West Seattle, Washington
15 Tuesday
Jessica sent the photo and report tonight:
Upon coming out the front door on 46th Ave SW between Findlay and Juneau around 9:30 pm, I heard a noise and stopped. It went silent. I made my way to the car and once inside saw a coyote on the west side of the sidewalk. It followed my car up the street and then crossed the road, pausing for a photo. Then it ran across Juneau toward 47th.
Our standard reminder – we publish coyote sightings for awareness, not alarm. Here’s how to peacefully coexist!
The photos were sent to us tonight by Brittany Noelle of PNW Orca Pod Squad Photography, who reports:
As you may know, J-pod has now spent 5 days in inland Puget Sound. Today while traveling southbound from Kingston the whales made an usually close pass at Jefferson Beach and then Fay Bainbridge [map], where photographs were taken by myself, Brittany Noelle, with PNW ORCA Pod Squad Photography and Salish Wildlife Watch, of a new J-pod calf (mother unknown at this time).
If you look closely at the top photo, you’ll see the telltale pinkish hue of a baby orca – explained here. This sighting was a ways north of us, but J-Pod was seen off West Seattle just three days ago.
6:57 PM: Seattle Fire has a full response out at 3618 SW Alaska, which is the address for the Westside Neighbors Shelter and West Seattle Veteran Center as well as American Legion Post 16 and Move2Center. Not a big fire – they’ve just reported it’s “knocked down” – but we’re on our way to find out more.
7:01 PM: Response is being downsized to a few units. But westbound SW Alaska is still blocked in the area.
7:15 PM: Our crew at the scene reports it was an exterior fire on the east side of the building and that everyone should be able to get back into the building shortly. Here’s the damage:
We hope to talk to building manager Keith Hughes shortly to verify that this won’t affect operations.
7:25 PM: SFD is turning the building back over to Keith. The fire is under investigation but believed to have been accidental. We asked Keith if he needs anything as a result of this – not so far, he said, but he had to go get busy putting up plywood.
7:42 PM: SW Alaska is fully open again.
Reader report from W:
Just want to report mail theft at 4866 Beach Dr SW – doors completely ripped off and mail gone :/ I’m reporting it to USPS.
If this happens to you – you can file reports online with the US Postal Inspection Service.
New Year’s Eve will be fare-free on most transit services again this year. Here’s the info from an announcement sent by King County:
King County Metro: Buses will operate on their regular Sunday schedule and be fare-free from 3 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 31, through 3 a.m. Monday, Jan. 1. Other Metro services operating fare-free include DART, Metro Flex, Community Van, and Access service.
King County Water Taxi: The water taxi will operate fare-free on Dec. 31 but will be out of service on Jan. 1.
Sound Transit: Link light rail and Sound Transit Express buses are fare-free from 5 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 31, to 3 a.m. Monday., Jan. 1. The Sounder Game Train will be available for the Seahawks game and will be fare-free. Sound Transit will operate extended 1 Line rail service on New Year’s Eve, with 15-minute, late-night service. The last southbound trip will leave Northgate Station for Angle Lake Station at 1:57 a.m. The last northbound train will leave Angle Lake Station for Northgate Station at 1:40 a.m. For New Year’s Eve, the T Line will run extended service every 20 minutes until the last train departure.
Seattle Streetcar: Both streetcar lines will operate fare-free on regular Sunday service hours. The South Lake Union Streetcar will operate on New Year’s Eve until 12:30 a.m. to accommodate fireworks viewing downtown.
Seattle Monorail: The monorail will collect regular fares and will operate from Westlake to the Seattle Center until 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. After the evening’s events at Seattle Center, service to Westlake will run from 12:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.
For the fare-free-on-New-Year’s-Eve services, fares start up again at 3 am New Year’s Day (Monday, January 1).
In case you forgot, if you have solid waste pickup service via Seattle Public Utilities, the schedule is on one-day delay this week and next week, since there are no pickups on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. And starting today, pickup crews will take your Christmas trees and/or holiday greens – here’s the SPU how-to:
Customers can compost trees and holiday greens for free from December 26 – January 31. Customers should remove all decorations, cut the tree into sections – 4-foot or less – and place tree sections or bundled greens next to their food & yard waste cart on their regular collection day. Apartment residents may place up to two trees next to each food & yard waste cart at no charge (SPU recommends customers reach out to their property manager about their collection day and when to set out their tree). Customers can also drop off up to 3 trees less than 8 feet in length at a Transfer Station.
For more details and to find out what to do with your holiday items once you’re done with them, check out SPU’s lookup tool at seattle.gov/utilities/WhereDoesItGo.
We’ve finally confirmed via an in-person visit today what readers have reported hearing from employees as well as from the trivia host – that the West Seattle location of The Lodge Sports Grille is about to close. New Year’s Eve will be its last day, The Lodge opened in then-new Junction 47 seven years ago; its website currently shows five other locations around the metro area. The about-to-be-vacant 4,200-sf West Seattle space is listed for lease (here’s the flyer); it’s in Junction 47’s east building.
(Full moon setting early today, photographed from Anchor/Luna Park by James Tilley)
It’s the quiet week between holidays, but a few things are still happening today/tonight, as listed on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
CHESS CLUB: Tuesdays 1:30-3 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon). All levels welcome. (Questions? Email conwell@conwelld.net.)
DEMONSTRATION FOR BLACK LIVES: Long-running weekly sign-waving demonstration continues at 16th/Holden. 5-6 pm. Signs available if you don’t have your own.
ASTRA LUMINA: Celestially inspired light show on the grounds of the Seattle Chinese Garden at the north end of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus, times vary. Timed tickets and info here.
SCRABBLE NIGHT: 6-10 pm, you can play Scrabble at The Missing Piece (9456 35th SW).
FREE TRACK RUN: Run with friends old and new on these long nights! Meet at West Seattle Runner (2743 California SW; WSB sponsor) for this free weekly run at 6:15 pm.
THE CLAY CAULDRON: 6:30-9 pm “girls’ night” at pottery studio The Clay Cauldron (5214 Delridge Way SW), sign up in advance or drop in to work on your project(s).
TRIVIA X 4: Four places to play Tuesday nights – 7 pm at Ounces (3803 Delridge Way SW), free and hosted by Beat the Geek Trivia; 7 pm at Zeeks Pizza West Seattle (6459 California SW), hosted by Geeks Who Drink; 7 pm at Admiral Pub (2306 California SW); also, 7:30 and 8:30 pm Sporcle Pub Quiz at The Lodge (4209 SW Alaska, reportedly for the last time).
You can peek into the future any time via our event calendar – if you have something to add to it (or to our Holiday Guide for Kwanzaa or New Year’s), please email the info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Another local youth-sports league wants you to know that it’s time to register for spring! This announcement is from West Seattle Baseball and Softball, based at the Pee Wee Fields in Riverview:
We can’t wait for spring to start and for baseball to return. This year we are also excited to offer a full session of girls’ softball for the Spring season.
West Seattle Baseball is offering Baseball for six different divisions, and – new this year – offering Softball for three. Registration is open now through February 15th. Early registration discount is available for all registrations completed by January 5th. Also available are multi-sibling discounts.
Sign up at: https://www.westseattlebaseball.com/
Pricing:
Shetland/T-Ball (6U) – $130
Baseball:
Pinto (8U) – $185
Mustang (10U) – $195
Bronco (12U) – $250
Pony (14U) – $300Softball:
Pinto (8U) – $130
Mustang (10U) – $130
Bronco (12U) – $130Registration costs include a ballcap and team jersey for each player, in addition to a full season of baseball/softball with events three times per week from mid-March through early June.
West Seattle Baseball believes that every child deserves to benefit from the games of baseball and softball. For families needing financial assistance, we offer reduced-fee league registration through the West Seattle Baseball Scholarship Assistance program. If you wish to apply, please contact wsbbregistrar@gmail.com.
West Seattle Baseball is a 100% volunteer-run, non-profit youth baseball league. Our goal is to provide comprehensive baseball programming that appeals to kids of all levels of enthusiasm and ability. The league prides itself on being a fun and enjoyable program that our players, their families, and their coaches want to participate in again each succeeding season. If you have questions about the divisions or anything else West Seattle Baseball, please email the league at communications@westseattlebaseball.com.
We hope to see you at the West Seattle PeeWee Fields soon. For the love of the game.
6:00 AM: Good morning. It’s Tuesday, December 26. Government offices reopen today, but school’s still out.
WEATHER + SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES
Partly sunny, high near 50, rain expected to return by tonight. Today’s sunrise will be at 7:56 am, and the sun will set at 4:23 pm.
TRANSIT UPDATES + HOLIDAY PREVIEWS
Water Taxi – Back to regular schedule. Check the real-time map if you’re wondering where the boat is.
Metro – Back to regular schedule; check advisories here.
Washington State Ferries – 2-boat service on the Triangle Route. Check alerts for changes, and use the real-time map to see where your ferry is.
SPOTLIGHT TRAFFIC CAMERAS
Delridge cameras: Besides the one below (Delridge/Orchard), cameras are also at Delridge/Genesee, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Henderson, and Delridge/Oregon.
High Bridge – the main camera:
High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way):
Low Bridge:
1st Ave. S. Bridge – another route across the river:
Highway 99: – northbound side at Lander:
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: See all working traffic cams citywide here, most with video options; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are on this WSB page.
BRIDGE INFO: The @SDOTBridges feed on X (ex-Twitter) shows whether the city’s movable bridges are opening for vessel traffic.
If you see a problem on the bridges/streets/paths/bay, please text or call us (when you can do that safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities if applicable). Thank you!
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