Seen around town 781 results

11:02 AM: The WSU-Cal game‘s not until 1 pm, but tailgating of a sort started early today for Cougar superfan Paul Twibell and friends. He sent the screenshot and report:

This morning ESPN’s College Gameday was live from Alki, if only for a couple of seconds. Paul Twibell’s Cougulance was featured with friends waving WSU flags to keep a streak alive. Today was the 256th consecutive episode that a WSU flag has been waved during the show. Paul, who owns the Cougar-themed ambulance frequently parked on Admiral Way, was joined by Cougar friends Stacey Ellingson, Collin Cejka, Darren Case, Barb Harrington, Chloe Woodward, Makenzee Jundal, and Wagz. ESPN has modified their normal “Fan Pit” to be virtual, featuring fans from across the nation. Twibell was up at 5 am this morning to set up a camera and lighting for the 7:30 am two seconds of fame. GO COUGS!

(The onscreen “West Point” reference was because ESPN’s featured game this week is Army vs. Navy, Paul explains.)

1:03 PM: Side note, no WSU game today after all – canceled at the last minute due to COVID concerns in the Cal program.

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WEST SEATTLE SCENE: Dick’s Drive-Ins’ truck in The Junction

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

(WSB photos unless otherwise credited)

12:20 PM: Getting the Easy Street Records marquee welcome right now – the first-ever Dick’s Drive-Ins food truck. It’s selling burgers and shakes at the California/Alaska corner until 2 pm.

The (distanced) line stretches north along California to the corner of Oregon as of our visit a few minutes ago.

The truck is here as one of its first five stops because of an online vote – it’ll be here until 2 pm.

(Photo sent by Angelo Guerrero)

6:31 PM: After the truck left, we emailed Dick’s to ask how many burgers and shakes were sold today. The reply: “We don’t actually provide those specific numbers but I can share that we sold completely out of shakes and burgers today in West Seattle.”

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WEST SEATTLE SCENE: 2 reasons to smile

December 4, 2020 2:59 pm

| 4 COMMENTS

| Genesee Hill | Seen around town | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Thanks to Susan Weir for the photos and report from atop Genesee Hill:

You’re never too old to clown around! That’s the motto of Patricia (Pat) Nelson, age 93, and Elaine Katz, age 68. If you’re out in the sunshine and happen to be driving by the intersection of Genesee and 55th Ave. SW, you may see these ladies waving, smiling, and putting smiles on the faces of those who drive by. Pat and Elaine routinely clown around on this corner. Please smile, honk, and wave back!

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In case you wondered too: Portable neon ‘Power Of’ sign

December 3, 2020 6:10 pm

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| Coronavirus | Seen around town | West Seattle news

Stewart L. photographed that portable neon sign at Don Armeni Boat Ramp last week. We couldn’t figure out what it was for, but tonight we caught up with its minders after Mike sent word it had shown up late today in the parking lot at 44th/Edmunds. They explained that it’s promotion for the Gates Foundation-led initiative PowerOf, encouraging volunteering and donating to help people affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The sign is scheduled to move on shortly; the online schedule says it will be in Columbia City the next three days.

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PARKING: Two West Seattle sign sightings

November 23, 2020 7:06 pm

| 55 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | Transportation | West Seattle news

Two recent parking changes in West Seattle:

RITE-AID LOT ADDS PAID PARKING: When we reported recently on the new contract-holder for vehicle licensing in West Seattle, he mentioned that one strike against the old location (he’s moving into Westwood Village instead) was that paid parking was going in at Rite-Aid across the street (5217 California SW). We hadn’t confirmed that until noticing this past weekend that it’s now in place. While there are still free spaces for customers in front of the store, and some on either side, the rest are now controlled by Diamond Parking, $2/first hour, $1 subsequent hours, and they’re selling monthly parking too ($30). The free spaces are marked 60 MINS. in white paint, while the paid spaces say PAY, in yellow paint. Diamond’s other lots around West Seattle (and elsewhere) are mapped here.

DUWAMISH HEAD GOES BACK-IN: Stewart L. sent this photo recently, noting the “back-in only” sign was new:

We asked SDOT about it. While they didn’t explain why they decided to add the signage now, spokesperson Ethan Bergerson explained why the department prefers it for angled parking:

All back-in angle spaces follow the guidelines outlined in the Institute of Traffic Engineers Handbook. Traffic safety and crash data analysis showed a 3-1 ratio of collisions occurring with head-in parking spaces as opposed to back-in parking spaces. Back-in angle parking is safer than head-in for several reasons:

· Traffic is already stopped when the driver is backing into a parking space, rather than backing out into a moving traffic lane when visibility is limited.

· When leaving a parking space it is easier and safer to drive into a travel lane than back a vehicle out of a space into a travel lane.

· People on bicycles are better able to avoid a vehicle backing into a parking space than a vehicle backing out of a space into a cyclist’s path.

· The time required to back into an angle space requires less time than to park parallel or to back out of an angle stall, therefore traffic delays are reduced.

For these reasons, it has been the preference of SDOT to install back-in angle parking since at least the late 1960s. The only locations where we continue to consider head-in angle parking are on one-way downhill streets.

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In case you missed the Nutmobile – another West Seattle stop ahead

October 28, 2020 7:24 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

As mentioned in our morning preview, the Planters “Nutmobile” visited West Seattle this morning. Didn’t get much advance notice on this, so you might have missed it, but we have since gotten word of another West Seattle stop: It’ll be at The Sanctuary @ Admiral (42nd/Lander) on Friday (October 30th), 9 am-2 pm, in conjunction with a Bloodworks Northwest donation drive. If you come visit, there’s swag, like these stickers:

Today’s stop was in celebration of Meals on Wheels volunteers at the Senior Center of West Seattle, which is led by executive director Amy Lee Derenthal:

She says 65 people are (corrected) receiving Meals On Wheels right now, from volunteers delivering frozen, ready-to-heat meals to seniors around the area;.

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READER REPORT: Alki mailbox returns

October 22, 2020 12:24 pm

| 10 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

From the WSB inbox:

Super exciting news. The USPS collection box has just been installed after months of being on hiatus. It is at the corner of 63rd Ave SW and Hinds. I have attached a picture of the new box with cross streets amd information on address and official collection times. The people of Alki are going to be so excited.

Sincerely,
Their mailman

(The 4412 California SW location is the Post Office in The Junction.)

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READER REPORT: Anyone missing a walker?

October 18, 2020 11:29 am

| 1 COMMENT

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Angelina sent the photo, explaining: “I found a walker with a wonky wheel on 31st Ave SW. I put it in my yard, but it seems like a weird thing to lose. So if someone’s walker was stolen, I might have it.” If it might be yours, let us know and we’ll connect you.

SIDE NOTE: For items that are more likely to be simply lost/found and not stolen, we have a West Seattle Lost/Found (Non-Pets) section here.

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WEST SEATTLE SCENE: Trailside tribute to ‘patron saint of the broken bridge’

September 19, 2020 10:15 pm

| 33 COMMENTS

| Delridge | Seen around town | West Seattle news

Just in time for Wednesday’s half-iversary of the West Seattle Bridge closure – am announcement and photos, sent by Lars:

The Delridge Maritime Historical Society in conjunction with the CFGA is pleased to announce the erection of a memorial shrine to West Seattle and Delridge’s most unsung hero: Rolf Neslund. Located on the lovely bike trail, beneath the small Pigeon Point park at the North end of 22nd Ave SW,

Rolf gazes out towards the now unused Delridge onramp with steely Viking intensity – pondering his legacy. When in picturesque Northern Delridge, please consider a brief pilgrimage to the memory of a true West Seattle legend.

Just don’t run into it.

P.S. Squinting at the plaque, we note that CFGA = Center For General Annoyance. (If you don’t know who Rolf Neslund is and what he has to do with the bridge … HistoryLink can educate you here and here.)

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FOLLOWUP: Driver-damaged mailbox replaced

September 19, 2020 3:52 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

If you’ve been reading WSB for a while, you know mailboxes can be Big News sometimes. Thanks to Peter for the tip on this one at 42nd and Alaska in The Junction. It replaces one knocked over by a driver in late July. Despite the recent reports of USPS turmoil, that’s actually a relatively fast turnaround time – some mailbox replacements in recent years have taken about twice that much time.

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READER REPORT: Abandoned bicycles

August 31, 2020 7:06 pm

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| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Just in from Emily:

These bikes have been lying in the bushes on Fauntleroy just in front of the bridge barricades for a few days. Not sure if they are lost, stolen or forgotten? Hope they are able to be reclaimed by their owners!

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In case you heard it too: About the small jet that was looping West Seattle

August 26, 2020 12:34 pm

| 22 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Aircraft noise is no rarity over much of West Seattle, but after we heard what sounded like the same jet pass over HQ multiple times, we checked it out. Our favorite flight tracker showed a repeated oval (screengrab above) but didn’t identify the plane. With some help from Twitter crowdsourcing, we’ve since confirmed with the FAA that the plane (a Learjet 60) was theirs, “performing flight checks of the instrumentation at Sea-Tac Airport.” The tracker shows it’s done now and headed back eastward.

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WEST SEATTLE WEEKEND SCENE: ‘Trump Baby’ balloon in The Junction

August 23, 2020 1:09 pm

| 104 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

(Texted photo)

Thanks for the tips and pics. This inflatable caricature of the President just might be the biggest political prop to appear in The Junction since the giant toilet that one group brought some years back. Local real-estate agent Christian Castro tells WSB he just bought the “Trump Baby” balloon and plans to tour it around West Seattle between now and Election Day, to remind people to vote. Today he’s on the KeyBank corner in The Junction and says he’s planning to be there until the nearby Farmers’ Market wraps up at 2 pm, and will be back next week.

(WSB photo)

The first “Trump Baby” balloon sighting was in London two years ago, and others have turned up since then. Castro says it took some work to procure – he tracked it down by first finding the people who flew the one in London; they referred him to the balloon’s creator, who in turn pointed him to the manufacturer. He says he has an accessory on order – a sign with a QR code that’ll take you to a voter-registration page, which he notes is safer in these pandemic days than setting up a table with paper documents. (Registration info is here.)

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WEST SEATTLE WEEKEND SCENE: Alki Beach Pride parade

August 22, 2020 12:32 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Fun stuff to do | Seen around town | West Seattle news

(WSB photos)

The first of two “rollouts” for this year’s pandemic-style Alki Beach Pride celebration just happened – a car and motorcycle parade.

Participants gathered at Jack Block Park to decorate their rides before heading up to Admiral and circling around to Alki. We photographed the parade just after it left the park, traveling northwest onto Harbor Avenue.

This is Alki Beach Pride’s 6th year! Its mission “is to unite the LGBTQ+ community, celebrate LQBTQ+ culture in a dignified way that acknowledges the intersection of race, liberate LGBTQ+ people who do not feel seen, heard, or accepted, and to educate our community in a way that fosters inclusivity, equality, and respect for everyone.”

Tomorrow’s “rollout” is for non-motorized wheels – skates, bikes, etc. – meet up at Statue of Liberty Plaza (61st/Alki) at 1 pm to be part of it.

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SEEN FROM WEST SEATTLE: Rainbow on the water

June 30, 2020 12:10 am

| 7 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

We start the last day of Pride month with a photo sent by Carolyn Newman – a rainbow reflected on Elliott Bay, from the T-Mobile Park roof lights, photographed Sunday night.

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No, this is NOT a new ‘Stay Healthy Street’

May 26, 2020 2:30 pm

| 43 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Someone apparently tried to set up a rogue “Stay Healthy Street” near Lincoln Park. A neighbor sent us a photo of that sign at 46th/Thistle and said there’s another one a few blocks north at 45th/Trenton. Since the city hasn’t announced any additions to the program in a few weeks, we asked SDOT, which replied: “This street is not one of our Stay Healthy Streets, and we did not place this sign here. We will send a crew to retrieve these sings and also look out for any missing signs at nearby Stay Healthy Streets.” The only official ones in West Seattle remain the originally announced one in High Point (and a bit south), the Puget Ridge/Highland Park stretch, and Beach Drive/Alki Avenue west of 63rd SW (wrapping around Alki Point).

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LOST OR DUMPED? Roadside suitcase

May 24, 2020 6:42 pm

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| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Barbara spotted that open suitcase by the road on the east side of the 6500 block of Beach Drive SW. She didn’t have a pic so we went by for one. Due to traffic, we couldn’t take a closer look, but she saw a tag with an address in the 12300 block of Marine View Drive (which is n Burien), so if you know anyone in that area, you might ask if they’ve heard of someone missing a suitcase…

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DUMPED, POSSIBLY STOLEN: Recognize this bicycle?

April 30, 2020 4:01 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Shannon sent the photo and report:

Just wanted to let you know that this bike has been lying on the tree lawn on the SW corner of the intersection of Hudson and 47th Ave SW since at least Sunday. Thought it may be a stolen dumped bike.

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Friday Night Lights, week 2

April 24, 2020 8:02 pm

| 5 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Thanks to Shannon for the photos from Seaview! f you saw fire trucks/engines and police cars in your neighborhood tonight, flashing their lights and sounding their sirens/horns, that was just the second week of “Friday Night Lights” (explained here).

Also from Seaview, Josie tweeted photos:

@westseattleblog just now on 49th in Seaview! #thankyoufirstresponders pic.twitter.com/kVNSmOvYGe

— Josie Gawlowski (@josieliming) April 25, 2020

We’ll find out next week if they’ll do it again on May 1st.

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WEST SEATTLE SCENE: Happy 91st birthday, Nancy!

April 20, 2020 8:27 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Life goes on, with adjustments. The video and report are from Bill Schrier:

Nancy Morrison is a long-time resident of the North Admiral District. Today a bunch of her neighbors got together to sing her Happy 91st Birthday, from the street and with social distancing.

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WEST SEATTLE SCENES: ‘Peaceful and breathtaking’

April 16, 2020 11:23 pm

| 9 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Quyen emailed tonight to say, “The world is in chaos right now but West Seattle is more peaceful and breathtaking than I have ever seen,” sharing this photo:

… which reminded us that others have sent some beautiful photos lately and we needed to stop down for a few minutes to share them with you.

That’s last night’s sunset, photographed by Victoria Gnatoka. Below, Tuesday afternoon at Alki, by James Tilley:

Tuesday’s sunset, by Fatiha:

The Tuesday sunrise, by Stephanie:

And “The Mountain,” by Theresa Arbow-O’Connor:

Thanks to all!

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WEST SEATTLE SCENES: Sunset; flying piano; a certain bird

April 10, 2020 8:43 pm

| 4 COMMENTS

| Seen around town | West Seattle news

Three reader-contributed scenes from today/tonight before we move on with more news…

SUNSET: Thank you to John Brosnan for sharing that view. (added) Here’s the Lincoln Park view from Fatiha:

And from Lynn Hall:

FLYING PIANO: Jim Borrowsaw that from Upper Alki this morning – apparently a piano being lifted by crane to a buildings upper level:

And speaking of flying … bird news:

THE WEST SEATTLE TURKEY … seems to be in danger of becoming The Burien Turkey. Late today, it was seen in Seola, and then this video came from Tom Myers, who saw TWST this evening at “the west end of SW 116th”:

She apparently had been southbound all day, because we got earlier reports from south Arbor Heights and Seola.

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GRATITUDE: Heroes honored by Alki roadside signs

April 5, 2020 10:30 pm

| 15 COMMENTS

| Coronavirus | Seen around town | West Seattle news

Along 59th SW in Upper Alki, south of SW Admiral Way, those signs of gratitude have sprouted along the embankment that divides the road. Above is what you see if you’re headed north; below, the individual signs along the southbound side:

If you couldn’t read all the signs in the video clip – bumpy road! – they thank doctors, first responder, transit, truckers, janitors, lab techs, teachers, and retail workers, while the signs in the individual photos thank nurses, delivery drivers, all clerks, farmers, EMTs, restaurant workers, and volunteers.

P.S. Thanks to Tom Rasmussen, West Seattle-residing former city councilmember, for the tip!

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