PHOTOS BY DAVE GERSHGORN FOR WSB

The West Seattle Junction Association‘s first-ever Sweet Stroll this afternoon was sweet indeed – the $20 tickets for tastes at five Junction venues were sold out days before the event. Photojournalist Dave Gershgorn captured some scenes for WSB. Above, A La Mode Pies was the starting spot, where ticketholders could pick up “passports” to get stamped at all five participating businesses for an entry to a prize drawing. The pie tastes they were offering were raspberry crumble a la mode and cookies & cream:

Across the street at Panterelli Patisserie, proprietor Jacques Nawar was serving profiteroles:

Two doors west, Molly Moon’s Ice Cream offered a mini-flight of seasonal flavors:

The Junction’s most-famous purveyor of sweets, Bakery Nouveau, served Sweet Stroll-ers their choice of traditional croissant, sakura petit-four, or brownie:

And at Top Pot Doughnuts, it was a double-chocolate treat – hot chocolate doughnut and mini hot chocolate:

Wondering what’s up next in The Junction? Here’s this year’s event schedule so far – if you’re a fan of the twice-yearly Wine Walk, first one is set for May 15.

By Anne Higuera
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

“I’m super proud of the team,” says Bakery Nouveau owner William Leaman, after coaching America’s baking team at this year’s Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, an industry competition in Paris for countries from around the world. The competition took place Tuesday and Wednesday, with winners announced late yesterday. South Korea, Chinese Taipei, and France were the medal winners, followed by Denmark and America. Ten teams competed in the finals.

(Photos by William Leaman) Defending its gold medal from 2024, France earned bronze this time.
As we reported last week, Leaman’s been juggling running his 3-location bakery business, including the flagship store in West Seattle (4737 California Ave SW), with coaching the 3-person Team USA at bi-weekly practices in Chicago. He was tapped to coach after being part of the winning team in 2005. At this year’s Coupe du Monde, each of the 10 teams had to produce many of the same breads, pastries, and savory “snacks” on the single competition day, plus a unique artistic piece showing an invention from their country, many with elaborate details.

South Korea’s 1st Place entry

Denmark’s whimsical Lego theme came in 4th place
Leaman says the pressure was high and the space was limited on competition day. “They did a great job, especially in a space that was half the size of what they were used to working in. That was probably the biggest challenge and then all of the noise, different countries, so many of their fans, air horns, yelling, screaming all in the last couple of minutes to be on time.” Adding to that, a live audience and a cadre of judges watching all day as they worked.

Team USA’s entry came in 5th
To finish in the top half of the field is testament to the team’s focus and talent. They started practicing long after some of the other teams, and they all have day jobs, making practices less frequent than ideal. Leaman says some teams had either sponsorships or government support that allowed them to practice and work on their design and techniques full time for many months. “Our biggest challenge was artistic, and a super short runway to prepare.” Despite that, the jury was impressed. “We had high marks in flavors for our products,” he says.

Some of those flavors will be headed to the Bakery Nouveau locations soon. Leaman says one of the “snack” sandwiches they made for the competition will be on the menu — look for the new Black Cod Miso sandwich on brioche later this year.

Tyler and Katie Blanchard wanted to ensure that O’Neill Plumbing – founded in 1917 – would remain a family-owned business.

So they bought it.

Tyler worked for the Morgan Junction-based plumbing company (a WSB sponsor) for 15 years before becoming co-owner wirh Katie, whose previous career was in health care, with a focus on nursing.

They live in West Seattle, where Tyler was raised and has deep roots, including grandparents who are West Seattle High School alumni.

Nothing is changing at O’Neill Plumbing with their acquisition – the name, the staff, etc. will all remain the same, say the Blanchards, who took over in November. “It’s an honor to take over something that’s been here for more than 100 years,” Katie said. “To carry on that family-owned legacy is really special to us.”

In a day and age when many independent plumbing companies are being absorbed into “conglomerates,” the Blanchards point out that O’Neill Plumbing remains a family-owned company – just, a different family!

Imagine hundreds more people in this photo with West Seattle Nursery owner Marcia Bruno (center), office manager Marie McKinsey (right), and Solid Ground development director Briana Stevenson (left):

(WSB photos)

Those hundreds would be the West Seattle Nursery (WSB sponsor) customers who donated $5,589.37 to Solid Ground during the holiday season – donations that were a seed in their own way, exceeding WSN staff’s hopes, then multiplying with a $1,000 matching donation from WSN plus a match the nonprofit obtained, growing the grand total to $13,178.74, all because of those generous customers. WSN also donated dozens of packets of garden seeds to Solid Ground today – that’s what’s in the box:

The seeds will grow into a variety of produce – peas, beets, cabbage, herbs, even rutabaga. At Marra Farm in South Park, Solid Ground grows about five tons of produce each year to donate to people experiencing food insecurity. Stevenson said they’ve also started a garden at the 31-unit shelter they operate for domestic-violence survivors. Solid Ground also supports a network of 27 food banks. Bruno explained that WSN chose them as this year’s beneficiary after she was impressed by their presentation to a West Seattle Garden Tour committee in which she participates, helping choose WSGT’s annual grant recipients: “They just do a lot of stuff!” Then her staff took over pitching the “add a donation to your purchase” campaign, tracked by a thermometer decorated with apples and peppers:

Observed Stevenson, TV’s “Mister Rogers” advised “Always look for the helpers.” And you could add the importance of recognizing them – as McKinsey explained, “We want to acknowledge the generosity of our customers and thank them publicly.” This is the second year that West Seattle Nursery has done this kind of holiday-season fundraiser – exactly one year ago, we were at the nursery to cover Erin Rubin accepting the seasonal donation results for her nonprofit Mode Music and Performing Arts.

P.S. If the sunshine has you in the mood to garden, WSN is awash in winter blooms:

(And ask about the purple cyclamen!)

In the spirit of the Wine Walk, the West Seattle Junction Association has announced its first-ever Sweet Stroll, and your ticket awaits!

Grab your sweet tooth and your walking shoes! The West Seattle Sweet Stroll is your chance to spend a cozy Sunday afternoon sampling desserts from some of the Junction’s most-loved spots — all for just $20.

From pies and doughnuts to ice cream and pastries, you’ll stroll at your own pace, collect stamps in your Sweet Stroll passport, and enjoy exclusive samples from A la Mode Pies, Molly Moon’s, Top Pot Doughnuts, Bakery Nouveau, and Panterelli.

It’s fun, it’s delicious, and it’s the perfect excuse to treat yourself (and maybe a friend). Tickets are limited — don’t miss this sweetest walk of the winter!

The Sweet Stroll is set for 2-5 pm Sunday, February 1st, and ticket(s) are available here while they last.

(WSB photos)

West Seattle’s newest business has opened. As of 8 am, the new UPS Store at Westwood Village is open for its first day on the breezeway across from Fitness 19. Proprietors Tami and Mike Lindquist had already welcomed. their first customer by the time we stopped by around half an hour after they opened.

As noted in this preview, they’re offering a variety of services. That includes about 400 mailboxes – not all self-serve like these – others are in the back:

The Lindquists own three other UPS Stores around the region. The new one will be open until 6:30 pm if you want to visit on Day One.

(Google Street View image of 4457 Fauntleroy Way SW)

Almost two years ago, we happened onto city filings suggesting a Sherwin-Williams Paint store was planned for the ex-Midas space at 4457 Fauntleroy Way SW. It’s been empty since 2019, after an abrupt shutdown initially suggested as temporary proved to be permanent. At the time we found those filings, a spokesperson for the Mercer Island investment company that owns the site told us the plan was just a possibility. They had bought the 11,000-square-foot site in 2023, three years after it was listed as a prospective mixed-use development parcel. Now the Sherwin-Williams plan has reappeared in files, including a sign-permit application, which tends to mean it’s a done deal, as was the case when the paint giant built and opened a store next to The Home Depot in Delridge in 2013. We’ll be following up regarding the timeline.

A big post-holidays thank you from Dave Newman State Farm Insurance Agency (3435 California SW; WSB sponsor) after this year’s generous response to their annual holiday-season warm-clothing drive:

Thank You, West Seattle Community!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to our incredible community for the overwhelming support of our recent clothing drive benefiting the West Seattle Food Bank‘s Helpline. Your generosity truly made a difference.

Thanks to your contributions, we were able to deliver four to five full loads of donations, including brand-new, unopened socks and underwear for both men and women, as well as thoughtfully donated hand-knit caps. These essential and heartfelt items will provide comfort, warmth, and dignity to those in need.

A special thank you to Roger Tanner for his help with loading and unloading donations. His support played an important role in making this effort a success.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who donated, helped, or supported this drive in any way. This experience was a powerful reminder of how much people care about one another and the strength of our local community.

We are proud to support the West Seattle Food Bank’s Helpline and thankful to be part of a community that truly shows up for its neighbors.

(Added: WSB photo of Ashcroft Building today)

Starting off the new year is this announcement of a new home for Thunder Road Guitars (WSB sponsor) and The Bass Shop. They’ll be moving from Morgan Junction to the historic Admiral District building that Mud Bay is vacating for its move across the Admiral/California intersection. Here’s the announcement we received this morning from TRG proprietor Frank Gross, who recently bought the 2611 California SW building:

I am thrilled to announce Thunder Road and our roommates The Bass Shop will be moving to the historic Ashcroft Building located at 2611 California Ave SW in the Admiral District here in West Seattle early this spring.

This move nearly triples our current square footage and sets the stage for what I believe will be the very best version of what we do. The building has great bones and our goal is to create an inspiring and visually captivating environment for everyone who walks through our doors.

2026 marks our 15th year in business, and I can’t help but feel extremely grateful to this community, and the community of guitar enthusiasts worldwide that we consider customers, colleagues, friends and family. None of this would be possible without the incredible support from West Seattle and the greater Pacific Northwest. Your loyalty, passion for guitars, and your belief in what we do has put gas in our tank and guitars on our walls and we are forever in debt to you.

Fun West Seattle 1990s era knowledge bomb: When I was a kid this very building we are moving into was the original Alki Bike and Board. Stu, the owner of this establishment, was nice enough to let me put a K2 Shovel BMX on layaway for an entire summer. Come August I must have mowed every single lawn in West Seattle and made enough to pay off the bike. Stu’s kindness and compassion for a young kid who wanted a proper bike was never lost on me and inspires me to this day of how to treat people and run a business.

As for our existing storefront, our new friends at NW Fitness Project will be taking over that location this spring. Here is some info from them about their new location: NW Fitness Project, a celebrated Fremont-based boutique fitness studio specializing in personal training, strength based small-group training, and running coaching, is beyond amped to be moving in for their second location. Known for their “person over program” philosophy and commitment to sustainable, long-term fitness, NW Fitness Project has built a loyal community over eight years through adaptive training that meets each person exactly where they are.

We’re thrilled to pass the torch to fellow small business owners who share our commitment to community investment and are excited to see them serve West Seattle’s active, health-focused residents.

Follow our journey as we restore this 100 year old building and make it our own, one guitar at a time. Look out for moving announcements early this spring.

With love & gratitude,
Frank Gross
Owner & Founder, Thunder Road Guitars

This will be Thunder Road’s third move to ever-bigger spaces in the past 11 years – from 3916 California to The Junction in 2015 and then from The Junction to Morgan Junction in 2019.