West Seattle, Washington
06 Monday
Out scouting Christmas lights, we noticed these decorations in North Admiral. Not the biggest and brightest, but, well, the “Star Wars”-iest, with R2D2 on the left and BB8 on the right, and another droid on the ornament in front of R2:
If these ARE the droids you’re looking for, you can see them on 44th SW, south of SW Atlantic.
Got a Christmas lights/decorations sighting? Let us know – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
5:16 PM: You have until 7:30 pm to get to the only holiday shopping-bazaar-and-then-some of its kind – the St. Nicholas Faire at First Lutheran Church of West Seattle (just north of The Junction). There’s a small admission charge because this is also a fundraiser for the West Seattle Food Bank and West Seattle Helpline. The star attraction: Almost 200 gift baskets created by volunteers, and donated gift cards – the baskets address all kinds of themes and interests, from gardening to sports to kid stuff …
Bake-sale items too. And your admission includes free treats (we hear they’re dishing up some Italian food). More photos to come. The church is at 4105 California SW and if you’re driving, there’s a parking lot in back.
ADDED: FLCWS pastor Rev. Ron Marshall emceed as usual, encouraging attendees to “bid high, bid often”:
The “Tree of Ornaments” was a new feature:
Congratulations to all the winning bidders!
After all those bus rides around The Junction, did Santa Claus get to go home to the North Pole? Nope. He is at cool-stuff-for-kids store My Three Little Birds (6959 California SW; WSB sponsor) this afternoon, for one more hour. Store staffer Brittany wore her Nutcracker outfit for the occasion! Free DIY photos or $5 professional, until 4:30 pm. Santa also will visit My Three Little Birds in Burien (421 SW 152nd) 11 am-2 pm next Saturday (December 15th).
(WSB photos)
Santa Claus is not always riding in a sleigh. Right now in the West Seattle Junction, you’ll find him aboard this bus:
The Santa Bus is part of Hometown Holidays in The Junction – with Quail Park Memory Care of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) presenting today’s free rides – look for their canopy at the south end of the Farmers’ Market to catch the bus, which has already had, we’re told, about 150 riders! This continues until 2 pm (and next Sunday too, if you can’t get to The Junction today). See what else is up for Hometown Holidays (with community co-sponsors including WSB) by going here.
The Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship returned to West Seattle twice today/tonight – starting just before sunset at Don Armeni Boat Ramp, as seen in David Hutchinson‘s photo above, following an afternoon stop in South Park. After a break and a visit to Bainbridge Island, the Spirit of Seattle made its last West Seattle appearance of 2018, serenading Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor):
(WSB video/photos from here on)
The choir Emerald City Voices delivered a set with flashes of humor – as you can hear in our clip, they opened with “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and before they headed back to the downtown dock, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas“ was among the other songs. We counted 7 boats accompanying the Christmas Ship tonight.
Here’s the schedule for the rest of the season, nightly (and some daytime sailings too) through Christmas Eve-Eve.
On this seventh night of Hanukkah, West Seattle synagogue Kol HaNeshamah took the celebration to the streetcorner in The Junction. That’s KHN’s Rabbi Zari Weiss, above; she and congregation members gathered at California/Alaska for a “Pop-Up Hanukkah” earlier tonight.
Tomorrow is the final night of the eight-night Festival of Lights.
Perfect weekend to shop local! The photo is from Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor), where Eda from Boejack Design has a pop-up under way until 3 pm. Click! tells us, “She handcrafts bags in leather, vegan leather, and Japanese fabric.” More info here.
(Got a shopping spotlight? Let us know for the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide!)
7:57 PM: We’re at Lowman Beach, where the Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship has just arrived for its first of four West Seattle stops over two nights. The seasonal serenading, courtesy of on-board singers, will be happening here for about 20 minutes, then on to Alki for an 8:40 pm stop (near the Bathhouse). More to come!
(At the Lowman treat tent)
8:17 PM: Great crowd at Lowman.
(Photo added, by Robin Sinner: Brightest of the 8 boats with the Christmas Ship)
After a singalong of “Joy to the World,” the Christmas Ship and the 8 boats accompanying it are now Alki-bound.
8:44 PM: The Choir of the Sound is just concluding its first Alki song.
9:05 PM: Sailing back to Pier 55 – but back in West Seattle tomorrow – see our Holiday Guide for the schedule. Photos when we’re back at HQ.
ADDED 10:54 PM: Photos added above and below. As usual, the Alki stop had extra happenings onshore, with Hope Lutheran helping out.
Throughout the holiday season, the Christmas Ship sails around the region with a long list of guest choirs performing Christmas songs.
It’s free to enjoy from shore, or you can buy a ticket to sail on board the Christmas Ship or one of its follow boats – Argosy donates part of the proceeds to charity, as announced during its stops.
Though Christmas is still two and a half weeks away, some holiday gift donation drives like Toys for Tots have only a few days left – so if you can afford to buy just one more thing this weekend and drop it in a donation box, you can brighten someone’s Christmas … as easy as that. Above is Alice Kuder of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate (WSB sponsor), who sent the photo as a reminder about their Toys for Tots collection bins through Tuesday, not only in the lobby of their sixth-floor offices at Jefferson Square, but also on the first floor (4700 42nd SW). New, unwrapped toys for T4T, please! Other donation sites are listed in our West Seattle Holiday Guide, as well as other holiday-giving opportunities (and if yours isn’t yet, please e-mail us the info – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!).
As the holiday season continues, we’re showcasing bright lights around West Seattle, and appreciate your sighting reports! This photo was sent by Susan, who says these lights are at 5106 SW Stevens. We’ll be adding them to the list in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide. Got a suggestion, with or without photo? westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
9:40 AM: Again this year, Alice Kuder and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices NW Real Estate (WSB sponsor) colleagues Debbie Kerns, John Traweek, and Amelia Scherker are hosting a showing of “The Polar Express” (trailer above) at The Admiral Theater – and they have some tickets available to the public if you RSVP ASAP. The showing is this Saturday (December 8th), 10 am, and you can only attend by reservation through Alice, first-come, first-served – e-mail or call/text her, alice@alicekuder.com or 206-708-9800.
P.S. from Alice: “We are providing free snacks (cookies, coffee, and hot cocoa) and the concession stand will be open. We will have a Toys for Tots donation barrel at the venue, for anyone who might want to donate.”
LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Alice says all the tickets are spoken for. Have fun!
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With Christmas now three weeks away, it’s time to start our nightly look at Christmas lights around West Seattle. We want to hear from you about bright and beautiful holiday displays! Tonight, the folks at Quail Park Memory Care Residences (WSB sponsor), which opened this year in The Junction, invited us to take a look at their first display.
Photos seldom do justice to light displays, so you’ll just have to go see for yourself – 4515 41st SW. Two other Quail Park holiday notes – as noted in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide, they’re offering gift-wrapping to Junction shoppers, 10 am-4 pm the next three Saturdays (December 8th, 15th, 22nd), free (but they’re accepting donations for the Alzheimer’s Association if you are so moved). Quail Park is also sponsoring the Hometown Holidays Santa Bus in The Junction the next two Sundays, 10 am-2 pm, leaving from California/Alaska.
Suggestions for lights to spotlight? E-mail us at westseattleblog@gmail.com – photos welcome too!
(WSB file photo)
If you haven’t already seen the schedule in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide – the Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship visits West Seattle and South Park this week! Here’s where and when you can gather on the shore and enjoy being serenaded by seasonal sounds:
Friday, December 7th:
-7:55 pm at Lowman Beach Park (7017 Beach Drive SW)
-8:40 pm at Alki Beach Park (near the Bathhouse, 60th SW/Alki SW)
Choir of the Sound will be aboard.
Saturday, December 8th:
-3 pm at Duwamish Waterway Park in South Park (7900 10th Ave. S.)
-4:05 at Don Armeni Boat Ramp (1222 Harbor SW)
-9:10 pm at Salty’s on Alki (1936 Harbor SW; WSB sponsor)
Rainier Youth Choirs will be on board.
Each stop usually lasts about 20 minutes.
More than 20 nonprofits await you right now at the only “shopping” event of its kind this season – the third annual West Seattle Alternative Giving Fair, happening in the Fellowship Hall at Fauntleroy Church. It’s a simple idea – you make a donation to a nonprofit in the name of someone on your list, and you’ll get something to give them to explain the gift. Our preview has the list of who’s participating. You can even meet Ivy!
Ivy’s from Reading with Rover. More photos later. The fair continues until 4 pm today.The church is at 9140 California SW.
Jack Menashe – known for his family’s Christmas-lights-laden home – got to throw the switch on another set of lights tonight: The ones decking the West Seattle Junction Hometown Holidays tree.
Joined onstage by wife Linda Menashe and four of their 12 grandchildren, he praised West Seattleites for loyalty to their community, and Junction Association executive director Lora Radford for her hard work to strengthen the business district. The lighting event’s format was different this year – instead of packing entertainment and speeches into a half-hour or so preceding the lighting, this year the entertainment was spread across the two hours before the ceremony, which itself lasted just a few minutes, starting with Lora introducing Santa and the Menashes:
Junction Plaza Park was shoulder-to-shoulder for the countdown:
The West Seattle Junction @wsja tree is on! pic.twitter.com/WIDJMvipzS
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) December 2, 2018
In case you missed the performances, we recorded some highlights – here’s the School of Rock-West Seattle performers:
Endolyne Children’s Choir (whose annual holiday concert is next Saturday):
We featured The Not-Its in our earlier Night Market report; the entertainment slate opened with Mode Music Studios (WSB sponsor). After the lighting, it was back to browsing the Night Market, maybe even saying hi to Santa. Lots more Hometown Holidays festivities to come – including Shop Late Thursdays – one of which includes the holiday-season West Seattle Art Walk on December 13th – and the Santa Bus on two Sundays, December 9th and 16th. It’s all in our WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide, too.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
West Seattle holiday spirit spread 12 miles south to Tukwila early this morning, as the Rotary Club of West Seattle led a sleighful of volunteers at its annual Children’s Holiday Shopping Spree.
After the SODO Sears closed almost five years ago, the Rotary moved the event to Southcenter, where buses brought about 100 students from five West Seattle schools starting just before 7 am – Highland Park, Arbor Heights, Sanislo, and West Seattle Elementaries, and Louisa Boren STEM K-8.
Each arriving group got an ovation from the nearly 200 Rotarians and other volunteers who started their Saturday pre-dawn to provide the kids a holiday event to remember.
First school arrival at West Seattle Rotary Shopping Spree – big cheers for Highland Park Elementary! pic.twitter.com/TXiTas1xpc
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) December 1, 2018
The kids get to shop for practical presents like coats and shoes:
They received fun gifts too – Rotarians donated small toys for goodie bags, for example. And a hearty breakfast is always part of the “spree”:
The West Seattle Rotary has been doing this for more than 45 years. Every year, volunteers from other organizations help make it happen, from student groups to community fraternities and sororities:
Lots of logistics involved – this year’s Rotary ringleader was Gary Potter of Potter Construction (WSB sponsor):
The Shopping Spree is one of several community projects every year for the club, which has lunch meetings every Tuesday and welcomes visitors.
A fabulously festive night is under way in The Junction – midway through the Hometown Holidays Night Market, biggest one ever, with dozens of vendors on SW Alaska between 42nd and California. Kids’ activities too, courtesy of Hope Lutheran Church‘s booth:
Look who’s also here:
You can shop for gifts and treats here as well as the nearby year-round Junction merchants:
And there’s music onstage in Junction Plaza Park leading up to the tree lighting at 6 pm – The Not-Its are just wrapping up.
The Not-Its gone wild during @wsja Hometown Holidays gig that just wrapped up. Tree goes on at 6! pic.twitter.com/dZeFehRxDi
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) December 2, 2018
The Night Market’s on until 7. (We’ll have a separate report on the tree lighting later.)
While the wide view of the Menashe Family‘s brightly lit home at 5605 Beach Drive SW is iconic, we stopped on this year’s first official night Friday to notice some of the details:
There are reindeer … but there are also mice!
And a train:
As noted here earlier, the Menashe Family Lights were featured in an episode of ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight” on national TV this past Monday. If you missed it, the episode is available online right now to “verified” viewers, and should be available next week to all.
P.S. One more reminder that Jack and Linda Menashe are scheduled to join Santa in The Junction at 6 tonight, lighting the Hometown Holidays Christmas Tree.
Yet another stop on this busy Saturday – The Kenney (WSB sponsor) is welcoming visitors for a rummage sale, bake sale, and bazaar!
7125 Fauntleroy Way SW, until 3 pm.
All dressed up for a pic with “Santa Paws”! Thanks to Don for sending the photo. Pets – and/or people – are welcome to come get free pics at Windermere West Seattle in The Junction (4526 California SW) until 1 pm.
(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)
The Kiwanis Club of West Seattle invites you to join them for breakfast at the Masonic Center – the club’s 72nd annual Pancake Breakfast, on until 11 am.
You get not only food and drink (orange juice, coffee, etc.) but also a heaping helping of holiday spirit – Scouts and Key Club members are volunteering, Marines are collecting new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots, and Santa Claus is there for holiday photos.
(Chief Sealth IHS Key Club members)
(Scouts from Troops 41169 and 284)
(Cpl. Kazimir Klossowski and HM2 Mallory Michaels)
If you haven’t already bought your ticket, it’s $10 at the door for adults, and kids under 10 who are accompanying them get to have breakfast for free! You can also check out the fundraising raffle and bake sale. The center’s at 40th/Edmunds – entrance is off the parking lot. (WSB is among this event’s community co-sponsors.)
The last 2 stories we covered Friday night before the power outage both involved Christmas lights. Now that the power has stabilized – on with the reports … and the lights:
Click the “play” button in the Instagram window and you’ll see the lighting of Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s big tree outside the church for the first time in five years. Here’s another view:
The parish and school have continued to host a “Light Up the Night” celebration each year, throwing the switch on lights around the grounds and singing Christmas carols, but it wasn’t quite the same. Emcee Brian Callanan thanked the OLG CYO for bringing back the tree lights, which are brighter than we ever remember. The celebration included caroling as always:
And food donations were collected in the sleigh in the lobby of the Walmesley Center:
The tree is on the southeast corner of 35th/Myrtle, near the highest elevation in Seattle city limits, so it’s considered to be Seattle’s highest-elevation Christmas tree.
Even on a rainy night, the annual Holiday Open House at Husky Deli draws a crowd. There’s live holiday music while proprietor Jack Miller and staff serve up samples to their fans.
The open house at 4721 California SW continues until 9 pm. Lots of other holiday events this weekend, in The Junction and beyond – see the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide!
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