West Seattle, Washington

27 Saturday

54℉

Seen around town 840 results

Sunday this ‘n’ that
December 3, 2006 12:08 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town | West Seattle religion | WS miscellaneous

-Big banners at the Farmers’ Market today reveal that it’s only taking a holiday hiatus — after the Dec. 17 finale-for-the-year, it will return Jan. 7 as the “Winter Farmers’ Market,” 10 am-1 pm.

-The ever-busier section of Harbor Ave near the tow yards, Verge, ActivSpace, etc., is now even busier, as Budget Trucks seems to have set up a rental business there, with many of its offerings parked on the street. Best to avoid driving RVs and Oversize Load Tractor-Trailers through that stretch. Bicyclists may not be safe either.

-Also more-lined-with-parked-cars-than-ever, Thistle between 35th and Delridge, during the Mars Hill services, which apparently won’t move to their new ex-Doxa home before next month. We cruised by just to see if any protesters were there, since the demonstration outside MH-Ballard got called off. Nope. (If you don’t recall why somebody wanted to protest MH in the first place, here’s a refresher, plus the church leader’s latest musings on the subject, and a pointed deconstruction of said musings.)

-Looks like a whole lot of WS folks out buying Christmas trees. If you’re not sure about your options, remember to check the list at the bottom of our Holiday Stuff page.

Share This

Saturday rounds
November 25, 2006 3:40 pm
|    Comments Off on Saturday rounds
 |   Holidays | Seen around town | Transportation | West Seattle parks

This near-winter time of year, it’s tougher to get a chance to tour the town in daylight. So here’s what we spotted today while catching up:

-A new pedestrian stoplight is up (though the crosswalk’s not painted yet) at Fauntleroy & Kenyon, around midway down the east side of Lincoln Park. About time; without it, you’re taking your life into your hands if you try crossing Fauntleroy anywhere between the 76 station and the park’s southernmost parking lot. Looks like the Fauntleroy Community Association’s been campaigning about this problem for a long time, so perhaps we have them to thank. (Speaking of pedestrian safety, here’s your chance to make a BIG difference: The city’s Pedestrian Advisory Board needs new members, and Monday’s the application deadline.)

-What was Fauntleroy Auto Works (Cali Ave just north of Fauntleroy), future site of what we think of as the Monorail Memorial Park, is now a pile of rubble.

-We found six seven places to buy Christmas trees in West Seattle, so far. (All are now listed on our ever-evolving West Seattle Holiday Stuff page.) Seems like fewer than years past, but as we realized while driving around, we’ve got fewer empty lots these days. P.S. The P-I mentioned the Holy Rosary lot today in a story about nonprofit tree sales.

Share This

Neighborhood-nickname creep
October 28, 2006 4:45 pm
|    Comments Off on Neighborhood-nickname creep
 |   Seen around town | WS miscellaneous

First, we spotted a mild outbreak of NoMo. Now, comes SOA — on a flyer for Tuesday’s expanded trick-or-treating in the Admiral business district (3-6 pm), with half a dozen or so businesses south of Lafayette School joining it this year, and identifying themselves as SOA (South Of Admiral). What next? WeCa? EaCa? NoFa? SoFa? AlAl? (as in Almost Alki, a la the marketing of Verge Condos)? We could at least turn Beach Drive into SoAl. But I’m still looking for a justification to meld Luna Park and someplace-or-another into LunaSea …

Share This

Construction updates
October 21, 2006 9:34 am
|    Comments Off on Construction updates
 |   Seen around town | Triangle

Got a closer look Friday at two of the higher-profile projects around WS: In The Junction, raised-crosswalk work has begun with an extensive dig-up on the east side of the southern block (near Petco). One observer noted he thinks the city should be putting up ground-lit crosswalks (as in White Center) instead of these speed-bump crosswalks. Too late now … Over at the ex-Rainier Roaster, workers were doing something with the second-story siding as the drive-thru Starbucks transformation rolls on. Wondered if they’re going to turn the 2-story building into a 1-story facility for SBUX, but the permit aps say “non-structural improvements.”

Share This

Admiral accident
October 20, 2006 4:07 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town | WS breaking news

West Seattle might make the news again tonight, thanks to yet another car crash. We saw at least two tv camerapeople getting video of a car that smacked into a brick column in front of the Admiral Heights complex on California just north of Admiral earlier this afternoon.

Share This

On the road again
October 11, 2006 7:01 pm
|    Comments Off on On the road again
 |   Seen around town

Made it up to the Admiral District for the first time in a bit … the road work’s started there too. But don’t let any of this keep you from spending your green in the local bizdists … just allot a little extra time, and get creative with the parking!

Share This

Another Friday night Junction stroll
September 29, 2006 10:19 pm
|    Comments Off on Another Friday night Junction stroll
 |   Seen around town

Always lots to see; here’s some of what we saw: Village Woodworks has a notice up on its door, addressed to its fellow Junction businesses, alerting them to watch out for a shoplifter that hit VW this afternoon, described basically as a 20-30 y-o white guy, average height/build, blue windbreaker. (Describes about two-thirds of the guys we walked past down the block, standing outside the various Junction restaurants creating clouds of smoke.) Meanwhile, two months after the eviction notice went up on the window at Emily Ann’s Dollar Boutique, the place is finally, finally cleared out. And right in the middle of the road — repaving is progressing; the center of The Junction’s southern block is filled with new asphalt — big dig right in front of Pagliacci, Clementine, Red Cup, and Natureway, though!

Share This

Friday miscellany
September 15, 2006 2:38 pm
|    Comments Off on Friday miscellany
 |   Development | Seen around town | West Seattle restaurants

-Finally tried Cactus. Tasty food, even better atmosphere. Kept thinking about what used to be in that space two lifetimes ago — the original OLD Alki Market, with a crab tank that had a moldy plastic decoration and always one sad crab, right about where the new restaurant has beautiful colored glass panels near the front door.

-Several people have written to ask what’s up with the other half of the market space, the half that Cactus isn’t using. Still listed for lease.

-An eyesore may be finally on its way out … a renewed notice just went up online for the  development permit application at the site of the burned-out Schuck’s at California & Charlestown. Interestingly, it mentions restaurant space … interesting since nearby Charlestown Street Cafe is on its way out.

-The teardown-to-townhomes project on Cali Ave south of Morgan Junction, north of the Caffe Ladro etc. business districtlet, now has a name … sign just went up proclaiming these the “Bayberry Townhomes.” From the mid-300s. Wow.

-Last but not least, for lovers of semi-classic ’70s cars … particularly Fords … we spotted a very clean Pinto on a lawn along 62nd just north of Admiral … then seconds later, along the other side of Admiral, a well-preserved Maverick. Sigh.

–

Share This

What’s in, what’s out
September 13, 2006 10:41 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town | Transportation | West Seattle businesses

OUT: Just yesterday, the city issued a demolition permit for the old “West Fuel” place on 35th south of Legends. Drove by the site tonight — it’s already rubble. No indication yet what’ll replace it. (Three guesses?)

IN: Next to Pagliacci, the lights were on tonight inside the new little shop “Clementine” next door. As promised on the original butcher paper, it’s displaying purses and shoes. Likely to be a huge hit with all those trendy young ladies we see milling about the hot new Junction nightlife.

OUT: More and more of the pavement in the middle of Cali Ave in The Junction’s south block, scooped away, leaving quite the deep trench in spots. We’re thinking it might be fun to see this filled up a la the canals of Venice. Imagine navigating from Admiral Junction to Morgan Junction in a gondola. Also note, contrary to our observation from last week, in the heart of the construction zone, the NO PARKING rule is in effect around the clock TFN … makes sense since now there’s only one passable lane in each direction, fully utilizing the space all the way to the curbs.

IN: A bigger sign on the window of the forthcoming “Swee Swee Paperie,” just east of Cupcake Royale. It promises offerings including “corporate gifting.” I’m sure it’ll be a swell store, but it’s a shame SSP is participating in the verbing of nouns …

Share This

Gone too far
September 10, 2006 8:35 pm
|    Comments Off on Gone too far
 |   Seen around town | West Seattle housing | Wildlife

Two sightings tonight on our side of West Seattle have us in eye-rolls:

(1) A set of teardown-turned-condos on the east side of Cali Ave now bears a name on a big advertising banner: “NOMO 12.” Took us a block or two to figure out that “NOMO” has nothing to do with Hideo the baseball player or Stan Boreson’s basset. Though we can’t find an online reference to confirm this, it HAS to be “NoMo” as in “North of Morgan (Junction),” a la all those pretentious names you find in NYC, Belltown, other trendy or wannabe-trendy neighborhoods. Cringe.

(2) Someone has peppered power poles on the south end of Cali Ave with laminated bright red flyers shouting, COYOTE WARNING/MULTIPLE COYOTE SIGHTINGS IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD/KEEP PETS INDOORS! Heaven & stars, all the flyer’s missing is a picture of Wile E. Coyote with a big circle/slash “no” symbol through his face. We suppose “keep pets indoors” is a more appropriate exhortation than oh, say, “shoot on sight,” but really now. The anti-wildlife hysteria is a little out of control. Keep your pets indoors is a great idea so they won’t get run over; that’s a bigger threat than hungry wildlife. Hmm, maybe we’ll go make up some flyers along the lines of CAR WARNING/MULTIPLE CAR SIGHTINGS IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD/KEEP PETS INDOORS …

Share This

Cali Ave is groovy
September 7, 2006 9:31 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town | Transportation | West Seattle restaurants

Our trek around The Junction tonight revealed that city crews have done a pretty job roughing up the street surface already. Getting a parking spot along the newly grooved pavement was a cinch — most people don’t seem to realize yet that the NO PARKING signs are posted for DAYTIME only — it’s OK to park at night. (Though a few spaces are out of commission in front of Taqueria Guaymas & Poggie, taken up by monster-sized pieces of city equipment.) Also seen in The Junction tonight: The “for lease” sign is down and the liquor-license-app posting is up at the future home of Garlic Jim’s Pizza.

Share This

We love ya, now get outta here
September 7, 2006 7:11 pm
|    Comments Off on We love ya, now get outta here
 |   Seen around town

Perhaps just a coincidence … Two banners on the north side of the Fauntleroy walkover — different material, different lettering — are addressed to “Rachel.” The one on the left says, “Has it been 10 years already? Happy anniversary, Rachel, I (heart) U.” The one right next to it says, “BON VOYAGE, RACHEL.” If Rachel & 10-year hubby were going on an anniversary trip, wouldn’t he get a bon-voyage shoutout too? (Side note – According to the High Point development site, the walkover and its banners are part of what make WS “quirky.” I think the collection of other semi-landmarks mentioned on that page is missing a few things, such as the Admiral Theater, perhaps America’s only moviehouse designed to look like a ship.)

Share This

Day on the water
September 4, 2006 9:22 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Elliott Bay Water Taxi | Seen around town | Transportation | West Seattle restaurants | Wildlife

Despite not being boat owners, we managed to get out on the water anyway — started the day with a ferry ride, ended it with a Water Taxi trip.

Inbetween, some snags and some sightings:

SNAG: Wanted to have lunch at the new Cactus on Alki. We even called — twice — to make sure it would be open for lunch. We were assured yes, it would be. Then we showed up … nope, not open. Through the open roller doors, workers told us, no, it would only be open tonight for dinner. Bummer. We proceeded to Bamboo, which we’d never tried, believe it or not. (Having now tried it, I don’t believe we were missing anything. The sand under the outdoor tables is a nice touch, but the food was meh.)

SNAG: Since we planned to be downtown a few hours, we were glad to hear the Water Taxi was running into the evening. Unfortunately, we discovered belatedly that its transit connections did NOT run into the evening — the shuttle to the Junction stopped about half an hour before we returned, and no regular Metro buses were running past Seacrest. If we hadn’t had someone to call for a ride home, we’d still be walking.

SIGHTING: Still not entirely sure what kind of store “Divina” (north of Hotwire & its adjoining dentists) is meant to be, but it’s now posted as opening tomorrow.

SIGHTING: Interesting things tacked to the front glass of Liberty Bell Printing — a frantic note pleading for the new Homestead menus not to be printed because of some kind of error — and a month-old “lost bird” flyer that says the bird FLEW THE COUP. (Which coup was that, I wonder — have to go catch up on my international news.)

SIGHTING: Dall’s porpoises from the ferry, jumping fish from the Water Taxi. What a cool life.

Share This

Stop and smell the … sunflowers
September 3, 2006 10:39 pm
|    Comments Off on Stop and smell the … sunflowers
 |   Gardening | Seen around town

Actually, they’re not particularly fragrant. But if you want to see quite a sight, check out the yard full of sunflowers on the north side of Admiral, just west of 63rd. (Sorry I don’t have a photo; we’re going to add images to WSB one of these days …)

Share This

Here & gone
August 28, 2006 9:58 pm
|      7 COMMENTS
 |   Gatewood | Seen around town

HERE: As promised, Cactus on Alki just opened. Must have been a blitz of last-minute touches — the landscaping, the green neon sign, all up in the last week or so. We cruised by around sunset; looked like a lively crowd. We haven’t even been to Coyotes yet, so we might not make it to Cactus any time soon; please share reviews when you give it a try!

GONE: A little corner on Cali Ave at the bottom of Gatewood Hill is a lot less bright tonight. The found-items-turned-flowerpots, the stuffed-animal sentinels, the whimsical little signs, all gone from outside the funky old brick apartments (scroll down this page for photo) that are two buildings and one street south of Caffe Ladro. The corner unit is suddenly empty, bereft of the longtime tenant who clearly had a sense of humor, joie de vivre, and flair, at least so far as we passersby could tell. We walked past her/his displays dozens of times, almost always stopping to notice something new that had joined the eclectic collection of repurposed bric-a-brac arranged against walls and clumped on the parking strip. Wherever you went, whoever you were, hope your new neighbors and passersby are getting the same chance to harvest a smile from your sidewalk garden.

Share This

Sunday drive
August 27, 2006 3:51 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town | West Seattle businesses | WS miscellaneous

Got out and about for the first time in a few days … First, a couple notes from the Junction: Though the space posted as the future “Divina Cantina” does not appear open yet, a new store in front of it called “Divina” appears to be almost set to go. Its doors are posted with an artsy flyer trumpeting simply “Divina/Objects Of Beauty.” Looks like said objects include clothes, dishes, and wall hangings, among other things we didn’t quite have time to catalog while peering through the window … Also, just noticed that the former “In-Out Espresso” south of Pagliacci has changed its name to “Red Cup Espresso.” Sorry if that’s old news — gotta wonder, though, did those California burger people come after them, or did they just get tired of saying “No relation”?

Now, from Beach Drive … the “For Sale” sign at the historic Satterlee House sprouted a “PRICE REDUCED” signlet sometime in the past week or so, so we checked the listing again … wow, down to $2.5 million, from the original $3,000,000. Gosh, maybe I should try the mortgage calculator again.

Last but not least, we returned home to find out in a roundabout way that one of our favorite non-amateur blogs has poked fun at us, sort of. Wow … when the venerable Dan Savage is aware of your existence, you know you’ve really arrived.

Somewhere.

Share This

Restaurant tidbits
August 15, 2006 5:36 am
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Seen around town | West Seattle restaurants

-The Cactus Restaurant webpage for under-construction Alki has mentioned only “August 2006” as its opening date. So now that August is half over, will that really happen? Just got e-mail from an Alki reader who said she called one of the other Cactus locations to ask and was told they’re “shooting for” August 28.

-Something’s in the works at the former Cat’s Eye Cafe just north of Lincoln Park. Construction permits are posted in its windows; the online info describes the work only as “rewire/remodel studio.”

Share This

The birds and the … threes
August 14, 2006 6:06 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town

Bad billboard placement:

Yet another one of those stupid double entendres on behalf of Las Vegas tourism, this one declaring “I JOINED A THREESOME.”

Location: Right over West Seattle Montessori School, right where families turning left into the drop-off alley can’t miss it. (“Mommy, what’s a …”) Nice.

Share This

You don’t know how good you’ve got it …
August 10, 2006 9:12 pm
|    Comments Off on You don’t know how good you’ve got it …
 |   Seen around town

We’ve managed to renew our car tabs online the past few years, since the DOL upgraded its web offerings. However, this summer, we were baaaad … let our tabs expire … so a few days ago, we wound up having to go down to the DOL office south of The Junction in person to make things right.

So we had to stand in line for 20 minutes or so. Funniest thing, I can’t tell you how many people walked in, looked at the half-dozen or so of us standing in line, sighed loudly, and went back out again. Clearly none of them ever have lived in the other “western states that shall go nameless” that we have previously lived in, where instead of a nice neighborhood DOL office, you have a centralized “DMV” where you can count on spending AN ENTIRE DAY and possibly needing A SLEEPING BAG AND A TENT until you get close enough to possibly transact your business. Half a dozen people at the DOL office? Pshaw. Nothin’. And once we got up to the counter, it was a two-minute transaction. Trust me, here in WA, we got it good, in a variety of ways.

Share This

And in the batter’s box …
August 8, 2006 10:06 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town

Thanks to the e-mail tipster who told us about the latest “coming soon” sign to sprout in The Junction — the former West Seattle Books space just east of Cupcake Royale is about to become “Swee Swee Paperie.” All I can find out about it so far online (aside from a city business license listing that merely affirms the address as that of “Swee Swee Paperie and Studio LLC”) is this blurb that came up after a long semi-bloggish entry about gift wrapping, on a site with party tips:

Ann Conway, a clothing designer in the fashion industry for over 15 years, is preparing for the Fall 2006 opening of her gift-wrapping and contemporary stationery store – Swee Swee Paperie, in Seattle, Washington.

Share This

Ex-AA now B-Gone
August 7, 2006 7:14 pm
|    Comments Off on Ex-AA now B-Gone
 |   Seen around town | Triangle

Just noticed the big banner across the closed gate of Hertz Equipment Rental, previously AA Rentals, on Fauntleroy. Marquee says it’s moved to Sodo. So what’s next for that spot? Another Huling expansion? Or perhaps … another condo/grocery combo? Nah, guess we’ve got enough of those on the way.

Share This

Starbucks in The Junction
August 7, 2006 7:07 am
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Seen around town | WS beverages

Hotwire, In-Out, Capers, Coffee to a Tea, Easy Street, Cupcake Royale, Bikes & Brew, Infinity, Uptown (who are we forgetting?) have a new fellow member in the Junction coffee club: Starbucks. Didn’t know the franchise-mad mermaid had swum into that zone until we took an e-mail tipster’s advice and wandered into the newly remodeled Jefferson Square Safeway — and there, we found a Starbucks kiosk, just like the ones in the Roxbury Safeway and the Westwood Village QFC (which is just steps from the standalone WV Starbucks). At the very least, this is a reminder — as more grocery stores prepare to move into The Junction — that they’re more than grocery stores these days; most include banks and coffee stands, both already in abundant supply in the neighborhood.

Share This

TAGGING IS EVIL. How do we stop it?
August 5, 2006 9:02 am
|      9 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | Seen around town

A small number of our fellow human beings do horrible things sometimes. Though there are far “worse” crimes, the offense that for some reason infuriates us more than almost anything is graffiti vandalism, aka “tagging.” This morning, our blood pressure is somewhere in the stratosphere because of what we just saw in the Junction.

First, there’s the tagging on the Hi-Yu parade mural on the side of the post office. An e-mail tipster told us about this a couple weeks ago, and we didn’t get around to checking it out immediately. Looking at it this morning, with the Saturday sun blazing against the beautiful mural and the hideous black scrawl across its lower left quadrant, we fumed.

Moments later, heading back down California, we saw an even fresher example of this type of brazen, pointless vandalism — tagging on several business signs on the west side of Cali Ave, including WaMu, Radio Shack, and Be’s Restaurant.

We’ve tried to figure out why tagging pisses us off worse than some of the more newsworthy crimes that involve blood, pain, and prison time. Perhaps it’s partly because the evidence is so public and flagrant — it takes time and money to arrange to have tagging/graffiti vandalism painted over, and until/unless you get that time and money, the crime scene just sits there, smirking at you. (Outside WS, a particularly galling recent example is a huge tag that appeared this week across the side of a classic brick building that’s highly visible to thousands of drivers daily as they drive northbound on the viaduct, into the Battery Street Tunnel. That type of vandalism can’t just be painted over, without ruining the beautiful old brick. Don’t even know if sandblasting will get rid of it.)

Anyway, the fact is, this morning the Junction is uglier, because of some idiot criminal(s) who decided to sneak onto business roofs, no doubt in the middle of the night, and deface signs. It feels like they’re spitting in the faces of the business owners and all those of us who live here and will have to look at it for who knows how long. (We volunteered for graffiti paintout patrols long ago and far away; do they still exist?)

Far from the first time, and we suppose it won’t be the last time. Is security too lax? Are the laws too loose? How do we stop this? We’ll be thinking hard about it. We hope you will too.

Share This