Time for the only year-end look back that we publish every year – the 10 WSB stories that drew the most reader comments. Not necessarily the most-read stories or the most-important stories, but this is one thing our publishing system allows us to objectively quantify. So, with hours remaining in 2023, here’s this year’s countdown:

#10 – LINCOLN PARK COURT-CONVERSION OPPONENTS RALLY, PLOT STRATEGY
October 21, 2023 – 190 comments
If you are a frequent reader, you won’t be surprised to see that the uproar over Seattle Parks’ plan to build pickleball courts on a paved pad that once held tennis courts has multiple spots on this year’s list. As of now, the plan remains on hold, at least until warm-weather season.

#9 – COUNCILMEMBER HERBOLD ASKS PARKS TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING ON PICKLEBALL PLAN
October 27, 2023 – 198 comments
They did, sort of – an online briefing about West Seattle projects including this one.

#8 – DEMONSTRATION ON WESTBOUND WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE
December 29, 2023 – 200 comments (so far)
A few cars stopped traffic on the bridge, briefly, and people inside them waved Palestinian flags out the window. The minutes-long demonstration touched off a days-long discussion.

#7 – WORKERS RETURN TO LINCOLN PARK COURT-CONVERSION SITE, WITH POLICE
October 23, 2023 – 225 comments
Back to the park pickleball plan.

#6 – OPPONENT KEEPING VIGIL AT PICKLEBALL SITE; CITY TO ESTABLISH ‘WORK ZONE’
October 17, 2023 – 249 comments
For a while, city crews were under orders to push ahead with the plan.

#5 – SEATTLE PARKS SAYS IT’S ‘PAUSING PROJECT CONSTRUCTION FOR TWO WEEKS’
October 31, 2023 – 254 comments
This was the most-commented pickleball-related story. The “two-week pause” has so far lasted two months.

#4 – MAN SHOT AND KILLED NEAR WHALE TAIL PARK
May 13, 2023 – 295 comments
To date, no arrest has been announced in the shooting death of 25-year-old Davonte Sanchez.

#3 – 2 DRIVERS TO HOSPITAL AFTER COLLISION ON ALKI AVENUE PUSHES 1 CAR INTO THE WATER
July 16, 2023 – 311 comments
A man slammed his car into Madison Kelly‘s car so hard that she and her car were pushed over the seawall and into Elliott Bay; bystanders pulled her out. She spent many weeks in the hospital/rehab. To date, the driver who hit her has not been charged.

#2 – HERE’S WHAT THE PICKETING OUTSIDE THE ADMIRAL THEATER IS ABOUT
November 10, 2023 – 320 comments
Some current and former workers at West Seattle’s only movie theater announced they were going on strike. They picketed off and on for some days afterward; the theater remained open.

#1 – FIREWORKS OFF BAINBRIDGE ISLAND STARTLE THOUSANDS
September 16, 2023 – 337 comments
A huge Fourth-of-July-quality fireworks show off the west side of Puget Sound was heard around the region. To date, no official confirmation of who it was for, but The Seattle Times followed the trail quite a distance.

PREVIOUS YEARS: Here are our previous most-commented-stories lists, going back to 2011:

2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011

(Image by starline on Freepik)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The city-landmark building at 2656 42nd Avenue SW is now home to history beyond its own.

The former Christian Science church and ex-Sanctuary at Admiral is the new home of the Washington State Black Legacy Institute.

You’re invited to one of WSBLI’s first public events, the Business Festival During Kwanzaa, Friday, December 29, through Sunday, December 31. (More on that later.)

We visited the building to talk with WSBLI’s curator Roger Evans about what’s taking shape. The goal is to unearth the stories of Black Washingtonians whose successes go back as far as the 1800s, not just to ensure those stories aren’t lost in the mist of time, but also to present them to new generations that can be inspired to take action when they see what these people achieved.

The WSBLI will be more than a place where you can go and look at exhibits, Evans explains, saying he and those working with him were drawn to the building because it has so many spaces where visitors can engage with materials and stories interactively. What he’s working with includes a 1926 copy of Who’s Who in Washington State, “centered on the Black community,” including businesspeople who comprised “a hidden Black Wall Street.” Evans is eager to “retell the story … to empower people to be contributors, not disrupters … to let them know they are valued.”

The WSBLI has its roots in the Seattle Griot Project, documenting Black history, and in a trip Evans took to Tulsa last year that reminded him and his traveling partner of the urgency of historic preservation.

They’ve already worked on some displays, portraits, and framings spotlighting historic figures – people like James Shepperson, who recruited Black miners to move to the Roslyn area in the 1880s, and Dr. Nettie Craig Asberry, an activist and founder of the Tacoma NAACP.

Evans has so many people to talk about – there’s also William Grose, “one of the richest Black men in Seattle at the time,” a wealthy landholder.

And there’s a historic figure on his own family tree, his uncle Willie Craven, who in the ’70s became the first African-American elected mayor in Washington State, leading Roslyn, where his grandfather had come to work in the mines.

There have been other efforts to assemble this history, Evans notes, such as the African-American Museum founded in Tacoma in the mid-’90s, lasting about a decade.

(WSBLI has clippings and other materials from its heyday.) Now it’s time, he says, with technology like a touchscreen kiosk in the works for the WSBLI entryway, to “bring our history into the 21st century.”

In addition to developing programming and exhibits for the West Seattle building, including a Hall of Pioneers, they plan to develop traveling materials.

In the new year, Evans says, WSBLI will also be working on a funding campaign to complete their purchase of the building (which is bringing in a bit of income for starters, with a church meeting there weekly). But first – the Business Festival During Kwanzaa. It’s planned for 2-7 pm Friday, December 29, 11 am-7 pm Saturday, December 30, and 11 am-5 pm Sunday, December 31. The goal is “to empower, inspire entrepreneurship, bridge educational gaps, and foster collaboration.” Evans shared some of the workshops that are planned:

The festival and workshops are free, but WSBLI requests RSVP through Eventbrite – here’s the Friday link; here’s the Saturday link; here’s the Sunday link.

Evans promises the festival is just the start – watch for more from WSBLI as they work to remember and honor the past while empowering and inspiring the future.

Scott McMurray is on a quest. Part of his Morgan Junction building on the northwest corner of California/Fauntleroy was a hospital a century ago, and he’s looking for a photo. He’s already tried everything else you could suggest – newspapers, historic archives, libraries, even the family of the hospital’s namesake. Now he’s asking you:

As a final try, I thought I would ask the West Seattle community to see if someone could find a picture in their grandmother’s scrapbook. There was a time, around 1916 to the early 1930s, when about half the babies born in West Seattle saw the first light of day in Dr. Charles Boudwin’s hospital in Morgan Junction.

Here is the 1930s map. This building on the northwest corner of California and Fauntleroy will have its 100th anniversary in 2028. On this map, the Boudwin Hospital is listed as 6506 Fauntleroy Avenue which is roughly in the back of today’s Whisky West located at 6451 California. Today’s ZEEKS PIZZA is at 6459 California Avenue. Sometime in the late 1930s the hospital, by then a General Hospital, was torn down. Later in the mid-1940s, a warehouse to a hardware store was added to the back of today’s building. You can see the warehouse in the Google Earth picture on the right:

West side of the Boudwin Hospital.

This is a picture of a house (6510 Fauntleroy Avenue) which was located in today’s upper parking, lot 3 of the map above. On the far right of the picture, we can see the west side of the Boudwin Hospital. As I mentioned, hospitals back then were not the big institutional affairs that we have today. In the early 1900s, many “hospitals“ were just large houses with lots of rooms.

General Hospital Sign.

By the 1930s Dr Boudwin had relocated from West Seattle and his hospital became a “General Hospital,” meaning many different nurses and doctors practised there. You can see their sign above the Piggly Wiggly corner grocery store:

… I believe it is an interesting part of West Seattle history- from caring for Spanish Flu victims to pizza and whiskey. If we locate a picture of the Boudwin Hospital it will make for a more interesting story.

If you have that photo, let us know and we’ll connect you.

Dr. Kenneth Beck wants to take you on a “Paleo Tour” of Alki – paleo as in paleontology. Even if you think you know everything about Alki’s history, his tour will almost certainly teach you something new – about something old.

Dr. Beck is a retired research scientist whose deep academic background (read about it here) includes paleontology and archaeology studies. And now he’s decided to put that to use: “I saw that few people in West Seattle knew anything about how West Seattle ‘got here,’ and that was sad. We live on one of the most interesting outcroppings in the world!”

He says the tour “will involve the ‘Adventurers’ in discovering fossils for themselves! Imagine that. Fossils from the Eocene Epoch (50 million years ago). Then, fast forward to 900 CE (AD), the Vikings were invading Ireland, the Classical Era was ending in India, and Alki rose out of the depth more than 25 feet in one of the grandest of grand earth-shattering quakes!”

The guided lecture/tour will cover two miles in two hours, on e-scooters or e-bikes (bring your own or rent one on Alki), not included in the $40/person honorarium (kids under 10 are free). You’ll meet Dr. Beck at Spud Fish and Chips (a part of Alki’s more-recent history). And this is by appointment only – he says he’ll offer the tour year-round, at low tide. You might see subtle sights like this, which he says is a fossilized clam:

If you’re interested, email him at drbeck@alkipaleotours.org.

(Photo sent by Rose)

The balloons on the recently rescued statue of Rolf Neslund mark the 45th anniversary of what led to the biggest West Seattle Bridge closure yet. On June 11, 1978, Neslund was piloting the freighter Antonio Chavez when it hit the north side of what was at the time the main bridge across the Duwamish River to/from West Seattle. That led to a bridge closure more than twice as long as the one we all recently endured. After the 1978 collision, it was six years until construction was complete on the current high-rise bridge, which was dedicated on July 14, 1984 (so next year will be its 40th anniversary). This city-produced video about the bridge’s history includes historic photos and video, as well as some of the city process that finally resulted in a plan to build the bridge, plus in the final few minutes, the dedication of the “low bridge” in 1991:

So far, no problems have been reported with the high bridge since it reopened nine months ago, following a 2 1/2-year closure.

(Southwest Seattle Historical Society photo)

As noted here earlier this week, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s Log House Museum is closed starting today for about a week and a half. The building isn’t the only thing undergoing an overhaul. SWSHS is also looking at new ways of serving you. They have some questions for you, too, via a community survey. Here’s how the SWSHS explains it:

Like all museums and cultural organizations, the last few years brought challenges for the Southwest Seattle Historical Society and its landmark Log House Museum. But, says its new Programs and Outreach Director, Elizabeth Rudrud, it has also created opportunities.“Visitors are looking for new experiences with their local museums,” says Rudrud, “and the last few years have allowed museums to understand that, to think differently about their programs and audiences.”The is embarking on a strategic planning process to guide its decision making for the next three years and hopes to learn from its community.

A critical component of the process is a community-wide survey. “We hope to learn whether Duwamish Peninsula residents are interested in history, what stories from the past are important to them, what types of programs or services they would like to see us offer,” Rudrud continues, “and for those who have not been to visit the Log House Museum – why? Is this something that could change if the museum did things differently or programmed in different neighborhoods?”

Respondents who choose to enter their name and contact information will be eligible for a drawing to receive a $100 American Express Gift Card. The winner will be notified in late July or August. (Personal information is not required to participate in the survey.)

The museum is already thinking in new directions, renovating its interior to accommodate larger programs and offer private rentals to bring in unrestricted income as well as expanding how it talks about the area’s past.

Recently, it joined as an early partner with the newly established Maritime Washington National Heritage Area. “The partnership allows us to collaborate with a region wide network, rethink how we talk about maritime history, incorporate geological and ecological history, and consider maritime programming.”

The Log House Museum, located one block from Alki Beach, is in a prime location to talk about the history of waterways in Washington State. It was near this location where Chief Sealth, who regularly traveled the region’s waterways, welcomed the arrival of settlers who arrived at Alki Point in 1851 on the Schooner Exact.

The LHM expects to reopen by mid-month; its regular hours are Fridays and Saturdays, noon-4 pm.

(2013 photo – the lighthouse’s centennial year – by Dustin T. Smith)

Tomorrow’s the first day this year that you can visit a historic West Seattle gem – Alki Point Lighthouse. U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers are again there for free tours on Sunday afternoons throughout the summer. Just show up between 1 pm and 3:45 pm on Sundays (except July 2nd). You can learn about its history – going back 110 years! – and enjoy panoramic views of Puget Sound.

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand. Above, SWSHS’s Elizabeth Rudrud)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

In the waning moments of tonight’s Southwest Seattle Historical Society spring gala at Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor), generous bidders helped propel the organization toward its goal.

They dug into their pockets for only-in-West-Seattle items like a music tour with historian Peder Nelson and preservationist John Bennett, riding in a 1949 Cadillac past spots where you might not know history happened. (Nirvana did some recording on 35th, for one, Nelson said.) When a bidding war hit the $500 vicinity, organizers decided to sell two tours.

Auctioneers were longtime SWSHS supporters Clay Eals (below right – he also served as the organization’s first executive director) and Mike Shaughnessy.

Eals noted that investment in SWSHS also represented “hope for the future” as well as a promise not to abandon everything from its past. “There are tangible things we can point to in the community that would not be here if not for this organization” – such as the Alki Homestead/Fir Lodge, which itself factored into the auction, with bids taken on a gift card for the acclaimed Il Nido restaurant that now occupies the landmark log building.

The night began with recognition of history going back much further.

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