Arrests reported at Westwood Village bookstore
In case you saw the same police activity at WV Barnes & Noble this morning (we were at the Museum of Flight) — four police cars, people in handcuffs, store briefly closed (or so one would-be customer was told) because of it — here’s what WSB reader Liz later heard from store staff: it started as a shoplifting investigation, then appeared to involve credit-card fraud, and there was concern one suspect was armed. Ended uneventfully with up to 3 arrests.
Weedbusters
Just spotted on the slope beneath the Sealth/SWAC field, north of Westwood Village, people in protective suits attacking the weediness, Scotch Broom and all … gee, you would think it would have been safer to call in the goats instead.
New WS pizza place now open
Tomorrow is the first full day of business for Giannoni’s Pizza, on the south side of Westwood Village (between Sally’s Beauty Supply and the future Taco Del Mar), after a soft launch for lunch today:
The Giannoni’s proprietors tell WSB the restaurant opened for 4 hours at lunchtime today for 4 hours and served more than 140 slices. Starting tomorrow, they plan to be open 11 am-10 pm daily.
There’s always eBay
If you’re still in the market for a fan or air conditioner you’re not completely out of luck, but you’re running out of choices.
Here’s the mini-AC shelf at the Delridge Home Depot as seen just before noon.
And as of lunchtime this is what the fan aisle at Target looks like.
What kind of heartless lowlife would steal a tricycle?
A WSB reader just e-mailed to say someone stole their 5-year-old’s tricycle from their yard in Westwood, his first and only bike, and they’d like you to be on the lookout, since it has sentimental as well as monetary value. Full text of their e-mail below the photo:
Stolen from our Westwood Village yard, probably by some joker who got tired of riding it a block away. So just in case it shows up let us know, we don’t have the funds right now to buy a bike for our 5 year old and it was a special 2nd birthday present. It was red, rusty, monster front tire, ladybug bell on front. Attaches to a red wagon but they were too busy to steal that, too, hence why we think it was a lark.
If you see it, their contact info is in this post on Craigslist.
From fluff ‘n’ fold, to Fluffy’s food?
The city permit files say a pet-food store is in the works for Westwood Village. We can’t find a center blueprint to match WV “suite numbers” to specific stores, so we can’t tell if that’s what’s going into the laundromat space (below) that just emptied out north of QFC, but crews are certainly working fast and furious to convert it into something. Also, the permit files mention progress on the WV in-the-works Taco Del Mar.
Violent vandals
Streets on the north side of Westwood Village (off the stretch of Trenton shown below) are having trouble with a group of at least half a dozen teenage boys running around wreaking havoc — with violent vandalism that includes throwing rocks at people, through house windows, and through car windows. Neighbors are banding together and working to put more pressure on police to catch these culprits, which they note has been tough because it’s not considered an “emergency” and gets lower-priority response. However, our tipster does say three police cars were in hot pursuit of the group tonight; here’s hoping they are caught soon, and just as important, appropriately prosecuted.
The new pizza on the block
After we referred to the forthcoming, long-in-the-works Giannoni’s Pizzeria at Westwood Village as “mysterious” one too many times, their owners surfaced in our inbox and shared some details about what they’ll be doing when they open (south side of WV, next to Sally’s Beauty Supply). And they confirmed, they’re not a chain! Click ahead to read their full e-mail:Read More
Caffe, passe?
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.
Never mind Cali – here’s an SDOT project with immediate impact
Just spotted this as we drove home from a produce trip to Tony’s: SDOT is putting up left-turn signals on 35th at Thistle. If you’ve never tried to make that turn (in either direction), you’ve never enjoyed the death-defying thrills of cars relentlessly racing toward you at what seems like freeway speed. This should save some lives, from reduced stress as well as reduced collision rate:
In the swim of things
While dropping off our ballot @ High Point Community Center, we grabbed a handy all-in-one spring brochure for HP, Delridge, and Southwest Community Centers, including SW Pool. Noticed while leafing through it this morning that registration for spring swim lessons starts tomorrow morning. 7 am sharp. That time is important, because lesson registration can turn into a madhouse (maybe not if you sign up online); classes are available for 6 months through adult age, and they fill up fast. We’re mentioning it because if you don’t live on the south side of West Seattle, you might not even be aware that Southwest Pool exists. It’s just east of Denny Middle School, and worth checking out if you feel like swimming but don’t happen to belong to the Y or a pool-equipped health club.
Coming, going, building
-As a couple people wrote to tell us, a “retirement sale” is now under way at Leslie’s, just south of Spiro’s.
-The construction site at Westwood Village now has a banner up promising GIANNONI’S PIZZA (different from the website spelling but we still can’t figure out who’s behind it), COMING SOON, PIZZA BY THE SLICE.
-Lots of signs of progress as Garlic Jim’s Pizza in The Junction gets ready to open next month, including a NOW HIRING sign.
-Just up the block from there, facade work is under way at the ex-Bobby’s Hobbies, future (apparently) bakery.
-Today’s supposed to be the last day for Hollywood Video at 41st & Alaska (mixed-use megaproject coming soon).
After the storm
A friend of ours who grew up in a mountain state told us that you know you’ve REALLY gotten some snow when, days or weeks after it melts, dirty slushy piles of it are still lingering in parking lots and similar places. So, we can now officially declare our Snow-n-Ice-mare ’07 a REAL event, upon discovery today of the official Dirty Slushy Leftover Pile near the southwest edge of Westwood Village:
When Giannoni’s Pizza 
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