West Seattle, Washington
11 Monday
Next to QFC, the Pet Pros store-to-be (ex-laundromat) has a “help wanted” sign posted out front; on the south edge of WV, the suspense (?) is finally over regarding which of the new spaces next to Sally’s will be Giannoni’s Pizza and which will be Taco Del Mar:
Learned a few new things while looking around for more of what WS people are up to online: A software enterprise involved in some cool concerns is located at Luna Park, and it’s got a sponsorship deal going with a charity golf tournament later this month.
Just recently found Square One’s site; possibly of interest to our fellow WS book fans. (And on its regular site, the store is offering Harry Potter pre-sales through July 20, with a cut of the proceeds going to WestSide Baby.)
Can the Charlestown Cafe stay in its longtime home, or will the property owner continue the process of booting it so a big-box store can move in? Today’s the day Charlestown supporters plan to make some noise with a picketing demonstration along Cali in front of the restaurant. Lots of info, and downloadable sign art (example at left), at Our Town West Seattle. (P.S. to demonstration attendees: If you take picketing pix and post them to your own site or a gallery site like Flickr, please leave a comment here afterward, with a link; we’ll be away from the computer much of the day and unable to post anything you send us directly.)
This Saturday, 11 am-2 pm, is the big pro-Charlestown Cafe picketing rally (backstory here). So that participants can prepare, a selection of sign suggestions has just been uploaded to the Our Town West Seattle group (join it and you can download them too, while getting full details on the latest developments) — here are four of them; the last is our fave:
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Proprietor Cliff Mark of Next to Nature in The Junction has posted a comment that you might not see, since it’s on a post that’s a couple pages into the site, but we thought it was worth a spotlight here:
First, a big thank you to all those who in the face of increasing numbers of pet supply stores opening in WS, have chosen to continue to grant us at Next to Nature the privilege of serving your pet-related needs. We greatly appreciate your support and hope that we will continue to satisfy you with our service, selection and value. As my wife, Bea, and I have known since 1994, WS is truly a GREAT place to live and work. BTW, to help make your continued support a little easier, we have recently expanded our hours of operation from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Mondays through Saturday. We are still open 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Sundays. Again, thanks to all those who are keeping all West Seattle-based businesses thriving. If anyone has any comments or suggestions for us at NTN please send them along to info@next-to-nature.com
Just got this note about more reported change east of The Junction:
West Seattle Furnace has been in West Seattle since 1946 and Dick Leidholm has retired and sold his building at 4619 37th Ave SW.
The office manager – myself, Diana Charles Abels – has gone to Cascade Oil Company and one of my service techs Bill M has gone to Cascade Oil also. So, if you need help with your Furnace, A/C or fuel deliveries, please contact me at 206-323-6050.
City archive photo of West Seattle Furnace, on this page.
The Times quotes Ovio’s outgoing owners as saying another restaurant will definitely take over the space. City files show a construction permit application for “seating and bar alterations at existing restaurant,” dated this past Monday, and lists the applicant as Robert Coburn. That’s where our intel trail goes cold, for now. (Anyone else?)
Four days after the 41st/42nd/Alaska megaproject (with QFC) cleared a city hurdle, the Fauntleroy Place megaproject just a couple blocks to the east (with Whole Foods) has cleared one too. The company in charge of the project, Blue Star Management, says city council members unanimously approved the “alley vacation” today, and explains the alley’s future: “The alley running north to south from SW Oregon Street to SW Alaska Street between 40th Ave SW and 39th Ave SW will be relocated into an L-shaped alley, running from SW Oregon Street south and then exiting west at about three-quarters block on to 40th Ave SW, instead of continuing toward SW Alaska Street.” Blue Star reiterates that it hopes to start construction early next year; below is the latest rendering of what Fauntleroy Place is supposed to look like.
Late-afternoon outdoor wedding just west of the Alki Bathhouse:
Mid-afternoon, still low-enough tide to see this inscription on the water side of the Alki bulkhead/staircases … we know what 1851 refers to; was 1925 when these were put in? (have to go dig out our West Side Story)
Early afternoon, ample free parking behind Junction businesses on the east side of Cali, even as the lots on the west side overflowed (with drivers circling in frustration):
We must admit we didn’t know this manufacturing business was here in WS (in the business-but-not-retail zone east of The Junction) till this story just turned up about 90 people losing their jobs there.
Hot on the heels (tails?) of discovering that All The Best is Alki-bound, we think we can match a name to the pending pet-stuff store at Westwood Village: Pet Pros is advertising jobs at its “new West Seattle store.”
Just discovered that All the Best Pet Care has rented part of the former Alki Market space next to Cactus, and the locally based folks who own the chain confirm it. They say they’re hoping to open by mid-July, depending on how the permit process goes; owner/founder Susan Moss adds, “We are SOOO excited because West Seattle is such a vibrant community and the beach location we snagged is so lovely!” — and she says she has hired an Alki resident to manage the store. One more thing — Moss is looking for input on what would be ideal hours for the Alki store to be open; she says they were thinking 10 am-7 pm but wondering if the Alki-area lifestyle might be conducive to something different –leave comments on this post and we’ll make sure she sees them!
This Times article about a shelved QFC project in North Seattle got us thinking, again, about the pending supermarket projects here in WS. We dug back to last July to revisit this P-I article that included developers’ hopes that both the 4100 Alaska project (reportedly with QFC) 
and the Fauntleroy Place project at the Schuck’s/Hancock corner (left), with Whole Foods, would both have begun construction by now. In reality – 4100 Alaska has gone through demolition, but the rest of the pre-construction process isn’t done yet; the next Design Review Board meeting about it is one week from Thursday. And Fauntleroy Place is still making its way through the city-permitting process; its website now says construction is expected to start by “mid-2007” (late summer/early fall was mentioned in this Herald story a few months ago).
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.
The ol’ Trader Joe’s rumor just keeps swishing around WS like a glass of Two-Buck Chuck in a Nisqually-length earthquake. An intrepid reader just e-mailed the company again, hoping perhaps for a pleasant surprise, and shared with us the following response. (Personally, we find the “check back in fall” rather intriguing!)
“At this time, we do not have any confirmed plans for Western Seattle. Feel free to check back sometime this fall for any updates.
Thanks for shopping with us,
Marci
Trader Joe’s Customer Relations”
A few things we thought you might want to know about before the next weekend roundup rolls around:
-School-play season isn’t over yet: Schmitz Park Elementary stages “101 Dalmatians” @ WSHS tomorrow night and Thursday night.
-“Carver’s Pieces,” presented by The Community Theatre, opens Thursday night @ Youngstown Arts Center.
-If you run an area business, there’s still time till the end of this week to get a spot at the June 5 Greater West Seattle “Neighbors In Business” Open House @ SSCC — go here to find out more (also note, you don’t have to be a businessperson to attend the actual event).
-Best buy tickets now for ArtsWest’s annual benefit/gala Saturday night.
-ArtsWest also just announced an after-hours event June 9 featuring “six rising West Seattle comedians.”
-Next Sunday @ 2 pm at the WS Library, poet Frances McCue lectures about legendary local writer Richard Hugo, who we didn’t know till now was a White Center native and wrote extensively about post-WWII West Seattle.
Just asking, because the former Retroactive Kids space on Cali south of Morgan Junction (building still for sale) now has a flyer on the door announcing its next occupant: Coming soon/A great place to b/CHILL/Massage, aromatherapy/Adults, kids, k9s.
In the latest edition of the West 5 e-mail newsletter (available online here if you’re not on the list), you’re asked to send in your answer to this question: Why do you go to The Junction? (Our answer for starters — ’cause it’s the heart of WS.)
We had seen the “for sale” signs at the “Koze” store/house next door but didn’t realize till an e-mail tip that Carosello Coffee (the location’s latest incarnation) on 35th is for sale too. Interesting caveat in the listing fine print forwarded by our tipster (or is this par for the course with business listings?) — “DO NOT DISCUSS SALE WITH EMPLOYEES!”
A couple more of those ubiquitous yellow “land-use application” signs are up at the 35th SW site that was formerly home to the Seventh-Day Adventist church, 
now Temenos and the Mars Hill bus pen (left). The application in question, for which a Design Review Board meeting is now set (5/24), mentions — no, not condos — an auto-repair business and offices “adjacent to existing building” and lists the same owners as Swedish Automotive a few blocks north. No reply yet to our note inquiring about their plans for the site.
Huling/Gee isn’t the only name change along Fauntleroy’s mini-“auto row.” At Fauntleroy/Oregon, the tattered old “Bob Ochsner Cars” sign just vanished, and a slick new “West Seattle Motors” sign (left) just appeared. (If you can’t recall the old sign, check the right side of the photo on the bottom of this city page — scroll down, then over — about the neighboring, historical-ish Wardrobe Cleaners neon sign.)
Just verified a reader tip that Auto Buff, west of Metro Market, is moving next week (you can’t miss the huge banner out front, with the address of its new location on the east edge of The Junction). No detectable permit movement on the 42nd/Admiral mixed-use project planned for that spot, though.
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