West Seattle, Washington
02 Wednesday
Sign on the gate @ Hotwire says last night’s rained-out showing of “Monty Python & the Holy Grail” WILL be rescheduled for “a Saturday in September,” no date yet, we’ll let you know the second we hear. Meantime, in the rainout post on his Sidewalk Cinema blog, movie maestro Philip notes that next Saturday’s “Edward Scissorhands” showing will have an 8 pm opening band, Pagasys (hear them here).
What kind of a summer IS this? For the second time in a month, the Sidewalk Cinema outdoor movie next to Hotwire is rained out tonight. We’re dejected, as we were completely looking forward to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and the live opening band. We’ll let you know if and when we find out about a rescheduling date; in the meantime, “Edward Scissorhands” is scheduled for next Saturday night — cross your fingers for cloudlessness.
Cool crowd, both hosts and visitors, at the police department’s annual Picnic at the Precinct this afternoon. As big and busy as WS is, it’s hard to believe we didn’t get our own police precinct till 2003. It’s a lovely building, but today (before the rain moved in) most of the fun was out in the street on the building’s south side; they shut down Webster for the occasion. Our first photo here is a great crowd shot sent in by WSB reader LyndaB:
(Thanks, LyndaB!) From here, photos are by the WSB team. Besides meeting-and-greeting, the police showed off some of their arsenal, including this robot:
Next — a closeup of the robot, Chief Kerlikowske in casual wear, one of the SPD vehicles you don’t see every day, and more:Read More
Photos below from tonight’s Alki community picnic @ the playfield — barbecue and bouncing, what more could you ask for on a nice night like this? Tomorrow afternoon, another picnic to which all of West Seattle is invited: It’s at the Seattle Police Southwest Precinct next to Home Depot, and besides picnicking with your protectors, you also will get a chance to tour the precinct — 1-4 pm tomorrow.
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We will post it by late morning – the fire ate into our research time. If you are still planning your Friday night, one of the one-time-only events to consider is the Alki community picnic @ Alki Playfield, 5:30-8 tonight. More to come!
Hot out of the WSB inbox: The Admiral Theater is having a “surprise midnight movie” TONIGHT (doors open 11:30), admission $5, all proceeds to the restoration project. The movie: “Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End.” Be there! Also from the Admiral Theater, two more items that are free to a good home, first come first serve according to the theater’s Steve Garrett: Glass-top display freezer, and upright “Pepsi refrigerator.” Steve says both “need to be charged.” Don’t wait till the midnight movie, call him now if you want either or both at 206-938-0360 theater, 206-856-9798 cell.
Tonight’s your chance to catch the first performances of the second (and final) week of shows for two musicals playing in West Seattle right now — “Disney’s High School Musical” (photo courtesy ArtsWest, taken by mattdurhamphotography.com) presented by the Summer Musical Theater Conservatory Program @ ArtsWest, and “Oklahoma!” presented by Twelfth Night Productions‘ Pandemonium Players @ WS High School Theater. Both play at 7:30 tonight, with several more shows in the next few days; follow the links for full details, including online ticket sales.
We knew Garlic Jim’s Pizza (now in its 5th month in The Junction) was among the sponsors for tonight’s Sidewalk Cinema outdoor movie next to Hotwire — but we didn’t know they were bringing free pizza! GJ’s owner Ryan Reese and his minions just kept the slices coming; smelled heavenly. And that was only part of the fun. The movie was “Raiders of the Lost Ark”; looked and sounded great with the Sidewalk Cinema projection & speaker system. At least 150 bundled-up people of all ages were there and there was still room for more. Awesome raffle prizes (no entry fee, you got a raffle ticket just for being there) from GJ’s (free & discount pizza) and the other two sponsors, WS Farmers’ Market ($10 certificates) and Viking Bank (free safe-deposit box for a year). Next Saturday night, the movie is “Monty Python & the Holy Grail”; sponsors are 4 West Seattle dentists (wonder what their giveaways might be).
The major festivals are over but the fun is far from done. And with Freeway Fright ’07 kicking off, this is the best weekend yet to JUST STAY ON OUR PENINSULA. Click ahead for dozens of Fri-Sat-Sun events and activities around WS:Read More
-Tomorrow night is the monthly West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction; more than a dozen stops and their intriguing offerings are listed on the Art Walk blog (a fine resource that also includes direct weblinks for many of the participating artists and businesses). Among the participants, the growing Ginomai center for artists.
-Also tomorrow night, it’s opening night for two musicals here in WS: The Twelfth Night Productions presentation of “Oklahoma!” @ West Seattle HS Theater (tickets available online), and the ArtsWest Summer Musical Theater Conservatory Program presentation of “Disney’s High School Musical” (tickets available online).
-Friday, three one-time-onlies (more Fri-Sat-Sun events when our weekend lineup appears on Fri morning): In the afternoon; golf in WS for a good cause; then in the evening, the weather should be nice for the makeup showing (remember the July 21 rainout?) of “Chicken Run” at Sidewalk Cinema’s Movies on the Wall next to Hotwire Coffeehouse — and for the 34th District Democrats’ annual Garden Party Auction fundraising bash @ West Seattle Nursery.
We’ve mentioned that our favorite place to experience Blue Angels mania during Seafair weekend is on the fence by their parking spot at Museum of Flight/Boeing Field. After bringing the camera along today, we can show you what that’s really like:
That’s the fence crowd by the jets (not to be confused with the fence on the BF runway) around 1 pm, just before the pilots show up. We got there a lot earlier to be on the front line, inspected by the bomb-sniffing dog, whose photo you will see (and more) after the click:Read More
Outdoor concerts, outdoor movie, outdoor swimming, outdoor Shakespeare … Even if the weekend cloudiness comes true, get out and have a blast anyway. Or take a break indoors … the Admiral’s even got an indie film screening with the film’s producer/star! Click ahead for this week’s edition of what’s up Friday morning thru Sunday night:Read More
The weather’s more beautiful than expected and there’s a good crowd browsing the Art Fair booths at the beach. Dozens of booths, plus a bouncy toy for kids ($1), are on the blacktop promenade, both sides of the bathhouse. Live music, too! Here’s a few scenes we caught while strolling through — first, the obligatory overview:
Two pix from our favorite booth, on the west end of the Art Fair — Hoppy’s Garden Art, lovely and reasonably priced creations (the rectangular trellises in the second photo were $79 & $89):
Not part of the fair but part of the scenery — with a low-ish tide down on the beach itself, boogieboarding was in order:
Art Fair signs say it’s 10-5 today and tomorrow; city website says till 6; just an fyi in case you’re not planning to go till late in the day.
Though tonight’s Seafair Torchlight Parade happens downtown, there are a few Seafair-related items of WS relevance:
-Because of the Torchlight Run preceding the parade, The Viaduct will be closed tonight, from 5:45 till 7:30 or so.
-The West Seattle Hi-Yu float got fixed, thanks to Alki Automotive, and is ready for the parade; it got a lot of ink (pixels) in this Seattle Times parade preview.
-Thanks to Northwest Asian Weekly, we found out a West Seattle teenager has a prominent role in one of the most popular parade entries: Jennifer Gee, featured by NAW as an “Outstanding Graduate” for her achievement as this year’s West Seattle High School valedictorian, is captain of the Seattle Chinese Community Girls’ Drill Team (photo taken by Jason Parker at Hi-Yu Parade last weekend).
-Last but not least, West Seattle writer/humorist John Moe (whose blog Monkey Disaster is one of the 70-plus sites linked from our Other Blogs in WS page) wrote an amusing piece about potential Seafair revisions for the Times.
If you’re going to the Torchlight Parade, we’ll see you there. If not, we highly recommend checking out the first night (since last week was rained out) of Movies on the Wall by Sidewalk Cinema, featuring “Best in Show,” next to Hotwire Coffeehouse. Free! Fun! (Here’s our post from the first time we went last year.)
The weather looks relatively good, knock wood. This is the weekend that Alki is awash in art, Shakespeare in the Park holds court at Camp Long, and we WSers are “Stuffing the Bus” at the Farmers’ Market for WestSide Baby‘s biggest annual diaper drive, among many other things (including a few events outside WS that might interest you) — click ahead!Read More
Even in Seattle, who in the world could imagine that if you wait till late July to schedule an outdoor-movie series, the first one would be rained out? Well, it happened in The Junction tonight; sign on the gate @ Hotwire says “Chicken Run” is rescheduled to Friday, August 10th.
There IS a car show on Alki today, happening right now. We had received conflicting reports in recent days (and earlier) — it is not sponsored by any official WS-based festival so those folks weren’t involved — finally we knew it would come down to just checking out Alki this morning to see what did or didn’t show up — and indeed, there are dozens of gorgeous classic cars on the promenade. Here’s our drive-by photo. (NOW off to the parade!)
Besides the fact the no-parking signs have all been lovingly placed along Cali this Hi-Yu Parade Eve, much like the stockings hung by the chimney with care on Christmas Eve …
… our top reason why you should join us as parade spectators tomorrow, rain or shine, anywhere along Cali between Lander (south of Lafayette Elementary) and Edmunds (south edge of The Junction) … surprises! One example: parade organizers have just added a late entry, likely to be a crowd fave; let’s just say it’s a float honoring a Seattle landmark. See for yourself, starting at 11 am Saturday (after the 10 am kids’ parade). We don’t need sun to have a blast.
Bite Schmite; not a single reason to leave West Seattle this weekend. Harry Potter on campus! Parade! Free outdoor movie! Belly dancing! The WS Garden Tour! And that’s only the beginning (click ahead):Read More
Hey, leg lovers! Remember the virtual catcalls over the Spud mascot in our pic (photo back for an encore performance at right) from the Seafair Pirates Landing festivities weekend before last? The West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival American Legion Grand Parade lineup for Saturday morning promises the Spud mascot … you better be there just in case it’s The One With The Calves! (Reminders: #1, parade route here. #2, the 11 am parade is preceded by the Rotary Club Kiddies’ Parade, in which just about any junior WS-ite is welcome to participate — meet at Cali/Genesee by 10 am.)
We’re counting down to the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival American Legion Grand Parade this Saturday morning (on Cali, starting at Lander, ending at Edmunds). Reason #4 it’s worth your time: Humor! The Furry Faces Foundation promises a “Flamingo King and Queen” (probably closer to life-size than the PFs at right); legendary local tv clown JP Patches will be back; so will the Seafair Clowns, and the wonderful Red Hat Society, sub-billed as “Stewed Tomatoes.” Who can resist?
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