West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
Thanks to David Hutchinson for the photo and the story behind it:
While driving past Alki Point this afternoon, my wife and I noticed a bald eagle perched in the old madrone tree on the summit of the small hill just west of the lighthouse. After watching it for about 20 minutes, we were rewarded by being able to observe the arrival of its mate. After a couple minutes, they both flew off heading in the direction of Duwamish Head.
And thanks to Nick for sharing this photo from along the west-facing West Seattle shore:
He explains, “Saw this intrepid gentleman while at Lowman Beach with the kids.” Thanks to David and Nick for sharing those sights from this spectacular, sunny Christmas Day, and to everyone who’s shared photos, stories, news tips, event announcements, etc., via WSB – where our fifth year has just begun. We’re thrilled to hear from you any time.
ADDED 7:15 PM: As discussed in comments – a closer look at the unique Christmas outfit donned by the boarder, who turned out to be Lowman Beach artist/Ducky Reserve keeper Ron Sterling:
Another story of holiday giving: We received a news release announcing that West Seattle resident Elaine Cornell won a statewide drawing held by her employer, Umpqua Bank, for a $500 donation to be given to a charity of her choice. She chose Northwest Kidney Centers, where she received dialysis treatment more than 20 years ago, while awaiting a kidney transplant, which came from her sister, RoseAnne Tobelaine of Snohomish (at right with Elaine in the photo below). Along with the news release came Elaine’s first-person story.
The gift I Received and why I want to give to the Northwest Kidney Centers:
Winning the first prize in the Associate Giving Campaign has given me a great opportunity to, in part, give back to an organization and foundation that was there for me during my greatest time of need and express my gratitude for the “Gift of Life” I received from my sister.
In 1986 I was in my third year at the University of Washington, when I learned, thanks to a very pro-active and thorough Navy doctor, that blood tests showed my kidney function was in the abnormal range. In addition to the blood tests, I had high blood pressure readings (which were not normal for someone of my age who was not overweight, in good physical shape and not a smoker) and I was weak.
Elaine’s story continues ahead:Read More
Happy Christmas Day! We’ve put this info out as lists over the past several days, but here it is on a map – coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants in West Seattle (and a few in north White Center) that told our researchers (or posted on their websites) that they’d be open today – marked with cups, bags, forks/knives respectively (click each icon to see the business, its address, and its hours). If you happen onto something else that’s open in these categories, please post a comment so everyone else will know too! And if you’d prefer to see the lists in text form, here are the original links:
Grocery stores
Restaurants
Coffee shops
Also open today – West Seattle’s only moviehouse, Admiral Theater, with showings starting at 4 pm. Here’s the slate of movies today:
Where the Wild Things Are (PG) 4:00 7:00
The Fourth Kind (R), 9:00
Pirate Radio (R), 6:50
Law Abiding Citizen (R), 4:05 9:10
Last but by no means least, several West Seattle churches have services today, too:
FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF WEST SEATTLE (4105 California SW)
Festival Liturgy and Holy Eucharist, 10:30 am
HOLY FAMILY PARISH (20th/Roxbury)
Mass in English – 10:00 am
Mass in Spanish – 12:30 pm
HOLY ROSARY PARISH (42nd/Genesee)
Christmas Masses, 8, 9:30 am
HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH
10:30 am
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE (35th/Myrtle)
Mass, 10 am
PROVIDENCE MOUNT ST. VINCENT CHAPEL
Christmas Mass, 10:30 am (music by Friends of Providence)
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (3050 California Ave SW, next to West Seattle High School)
10:00 am Holy Eucharist with Carols (*quieter celebration of Christmas with special music; a festive reception follows the service)
Hope you’re having a great holiday!
The new restaurant/lounge going into the ex-Ama Ama space in The Junction, Table 35 (previous coverage here and here), has set its grand-opening date: January 9th. New signs we noticed tonight in the windows at California/Edmunds (map) promise brunch, dinner and happy hour, 10 am-2 am; the Table 35 website is a work in progress – the “menu” page surprised us for a moment because it doesn’t jibe with the “Continental/Mediterranean” concept mentioned last month, but on second look it appears to be placeholder boilerplate – note the resemblance (we’ll be checking).
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.
From Rick R, a sighting off Brace Point this afternoon. Merry Christmas Eve! P.S. Our handy West Seattle holiday links again —
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day church services
Grocery stores’ hours for Christmas Eve/Day
Restaurants open Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day
Coffee shops that’ll be open a while on Christmas
Christmas Light displays we’ve featured
ADDED 6:17 PM: Another sighting!
Thanks to Cathy for the photo of Santa on 2 wheels.
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.
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
Though as noted earlier, charges are not yet filed, a question that’s frequently discussed in comment threads (and elsewhere) is: What was the motive for the Nov. 30 theft of the West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park totem pole (past coverage here, newest to oldest)? We have obtained a court document which may shine a little light – it’s the “probable cause” document filed in connection with this week’s arrest – read on:Read More
(Yet another video from the smash-hit music-synched lights at 3908 Charlestown)
Christmas Eve is here. (NORAD is tracking Santa Claus already!) Here’s some basic info to get things started:
NEED WRAPPING HELP?
Watch this WSB Forums item for update on last-minute fundraising gift-wrap service
WEST SEATTLE HOLIDAY INFO-LISTS
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day church services
Grocery stores’ hours for Christmas Eve/Day
Restaurants open Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day
Coffee shops that’ll be open a while on Christmas
OTHER NOTES
Metro Transit on “reduced weekday service” today
Most King County offices/facilities closed for furlough day today
LAST-MINUTE SHOPPING?
Consider the deals on the WSB Coupons page (improved printability – only center column of page will print)
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
If you haven’t seen the big displays we’ve featured this year, check our archives
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEW YEAR’S EVE?
The list on the West Seattle Holidays page keeps growing
Out of the WSB inbox, a door-to-door alert from Rich, who did followup research (as did we) – read on:Read More
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.)
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!
Out of the WSB inbox, from BB in Seaview – a description of someone who appears to be searching for metal to steal – read on for her report:Read More
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!)
As first reported in April, Camp Long‘s historic lodge is getting some long-needed renovations in the first wave of Parks and Green Spaces Levy spending. The Parks Department issued a reminder this week that the lodge is about to close for that $1 million project – see the reminder here. We clarified the dates with Parks spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad, who says that January 1 is the first official day of the shutdown, and the closure is scheduled to last into June. The rest of the park, she stresses, remains open, and the announcement on the city website includes info on how to start making 2010 reservations for Camp Long facilities (beginning January 12) – registration is already under way for winter programs at Camp Long and the city’s other Environmental Learning Centers (more on that here).
Last week, we got word from Alex Pietsch at the City of Renton that their city was the rightful home of the totem pole found in Oregon with the stolen West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park pole (here’s our 12/15 report; photo above was provided by police after the poles were recovered 12/10 – the Renton totem’s on the left). Today, the Renton Reporter has published an update about plans for its restoration. (The plan for ours is still in the works; the Rotary Club of West Seattle‘s restoration-fund info is here.) We also have one update on our Tuesday report that the suspected thief was arrested again – he was released from jail last night after seven hours. Still watching for the filing of charges.
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.
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 DayThe 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. DayDetails 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
(Rerunning 12/12 photo by Michelle Edwards, our favorite so far this season)
Now that it’s Christmas Eve-Eve, we’re wrapping up our in-advance info lists. 2 already published: Restaurants open Christmas Eve/Day and grocery-store hours for Christmas Eve/Day; this morning, West Seattle churches’ plans for services on Christmas Eve/Day. A few churches are missing because the information was unavailable – we will add to the list today when/if that changes – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks! – click ahead for the list (which also is now updated on the West Seattle Holidays page)Read More
Hadn’t seen a video from the all-West Seattle benefit compilation “We Are The Junction” till this link landed in our Facebook box courtesy of the artist, Kirk Dubb, whose trademark phrase is “Chug-A-Lug.” Produced & directed by Dynomite D, this isn’t kid stuff, but hey, it’s late night. And a good cause. Many West Seattle nightlife shoutouts. (Look for the “Happy Festivus” lights’ cameo.” Multiple artists (listed here) on “We Are The Junction” in addition to Kirk Dubb; proceeds benefit the West Seattle Food Bank. You can buy it for just $10 at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), Easy Street Records, West 5 and Shadow Land.
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.
We’re continuing to wrap up our Christmas info lists (here’s the updated Christmas Eve/Day restaurant list) – tonight, local grocery stores’ plans:
Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor)
Closing 6 pm Christmas Eve
Closed Christmas DayPCC Natural Markets/West Seattle (WSB sponsor)
Closing 7 pm Christmas Eve
Closed Christmas DayWest Seattle QFC stores:
Both close 6 pm Christmas Eve
Junction store closed Christmas Day
Westwood Village store open 8 am-3 pm Christmas DayAll 3 West Seattle Safeway stores
Closing 7 pm Christmas Eve
Open 9 am-3 pm Christmas DayWest Seattle Thriftway
Closing 9 pm Christmas Eve
Closed Christmas Day
The in-progress list of Christmas Eve/Day church services is on the West Seattle Holidays page; and we’ll have the Christmas Day coffee map done soon.
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