West Seattle, Washington
04 Saturday
So a particular chain retailer at Westwood Village had this incredible laptop deal. Got there when they opened at 6 am … 100 people in line, plotting near-military strategy for bargain reconnaissance. We retreated. Friendlier crowd at the one Junction store that opened its doors at 5 am, the rubber-stamping store Friends and Company, where we caught up with proprietor Doris Goulet and her early-bird shoppers during the first half-hour:
Nobody camping outside West Seattle’s early-opening chain stores when we checked late last night (just the big cart lineup outside Westwood Village Target, shown above). But they’re not the only ones opening early (Target 6 am, Bed Bath Beyond 6 am, Radio Shack 6 am, for example) — some independent retailers are getting creative too, like Friends & Company in The Junction, which is coupling a 5 am opening today with free early-bird eats and a tiered sale, starting at 40% off between 5-6 am. But there’s time to pace yourself — from today through Christmas Eve, 32 shopping days this year, and lots of new choices (as well as existing faves) for keeping your $ here on the peninsula.
Our daylight picture came out better than our nighttime photo … it’s the “blue bottle house” on Alki Ave, just east of Alki Point, matching blue lights and all. If you have or see a bright holiday display, send pix, or send location info and we’ll come by.
One week from Saturday, one of West Seattle’s biggest events of the holiday season will start — Hometown Holidays in The Junction. We brought you details in this report last weekend; you can also read the full Hometown Holidays press release at the end of this post. First, here’s your chance to be part of it — we received this from Erica Karlovits, president of JuNO (Junction Neighborhood Association):
For folks living in the Junction and interested in getting involved with JuNO, we have a great opportunity for involvement:
Hometown Holidays is coming . . . The Junction comes to life on the first Saturday in December. Events include the Dickens Carolers, the Annual Tree Lighting, Santa photos for you and for your pet, and great deals in local shops. Plus events at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market!
Volunteers are needed to staff the refreshment and information table during the Hometown Holidays event on December 1 and 2. JuNO has agreed to take on this responsibility and is inviting anyone that is interested in joining to contact wsjuno@yahoo.com – This is a great opportunity to support your community, meet neighbors and take part in a great event.
Please let me know if you are interesting in meeting your JuNO neighbors and volunteering at this event.
Thank you!
Erica Karlovits
Junction Neighborhood Organization
For even more details on Hometown Holidays plans, here’s the West Seattle Junction Association‘s full press release:Read More
First photo from Lowman Beach late this afternoon; second from Beach Drive at sunset.
If you’re looking for a little diversion – here are a few links of note from sites on our Other Blogs in West Seattle page:
–Cauliflower banana bread. Really.
-The Bird’s Eye that wasn’t.
Nothing to do with food but just plain funny:
–Thanksgiving portrait of child and … cat.
The marquee over Java Bean on Avalon (photographed by Jerry from JetCityOrange; thank you!) says it all. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! We will be here with West Seattle news later in the day but for starters, here are the essential links as your holiday begins:
-West Seattle grocery store holiday hours are here
-West Seattle coffee shop holiday hours are here
-Free community Thanksgiving dinner: noon-3 pm, The Hall @ Fauntleroy (read more here)
-Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry changes (other routes too) are here
-City reminder about parking
-City reminder about trash/recycling
We are thankful for countless blessings including your support of, and participation in, WSB!
Shining brightly over North Delridge, it’s the star atop a tower at Nucor. If you have or see a bright holiday display, send pix, or send location info and we’ll come by.
Seen on Harbor Drive near Don Armeni — one of this season’s early adopters. If you have or see a bright display any time this season, send pix, or send location info and we’ll come by.
Five weeks till Christmas and the elves already have brought trees to certain corners of West Seattle. 
Spotted on an early-morning reconnaissance run: Trees at Tony’s (35th/Barton), True-Value in The Junction, and Rite-Aid on California. We also saw a sign on Harbor Ave pointing past a gate into a promised tree lot (will investigate more closely later), and of course the wildly popular Holy Rosary Tree Lot opens south of Admiral Safeway at noon Saturday. And if you want to cut your own – here’s the Pacific Northwest Tree Association guide to Washington U-Cut locations.
(photo from Christmas Past by WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham; prints of his work are available at his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com)
We’ve heard from West Seattle parents wondering if Santa Claus is coming to Westwood Village as usual this year, since they hadn’t seen any flyers up — Fear not, we just checked with WV management and they confirmed Santa will be there for photos on holiday-season weekends, starting this Saturday (Nov. 24), noon-4 pm. As in years past, Santa’s “house” is in the streamside courtyard area between Bed/Bath/Beyond and Wyatt’s Jewelers. Photos are free with just one prerequisite; here’s the WV flyer with full details:Read More
(THIS IS A 2007 POST – OUR 2008 INFO FOR WEST SEATTLE IS ON THE HOLIDAYS PAGE)
Still working on the list of “where you can get your latte on Thanksgiving,” but we have the West Seattle supermarket holiday hours nailed down so we thought we’d pass them along: PCC will be closed, Metropolitan Market will be open till 2 pm, Thriftway will be open till 4 pm, QFC till 6 pm, the Safeways say it’s 24-hour business as usual.
The West Seattle Junction Association website now has new details about the 
Hometown Holidays weekend-long celebration that’s less than two weeks away, including a new location for the tree — the site describes the Saturday night 12/1 event as “inaugural lighting of newly planted Community Holiday Tree at 6 pm … in the Farmers’ Market Parking Lot.” Check out the full list of activities here, including the especially festive-sounding “Adult Cheer Garden.”
THANKSGIVING #1: Bless everyone who has to work on holidays. We know it’s no picnic. Again this year, we are compiling a list of who’s open on The Big Holidays in two categories: coffee shops and grocery stores. We have started our Thanksgiving list already but we are asking for your help, if you own or work at a West Seattle business in one of those categories — let us know whether you’re closed or open on Thanksgiving, and if open, what hours. Post a comment here or e-mail WSB directly. Thank you!
THANKSGIVING #2: We’ve talked here before about the free community Thanksgiving feast that will be hosted noon-3 pm Thursday by Tuxedos & Tennis Shoes on their home turf at The Hall @ Fauntleroy. According to the West Seattle Helpline website, while there are enough volunteers to serve the dinner, they need some things you could drop off at The Hall (map) before 11 am Thanksgiving morning: a pie, new socks, winter hats, or gloves.
CHRISTMAS ETC.: Once you get those outdoor decorations up (the weekend forecast doesn’t look too conducive) keep WSB in mind if you have an extra-festive display — let us know where you’re at so we can come by for pix/video, or send us your own pix/video for posting, so we can all share the season’s sights; a special Holidays page is one of two new features we’re adding to WSB this weekend.
Two opportunities — one pre-Thanksgiving, one on the holiday itself.
Pre-Thanksgiving, High Point Community Center invites everybody to a feast they’re having this Friday night, 6-8 pm, featuring deep-fried turkeys, veggies, rolls, even door prizes.
On Thanksgiving — we just got details from Carol Madaio @ Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Catering about the fabulous free feast that somebody mentioned in our RRR thread below, the community dinner at the Hall @ Fauntleroy:
Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Catering hosts a free Thanksgiving Community Meal on Thanksgiving Day, November 22nd, from noon to 3 PM at our banquet facility The Hall at Fauntleroy. This will be our 9th year hosting Thanksgiving dinner at the Hall. Co-owners David and Meg Haggerty and David Meckstroth invite all to come to this served traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings prepared by our Executive Chef Michael Chase. The meal is a seated dinner served by our volunteer families – many who have been with us every year since we began in 1998. We are located in the old Fauntleroy School Building across from the Fauntleroy Church at 9131 California Ave SW.
In the RRR of your blog, Jan commented that it is not a “soup kitchen†kind of meal. This is in part because of the warm atmosphere of our room. The biggest part however is our guests. Some people come from the street to warm up and have a much needed meal. Some come from their warm homes to share conversation. Some come just to be taken care of for the day. Some come alone, some bring the whole family. Some guests come because they came the first year and look forward to the ambience which has made this into a new tradition. The reasons are as different as our guests, but one thing is for sure, we all leave with a sense of community.
People can call me if they need any more information, 206-932-1059 ex 305.
We feel quite lucky to be able to share excellent photographs with you from this photogenically stormy day. Our newest three are from longtime West Seattle photojournalist Matt Durham (his new collaboration with WSB is noted here) — two more from the spray-riffic Constellation Park zone, and then a third reminding us why today was a “holiday” in the first place — Matt’s captions are beneath each photo:
Cold spray from white-capped waves greeted adventure-goers at Constellation Park just south of Alki Point. Waves slammed into the sea wall during an afternoon middle tide.
This motorcyclist has a cold ride home after soaking his clothes in the spray of today’s wind-driven waves along Constellation Park.
Two flags were set for our veterans at Forest Lawn Cemetery (map) today. In years past, volunteers used to line every veteran’s headstone with an American Flag in a gesture of thanks and appreciation.
(Prints of Matt’s WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
Driving on Harbor Ave last night, we almost thought we’d flashed ahead a few weeks (and back a few miles) to the legendary Menashe display on Beach Drive … Salty’s on Alki has a big bright outdoor light show:
Another seasonal sign: First word of a poinsettia fundraiser! The Chief Sealth High School Band is selling poinsettias to, as Tim Winston explains, “pay for some extras that aren’t in the school budget – uniforms, marching equipment, music, a bit of travel, and loaner instruments.” Here’s full ordering information:Read More
In the past few days, two of the bloggers on the Other Blogs in WS page, Rhonda and Alice, 
have mentioned the schedule for one of our favorite holiday highlights, the Argosy Christmas Ship Festival. Its West Seattle stops have been listed on our Events page (along with many other WS holiday happenings; please let us know if yours is missing!) for a few weeks now, but in case you hadn’t looked that far down, here are your choices:
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8: With Northwest Girlchoir Vivace on board, the Christmas Ship and its accompanying vessels will be at Seacrest 5:15-5:35 pm; with Canterbury Belles on board, it will visit Lowman Beach 8:50-9:10 pm, then sail along Beach Drive and around the point for an Alki stop 9:40-10 pm.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9: With Soundwave on board, a Don Armeni stop is planned 7:10-7:30 pm.
If you haven’t gone out to see the Christmas Ship before, the sounds and sights are always splendid: the brightly lit boat pulls close enough to shore for the choir on board to serenade landlubbers with holiday songs. (Here’s a Seattle Channel video from the 2005 season, featuring a West Seattleite — the announcer shown early on in this ’05 video, Dano Beal, is a teacher at Lafayette Elementary.) All the West Seattle stops are planning bonfires again this year as well (the flames roaring up from a burning pile of pallets are sometimes a more dramatic sight than the Christmas Ship itself!).
Too warm for any other kind of snowflakes, but these pole-borne holiday decorations are up along California Ave between Edmunds and Genesee.
It’s that transition time of year for Tony’s at 35th/Barton — the produce stand is closed and the changeover to trees is looming, marked this year by a distinctive color scheme (since we took the pic yesterday, crews have finished wrapping the entire frame in holiday stripes).
Yes, already. New lot coming to the West Seattle shoreline, according to this CL post. We’re planning Christmas-tree price checks again this year, by the way. 8:10 PM ADDENDUM: Just noticed the organization for one of West Seattle’s best-known tree lots, run by Holy Rosary School in the parking area south of Admiral Safeway, is well under way.
Two clips from West Seattle’s own homegrown Skeleton Theatre last night; you may recognize the soundtrack. (Read all about Skeleton Theatre, including where and when to go see it for Night 2 tonight, on the ST site.)
(video no longer available due to host’s shutdown, sorry!)
Even as some of the bar parties just start getting into gear, we are in for the night. We traveled north to south, east to west, across West Seattle, including a stop at Skeleton Theatre (we’ll put up video in the morning — it’s playing again tomorrow night, so you have another chance to go see for yourself). We saw luminaria and lights, costumes from A(ngels) to Z(ombies), but we’re also glad to be back at WSB HQ sharing your Halloween scenes — including this last round of photos before the Witching Hour arrives. First, from the inbox: Tigger turned up to greet trick-or-treaters at Westwood Village tonight:
More major cuteness from the inbox: Baby Nate goes crustacean for his first Halloween:
We had seen this cool decoration outside a house not far from Skeleton Theatre but didn’t get a picture – Todd did:
Todd also was one of 2 people who sent us a photo of “Feed-O” the scary cat – this “Feed-O” photo is by MIST, who says the cat “was spitting out gummy rats”!
Now a final round of jack-o-lanterns. From Danny and Diane, a pumpkin with a statement:
A seasonal pumpkin array, from “mtnester” of Shorewood:
Huindekmi sent this next one and noted, “We don’t carve our pumpkin till Halloween”:
And the proud wife of Dan sends his creation, saying, “he just LOVES Halloween” …
Speaking of attacks – we have heard one more time from “West Seattle Art Attack,” who e-mailed WSB to say: “I placed a final pumpkin tonight in a deserving yard. It was a very pretty purple and pink one that my wife didn’t want to part with. I’ve discreetly checked on a couple of my previous placements and they haven’t moved. I’m not sure if the owners even know they are there.” Quick! Go check your yard (or tell your friends to check theirs)! You don’t want an unnoticed WSAA pumpkin sitting out there till spring … 11:55 PM ADDENDUM: This blogger tells the sorrowful saga of a nearly trick-or-treater-less night for her first West Seattle Halloween. Boo!
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