West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
We’ve received a few notes about this and happened to see it ourselves (but couldn’t whip out the camera fast enough) — massive police motorcade along Alki about an hour ago, motorcycles as well as cars — will let you know if/when we find out what that was all about!
One of the ugliest road-rage clashes we’ve seen in a while: At the three-way intersection by Lowman Beach, a huge red pickup and a teal station wagon were stopped side-by-side, pointed north toward Beach Drive, with the drivers screaming bloody murder at each other. (Mostly the guy in the pickup yelling at the station-wagon guy about being an “old guy” who didn’t know how to drive.) So ugly, we were about to call 911, when the truck roared off. (Oh, and really, tomorrow IS “Drive Nice Day.”)
Spotted passing Admiral Heights a few hours ago — this sizable contingent of Seattle Police on two-wheeled patrol. (TUESDAY UPDATE: SPD tells us this was an exercise for officers who hope to join the bike patrol – they get put through some tough paces on WS hills among other spots all over the city!)
Twice in the past two days, we’ve had to stop for these feathered pedestrians just east of Seacrest, and they’re hard to see from a distance.
The Junction‘s hanging flower baskets are going up this morning — after arriving in a big yellow truck that staged just outside Village Woodworks. (Auspiciously, the sun came out shortly after the basket-unloading began.)
Some general exterior and interior sprucing-up is going on at Morgan Junction’s big beige public-housing building, Cal-Mor Circle, and this weekend it looks rather Christo-like:
Courtesy of Cathy Woo, who tells us she took this picture just before 9 this morning at 59th & Alki. (Sure looks like the work of NTG.) 10:35 PM UPDATE: Went down to check it out. This is visible from the beach side of the walkway just east of the bathhouse. We also saw another one — unfortunately peeling badly — a bit further east along the beach walkway, and yet another one on the retaining wall along the bottom of California Way where it meets Harbor Ave near Seacrest.)
You don’t have to drive 22 miles — like these Issaquah elementary-school kids spotted on a field trip this morning — for a low-tide walk at Constellation Park (p.s. looks like it’ll be even lower about this time tomorrow morning):
Sure, Cactus was jumping (including the heated outdoor area), bonfires were blazing, all that, but the most interesting thing we saw on Alki this Cinco de Mayo evening was the aftermath of a ceremony next to the Alki Bathhouse, and the reception inside. The candle-equipped ceremony altar (photo below) was framed by white columns wrapped with barbed wire and red roses. We weren’t nosy enough to peek too far into the (catered) reception, but saw enough of the outfits (white-on-black “skeleton” shirt, etc.) to speculate — Goth wedding? SUNDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Reader reports in a comment on this post that they inquired and were told it was in honor of someone who died.
Huling/Gee isn’t the only name change along Fauntleroy’s mini-“auto row.” At Fauntleroy/Oregon, the tattered old “Bob Ochsner Cars” sign just vanished, and a slick new “West Seattle Motors” sign (left) just appeared. (If you can’t recall the old sign, check the right side of the photo on the bottom of this city page — scroll down, then over — about the neighboring, historical-ish Wardrobe Cleaners neon sign.)
Just received a note about something traumatic that happened on Admiral earlier today, with a request to let everyone know about those who did a very good deed as a result. We’re putting it up exactly as we received it, and it’s a bit long, so if you’re seeing this on the home page, click ahead to read:
Checked the 35th/Holden Chevron station this morning, for the 2nd straight day. Somewhere between midnight and 10 am, the price of regular jumped another 4 cents to $3.26/gallon (as shown at left). Our subsequent unofficial drivearound survey suggests this may currently be the most expensive price in WS (let us know if you find differently).
Or maybe “strange bedfellows” is better. Anyway, we mused last month about the proximity of the new Temenos spiritual center to Mars Hill-WS. Now, they’re truly rubbing elbows; on off-days, the MH buses have their own little pen in the Temenos lot:
The headline about 4-buck gas might not be so far off. Example: We passed the 35th/Holden Chevron twice in the past hour. First time by, a worker was taking down the 3.18/gallon price for regular. Second time by, when we had a camera in tow, the new price was up (left). Good site for checking local gas prices is here. UPDATE: Even the state wants to know how come we pay more around here.
… unless you can answer it for us: What IS a “Snooty Walk”? We thought we’d get the answer if we showed up for the last half-hour of the Pet Rodeo & Snooty Walk, but the party was already breaking up. Did spot Hizzoner, however, probably there to cheer on his wife in her role as Head Judge.
Tonight, a rare sighting of squadcarfuls of West Seattle’s Finest taking a break someplace besides Caffe Ladro: at the Westwood Village Barnes ‘n’ Noble.
We shared the first tip last week about the Groucho Marxes visible from the south side of the west end of the high bridge. Now, finally photos — these were linked from a new comment on the original item; the one below was e-mailed to us by Nick Peters:
Wandering through the Admiral District this morning, we spotted West Seattle’s Only Moviehouse in the process of getting a paint job (note the primer above the marquee):
Been away from the inbox for several hours; seems we missed something startling in the WS sky this evening — at least a dozen people have written to ask what was up with the chopper activity. We’ve seen military aircraft around here before — after all, we have beaucoup bases nearby — but this must have been truly out of the ordinary, given the mail barrage. We’ll see what we can find out; if anyone out there in WSB-land is a military insider or called authorities to ask and actually got an answer, please leave a comment. (UPDATE: One commenter says it was part of the Mariners’ military-salute promotion.)
More “public art,” according to a reader tip. We won’t get to check this out for ourselves for a while so we’ll take the liberty of quoting the reader, who reports the sighting from a bus ride over The Bridge:
This morning I had no choice but to crack a grin as I spotted a herd of crouching Groucho Marxes in the woods of Pigeon Point. They can be seen from the eastbound lanes of the West Seattle Bridge and are tucked into the woods maybe a couple hundred meters after the merge.
Drivers beware, road crews aren’t just working on the north-of-Junction repaving today — there’s also some work in the heart of The Junction itself. Looks like restriping, possibly also on the “raised crosswalks.” No lane closures when we passed through just now but could be a little congested later, so consider yourself forewarned.
The former video store and the ex-we-can’t-even-remember-WHAT-it-was-before to the west are now both rubble, barely a week after demolition work began. This view looks west from 41st (Jefferson Square sign off to the left):
It’s probably the #1 question we get: WS Trader Joe’s or no WS Trader Joe’s? Sorry to say, we have no definitive answer. We have heard way too many second- and third-hand reports of yes/no/maybe/never, plus we remember back when a businessperson near Caffe Ladro claimed the landlord for that building was insisting TJ’s would go in there, with condos above (ultimately, the commercial building stayed status-quo, and condos went into the empty lot next door). That said, it seems rather mean that Trader Joe’s has given names to its checkout aisles, including: Three Tree Point, Normandy Park, Des Moines, Seahurst … and … Fauntleroy. Why don’t they just rename one “Alki” and rub it in even further? Wah!
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