One of West Seattle’s longest-running restaurants has put in an order for a new owner. Luna Park Café owner John Bennett tells WSB that he’s put his legendary burgers-and-breakfast (among other things) restaurant on the market. “It was a tough decision to make after 35 years, but it’s time to pass the torch,” Bennett says. “I am looking for someone who will keep it going as it is for another 35 years or more. The restaurant is doing well and I think someone could step in and take it over without skipping a beat.” He’s keeping it open while it’s on the market so the “new owner can come right in and take over. I’ve got a great staff there and I want to make sure that they can stay and hopefully the restaurant will stay the same.” If somehow you haven’t been, it’s not just about the food and beverages (including famous milkshakes) but also the quirky decor.

(WSB photo, 2023)

(And the history!) If you’re potentially interested, you can contact Bennett at 206-227-1950 or bennettproperties@comcast.net. You can see the listing here.

Share This

When Luna Park Café celebrated its 35th anniversary in March, owner John Bennett told us they hoped to add dinner this spring. Now, he says, it’s about to happen:

Luna will start opening for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays starting tomorrow. Serving great burgers, sandwiches, salads, vegetarian, and vegan dishes. Expanded cocktail menu, beer specials and new mock-tail options, including our famous boozy shakes!

The café is at 2918 SW Avalon Way. Dinner hours will be 3-9 pm.

Share This

Share This

After multiple test runs, Luna Park Café will reopen tomorrow (Friday, March 17th) – but only for breakfast and lunch for starters, according to founder John Bennett. Six months have passed since the restaurant closed for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades.

They’ve also made some menu changes, most notably adding this vegan menu. As with any place opening/reopening, they hope you will be patient, don’t everyone rush in at once! The 34-years-in-business café at 2918 SW Avalon Way will be open 8 am-3 pm Wednesdays-Sundays as of tomorrow.

Share This

Last weekend, some fans of Luna Park Café were excited to see that sight – signs illuminated, people inside. It wasn’t a quiet reopening, though – the café had a few invitation-only test runs, following six months of closure for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. Proprietor John Bennett tells WSB the test runs went well, but now there’s one last hurdle to clear: “We’re trying to hire line cooks so we can open next week. Anyone who wants to be part of our team can contact us at lunaparkcafe.office@gmail.com.” Luna Park Café (2918 SW Avalon Way) will celebrate its 34th anniversary this month.

Share This

Avalon Glassworks is celebrating 30 years of business and 20 years for current owners Shannon and Jon Felix. To commemorate, the studio has created a blown glass Anniversary Float, signed AGW 2023 “30” on the sealing button.

It is a 4″ sphere in transparent burgundy red with accents of sparkly gold flecks. It can be purchased online at their Etsy store or in-person at the West Seattle location at 2914 SW Avalon Way. Avalon Glassworks’ new hours are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 12-4 pm.

Share This

Just as the West Seattle Bridge reopens, one of the businesses that’s practically next to it has announced a temporary closure. Just received from Luna Park Café proprietor John Bennett:

We recently have felt the after-effects of Covid and have done our best to stay open as much as possible to serve all our faithful customers. Unfortunately we came to the decision to temporarily close in order to do some much-needed systems updates. We don’t know how long this will take us since we want to be the best we can be when we do reopen!

We will be continuing with our current hours (8 am-3 pm) through Sunday the 18th so we encourage everyone to come see us and order their favorite shake, hobo, or Luna special before we take our break!

We look forward to reopening and having another great 30+-year stint!

Luna Park marked its 33rd anniversary earlier this year.

Share This

If you haven’t met her yet, that’s Lily Anaya, who’s celebrating the grand opening of Lily’s Salvadorean Restaurant at 2940 SW Avalon Way. She opened the restaurant three months ago but it’s finally time to party.The restaurant follows Lily’s success serving pupusas and other Salvadorean specialties to Farmers’ Market visitors. She told guests this afternoon about her long road to success in the U.S. after emigrating with her daughters.

If you want to drop in for a meal and/or drink and/or well-wishes, the official party continues until 6 pm. (The restaurant is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.)

Share This

Two and a half months after opening in Luna Park, Lily’s Salvadorean Restaurant (2940 SW Avalon Way) is finally ready to celebrate. You’re invited to the 2-6 pm party this Saturday (May 28th). Lily’s announcement promises “mariachi, special discounts, cocktail drinks, and more” and adds, “We are so happy that we are in the neighborhood and for all the warm welcoming that we have received.” Lily’s was a Farmers’ Market fixture before adding this bricks-and-mortar location.

Share This

Thanks to Ann for the top photo and tip. The RapidRide C Line shelter on northbound Avalon Way at Yancy [map] was hoisted Saturday, moved from the east side of the protected bike lane to the west side. We asked Metro’s Jeff Switzer about it, and got his response today:

This shelter relocation was planned as part of SDOT’s SW Seattle Paving: 35th / Avalon Project, which rebuilt/reconfigured SW Avalon Way in 2019/2020. To support the addition of protected bicycle lanes on this section of roadway, SDOT constructed a transit island for our existing northbound RapidRide stop far-side SW Yancy St to eliminate merging conflicts at the new protected bike lane and to keep this as an in-lane bus stop. We were just now able to finally perform this work with staffing levels stabilizing. Some (photos) from the team to help show our efforts and the result:

Share This

2940 SW Avalon Way, until recently the home of Allyum, has a new tenant – someone you might already know from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market: A liquor-license application this week revealed that Lily’s Salvadorean is taking over the space. A note on the window confirms it:

The note promises Mexican food as well as Salvadorean. Founder Lilian Anaya Quintanilla‘s business is more than a decade old. We briefly made contact at the market today, where Lily’s booth was very busy as usual, and we’re working on a followup conversation for details.

Share This

Thanks for the tip. The proprietors of Allyum, the “plant-focused” restaurant at 2940 SW Avalon Way, announced this evening that they’ll close by the end of the year. From their announcement:

Covid has definitely made it very difficult for us to grow the way we need to in order to self sustain and stay out of debt. After many heart felt talks and consideration of all possibilities to make our lovely space work, we have realized it’s just too big to keep costs down and run efficiently as a small restaurant. We have decided it’s time for Allyum to take the necessary next step of closing the doors of our business. Allyum will close by the end of 2021. We will have a set date soon.

We gave it our best shot, had a great time, and met some wonderful folks along the way, feeding them healthy, delicious food, so we feel pretty good about things despite the unavoidable outcome.

So, going forward, we have some really fun events we are planning, to go out with a bang and give you all one last taste of Allyum. Chef Ally will continue to cook of course and we ask that you look out on instagram for popups and private dinner opportunities for you and your loved ones. We are planning a lot of fun holiday promotions and plan to stay running in the space until the end of the year.

Come in and say goodbye and eat as much Allyum as you can while we are still open. Your business is still very much appreciated.

We thank you all so much for welcoming us and showing us so much love and support.

Until we meet again,
Chef Ally & Dahli Strayer of Allyum

Allyum opened this past New Year’s Day. The space previously held Duos, Avalon Restaurant, and Café Revo (before the restaurants, it held Murphy’s Furniture Studio until 2008).

Share This

Transitional Resources serves our neighbors living with the most serious forms of mental illness by pairing behavioral health services and supportive housing to help people get off the streets and live successfully in the community.

We have missed gathering with our community, and we can’t wait until we can safely gather with you once more! But since we aren’t quite there yet, in lieu of an in-person event, we’ve put together a virtual program about what TR has been up to. We invite you to watch and hear more about our work, get inspired by our clients’ stories, and learn how individuals like you can make a difference. This exclusive content will be available through October 7. You can visit TR’s website to view it.

We need our neighbors to know that Transitional Resources is still out here, providing the continuous, community-serving care that our clients need. Like many organizations, the past year and a half has been extraordinarily challenging for us, and the support of our community has been critical to our continued operations. We’ve faced another year of canceled events, enhanced safety protocols, plus the additional challenge of constructing a brand-new building during a pandemic. We are proud to say that TR has been able to support our clients throughout these challenges, keeping people safe and healthy, and our new building will help us to increase our capacity and services to even more people. We depend on the community to help us persevere through these challenges, and we would appreciate your support as we continue to provide services to those who need it most.

You can watch the video here, and/or make a gift to support TR here. P.S, They’re hoping to open their new building on SW Yancy next month.

Share This

Share This

5:06 PM: Thanks for the updates in comments. We asked SPU about the outage and got this response from spokesperson Shanna Christie:

Last night around 11 pm, SPU crews responded to a water main break near the 3000 BLK of SW ANDOVER ST. Water was shutoff to 43 service lines to make the emergency repair. The break was fixed and water was back on around 2 am for some customers. A section of about 25 customers remained out of water due to a broken valve. Around 8 am today, a second SPU crew began work to repair the broken valve. This required a second emergency water shutdown impacting the same group of 43 customers, including the approximately 25 customers whose water was already off. The second repair was complete and water was back on for all customers by 12:30 pm today.

Share This