changes include:
-Revising signal timing at 1st Ave S & S Dearborn St and Alaskan Way S & S Dearborn St to further aid transit operation
-Further optimizing the signal timing plan for the 1st Ave corridor through Pioneer Square while emphasizing the north and south movements
-Implementing pre-game event timing to support the last two midday baseball games for the season
-Working to ensure high priority for incident management during the morning and afternoon commute timeIn the meantime, we’re working closely with WSDOT and Metro to monitor traffic conditions and consider what can be done to keep people and goods moving.
That reply also was sent directly to some of the frustrated commuters who contacted SDOT. Two weeks ago, we had followed up with Metro, which at the time indicated no immediate action was likely.
ADDED MONDAY: Metro says, no reroute:
Some have asked if we could return to the pathway used during the viaduct closure. That pathway worked in January because many commuters changed their travel times and patterns for a month and also because of several temporary bus lanes and uniformed traffic control officers at key intersections. These measures would be difficult and costly to renew and maintain for an extended time.
Though demolition has been happening around it and the signage is down, the original Youngstown Coffee Company location at 5214 Delridge Way SW is NOT out of business. We checked on it today after a reader question, driving by the site and then going up to Youngstown Coffee’s newer Morgan Junction location, where we found proprietor Zoe. She says the Delridge location is reopening on Monday – the property owner is redeveloping the rest of the site, and part of the initial work required closing the shop for a while. Meantime, her plan for salads and sandwiches in the ex-Harry’s Chicken Joint (etc.) space next to the Morgan shop is almost ready to go – she had a few trial runs this past week and hopes to officially launch soon.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
If you wonder whether Chef Brian Clevenger‘s new West Seattle Junction restaurant Haymaker might be too fancy for you, consider this:
One of the menu items he’s most excited about is a burger.
It’ll be on the Haymaker happy-hour menu – a “BIG” happy-hour menu, he notes – with two happy hours every day of the week, 5-6 pm and 9-10 pm.
Haymaker officially opens Monday (after friends-and-family and limited-soft-open nights this weekend), in the 4706 California SW space that briefly held Vine & Spoon. We noted Clevenger’s name on a liquor-license application for the space in May; a month later, details were announced.
Clevenger is not only a West Seattle resident, he already has a presence in the local restaurant scene, having opened Raccolto barely two blocks north in fall 2016.
So what will be the biggest difference between the two?
Raccolto is “heavy on pasta, light on protein,” while Haymaker will be “heavier on protein, lighter on pasta.” Also, it won’t be focused on “Italian-inspired” dishes. (Besides that happy-hour burger, he also mentions steak and fries, and a roasted half-duck.)
But Clevenger stresses that Haymaker will still be strong with “what we know” – vegetables, seafood. It’s his fifth restaurant; his three outside West Seattle are Vendemmia, East Anchor Seafood (a market as well as dine-in venue), and Le Messe.
As we talked in Haymaker’s remodeled space, it bustled with pre-opening activity – ingredient deliveries coming through the door, trays of fresh-made pasta visible near the kitchen entrance. Clevenger admits that getting ready to open a new restaurant can be “terrifying,” as you wait to see “if the neighborhood will support it” – and ultimately, he says, Haymaker is intended to be “a neighborhood restaurant,” for the neighborhood he has long loved.
Starting Monday, Haymaker will be open 5-10 pm for dinner, reservations accepted but not required. (Clevenger notes that the 57-seat restaurant can accommodate “larger parties,” too.) He’s hoping to add weekend brunch after the first month or so.
(WSCO photo: Sofia Aragon and Caroline Peyton, both members of the Debut Orchestra)
Calling musicians! The West Seattle Community Orchestras are ready for you to join:
West Seattle Community Orchestras (WSCO) announces that registration is now open for its fall 2019 session.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with WSCO, this is West Seattle’s very own community music organization, with three orchestras and a wind symphony (concert band). These performance ensembles rehearse weekly through the school year, each performing quarterly concerts.
In addition to these performing groups, we offer classes for adults in strings (violin, viola, cello, bass) and winds/percussion (e.g., flute, clarinet, saxophone, French horn, trumpet, trombone—oh, and percussion).
This fall we are also adding beginning student strings for those in grades 4 through 12. No charge to students for this class or for participating in any of our groups. (Adults pay a modest fee.) As far as we know, WSCO is unique in the state of Washington for having adults and young people play side by side in each of our performing groups. That is, placement is by ability (or inclination), not age!
Registration for all groups and classes is now open online: Visit www.wscorchestras.org and click on the Registration tab. (We’d appreciate your registration before August 31st to reserve space.)
UNCERTAIN WHICH GROUP IS RIGHT FOR YOU? If you’d like more information on opportunities to learn an instrument or perform in our ensembles, please fill out the registration form with your contact details. For new musicians, we’ll be in touch soon, to orient you further before the first classes and rehearsals begin.
As in previous years, rehearsals will be held Tuesdays at Chief Sealth International High School. Specific start times for the rehearsals and more details will be shared in upcoming announcements as well as listed on our website, www.wscorchestras.org, or you can contact info@wscorchestras.org.
We hope to see many of you—former members as well as newbies—when we open this, our eighteenth season of providing outstanding concerts for our community!
Thanks to John Murphy for the photo of a Blue Angels flyby seen from West Seattle on Thursday. They’ll be up again 3-4 pm today. Here’s what else is happening:
LOW-LOW TIDE: Seattle Aquarium volunter beach naturalists are at Constellation and Lincoln Parks 10:30 am-2:30 pm because the tide is out to -2.9 feet at 12:27 pm.
LAST DAY FOR EC HUGHES WADING POOL, & WHAT ELSE IS OPEN: Lincoln Park (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW) is open until 8 pm, EC Hughes (2805 SW Holden, last day of the season because it’s closing for playground construction) is open noon-7 pm, Hiawatha (Walnut/Lander) is open noon-6:30 pm, and the Highland Park Spraypark (1100 SW Cloverdale) is open until 8 pm.
BINGO! 11 am-2:30 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle. (4217 SW Oregon)
SUMMER CONCERTS AT THE MOUNT: 5:30 pm, dinner’s available for purchase; 6 pm, music begins. Danny Vernon‘s “Illusion of Elvis” starts the series tonight. Free, bring your own chair/blanket. South side of Providence Mount St. Vincent campus. (4831 35th SW)
CORNER BAR: Highland Park Improvement Club‘s monthly pop-up bar starts at 6 pm. Music and more! (1116 SW Holden)
HIGHLINE BEARS: Second-to-last game of the season for the semipro team playing at Steve Cox Memorial Park. 7:05 pm vs.the Wallbangers. (1321 SW 102nd)
ROCK/AMERICANA: That’s what you’ll find at Parliament Tavern with Sweet Jesus and Welcome Strangers, 9 pm. $10 cover. 21+. (4210 SW Admiral Way)
LOTS MORE! Just visit our complete calendar.
Family and friends will gather August 17th to remember Darlene J. Thornton. Here’s the remembrance being shared with the community:
Darlene Janet Thornton “Ooma” passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends on July 3rd, in Seattle with “Sweet Caroline” playing in the background.
She is survived by her father David E. Edwards Sr., husband of 63 years Jerry Sr., sons Jerry Jr., Joel, Jon, Jim, and brother David Edwards Jr. and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Preceded in death by her loving son Jeff and mother Jeanne Edwards.
Darlene was born in West Seattle January 8, 1938. She graduated from West Seattle High School and attended University of Washington. She married Jerry Sr. in the Fauntleroy Congregational Church November 29, 1957 and soon after moved to Tukwila and started their family.
Ooma also leaves 12 grandchildren: Jaimie, Justin, Chelsey, James, Tyler, Jordan, Erika, Jessica, Kylie, Eamon, Nyreese, and Cormac, along with 3 greatgrandchildren Falina, Katilynn, and Joslynn.
Darlene’s life was strongly rooted in raising her boys. First as a preschool teacher and then as a lunch lady at Cascade View Elementary School. After her boys were grown, she went on to a rewarding 30-year career at Larry’s Market in Tukwila working alongside her boys and making lifelong friends.
Darlene was an avid sports fan and spent countless nights and weekends attending her boys’ baseball and football games at Foster High School. She and her husband loved University of Washington baseball and football games and have held season tickets since 1959. Darlene loved the Seattle Mariners. As season ticket holders, Darlene and her husband traveled the country to attend games, including spring training in Peoria, Arizona. Darlene missed only one Seattle Mariners spring training since Ken Griffey Junior was a rookie in 1989. Darlene enjoyed the excitement of a new baseball season and reuniting with friends that had relocated to the Phoenix area. She was at home at any baseball park and loved the history and memories made anywhere. from GE Field rooting on the Tukwila Little League to singing along with “Sweet Caroline” in Fenway Park.
Matriarch and Rock of the Thornton family, she was beloved by her family and friends and will be greatly missed.
Whenever you see a ladybug; it’s her smiling at you!
Private inurnment at Riverton Crest Cemetery.
A Celebration of Life will be held August 17th 1:30 – 3:00 at T-Mobile Park.
Please share your memories of Darlene and condolences with her Family by visiting her Tribute Page. Care & Arrangements entrusted to Emmick Family Funeral Home & Cremation.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
6:56 AM: Good morning!
WATER TAXI REMINDERS: The smaller Spirit of Kingston continues on the route through Sunday.
Then Monday, both Water Taxi routes are OUT OF SERVICE for the downtown dock move, scheduled to resume service August 12th.
WEEKEND NOTES: The tunnel closure that was set for tonight has vanished from advisories so apparently it’s NOT happening … One more reminder that the Blue Angels’ performances today through Sunday (3-4 pm) will NOT close I-90 … The Sounders play Kansas City on Sunday night at CenturyLink Field, 7 pm.
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