West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
It’s just not late December without a slew of reviews of the year that’s about to end. 
So we’ll join the parade again this year — in three daily installments, starting today with our picks for Top 7 West Seattle video moments of ’07. Since the WSB video era only began on 9/11/07 (thanks to the generosity of Pledge Day donors), we only have 3 1/2 months of video clips from which to choose, but it’s been a busy fall, so this is a decent list. The links in the headline/date go to the WSB posts containing the video clips, not straight to the clips themselves, so you’ll get the full context if you missed any of these original reports. Now the countdown:
#7 — WINDSTORM WINDSURFER, 10/18/07: A windstorm that caused trouble for many gave this adventurer a chance for thrills.
#6 — WEST WATER SPOTLIGHTS, 11/14/07: West Seattle’s most hyper-marketed condo conversion didn’t stop at billboards, bus boards, sandwich boards, or broadcast commercials — it even sent spotlights into the WS sky for a few noteworthy nights.
#5 — BABY SEAL MANIA AT ALKI, 9/17/07: Throughout late summer and fall, the Seal Sitters kept watch as baby harbor seals hauled out along the West Seattle shore. Their watch spanned both joy and tragedy. WSB videotaped one of the crowd-pleasing pups.
#4 — MARS HILL IMMERSION BAPTISMS AT ALKI, 9/14/07: Hallelujahpalooza, we and others dubbed it. The only megachurch with a West Seattle branch brought a band as well as members from around the city to cheer (and pray for) those baptized in the chilly water of Puget Sound.
And now the top 3 (we feel like Casey Kasem):Read More
First — WSB contributing photographer Matt Durham says he discovered that sign greeting “visitors to a home at the corner of SW Forest and Fairmount SW. The neighbor in the background (who wished to remain nameless) believes the cart was from a family business that was once on California Ave SW. According to a Google search, Abe’s Place was located at 2310 California Ave SW and served ‘American Turkish’ cuisine.” (Prints of Matt’s photos are available at his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
Second note – Fauntleroy’s Judy Pickens sends word of her book chronicling the history of Fauntleroy Church, as it celebrates its centennial:Read More
First, there’s the Kitten Holiday Party (listed on the West Seattle Weekend Lineup) at Pet Elements south of Morgan Junction:
That’s where we found this new kitten owner adopting what she referred to as “Elliott’s new friend.” (Elliott being the cat who will be surprised and hopefully pleased to meet his new pal.)
Also today and tomorrow, noon-4 pm (and those hours Thursday-Sunday every week), an exhibit at the Log House Museum with a unique take on Seattle history, and it’s only there a few more weeks – here’s what the LHM folks have written up about it:Read More
We mentioned part 1 of the VintageSeattle.org “Painted Lady” (the one on 45th that’s for sale, not the one on Beach Drive that’s also for sale) tour the other day. Part 2 is what you can’t see from the street — the inside — definitely worth a look!
It was on our Events calendar, but not here on the main page — yesterday was the 156th anniversary of the Denny Party landing on Alki. Every year since 2001, WSB reader Margelyn reports, the “Swag Lady,” Natalie “Penny” Earnest, has decorated the Founders’ Monument as shown above. Margelyn says Penny’s swag of cedar with bird feathers and cones gathered from the beach is “her way of paying tribute both to the Denny Party who landed here on Nov 13, 1851 and to the Native Americans who helped them survive their first winter.” Closeup photo, also courtesy of Margelyn:
Margelyn adds: “Penny and her husband Mike, who passed away this year, have lived on the water at Alki Point since the early 1990’s and have been active in the Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Working with Pat Filer of the society’s Log House Museum, Penny was instrumental in getting Department of Neighborhoods funding to add plaques on the Founders Monument at the 2001 sesquicentennial naming the individual women of the Denny Party and acknowledging the role of the Duwamish and Suquamish people.” Here’s a closeup of her note on the Alki monument for yesterday’s anniversary:
Margelyn concludes, “Living right on the water at Alki Point and walking daily along the beach, Penny says she often thinks of the words attributed to Chief Seattle:”
And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.
7200 block of California, June:
July:
Now:
We first told the story of the fight over the townhouses, and the now-obscured view of the old house many in the area know as the Gatewood “hunting lodge,” in February.
Maybe too soon for the Christmas phrase-turns; blame the decorations that already have sneaked into some stores … But we digress. This post is about real estate — always a Sunday pastime as “open house” signs pop up on corners around WS. A couple noteworthy offerings, not necessarily brand-new, but they just hit our radar. First, 4315 SW Stevens, across the street from PCC , across the alley from McDonald’s, $725K:
This is notable because the property was home to a hair salon that some neighbors were upset about (as reported here last March). Thanks to WSB reader Luckie for the tip that it’s now for sale; she sent the photo shown above as well as a photo of the flyer posted in the window, which touts “beautiful extended family home … also has a fully running hair salon … you can work from home!” Here’s the official listing page, though it currently appears to be displaying the wrong photos. … Now, to another up-for-sale home, with almost twice the price ($1,499,000), almost twice the age, and countless times the history:
That’s the Herren House at 1603 45th SW, shown in a photo from the city Department of Neighborhoods’ page detailing its history, which DON says dates back to 1891, though King County property records say 1900. Interestingly, the official listing website calls this house “The Painted Lady,” same as the still-apparently-unsold “Satterlee House” on Beach Drive.
We’ve talked before about the teardown-to-townhouse plan for the 57th/Alki corner (across from Alki Automotive) now mostly occupied by the stately brick Shoremont Apartments (photo above). After WSB reader Fiona e-mailed to point out (thank you!) that the parcel suddenly turned up the other day listed for sale for $2.2 million, we published a post about it half an hour ago – then double checked the listing link – which originally had ad verbiage suggesting the project could proceed OR the apartments could stay (or some combination?) – but that link (as you’ll see if you click it) is suddenly no longer good; sometime in the past 24 hours or so, the listing went away. We’re looking to see if evidence of it is still out there somewhere (that’ll teach us, we need to get screen grabs of everything!), so far can’t find it. Sold, or “never mind”? Fascinating.
Since our report yesterday quoting a 3811 California tenant as saying the endangered 80-year-old brick 4-plex across from Charlestown Cafe 
was apparently being evaluated for city landmark status, we’ve found out more from the city Landmarks Preservation Board. Coordinator Sarah Sodt tells WSB that the board has “asked the property owner to submit a landmark nomination … as part of the MUP-SEPA process.” That’s Master Use Permit and State Environmental Policy Act, both aspects of the development process. According to the city website, “All buildings over 50 years old that are proposed for redevelopment are referred to the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board as part of the city’s SEPA policies.” However, Sarah also said the board has not “been in communication” with the owner, and has not arranged for a site tour (contrary to what the tenants were led to believe, apparently), but believes the owner is “working on preparing the nomination” paperwork. The bar for landmark status seems pretty high; the list of official city landmarks in WS contains only two residential properties (the Hainsworth House on 37th, sold earlier this year for $1,490,000, and the Satterlee House, aka Painted Lady, still on the market for $2.2 million). The process is explained here; looks like the next step after the nomination application would be a public meeting. The board’s website says it takes up to a month to determine if an application is “complete,” and it wouldn’t be scheduled for consideration at a public meeting until it is. Here’s the board’s schedule for the rest of the year. If a landmark designation does happen, a whole separate process begins regarding setting guidelines for what can be done with the property and which of its features must be preserved; that’s all outlined here. We’ll keep checking with the Landmarks Board to see how this progresses.
As mentioned in our previous post about the pre-unveiling vandalism of the sign’s cover (which has since been cleaned up, according to an update from Herongrrrl on the previous post) – there was a lot more to this morning’s event, which featured participants including West Seattle history expert Judy Bentley from the Southwest Seattle Historical Society and Alan Schmitz (from the family that has given so much parkland to West Seattle). Rhonda’s got a couple of nice pix up at Beach Drive Blog; here’s 4 clips. First one, the actual unveiling:
Alan Schmitz talked about growing up in the area we all know now as parkland (the current Me-Kwa-Mooks site was once a Schmitz family homestead):
Judy Bentley explained the five layers of site history that are detailed in the new sign:
Longtime Alki-area activist Alexandra Pye also had something to say at the event, praising the many individuals and organizations who helped it happen:
This P-I article today reminded us of something similar along West Seattle’s waterfront Condo Row about 10 years ago — a Harbor Ave condo complex that went up in a U shape around one semi-ramshackle little house whose owner refused to sell. We managed to find an archived P-I article mentioning the Harbor holdout, photo included (scroll down this page). According to city permit records, the house finally came down, and the condo buildings came together, in 1999. Haven’t yet found a record of how much the holdout house finally sold for, though.
The rest of this post, anyway. Its loose theme — history.
-This obituaries (Times, P-I) for ski-school legend “Buzz” Fiorini, who died in what’s described only as a “West Seattle nursing home” the other day, makes us think — when you drive by all our fine elder-care facilities, The Kenney (11:20 PM UPDATE: a reader tells us that’s where Mr. Fiorini died) or The Mount or any of the many others, think about who’s in there, living out lives that were remarkable in their own way, big or small. Programs like Friend to Friend find people to remind them they’re not forgotten.
-The Duwamish Tribe longhouse project on the eastern edge of WS — their ancestral lands — will get a boost from a fundraiser downtown tonight. The P-I has a good writeup with an interesting spin regarding how none of us really know how to pronounced “Seattle.” Meantime, Indian Country Today has an update on the project, as well as on the campaign in Congress to get official recognition for the tribe.
-West Seattle’s wonderful Log House Museum has remodeled its website. We discovered this after learning the Log House Museum is one of the participants in this Saturday’s Smithsonian-sponsored Museum Day (hat tip to saveseattleschools.blogspot.com for mentioning that nationwide free-admission event). Looking further into the fall, the museum will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a fundraising gala November 3rd @ Salty’s.
Found in the document billed as “highlights” of the budget Hizzoner presented to the City Council yesterday: $1 million “challenge grant” to help the community buy the Fauntleroy School building (page 8); $4 million for a new “outage-management system” (last page) so City Light can do a better job of telling us what’s going on when we’re powerless like those dark days last December.
On each and every WSB post, there’s just no telling where you all will take the discussion — or if you’ll choose to discuss at all. Last month, we mentioned the addition of an ADULT DVD sign to a Morgan Junction market, with a headline citing Spanky’s, the adult retailer that closed on mid-Cali some years back. That led to some discussion of Spanky’s in the comments; tonight, its former proprietor wrote us (comments are closed on the original item since 3+ weeks have passed) to set the record straight. Here’s his note:Read More
Two artful displays on Junction buildings — first, we’ve been meaning to post this for a while in case you haven’t taken a close look — the finished renovations on the Junction Post Office Hi-Yu mural are just gorgeous:
There’s more art just about a block south, as the facade of Shadowland (in the ex-Neilsen Florist building) takes shape (thanks to Christopher Boffoli for these pix):
—
We asked Shadowland partner Joe about the artist who worked on those lovely touches along the overhang; he wrote back:
The artist working on the building is named Jaffey. He is a local West Seattle artist. People keep thinking that he did some sort of a print to get that design on there. Amazingly, he hand painted all of it. He has done signage at a lot of places in the neighborhood.
We also asked Joe to elaborate a little more on the plans for Shadowland’s menu. He says it will include some entree-sized dishes as well as the currently popular “small plates,” explaining:
The idea is that if you go out as a couple you would probably get two or three of them and share them with a glass of wine. I have found that I have really enjoyed places that offer that. You get to try more things on the menu and it usually opens up conversation at the table. It should give our chef some flexibility to allow the menu to change with what is available fresh that day and at the same time keep some of the customers’ favorites on the permanent menu.
Rhonda from Beach Drive Blog (who also runs this week’s Citizen Rain “Blog Of The Week,” The Mortgage Porter) reminds us all that today is your last chance to visit the Walker Rock Garden till next year. She has a nice photo gallery from the garden here.
WSB reader Val sent the two photos below from 35th & Holden, where the end seems near for a nondescript little house that’s on part of the land where the city will build the new Fire Station 37 to replace the historic building 4 blocks north (the substation next door is on the other part of the land and is going away too).
From Val’s e-mail:
This house was remodeled a few years ago after being vacant for a while (before the remodel, it inexplicably had two front doors) and obviously wasn’t anything special, but I hate to see a loss of housing anywhere. I believe there is a new fire station going in to these two lots, and unlike in Queen Anne, there was no public outcry about the loss of historic housing in the neighborhood. I suppose it is too much to ask to hope that the house is being moved somewhere instead of being trashed … Plus, I’d like to see the old fire station become a local (British for nearby bar). There’s really nothing along 35th, and the E-9 in Tacoma has been doing great business for years.
There’s a new link in the gray navigation bar atop the Admiral Theater home page, enticingly titled FREE TICKETS. Click it and you’ll find this page about its restoration project. Donate $40 and they promise a name plate on a new seat, plus two tickets to any regular Admiral showing. Photos on the page include two historic pix, 1930 and 1949.
More information from the folks at the Admiral Theater about plans for its latest round of renovations, previously mentioned here and here. Biggest news: the Admiral’s Steve Garrett says they have the OK to reopen the theater’s long-closed balcony “once certain work is done” — but first, he says, they want to do some restoration work, including painting a mural in the balcony area, and they are looking for bids and proposals. Click ahead for a little more on that, including how to reach Steve if you want to bid, plus news of a prestigious premiere coming to the theater:Read More
The beautiful murals around the heart of West Seattle are getting some long-awaited TLC. WS Junction Association president Dave Montoure of West 5 describes it as “the long process of restoring the salvageable murals in The Junction.” As our photos below show, they’re starting with the Hi-Yu Parade mural on the side of the Post Office, hit by taggers some time back. Dave also notes regarding the overall project, “Earl Cruzen, the gentleman who was a key figure in the original murals installation project, has stepped forward yet again — he’s a true WS treasure — to locate the original mural artists about restoration, replacement and, unfortunately in some cases, disposal.” Read more about the WS murals here and here.
P.S. We didn’t realize till a viewer e-mail following this post that the high-rise megaproject on the drawing board west of Jefferson Square is to be called “Mural,” in tribute to the WS murals … scroll down this page for a rendering.
Hot out of the inbox. If you are interested in the free marquee but having trouble reaching Steve, e-mail us and we’ll send you his cell #; just didn’t want to put it out in front of thousands.
Hello from the Admiral Theater,We are currently going through a restoration phase here at the Admiral and coming across items that may be of use to someone out there.The first Item that we have come across is a:12 foot long by 3 foot high double sided lighted marquee sign. It comes with more letter tiles than I care to count.This sign is free to a good home, just come pick it up. I would hate to see it just be dismantled and thrown away.Contact: Steve Garrett at 206-938-0360 (theater)
According to Beach Drive Blog, the city’s landmarks board has a meeting tomorrow to talk about what’s going on with the Painted Lady, aka the Satterlee House, on Beach Drive. As we have reported in recent months (May 30, May 12, September) the house and its huge front lawn are for sale, and if they’re not sold together, the front lawn could become home to three other homes.
| 1 COMMENT