West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
Nicole survived a close call on Wednesday, but would like to find the person who helped her afterward. Here’s her story:
I have lived in West Seattle for four years. I have worked at Luna Park Cafe for a little over two years. I bike to work on a regular basis. I use the Alki Bike Trail to get there. Yesterday morning I had a traumatizing incident happen and I was hoping someone out there in West Seattle could help me find the good samaritan who came to assist.
Yesterday morning, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 around 6:30 am I was biking south on the Alki Bike Trail. I was about 1 block North of the ActivSpace Building. A driver of a Honey Bucket truck was traveling North on Harbor Ave. (the street that runs next to the bike trail) The driver of the Honey Bucket truck did not see me on my bike coming straight towards him. The driver of the truck proceeded to make a right turn into a driveway. I was on my bike traveling anywhere from 15-20 miles an hour realized that the driver did not see me and put on my brakes right away. I started screaming “HEY HEY HEY” to make sure that he would noticed me.
Before I knew it my bike and I were sliding on the pavement toward the truck that was still turning into the driveway. I must have slid about 2 feet still on my bike until the lower part of my body were under the front bumper of the Honey Bucket truck. Thank goodness the driver of truck did see me and stoped the vehicle. I was able to jump right up and grab my bike. The driver asked me if I was okay and I said yes, just scraped up. I asked him “How could you not see me? He replied “It was because the sunlight was in his eyes.” At this time another truck driver stopped his vehicle and came to help out. This other driver was already in the driveway near a gate. He helped me get back on my bike and made sure I was okay.
I am looking for this friendly, helpful man. He was wearing a cap and had glasses (from what I recall). He was somewhere around 6 ft. tall, slender, and perhaps in his 50s. He had grayish color hair, beard scruff on his face and lighter colored eyes. He said that he had been a truck driver in the area for the last 10 years and always stops to look for bikers on the bike trail before he turns into the driveway. I did not get this man’s information.
Nicole says she’s doing OK, by the way, though upset about missing work. If you have any idea who the man is, leave a comment or e-mail her at nicolevela@hotmail.com.
Today we welcome West Seattle’s newest restaurant, Cafe Revo, to the WSB sponsor team; new sponsors get the chance to share information about their business, and here’s what Cafe Revo wants you to know:
(From left, Kevin Fry [manager], Chef Sean Goff and Sofia Zadra Goff [owners], Milo Goodrich [manager]
Even though it’s been open for less than 2 months, diners say the atmosphere at Cafe Revo is warm and family-like. The restaurant is owned by Sofia and Sean Goff. Sofia is a fourth-generation West Seattleite, and she says it’s long been her family’s dream to bring a restaurant to the neighborhood that honors their ancestral home of Revo, Italy. Sofia says that some guests have compared their food to meals they had while visiting Italy. Sean’s cooking resume includes six trips to Italy to study the cuisine and 25 years working in Seattle restaurants. Sofia and Sean also bring some Seattle to Revo by featuring ice cream from Husky Deli, West Seattle’s Finamoré Limoncello, cheeses from the West Seattle Farmers Market, Uli’s Famous Sausage from Pike Place Market, West Seattle’s Gioia Wines, Pioneer Coffee (which has a store on Alki), and flowers by West Seattleite-owned Monday’s Flowers. Sean and Sofia are also active with the Westenders Scooter Club. They work in their children’s schools — Arbor Heights Elementary and West Seattle High School — and they’re also involved in the Arbor Heights Girl Scout Troop, as well as West Seattle’s own Endolyne Children’s Choir. Cafe Revo is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner. They also offer happy hour Monday – Friday 4-6:30, and they take reservations. You can see their full menus online.
We welcome Cafe Revo to the WSB sponsor team; you can see all our sponsors listed here, along with information on how to join them!
That’s the Transitional Resources project at 2922 SW Avalon, one of two projects examined by Southwest Design Review Board members tonight at Madison Middle School. This is intended to be an 16-unit residential project over 1200+ square feet of living space, part of the TR complex offering services, including residential units, to people living with mental illness. This was the project’s first time before the board, seeking “early design guidance” (see the full presentation here); members agreed to let it move on to the next phase, with a few recommendations, including open-space coordination and the courtyard entry. Next project did not have such smooth sailing:
That’s 4532 42nd SW (presentation here), which last went before the board 10 months ago (WSB coverage here). It’s already passed “early design guidance,” so it’s in the second phase of design review, but has to come back for at least one more meeting. Last June, board members said they wanted a closer look at what this mixed-use building (35 residential units over 3,000 sf commercial) will look like at street level; they got one tonight but aren’t happy yet with how the ground-level retail will look – saying it’s not inviting enough and looks distant and inaccessible, which could lead to business failure. So the first floor will be the topic of the next meeting – in hopes a revamp will make it less “vanilla” and “generic.” One more note from tonight’s meeting: new members Norma Tompkins and Robin Murphy joined the board.
E-mail note tonight from Cafe Revo, which opened three and a half weeks ago in the Luna Park business district – it’s starting “happy hour” as of tomorrow, 4-6 pm Mondays-Fridays, with offerings including $4 appetizers.
(photo added 2:22 pm)
Dave Brewer e-mailed to share this alert:
On the 2900 block of SW Avalon Way, a section on the east side of the street that used to have no-limit parking is now a 2 hour zone. My assumption is that it has to do with Cafe Revo, directly across from the area.
Riders in my van pool (as well as at least three others that I am aware of) have been parking in this area during the work day for a couple years, so a warning to any others who have been doing the same.
Further up the hill (across from Ola, animal clinic, and beyond), is still unlimited.
We’ll be checking with SDOT to find out more, and see if anything’s in store for other areas of West Seattle.
Just scheduled for Design Review (tentatively) on April 9, a proposal by Transitional Resources to build a new four-story, 16-unit mixed-use building on one of the properties it owns along SW Avalon (2988; Google Street View above). We profiled Transitional Resources here last year before their annual spring “garden party” gathering volunteer help for the site where they grow certified-organic herbs and produce; as we described TR in that story, it’s “an organization that provides residential and drop-in services for more than 100 people every month who are working on having productive lives while dealing with mental illness.”
After a week or so of practicing, tonight an invitation-only benefit gala (proceeds to the West Seattle Food Bank) opened the doors at the long-awaited Luna Park ristorante Cafe Revo. We will have photos back shortly; meantime, we have word from Sofia Zadra Goff – “Signora della Casa” (co-owner with chef husband Sean “Chano” Goff) – that they have decided to be open for dinner only this weekend, and will start lunch service on Monday. (Photos added 8:41 pm – below, in the kitchen, that’s Sofia at right, looking proudly over at Sean and his team cooking, while her dad, known as “Nonno,” smiles for the WSB camera.)
Out in the dining area – abuzz with the voices of a full house – we asked “Nonno” exactly what it is he’ll be doing:
Dinner service this Saturday and Sunday will start at 4 pm. More info at the Cafe Revo website.
(Cafe Revo’s south-side mural, featuring “Zetta,” photographed last September)
More big West Seattle food news this afternoon: We just got word from co-owner Sofia Zadra Goff — Cafe Revo, the new Italian restaurant in the Luna Park business district on Avalon (map), has passed its inspections and set its opening date. From Sofia:
On Saturday Feb 21st we will be open to the public starting at 11 am and closing 11 pm, for lunch and dinner. We will then be open for our normal hours. Sunday 12-9, Mon-Thurs 11-10 and Fri and Sat 11-11.
We introduced you to Sofia and her husband, chef Sean “Chano” Goff, in this WSB report that took you inside the then-under-construction restaurant back in June, but much has changed since then – most of it documented on the Cafe Revo website (see this page with lots of interior photos), where you also can find menu information (and meet “Nonno“!). It’s been nine months since first word that this restaurant was taking over the ex-Murphy’s space; Sofia says they’ll be training staff next week with a private “soft opening” and by-invitation charity-benefit party before the first official opening date on Saturday 2/21.
Good to hear about booming business, giving the continued tough news from other quarters, so here are two more updates:
SECOND “FRIENDS”: Doris Goulet, owner of the popular Junction craft store Friends and Company, is opening a second location in Issaquah this spring; thanks to Michael at Liberty Bell Printing for the tip. *Added later* Doris also has written about the big news on her website. (Another Junction business that’s expanding is Cupcake Royale, which recently announced it’s opening a fourth location, on Capitol Hill.)
CAFE REVO “LOOKING FINISHED”: Still awaiting an exact date (co-owner Sofia Zadra Goff tells WSB final inspections have just begun), but Cafe Revo – the new Italian restaurant in the Luna Park business district on Avalon – has been sending updates saying they’re almost ready to open. You can see lots of new photos of the completed interior on this page of the CR website.
We showed you this mural while it was in progress on the south side of Cafe Revo (Italian restaurant taking over the ex-Murphy’s space on Avalon in the Luna Park business district); now artist Glenn Case is officially done, and Revo’s Sofia Zadra Goff tells us they gave the mural a name: Zetta, the middle name of Sofia’s greatgrandmother. We also peeked into the under-construction restaurant space, where the bar’s being built out of a single piece of wood:
Revo’s hoping to open around November 1st. Meantime, we got e-mail late today from Spring Hill in The Junction, wondering if we would share some news, and since we know how you all love restaurant info, we’re happy to oblige:
That’s the cover of the late-night happy-hour menu that Spring Hill is launching next Tuesday, according to the note from proprietors Mark and Marjorie Fuller, who add: “Also, beginning November 2nd we will be opening at 5:15 pm rather than 5:45 pm for fall/winter. One last note: Brunch is coming soon! We are hoping to start brunch the end of November/early December. We would like to extend our thanks to all the people who have supported spring hill restaurant and look forward to seeing you all soon!”
Driving by the under-construction Cafe Revo (former Murphy’s) site on Avalon this evening, we noticed the new neon sign was lit — which indeed was supposed to happen this week, per an e-mail update sent to the Revo mailing list a few days ago, which also said:
We are waiting for our building permits to be finalized. In the meantime we have finished building all of our tables and the custom bar is halfway done. The exterior of the building is finished and the neon sign made for us at Western Neon, has been put up. … We plan to add some nice planter boxes in the front of the building soon as well. We currently are working with artist Glenn Case on some murals for the interior and our busy working with our vendors to get our equipment and front of house items chosen and ordered. Our cousins in Italy have e-mailed Sean more authentic recipes, including some recently from our close family friend in Cuneo, in the Piedmont region. Our hope is to be opened no later than early October, but once we have our permits in hand we will have a more clear opening date.
Cafe Revo proprietors Sean and Sofia Zadra Goff also have posted more in-progress photos (even their tables!) on one of their webpages (see it here); if you missed it earlier this summer, we talked with them for an in-depth preview back in June (read it here).
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