West Seattle Christmas restaurants: 1st year for The Thaitan
Not long ago, we got a note from “Chef Pop,” introducing himself as new owner of the former Boontin (and before that, Olarn) Thai restaurant across from West Seattle Nursery, saying he was new to West Seattle and trying to find out more about the community. His is one of the few restaurants open Christmas Day – list here – so it seemed like a good time to introduce you to him.
Story and photo by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
“Pop,” the owner of the new Thaitan Restaurant (formerly Boontin Thai), explains that the name of his restaurant is pronounced “Titan,” like the powerful mythological deities. This cross-cultural playfulness finds its way onto the menu as well, where Pop, whose wife is Vietnamese, offers pho along with the usual Thai dishes. He notes that offering pho has led to “a good combination for what people want.”
Pop came to the Puget Sound region in 1998 to study automotive technology at Lake Washington Technical College. He came to this area because his mother, who owns a restaurant in Thailand, had friends here. It didn’t take long for him to realize he really disliked automotive technology, and really loved working in restaurants. Taking his skills from working in his mother’s restaurant, he worked in a variety of Thai restaurants in Seattle, Bellevue and Ballard. His goal however, was to “cook my own food for people.”
When he found out the Boontin Thai restaurant was for sale, he grabbed the opportunity to become a restaurant owner.
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West Seattle holiday help: Pet Giving Tree’s final tally
That’s Jessica at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) with the last stack of donations to the Pet Giving Tree that’s been up for a few weeks to help West Seattle Food Bank clients take care of their furry companions – you can barely see the tree itself! Teri Ensley from Furry Faces Foundation says they’re making one last run to the food bank “and wanted to let everyone know how generous they have been.” She adds:
Including today’s delivery, the Grand total for people’s cats and dogs is:
220 lbs dry food
69 cans of food
17 toys
74 lbs of litter
12 bags/boxes of treats
1 big beautiful dog bed
1 adorable pink dog bed set with matching accessories.
A big thanks to Lora, her staff and all of the West Seattle folks that supported Food Bank clients’ pets.
Not too late to get in on more giving around West Seattle. Teri and Furry Faces are joining Animals First Foundation to offer fundraising gift-wrapping service at Beveridge Place Pub, 3-7 pm today (possibly a bit later if they’re busy at 7). And CAPERS in The Junction has its giving tree for the Hickman House domestic-violence shelter up through today (they’re open till 4) – lot of stars still on the tree last time we looked.
West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 break-ins – including one at ArtsWest
Two break-in reports this morning – one of them, from West Seattle’s best-known arts nonprofit, ArtsWest in The Junction. Executive director Alan Harrison writes:
I just wanted to report that at 6:00 Wednesday morning there was a break-in at ArtsWest. Someone (or perhaps more than one) broke the back door’s glass with a rock, ran in, and tried to steal the Lucite donation box. The alarm went off and the perpetrator smashed the box to the floor, breaking it and sending money everywhere before running away. We don’t think he/they took much money, but the new door is going to cost us $500 to fix. There was a police report on it. If anyone has any legitimate information about the break-in, they can report it to SPD.
$500 is a lot of money to ArtsWest. If anyone would like to donate money to help us fix the door and install a new security/camera system (an additional $1600), call us or click directly (here).
If they’d like (it’s optional), under the “Designation” box, they can type in “Back Door.” Maybe it’s a sign of the economic times, that someone would try to rob a nonprofit, but if you could spread the word, maybe we can continue to put our resources behind producing art instead of broken glass.
ArtsWest (a WSB sponsor for the run of “Plaid Tidings,” which continues with a show tonight at 5 and concludes this Sunday) can be reached by phone at 938-0963 (administrative) or 938-0339 (box office). The non-emergency number for reporting info to police is 625-5011. P.S. We asked about insurance:
We do have insurance, but there’s a $500 deductible. And the upgrade to the security system is not covered and was not budgeted for the year, so unless we can raise some specific money for that, we’ll have to decrease funding to one of our programs.
Meantime, our other break-in report is residential – burglars that moved fast while residents were out shopping – read on:Read More
West Seattle shopping scenes: Festive extra touches
If you squint really hard at our iPhone photo, you’ll see the musicians up on the “balcony” at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) tonight – we dropped by for a few things and suddenly, loud and clear, live Christmas music resounded throughout the store. (Our checker said they had a harpist last night and there’ll be carolers tomorrow – they close at 6 pm – our Christmas Day grocery-store-info list is here.) We’ve also noted more than a few reports of Santa at West Seattle Thriftway (like this one in the WSB Forums) – and other merchants in extra-festive moods; in Northwest Art and Frame in The Junction, for example, during a busy time just before 6, cookies and skin-care samples were being handed out to people waiting in line to check out. Happy West Seattle shopping to all! (Some Christmas Eve shopping hours, just sampled from what was tweeted today on Twitter – Click! Design That Fits [WSB sponsor] in the Admiral District is open 11 am-3 pm tomorrow; Easy Street Records is open till 6.)
West Seattle Holidays: A merry Admiral Christmas
What will Santa bring? If Stu Hennessey from Alki Bike and Board knows, he’s not telling. Not even the kids who stopped in and looked up at the “on-reserve” section in Stu’s Admiral District shop (2606 California SW) on Christmas Eve-Eve. AB&B is one of the Admiral merchants who banded together to sponsor WSB this season with an invitation to “Shop Local in the Admiral District” this holiday – here’s the whole group (you’ll find coupons on that page, and more WS coupons here) – also in the group, Linda’s Flowers and Gifts on the SE corner of California/Admiral:
That’s owner Linda Harader, back left; we dropped by as she and her team worked on more pre-Christmas orders. A bit further south – it’s not just retail merriment this Christmas week – think local for your services, too:
That’s longtime WSB sponsor John Moore, whose Northwest Insurance Group is at 3210 California SW, has one of the more unusual office trees in the Admiral District – he says it was salvaged from a Starbucks where it appeared to be destined for the trash one post-Christmas season. We asked him for a holiday message – and he offered some safety advice:
Happy Holidays to our existing clients and future clients from Northwest Insurance Group! Please be extra diligent this Holiday Season to keep gifts and personal belongings out of view in your cars as it is the season for car break ins. Let your Neighbors be aware to keep an eye on your place if you are traveling during the Holidays and be sure to install some inexpensive timer switches for lights to go on and off.
Make sure you double-check that your plumbing lines have been wrapped to protect against freezing weather, and you might consider shutting off the hot water tank if it’s older since they likely to cause the most damage on vacation weekends or holidays. If you are brave enough to deep fry a turkey, please exercise extreme caution and locate the deep frying device a nice safe distance from your house! … . We wish you all a Very Happy New Year!!
(Northwest Insurance Group represents more than a dozen A-rated companies.) More shopping check-ins tonight and tomorrow!
West Seattle coffee shops open Christmas Day
Making your plans for Christmas morning? Here’s our final holiday list (joining West Seattle restaurants open Christmas Eve and/or Day, West Seattle grocery store hours for Christmas Day, and West Seattle Christmas Eve/Day church services). This time, we’ve canvassed the coffee shops, as per WSB holiday-season tradition, to see who’s open Christmas Day:
Cafe Rozella – 8 am-noon
Caffe Ladro – 7 am-noon
Diva – 8 am-1 pm
Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) – 8 am-2 pm (with staffers who volunteered, says proprietor Lora)
Pioneer Coffee – 7 am-1 pm
Starbucks/Morgan Junction – 8 am-3 pm
Starbucks/Triangle drive-thru – 7 am-3 pm
Tully’s/Alki – 7:30 am-3 pm
Tully’s/Morgan Junction – 7 am-2 pm
This also will be linked from the West Seattle Holidays page, and in the sidebar list of headlines. If you have additions/changes, please share that info – we’re also collecting notes on Christmas Eve hours (when your store’s closing, etc.) and you’re welcome to send those along. (Now, off to The Junction and Admiral and Triangle and Alki and Westwood and … clock’s ticking for last-minute shopping!)
West Seattle Preschool Fair: Still a few spots left
It’s almost school-decision time, and for those with little ones going to school for the first time, a West Seattle Preschool Fair is being organized for February 22nd. We first mentioned it here last week; organizer Tana Dorsey says there are a few spots left for any preschools that haven’t yet signed up to be part of it. Here’s all the info.
If you have county business, get it done today – furlough tomorrow
King County just sent a reminder that tomorrow’s another “furlough day” – so if you have county business, today’s the day to get it done. Included in the reminder, as noted the other day, Metro Transit has schedule changes most days through New Year’s:
Metro bus Sunday schedules will be used on the following holidays:
* Friday, Dec. 25 – Christmas
* Friday, Jan. 1 – New Year’s Day
The reduced weekday Metro bus schedule will be in effect on:
* Thursday, Dec. 24 – Christmas Eve
* Monday-Thursday, Dec. 28-31 – winter holiday period
* Monday, Jan. 18 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Details on other transit and commuter services such as the Water Taxi [editor’s note: that’s the Vashon-Seattle foot ferry; ours is on hiatus] are available here: metro.kingcounty.gov/up/holiday-service.html
Meet West Seattle’s “Psychic Barber”: He KNOWS you need a cut
Story and photos by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Rick Cook, owner of Rick’s Barber Shop at 5251 California SW, has inherited both a sign and a claim to fame: “Psychic Barber.”
You’ve probably laughed, driving along California SW, when out of the corner of your eye you caught a glimpse of two white neon signs next to each other: “Psychic” “Barber.” That reaction was partly by design; after a psychic moved in next door to Rick’s Barber Shop, Rick had a matching white neon “Barber” sign made by the same person who created the “Psychic” sign.
Now, Rick owns the “Psychic” portion of the signage as well, and his front window proudly announces “Psychic Barber.”
The Psychic Barber attention came after Rick had already been in his current space for 15 years.
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WestSide Baby donations update: You’re answering the call
Two notes following up on the article published here last night saying WestSide Baby – which helps thousands of families, not just in West Seattle and White Center, but beyond – needs car seats and diapers: First, Nancy Woodland from WestSide Baby says the donations (including car seats like the ones shown above) have been flowing in all day. Second, please note a change to the dropoff site list in the story – Square 1 Books (WSB sponsor) is *not* a dropoff location – they are collecting board books that you can buy and donate on the spot, but otherwise, much as they’d like to take other donations, there’s no room. The updated list is in the story.
White Center/West Seattle fave Full Tilt Ice Cream expands again
It’s been hinted at for a while but today, the formal announcement – Full Tilt Ice Cream is adding a third location, this time in the University District. The news release from proprietor Justin Cline is headed, “Full Tilt Set to Take Over the World. ” They opened in White Center in summer 2008, then in Columbia City earlier this year. Their new location will be at 4759 Brooklyn Avenue NE (map), with January 5th set as opening day. They also are announcing a new partnership with Cafe Vita for not just coffee, but also a special ice-cream flavor for all stores, and they’re adding “more vegan treats” – four vegan flavors and “a variety of vegan baked goods.”
West Seattle totem theft: Suspect arrested again, home searched
(1 of 2 police cars that were still in the neighborhood when we arrived)
Here’s why police converged on Palm Avenue in North Admiral earlier this morning: They had a search warrant for the home of the suspect in the Nov. 30 theft of 
West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park‘s 18-foot totem pole (inset Rotary photo). The search was wrapping up when we arrived, and we didn’t see anything being brought out while we were there, but Southwest Precinct Lt. Steve Paulsen tells us officers have arrested the 69-year-old man again – this time in connection with the theft of the totem pole found on a trailer in Oregon along with the West Seattle totem (as we reported last week, that second pole turned out to have been stolen from outside the Renton Fred Meyer store). As with the first arrest, he was not at his home when police arrived, but was taken into custody elsewhere in West Seattle, and has been booked into King County Jail. We are not identifying the suspect until he is officially charged; we are checking frequently with King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe, who just told us the case has yet to be referred (with ongoing investigations, that’s not unusual). We’ll update the latest developments if/when more information is available. Meantime, if you’re catching up on the backstory, here are links to some of our previous coverage:
Original story on then-suspected theft (published Dec. 3)
Theft suspect arrested (Dec. 9)
Stolen pole found in Oregon with (then-) mystery pole (Dec. 10)
Stolen poles brought back from Oregon (Dec. 14)
Second pole identified as having been stolen from Renton (Dec. 15)
Stolen West Seattle pole won’t be re-installed immediately (Dec. 17)
1:17 PM UPDATE: Lt. Paulsen says additional search warrants have been served in connection with the case – two in Black Diamond. No word yet if anything was found.
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