West Seattle, Washington
11 Thursday
It’s been one of those weeks where offline life interfered with online life. Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging …
-Just got a note from one of the owners of Cactus Restaurants — he confirms that the new Alki location is opening this Monday, and says they’ve deliberately held back on trumpeting a definite date, but now they’re ready to go:
It is very important to us that we do a great job with the first customer who walks in the door. Our goal is to make available the same quality food and service to the West Seattle community that we have been providing in Madison Park and Kirkland for over 15 years. At our core, we are a neighborhood restaurant and look forward to serving locals like yourself and those that read your blog. I suppose the truth is that after weeks of telling people I don’t know when we are going to open, I’m excited and ready to spread the news.
-More food news: One of our most intrepid tipsters got to the latest liquor-application filings before we did, and discovered that Garlic Jim’s Pizza is apparently on its way to The Junction, in a near head-to-head with Pagliacci — the address on the app is for the former First Mutual Bank space on the east side of Cali Ave, near Quidnunc. (But will THEY deliver to my side of WS? Pagliacci still snubs us down here, grrrr …) Incidentally, this will be a return to WS, in a way, for the company’s prez, who according to this article from earlier this year was a founder of Jet City Pizza, which used to have an outlet in Morgan Junction.
-And speaking of tipsters, thanks again to everyone who’s been writing us with what they’re hearing and seeing around WS. It makes this little endeavor not only more informative, but also a lot more fun. (The e-mail link is on our “About WSB” page.)
-One more upcoming event to add to the by-no-means-all-inclusive listlet I featured below: an e-mail tipster suggests I mention the 34th District Dems’ annual Garden Party/Auction, tomorrow (Friday) night at West Seattle Nursery.
-Tomorrow’s P-I features columnist Susan Paynter investigating the Battle of the Gas Stations in the Admiral District. Brings back memories of the hue and cry when Barnecut’s finally swapped out its charming antique brick building for the current mega-station look. I agree with the person quoted in the Paynter column as suggesting Barnecut’s put up a visual reminder of its status as a longstanding family-run, “full-service” business — otherwise, if you haven’t been in WS a looooong time, you may not realize it’s something much more than “just another gas station.”
Two things on the radar so far:ÂÂÂ
-Don’t forget the open house at High Point Community Center this Friday.
-The Arts in Nature Festival features events at two West Seattle venues this weekend.
Just read that the man who helped morph our state’s elections into California-style initiativefests is getting involved in the road tax vote this fall — even though he doesn’t live in Seattle. I personally am no fan of his. But I haven’t made up my mind about this tax yet and whether it seems like it will really help. If you haven’t looked too closely at it yet either, here’s a page that might help us both — although since it’s a city page, there’s no independent analysis.
According to the city’s latest semi-weekly Land Use Info Bulletin, there’s a permit request for a “sidewalk cafe” adjacent to Starbucks at Fauntleroy and California. Considering it’s got several outdoor tables now (and a few by the back door), wonder what that’s all about …
A tv news story says Bobby’s Hobbies at the north end of the Junction is running out of gas, so to speak. That would leave our area without a mini-car racetrack, as far as we know … if you’ve been in WS a while, you may remember the indoor “speedway” that used to be in the spot West 5 now inhabits so nicely. The times, they are a-changin’ … we think Them Young People are mostly home playing computer games these dayz. (Aside: The above-linked story, as of this writing, mentions people with the surname “Grieb.” Don’t they mean “Greive“?)
My gosh, we must have some lightning-fast construction crews on tap for Fauntleroy Place. This listing for a nearby condo says Whole Foods is opening this fall. And I haven’t even seen the groundbreaking announcement yet!
The latest in the what-will-replace-a-viaduct vying: The pro-tunnel drums grow louder (though this Times columnist manages to hear right through them). But there’s good news for us viaduct drivers: sixth line from the bottom in this story says it’s at least not in imminent danger of collapsing under its own weight! Whew!
But reading between the lines … it seems less likely by the second that if we do all vote this fall, we won’t even get the chance to voice our views on The Third Option. And that, according to an allegedly secret study we paid for, would be a mistake.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to go into the beer business, you’ll be fascinated by this ongoing tale told by West Seattleites getting ready to go public with their microbrew. (“Schooner Exact,” if it doesn’t ring a bell, is a WS-appropriate name, since that was the ship the Denny Party sailed to Alki.)
The Schmitz Park coyote flap seems to be raging on in the WS Herald letters to the editor. One letter today points readers to the Friends of Schmitz Park website, which we hadn’t been aware of before.
You may recall, this latest round was touched off when coyotes made off with a dog briefly left alone in a nearby yard. People whom we believe had a connection to the dog are leading a campaign to get rid of the coyotes and claiming that they will inevitably come after small humans in the area, once they are out of small animals.
First, we agree with them — no one should be leaving food out for the coyotes; feeding wild animals does them no favors. Two, we agree with one of this week’s Herald letter-writers; cats (and other pets) belong indoors, and not only if you live near a park or greenbelt. We’ve had cats all our life, they’ve always been indoor cats, and they’ve lived long, healthy, happy lives. If you still choose to let your cats roam outside, they face worse threats than coyotes (or other wildlife).
Three, get the facts about coyote-human attacks. Rare. As this site points out, hundreds of people are killed by so-called “domestic” dogs every year. Anybody calling to ban them? Didn’t think so. So here on our tiny corner of an online soapbox, we’re standing to say, it’s not easy or convenient or perfectly safe to live in an area where we are blessed with some of the last swaths of urban sort-of-semi-wilderness in America. But we can deal with it without exterminating/evicting everything that doesn’t happen to be a cute, tiny, theoretically harmless “wild” creature. The animals don’t have a choice of where to go or what to do. We do. To quote the state site we have linked above (which you can also find from the Friends of Schmitz Park site, which elsewhere displays one of the anti-coyote letters):
Coyote behavior is based on instinctual programming for survival that is centuries old. As intelligent beings, individual coyotes can learn new ways to obtain the food, water, and shelter they need to survive. But coyote needs aren’t going to change.
However, human “needs” to set garbage on the curb, leave dog food outside, or put the cat out at night, can and should be re-examined. If humans want to peacefully coexist with these fascinating wild animals, it’s up to humans to change.
If you are interested in more advice on how to do that, here’s excellent information from the Humane Society of the United States.
Another pet-related store is on its way to Cali Ave. The windows of the former “Adorn,” on the west side of the street just south of Admiral, now sport huge banners touting the impending arrival of a Mud Bay pet-food outlet. (Also on the Mud Bay site, a handy page with photo and map.) That makes four pet-related stores along Cali Ave — also including Next to Nature, Petco, and Pet Elements. (Though perhaps Petco is not long for this [WS] world?)
-The Cactus Restaurant webpage for under-construction Alki has mentioned only “August 2006” as its opening date. So now that August is half over, will that really happen? Just got e-mail from an Alki reader who said she called one of the other Cactus locations to ask and was told they’re “shooting for” August 28.
-Something’s in the works at the former Cat’s Eye Cafe just north of Lincoln Park. Construction permits are posted in its windows; the online info describes the work only as “rewire/remodel studio.”
Bad billboard placement:
Yet another one of those stupid double entendres on behalf of Las Vegas tourism, this one declaring “I JOINED A THREESOME.”
Location: Right over West Seattle Montessori School, right where families turning left into the drop-off alley can’t miss it. (“Mommy, what’s a …”) Nice.
The P-I takes on Alki’s summer of semi-discontent today. P.S., the “blogger who writes often about Alki” quoted at the very end is not me … took me a minute to figure out who it actually is.
Not long after I posted about the apparently doomed historic house at 4532 42nd SW (thanks to “WS Guy” for the comment on that post, enlightening me about its history — my copy of the wonderful “West Side Story” is in tatters and I need to find a “new” one), we were startled by this sight: The historic “Satterlee House” on Beach Drive is up for sale again, billed as a “$3 million fixer” with suggestions as to how some of its massive front-lawn space could be developed. It’s been five years since the slugfest over a plan to put cottages on that land; now the MLS listing suggests it could be used as “possible 3 building sites with completed short plat.” Whatever happened to the campaign to save the house and its site as is? Isn’t there any kazillionaire around here with a few spare bucks (I wish I did!) to preserve a little history? (or are they ALL on Lake Washington?)
Several of the projects already in the pipeline will make 42nd the “second Main Street of The Junction” more than ever. One wasn’t really on my radar till we walked along 42nd yesterday, from the north edge of the Junction down to Jefferson Square. This one saddens me a bit. At 4532 42nd, if you look behind and over the fencing and the overgrowth, there’s a huge old house with some style and flair (despite what must be, by now, years of neglect and disrepair). It almost looks like a Southern plantation house, with a huge balcony under the eaves on its top story. The golden-yellow land-use-ap sign in front has been there so long, somebody has tagged it; the online information doesn’t say a whole lot, though the architect who’s listed seems to be associated with the fabled Roger Newell — it’s just listed as another proposed “mixed-use” building. I know old houses come down all the time so the land can be cleared for condos, townhomes, “mixed use,” whatever, but few of them are as striking as this one. I’d bet it has a bit of history, too. (And in fact, Googling its address just before finishing this post, I found it on a document of “cultural and historical resources” that were “inventoried” at some point along the way in the monorail studies. Hmm. Might have to check with the Log House Museum people on this one.)
Several fun options around West Seattle tonight: “Grease” at Sidewalk Cinema next to Hotwire (we’ve been to these fun outdoor movies twice this summer and had a blast both times); “Once Upon a Mattress” in the West Seattle High School theater (billed as partly a fundraiser for the relatively new and lively Youngstown Cultural Arts Center); the last night of “Cabaret” at ArtsWest; and if you venture a little further southwest to White Center, sounds like one heck of a bash till 10 pm tonight at Pacific Rim Brewing Company, featuring more than half a dozen bands and the inimitable Rat City Rollergirls.
Regardless of what you think about this war, or any war, it is worthwhile to consider the unique humanity of everyone involved in it, on both sides, when you get the chance. Sadly, that sort of opportunity seldom presents itself aside from the death of a soldier, such as onetime Chief Sealth HS student Staff Sgt. Tracy Melvin, the latest local person killed in Iraq. His funeral is set for Friday in White Center; his life is outlined in Times and P-I stories this morning.
Turnover in Morgan Junction: The door at Manila Cafe (across from the future monorail site turned future park ‘n’ pub) is papered over, and a liquor-license ap is posted. Says the place is going to become “Kokoras Greek Grill.” The state site identifies the applicant as “Spiros Greek Island Enterprises.” Goodbye, adobo; hello, gyros!?
Two tales today of things going up:
-The Admiral Way Viewpoint’s new pole will be celebrated this afternoon. The P-I’s version of the story today is fairly vanilla; the WS Herald’s version (with photo) is spiced with the backstory of how the log used for the pole was “poached.”
-Taller and wider than perhaps a thousand poles, yet another “mixed-use” project in the Junction (this is the one on ex-monorail land across from Jefferson Square) is advancing through the city pipeline. The latest Land Use Info Bulletin (a must-subscribe if you are interested in early word on what might be going up, and coming down, near you) announces an “early design review guidance” meeting in two weeks. Now the big question — in the two months since this P-I article spotlighted the dilemma to be posed by the loss of that parking lot, is there any progress toward a solution? (as was semi-promised in the following section of that article) The concerns are significant; I wound up parking in that lot last Sunday while trying to get to the Farmers’ Market, since everything on the west side of California (and beyond) was taken (except the “pay spaces,” which I suppose we’ll now see more of), and no, the bus wasn’t a good solution — the Sunday schedules are horrible. Anyway, here’s what was in that May P-I article. Love to hear what’s transpired regarding staying “in touch with the community”:
The company that catalyzed high-rise downtown living with Harbor Steps apartments has shifted its sights to close-in neighborhoods, snapping up a parking lot in the heart of West Seattle’s Alaska Junction.
It fits Harbor Properties’ criteria perfectly: good public transportation, a walkable business district and a neighborhood “with a soul,” said chief development officer Denny Onslow.
Though specifics for the roughly 100-unit development the company plans to build there are up on the air, it’s clear the building will supplant the parking lot behind Petco, which will be forced to move once those 40 spaces are gone, store officials say.
It’s also functioned as a free community lot where anyone dropping in for dance lessons, beers or kids’ art classes could usually poach a spot.
“In my opinion it’s going to be devastating to lose that as parking,” said Michael Hoffman, owner of Liberty Bell Printing. “We were trying to get it back for our merchants association … but there was no way we could compete.”
Harbor Properties, which bid $4.5 million, has already begun talking to the community and is well aware of the parking concerns, said development director Steve Orser.
The company is willing to work on those, he said. Junction businesses, though, should also benefit from an influx of new residents looking to walk to restaurants, shopping or yoga classes.
“Sometimes our parking is lower than what you might expect because we offer alternative transportation and we encourage that as part of our sustainable and green development,” he said. “But we’re going to do our best to be in touch with the community and see if there aren’t solutions.”
We’ve managed to renew our car tabs online the past few years, since the DOL upgraded its web offerings. However, this summer, we were baaaad … let our tabs expire … so a few days ago, we wound up having to go down to the DOL office south of The Junction in person to make things right.
So we had to stand in line for 20 minutes or so. Funniest thing, I can’t tell you how many people walked in, looked at the half-dozen or so of us standing in line, sighed loudly, and went back out again. Clearly none of them ever have lived in the other “western states that shall go nameless” that we have previously lived in, where instead of a nice neighborhood DOL office, you have a centralized “DMV” where you can count on spending AN ENTIRE DAY and possibly needing A SLEEPING BAG AND A TENT until you get close enough to possibly transact your business. Half a dozen people at the DOL office? Pshaw. Nothin’. And once we got up to the counter, it was a two-minute transaction. Trust me, here in WA, we got it good, in a variety of ways.
Hate to bum you out if you’d rather focus on the month left till school starts, three weeks left in August, etc., but the nice folks at High Point Community Center wrote to ask that we let you know they’re having an open house later this month to tell the world about their fall programs. Friday, August 25, 6-8 pm.
High Point has changed so much in recent years — if you’re a WS semi-old-timer like us, you may recall the days when High Point=trouble, but that’s really not the case any more. The community center (and elementary school) both have gone through beautiful remodels/rebuilds in recent years; there’s a brand new library branch; and the nearby development is a 180 from the old days of rundown housing. Venture over that way (if you live in other areas of WS) and you will likely be surprised.
Figured my anti-tagging rant last weekend would attract at least one person offering apologism for the criminals who do this, and it did (though it’s relatively mild apologism). Even as the hard-working folks who have put time and money into improving The Junction over the years found themselves forced to spend more of both this week cleaning up after vandals, somebody dared to suggest it’s no big deal. Not only is it a big deal, it’s a huge deal, and I would challenge our city leaders to get something really big going against it, like this (as opposed to this tame page). Graffiti vandalism, particularly the “tagging” variety, is no more artistic than throwing a brick through a window. If you want to use spray paint to commit something akin to peeing your initials in the snow, do it on your own house, your own car, someplace where it’s nobody’s concern BUT your own.
P.S. One of the West Seattle Herald’s sister newspapers has an interesting story about some graffiti vandalism in the north end (although the editor should have cut out the irrelevant reference to the vandals’ speculated ethnic origins).
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