West Seattle, Washington
05 Thursday
The red arrow in the photo above (from this page on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency website) shows the spot where the Nucor steel plant (Delridge/Andover) wants to upgrade a crane so it can operate more hours. Because more hours mean more emissions, Nucor needs state and regional permits; tonight’s public hearing at the Alki Community Center provided the chance for supporters and opponents to have their say. One of the shortest public hearings we’ve ever attended:Read More
Thanks to Michelle for sending the photo and the tip. What’s on that sign is all the info we have – we just tried calling but no answer and no recorded message. (If you’re not familiar with Admiralty House, it’s at 2141 California in North Admiral.)
Since we first reported two months ago that the last remaining space in the ex-Alki Market would become the “Alki Urban Market,” hopes have run high, as has the volume of questions. A few more facts emerged when a sign appeared on its door December 21st featuring an e-mail address with the “seattleurbanmarket.com” domain, thus confirming AUM will be part of a group of stores run by Eastside businessman Thampipillai Thilakarajah (WSB photo above). But the website doesn’t have Alki specifics (yet), so to find out more, we requested an interview. Here’s the result:Read More
In today’s traditional WSB sponsor welcome, we’re letting you know about the Allstate Insurance agency in Morgan Junction where you’ll find (left to right in our photo) Phillip Plenkovich and Andrew Mead. Phillip is a West Seattle native who attended Arbor Heights Elementary, Denny Middle School, Chief Sealth High School, and the University of Washington. His community involvement includes the West Seattle Rotary Club and coaching youth basketball at the West Seattle YMCA. His specialties include auto, home, and life insurance. Andrew helps clients with life-insurance and disability coverage; he and his wife Sharon moved in August 2006 from Maple Leaf in North Seattle to High Point here in West Seattle, where he’s working to build community as the president of the new High Point Neighborhood Association. Thanks to Phillip and Andrew for supporting WSB; if you are interested in finding out how to join them, check out our Advertise page (which also lists the current sponsor lineup) – we’ve got new opportunities coming up in the new year!
It’s a WSB tradition to let you know when a new sponsor comes aboard: Joining us today is J.F. Henry in The Junction, advertising to let you know about the store’s after-Christmas 50%-60% off sale (see the ad in the right sidebar on this page for more details). J.F. Henry has been in business more than 20 years, and is located on the booming north end of The Junction, where there’s a lot going on lately (Shadow Land, Craze, Spring Hill, etc.) — you can find out more about J.F. Henry’s kitchen and tableware offerings at its website, which also features details about the store’s unique decor (including fixtures from downtown’s old Frederick & Nelson store!). And if you would like to find out about becoming a WSB sponsor, check out our Advertise page (which also lists the current sponsor lineup) – we’ve got new opportunities coming up in the new year!
GUMBO: Just heard from Lakema Bell @ Delridge Community Center, who advises there’s still room to join in one of today’s West Seattle holiday events — the Santa Sleigh Ride and Holiday Gumbo Feast at DCC, noon-3 pm today, $5/bowl for gumbo ($3 refills).
GROCERIES: Finished our survey of grocery stores’ Christmas plans — the full list is on the WSB Holidays page — all three Safeways (Admiral, Jefferson, Roxbury) plan to be open 9 am-3 pm on Christmas Day; some West Seattle supermarkets are closing at 7 pm Christmas Eve, some at 6. We are still surveying coffee shops for their Christmas Day plans; that in-progress list is on the Holidays page too. And if you know of any West Seattle restaurants open on Christmas, you can help answer a question posted in the new WSB Forums (explained here).
Just up on the future store’s door in the past 24 hours or so. The fine print is an e-mail address at the domain “seattleurbanmarket.com.” The website at that address doesn’t mention the Alki location right now but lists 9 others around the area and describes the parent company as “a company dedicated to the development of ‘high end’ delicatessen stores in the Seattle & Eastside Metropolitan Areas to serve the particular neighborhood they are located in with high quality products and services. Utilizing well known quality products such as Boar Head meats and cheeses, Appasionato Coffees, quality groceries, health foods and fine Washington Wines.”
DEVELOPMENT NOTE: You’ve probably noticed that crews also have torn down the ex-Mailbox West/Eyes Rite building as well as the old green rentals in the 4100 block of California. (Rowdy reminiscences on the latter have turned up in comments here, by the way.) And now the city building permit for the mixed-use replacement is official.
BUSINESS NOTES: The newest WSB sponsor, Curious Kidstuff, has added a coupon to its ad on the right sidebar – click the ad or this link and print the ensuing coupon to take it in for your 20% discount, through Christmas Eve. … Another WSB sponsor note: Click! Design That Fits in the Admiral District has just launched a blog – including a preview of the Christmas cookies that proprietors John and Frances Smersh will be offering during tonight’s final Late Night Thursday shopping event at the store … Belated anniversary congratulations to Beato, which has been open one year as of last night; next big occasion is a special New Year’s Eve menu that’s linked from the WSB Holidays page, where we’ll be adding more WS NYE festivities as we find them. Also on the Holidays page — we are working today to wrap up the Christmas Eve/Day info list of grocery-store and coffee-shop hours (just heard from WSB sponsor Hotwire, which will be open 8 am-2 pm Christmas Day).
COMMUNITY NOTES: Just added to the WSB Events page, the free “Giving Back” dinner and entertainment event at Southwest Community Center tomorrow night, and another fundraiser coming up January 19 for the West Seattle High School Travel Club.
First, the food. Happened to notice this on the windows at Alki Crab & Fish at Seacrest – “all you can eat” nights, Tuesday for fish and chips, Thursday for prawns and chips. Since it’s Tuesday, thought we’d mention it, for anyone seeking dinner ideas. While taking the pic this morning (before AC&F was open), we also noticed a sign instead inviting people to be there for New Year’s Eve — “fireworks and fun”!
Now, the wine. Two items:
First, a liquor license has just been approved for “cheapwinestore.com” at an address in a Gatewood residential neighborhood. The website at that address isn’t up yet, so we tracked down the e-mail address of its proprietor, Patrick Collins, who tells WSB they’re hoping to be up and running within a month or so, elaborating:
My wife Brandy and I though it would be a great idea to be able to offer good, really tasty wines at inexpensive prices. Wine appreciation really is on the palate of the “beholder” but we are putting together a selection of wines that we think really stand up to what most people will really appreciate. We will be shipping wines to all of the places that allow, and as we get into this a bit more, we will start to really focus on the great wines that Washington and Oregon have to offer. It has been a great project that my wife and I have really been able to have fun with!
Second West Seattle wine note — WSB talked this week with the folks at West Seattle Cellars about what ever happened to their plan for a wine bar next door (the space that’s still covered with plywood). They say it got hung up in red tape, but they’ve got some other plans for the space now, including office expansion and possibly some additional retailing that complements wine (chocolate? cheese? etc.).
It’s a WSB tradition to let you know when a new sponsor comes aboard. This morning, we’re welcoming Curious Kidstuff, whose team invites you to “come on down to The Junction’s fun place to play and shop.” Next year, Curious Kidstuff celebrates its 10th anniversary – how time flies – in the meantime, your time for Christmas shopping is flying, and Curious Kidstuff is offering 20% off any purchase through 12/24/07, except for sale and clearance items; gift wrapping not included. Thanks to Curious Kidstuff for supporting WSB; all our current sponsors are listed on our “Advertise” page, along with information on how your business can join them!
Heard the other day from Eric Renn, who’s getting ready to open West Seattle Digital in the storefront shown above at 6016 California, in the same block as Puget Sound Lock & Key, Star Nails, and West Seattle Cellars (Eric sent the photo too, after hanging the festive COMING SOON banner). He says WSD will be an authorized retailer for Dish Network, XM Satellite Radio, Clearwire, and VOIP.com (broadband telephone); he lives in West Seattle and plans to have the store open by the first of the year.
As is the WSB tradition when a new sponsor joins us, we want to tell you a bit about them: Today we welcome West Seattle Realtor Alice Kuder, who is with Prudential NW Realty and is part of the growing trend of professionals with blogs about their businesses and what they’re seeing in their industry in general (you can find Alice’s blog here). We appreciate the support of Alice and the other West Seattle businesspeople who sponsor WSB; you’ll find them all listed on the WSB Advertise page along with info on how other prospective advertisers can join them.
We traveled from Admiral to The Junction tonight to check out the late-night shopping and West Seattle Art Walk happenings; above you see the biggest crowd we encountered, jammed into the new Twilight Art Collective space in the former Bikes ‘n’ Brew storefront west of Easy Street. Classic dance rock (example: Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”) thumped through the cheerful conversation din. We’ll go back soon for a more leisurely look at the art (such as a Kafka portrait that caught our eye). Twilight looks like a great addition to the funky side of Junction life. Though we didn’t get to The Junction till after 8 pm, we noticed good turnouts elsewhere, including a hive of shoppers buzzing around a sale table outside Clementine.
One last reminder that it’s late-night shopping night at a variety of West Seattle shops — from Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor; read more about their event here) and Shanti in the Admiral District, throughout The Junction for the “Wrap It Up” event (flyer with participants here; plus, it’s also West Seattle Art Walk night), and over to Avalon (where Murphy’s has a special fundraiser/shopping event tonight). Some stores will be open as late as 10. (And if your shopping tonight will include Christmas tree-hunting, you can check the price survey we posted earlier this month; we hope to update it this weekend in case things have changed.)
Got holiday shopping left to do? Tonight you can shop throughout The Junction, and even get your presents wrapped, as part of “Wrap It Up” — More than a dozen businesses are open late (including the participants listed on the official flyer, which you can see here (linked from the Clementine blog). While you’re in The Junction, the monthly West Seattle Art Walk
will deck the halls — be sure not to miss Divina, Ginomai, and Hotwire on the north end. (Participating artists and venues are listed here.) And in the heart of The Junction, Twilight Art Collective is welcoming visitors into its new space (ex-Bikes and Brew, west of Easy Street; here’s our original report on them from last month). And this isn’t even all that’s happening in WS tonight – more on that as the day goes by.
Latest step in the remodeling of West Seattle’s one ‘n’ only KFC, er, Kentucky Fried Chicken (part of the new decor involves reviving the full name) — sign shown above says it’s shut down till Friday.
Or maybe even your mom’s. Back when we moved here in the early ’90s, really not THAT long ago, we lamented that we would have liked to do more shopping in The Junction, but everything seemed to close so early — “rolling up the sidewalks,” as the small-town saying goes. Not these days, and here’s the latest proof: Coinciding with this Thursday night’s West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction is “Wrap It Up,” with participating stores open well into the night for holiday-shopping fun. And it’s not just The Junction that will be jumping — on the north side of West Seattle, we’ve heard from more shops planning to be open late on Thursday, including WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits and Shanti in the Admiral District, and along Avalon, Murphy’s Furniture Studio has an event planned Thursday night for late-night shopping while raising money for GambiaHELP. All in all, Thursday’s a good night to spend your $ where you live. Here’s the “Wrap It Up” flyer listing Junction participants, by the way:Read More
Joining WSB today as our latest sponsor: John Moore, with Northwest Insurance Group (south of the Admiral District, at 3210 California), an independent agency dealing with a variety of insurance companies including the ones listed on this page of the Northwest Insurance Group site. As we do with all new sponsors, we wanted to publicly thank John for supporting WSB, along with our other sponsors (all listed on our “Advertise” page, where prospective advertisers can find information on how to join them).
A new development three weeks after we first wrote about Nucor‘s application for permits to upgrade a crane. When we first heard about it, thanks to an eagle-eyed WSB reader, time for public comment was already running out, and a note on the public posting said a hearing would be scheduled only if there was “significant public interest.” Looks like somebody subsequently expressed that level of interest; Trissa just e-mailed WSB (thank you!) with word that a public hearing is now set for January 9 @ Alki Community Center (more details here), plus a note that the time for public comment has been extended to January 14 (more on that here). We’ll add both dates shortly to our ever-growing West Seattle-wide Events page.
THIS IS OUR 2007 PRICE CHECK – FIND OUR WEST SEATTLE 2008 LIST HERE
Just back from making the rounds of every West Seattle Christmas tree seller we know of. (If we missed one – we’ll admit to not checking arterials east of Delridge to look for indies – please let us know and we’ll get out to scout it.) We chose a couple representative tree sizes for comparison’s sake – 5-6′ Noble Fir, 6-7′ Noble Fir, 5-6′ Douglas Fir. Here’s what we found, north to south, including any special notes – caveat, this is from an in-person survey conducted today; pricing changes certainly could happen before you make your tree-shopping trip:Read More
Right on schedule, this truck was spotted this morning at one of the ex-Gee/Huling lots, picking up remaining vehicles; today is the day by which the Gees agreed to completely clear out, as per the agreement reached in the Hulings’ lawsuit to evict them for not paying rent. The Gees’ suit against the Hulings, meantime, goes on; most recent development reported here was a judge’s denial of the Hulings’ motion to force the Gees into arbitration, promptly appealed by the Hulings.
Exterior work is under way right now at the ex-Coyotes, finally confirmed firsthand to be the future home of Pegasus Pizza (whose original location next door will be torn down for a new building). The beige-ish panel actually features marbling much like the current Pegasus decor. Meantime, we talked to a worker outside the future Alki Urban Market – he said he had no clue when they’ll be opening; and down the street at the ex-Alki Mail/Dispatch, future Pioneer Coffee Roasting Co., someone’s inside working on a huge PIONEER sign. As for the water side of the street, a couple scenes from our breezy, chilly walk:
This morning, we welcome another new WSB sponsor – Square 1 Books, which is the place in West Seattle to buy new books from an independent bookseller. Square 1 is in Jefferson Square, steps from the rest of The Junction, and part of the heart of the West Seattle community — this weekend, as we mentioned yesterday, Square 1 is offering the chance to buy new children’s books at 15% off and have them given to local families through WestSide Baby. This past September, Square 1 sponsored an event for West Seattle readers to meet West Seattle authors, “Words from the West Side,” held at ArtsWest. And it’s got its own book club – you can keep up with its happenings via the Square 1 blog. Thanks to Square 1 and our other sponsors, who are listed on this page along with information on how other prospective advertisers can join them.
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