West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
On this patriotic holiday, we note that the turkey has a unique American history – you can read about it here and here (among other places). So, it’s a great day for an update on The West Seattle Turkey, now in its third month on the peninsula. The top photo was texted to us this week; the next one, sent today by Christine:
The Turkey does enjoy finding new perches, as Joy discovered outside the West Seattle High School wood shop earlier this week:
Thanks to everyone for the ongoing photos and sighting reports. While we just call it The West Seattle Turkey, several have given it names – Rose, for example, has named it “Admiral Belvidere,” appropriate given the area in which The Turkey has settled.
(WSB photos)
It’s Pride weekend, and the 60-plus rainbow flags that the West Seattle Junction Association offered for “adoption” are up!
They were placed in the heart of The Junction this morning, will be taken down this evening, and put back in place tomorrow. It’s the first time The Junction has displayed Pride flags; all were adopted after the April availability announcement, and adopters had the chance to have messages displayed with their flags – if you can’t walk The Junction to see for yourself, the list is here.
Summer is truly almost here – the West Seattle Junction hanging flower baskets have arrived! It’s installation day, after the greenhouse-grown baskets were delivered this morning:
Right now they’re mostly greenery, but the blossoms emerge and intensify from summer through fall. Again this year, the baskets have been “adopted” by community donors (including us!) so when you’re in The Junction, look for the plaques on the historic light poles holding the baskets.
On Monday morning, Jim in Seaview “was walking to the bus … and found this random note on the sidewalk at the corner of 45th and Findlay. It put a smile on my face. I assume it was in reference to Saturday’s yard sale day that always is a great way to get neighbors together.” Whatever it was in reference to, we’ve been looking for a moment to share it. Thanks to Jim, and the mystery note-writer!
FRIDAY REPORT: Thanks to Lynn Hall for the newest photo of the “West Seattle turkey,” two weeks since we started hearing about sightings and receiving photos. It seems to still be headed north/east – Lynn spotted it along Alki Avenue this morning; that’s where Jan Pendergrass saw it on Thursday:
Sighting reports started in Seola, moved through Arbor Heights and Fauntleroy, along Beach Drive, to Alki Point, and now north/eastward along Duwamish Head. Still no word of anyone looking for a missing turkey. We’re checking with the Seattle Animal Shelter to see if they’ve had any reports from elsewhere in the city; three years ago, SAS speculated the turkey seen around town then might have escaped from a “private flock.”
SATURDAY UPDATE: Still headed east – but now south, with sightings in Fairmount Ravine and Belvidere:
That photo is from Catherine, who says, “Just saw the turkey this afternoon while walking through our neighborhood. Made me smile. Up on 38th Ave SW in the Belvedere neighborhood.”
SUNDAY REPORT: A photo from 10:30 am at 38th SW/Olga:
Thanks for sending the updates!
MONDAY UPDATES: Jody spotted it on “37th Ave SW between Stevens and Olga.”
Then it turned up in Tim‘s garden int the 2700 block of 38th SW:
After garden mayhem, Tim reported, the turkey took a nap.
TUESDAY UPDATES: The reports we received today were from the same general area. From Michael Ross:
From Regan:
There might be a reason the turkey’s lingered there. Rose De Dan of Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing said she invited it to visit. She finally got to see it:
Tonight, around 7:30 p.m. I heard the very loud and distinct sound of a turkey gobbling! I looked out my front window which faces 39th and Lander, and there he is in all his puffed up glory, strutting down the street, gobbling away, and headed right toward my house. It is definitely a he, since only the males gobble. He is issuing a call to any lady turkeys in the nearby vicinity. Poor guy, I sincerely hope he finds a lady love.
He is definitely wild. As soon as I opened my front door he hightailed it in the direction of the greenbelt that runs behind the houses across the street from me. The neighbors have seen him fence hopping from yard to yard.
I did not see him again, but heard him gobbling away for a little while longer. I am so grateful that he came to call (literally), and I hope that he finds the female turkey of his dreams …
1:16 PM: Adah Cruzen was there this afternoon as the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce officially unveiled the new Welcome to West Seattle sign on the slope along the west end of the West Seattle Bridge long tended by her late husband Earl Cruzen. He was there in 1986 when the Chamber, for which he was a vice president at the time, put up the previous sign; last summer, with a photo of Earl as a backdrop, Adah announced a donation to fund a new one. Then-Chamber CEO Lynn Dennis was also at the site for today’s unveiling.
It was made by South Park-based Waypoint Sign Company, which installed the framework and base last month.
Members of the Chamber committee that worked on the sign project were there for the unveiling. Along with then-CEO Dennis, they were:
Tim Andes of Waypoint Sign Company
Paul Prentice, of Prentice Designs Inc.
Hamilton Gardiner of Holmquist and Gardiner PLLC
Gary Potter of Potter Construction
Pete Spalding of Verity Credit Union
Shannon Felix of Avalon Glassworks
The Cruzen donation also is to pay for a landscape-maintenance plan for the site.
ADDED 7:25 PM: Local historian, journalist, and author Clay Eals was there today too and shares this video.
One week ago – Arbor Heights and Seola. A few days ago, Fauntleroy. Now … still northbound:
Fred sent that photo after a Beach Drive backyard sighting on Sunday. Today, a texted photo from Alki Point:
Where will “the West Seattle turkey” turn up next? Is it the same one that wandered the peninsula exactly three years ago? We haven’t yet checked in with Seattle Animal Shelter but that year, they told us their guess was that the wandering turkey had escaped from “someone’s private flock.”
Same turkey (at least, that’s the majority vote on ID so far) as last Sunday in Seola? Charles sent the top photo today after the big bird showed up in his backyard near Lincoln Park; Jon sent the photo below after a backyard visit in Fauntleroy on Friday:
As noted last weekend, the previous wave of turkey sightings was right about this time three years ago.
Yesterday we featured a reader photo of the Golden Pheasant that’s been seen around southwestern West Seattle – today, these photos from Arbor Heights. Turkey?
You might recall the spate of turkey sightings three years ago (though some disputed what it was).
Susan is the third person in the past few weeks to email us about a Golden Pheasant sighting – first with a clear photo, so we’re posting in case you see it too. It’s been six years since the first time we published a Golden Pheasant report; species information we’ve found online suggests six years is the outer range of their life span, so no way to know if it’s the same one. We also received a photo last year. Wild? Roaming pet? Still a mystery.
We’ve received a few questions about the film crew at Don Armeni. All they would tell us is, it’s a TV commercial. They’re shooting intermittently on Harbor Avenue, with this camera-equipped car:
(Photos courtesy Waypoint Sign Company)
If you travel on the Fauntleroy end of the West Seattle Bridge, you might have seen the activity today – Waypoint Sign Company has begun the process of installing the new “Welcome to West Seattle” sign.
We received the photos and update from Cara at Waypoint, which is based in South Park. She tells WSB, “We are so honored to create this amazing sign.” Today, the base went into position.
Tomorrow, Waypoint expects to pour concrete. That’ll set for a few days before they finish getting ready to install the sign itself.
We’re checking with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce for an update on the unveiling plans – as you will probably recall, the new sign is a Chamber project, announced last summer along with a donation from Adah Cruzen to fund it as well as a sustainable maintenance plan.
3:27 PM SUNDAY: If you have something to put in the mail, you won’t be able to use the drive-up/ride-up box outside the West Seattle Junction Post Office for a few days. We don’t know the backstory, nor do we know when it went out of service, but the sign on the side says “lock replacement Monday or Tuesday.” So we’ll check back. (Thanks to Lora for the photo/tip.)
10:08 AM MONDAY: We just went over to check – back in service already.
Thanks to Larry Murante for the photo. That’s Ladder 11 – based at Seattle Fire Station 32 in The Triangle – seen at Lincoln Park earlier today. No incidents logged to the park today, so we are fairly sure it was training (we’ll check on Monday) – SFD does a lot of in-service training, so sometimes you will see firefighters practicing in parks, by bridges, or even using houses/buildings that are set for demolition.
That’s the Filthy FemCorps at Easy Street Records this afternoon, guest conducted by Maurice the Leprechaun (who you might know from his Christmastime gig at ESR). We just happened onto all this – while driving through The Junction earlier this evening, we saw the FFC playing on the KeyBank corner. By the time we parked and walked over, they were just wrapping up (here’s our tweet with a short burst of video), but we followed them into ESR, where they posed with Maurice.
If you think you’ve heard/seen the FFC before, you might be flashing back on last year’s HONK! Fest West in White Center. Coincidentally, we learned at this month’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting (and reported on partner site White Center Now) that HONK! is returning to WC on June 1st. So mark your calendar. You just might see the Filthy FemCorps there.
First, the final sunset of the year:
Thanks to Chris Frankovich for that photo. Next one is from Susan Romanenghi:
As we observed while tweeting a different view earlier, looks like Mount Rainier is wearing a party hat. And speaking of party:
West Seattle Junction venues with New Year’s Eve specials have gold balloons outside to entice you in – see the list here, and have a great (safe) celebration! Thanks again to everyone who shared photos, tips, reader reports, and more this year … 206-293-6302 or westseattleblog@gmail.com any time!
This seems new. pic.twitter.com/dKnvcT7Gdw
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) December 30, 2018
We tweeted that after being somewhat startled to see the Space Needle come into view from Alki earlier tonight with those huge pink lights burning bright. Well … huge magenta lights. We figured it had something to do with T-Mobile‘s sponsorship of the upcoming New Year’s Eve fireworks, but that’s still two days away. Subsequent discussion on Twitter, and research, led to this announcement – with news that NYE will include a 10 pm light show from the Needle as well as the 10-minute fireworks display: “Cutting-edge lighting equipment installed throughout the structure will emit brilliant colors and beams of light across the tower and the Seattle night sky …” The Needle will be illuminated in magenta tomorrow night as well as Monday night pre-show, the announcement says. Will it be those big lights we saw tonight or a subtler glow? Guess we’ll see soon enough.
Three Christmas Eve views:
Barb spotted that at Alki this morning; below, a scene we happened onto in The Junction this afternoon:
Musicians from Vashon busking at Junction Plaza Park. pic.twitter.com/XsjH961hi3
— West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) December 24, 2018
And if you missed it … it was a glorious sunset. Several sent photos, including Marc:
He watched the sunset from the Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook area on Beach Drive. Thanks as always for sharing photos – westseattleblog@gmail.com or, if texting is easier, 206-293-6302!
(WSB photo)
Thanks to Scott for spotting the new signs that have just gone up along Delridge Way SW. These are the signs referred to in a survey the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association circulated a month ago – one result of the North Delridge Action Plan process that’s been unfolding over the past few years. As DNDA executive director David Bestock explained when announcing the survey:
There are ~83 store-front small businesses along Delridge Way SW that are operated by a diverse group of owners who provide the neighborhood access to vital goods and services. Despite their numbers and longstanding presence in the area, thousands unknowingly pass by Delridge business destinations unaware of the wonderful goods and services they offer.
The signs mark the North Delridge business districts/nodes at/near Andover, Brandon, and Sylvan. They were funded as part of an “Only in Seattle” grant from the city Office of Economic Development and installed by SDOT.
Thanks to Darryl for sending the photo! He explains:
A hidden history is revealed at 16th and Trenton. We’ve heard stories from long time residents that this house on the corner used to be a neighborhood grocery store, but have never seen pictures from that period. Today, as the house is undergoing another transformation, I caught this cool image that confirms the story. Kind of neat!
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who’s added to this story via the comments – don’t skip them!
Thanks to Carolyn Newman for sending the photo of the downtown skyline as seen from West Seattle. The illuminated initials “PA” and the blue lights on multiple buildings are part of a tribute to Paul Allen, who died last month at age 65.
What we’ve seen … and received:
“Welcome to Nightfall Orphanage” is the scary display at 2130 Alki SW this year.
Tawd‘s show – a followup to last year’s “haunted pumpkin patch,” which he created after realizing Alki needed more Halloween spirit – will be open again this Friday and Saturday (November 2nd and 3rd), 7:30-10:30 pm.
Next, texted video of a decorated house in North Admiral, at 45th/Seattle:
So many elaborate displays tonight! One street in especially spooky spirit(s) was Walnut, south of West Seattle High School. Including Aaron‘s house:
Speaking of costumes – a couple reader-contributed photos from earlier – including these two seen during Admiral trick-or-treating:
Melodee at Daystar sent this photo of “Miss Butterfly”:
And earlier in the day, this texted photo wishing all “Feliz Día de los Muertos from West Seattle High School”:
Thanks as always for the photos, video, tips, calendar listings, etc. – now on to the winter holidays!
(WSB photo)
Thanks for the tips! No months-long absence this time for the West Seattle Junction U.S. Post Office‘s drive-up/ride-up mailbox. Three weeks after it was taped up and marked “out of order” (reportedly damaged by a driver) and two weeks after it was taken away, the mailbox returned this morning. We just went to check after multiple tips and were told it’s been back in service for about 15 minutes.
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