West Seattle, Washington
02 Saturday
-Thanks to the reader who tipped us that Bakery Nouveau is featured on the cover of Seattle Magazine’s new “best restaurants” issue. Yum.
-A new exhibit at MOHAI will feature 19th-century paintings from a daughter of the Denny party’s namesake.
-Also from the P-I, Ted Van Dyk has a good post-viaduct-vote rant. Reminds us of the interesting sight we saw while traveling up Cali after the Charlestown meeting last night — an apartment window plastered with not only a YES ELEVATED sign, but also RECALL NICKELS and even mock Times front pages with the apartment-dweller’s fantasy future headline NICKELS DEFEATED. (Perhaps a Steinbrueck relative lives there!)
That’s one way we would sum up organizer Mark Wainwright’s main theme for the spirited crowd that sardined itself into the northernmost room of Charlestown Cafe tonight. Not to say there won’t be some rabblerousing …Read More
If you drive east from WS, thru South Park and Georgetown, you need to know about this. As for our WS paving work … lots of dirt to be seen in the center of Cali as you travel the zone … if you are imaginative, it might make you wonder what WS looked like pre-paved roads, although on that stretch of Cali, the pavement apparently goes way back!
Just in case you forgot: It’s not a political meeting, not an official meeting, really just a grass-roots get-together for folks concerned about the closing of the Charlestown Cafe and/or what might replace it (currently, it’s proposed as Petco’s new home once that store leaves The Junction), and what they can do about it. 7 pm tonight @ the cafe.
Busy day for north West Seattle in the city’s land-use-permit department: First, the city says again that the King County project to upgrade the pump station on the east edge of Alki is OK by them. Second, a townhouse project at Cali & Seattle just cleared some hurdles — with this construction permit, another construction permit, this demolition permit, and another demo permit.
Since their site’s been on our Other Blogs in WS page pretty much the whole time their son gestated, we want to publicly congratulate The Perrys of West Seattle on their new arrival. All together now — awwwww!
With the first major service in its new West Seattle digs just days away, Mars Hill has just posted a blog entry pleading with its parishioners to not fulfill neighbors’ worst fears regarding a potential neighborhood parking nightmare. The post’s heading, “Obey Jesus: Park and Ride,” kinda says it all.
Exactly seven months after we first mentioned Garlic Jim’s was on its way to The Junction — it’s grand-opening day. Will it live up to hopes ‘n’ hype? Will it take a bite out of Pagliacci’s business? How far south will they deliver? How good is its “gourmet” pizza, anyway? Any and all comments/reviews, this thread is here for you. (P.S. Before you recycle today’s junk mail – check for GJ coupons/menu – we got some and plan to use ’em.)
The former video store and the ex-we-can’t-even-remember-WHAT-it-was-before to the west are now both rubble, barely a week after demolition work began. This view looks west from 41st (Jefferson Square sign off to the left):
Busy dance card tomorrow night for West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine. He’s the guest of honor at a fundraising “roast” at West 5, kicking off his next campaign. But his staff tells us he’s hoping first to drop in and “touch base” with the gathering crowd at the Charlestown Cafe meeting, which they regret was scheduled long after the West 5 shindig was nailed down. (Afterparty, anyone?)
Perhaps it’s the ol’ law of attraction. We were browsing library shelves far from West Seattle last weekend and playing book roulette — just grab something that looks somewhat interesting. We didn’t read the author blurb, didn’t recognize the name, just saw the sci-fi/fantasy type plot summary and said “why not.” Started reading it last night, thought a name in the author’s family acknowledgments looked familiar, followed the Google trail … yes, the author is from West Seattle. Of ALL the books to pull out of the stack! Just started it so no review, but add this to your list of WS authors. P.S. Speaking of WS authors, the WSB reader behind “Heidi, Geek Girl Detective” (a “serialized mystery webcomic”) has posted Book One’s final chapter.
A WSB regular found a weather cam at Madison Middle School. (2 additions to the cams page in 3 days, can we stand the excitement?) Anyway, thanks, and keep the discoveries coming!
So sad that he died the day before he was scheduled to return to home base. (Besides that newspaper link, the CG has an updated press release with photos.)
It’s probably the #1 question we get: WS Trader Joe’s or no WS Trader Joe’s? Sorry to say, we have no definitive answer. We have heard way too many second- and third-hand reports of yes/no/maybe/never, plus we remember back when a businessperson near Caffe Ladro claimed the landlord for that building was insisting TJ’s would go in there, with condos above (ultimately, the commercial building stayed status-quo, and condos went into the empty lot next door). That said, it seems rather mean that Trader Joe’s has given names to its checkout aisles, including: Three Tree Point, Normandy Park, Des Moines, Seahurst … and … Fauntleroy. Why don’t they just rename one “Alki” and rub it in even further? Wah!
Final word from the proprietor of The Junction’s new pizza joint, the plan to open tomorrow @ 11 am is a go. (By the way, according to a newspaper in Everett, home to GJ’s corporate HQ, this is the chain’s first sit-down location ever.) We’ll open a thread tomorrow for early reviews. Now, attention turns to The Junction’s northernmost block — who’ll open next, Shadowland, Spring Hill, or the bakery?
Heard all the sirens this afternoon, drove by but couldn’t tell what was going on — now it’s posted at the P-I site and on the local Coast Guard site: A CG petty officer died off Fauntleroy after some kind of accident involving one of those boats we saw at Don Armeni last week. (UPDATE: Thanks to Nic Templeton for sending photos taken from Lincoln Park during the rescue attempt, including the one below; a little hard to tell in the afternoon-sunshine glare but at left on the dock, you see Seattle FD vehicles; at right alongside the dock, a Coast Guard boat.)
Note on the front door of Gatewood Baptist says they’ve finally made their move to the new digs on 35th (formerly Calvary Lutheran), and the name change (Life Church) too. Meantime, the townhouses on ex-church property across the street are moving fast … frames are up for at least two of the buildings.
Given the natural splendor of West Seattle, we’re endlessly puzzled as to why more webcams aren’t up around here. The list on our WS Cams page has stayed relatively unchanged for months. Last summer, a volleyball group had an Alki cam up for a while, but even that went away. Finally, today, someone put up another live WS cam: the West Seattle Birdcam. Just a backyard and a bird feeder, but we’ll give ’em an A for effort, and add them to the cams page. Let us know if there’s something out there we’re missing — we keep looking!
So it’s Sunday morning, you’re not in such a rush, thinking about wandering out for coffee. Do you always go to the same place, or do you get adventurous every now and then? We’ve been trying to branch out, try the places we haven’t been to in a while (if ever), and we have to say, we’re really impressed with Cafe Rozella, on the southwestern edge (the “cutting edge,” their site says) of WS. Excellent coffee & ambience. See you there.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of West Seattle’s three major Catholic churches, is using this weekend’s services to kick off its campaign to raise at least $3 million to build a “Parish Life Center” and administrative building. A flyer on the church site has a few more details.
Another reminder: For everyone concerned about the future of Charlestown Cafe and what might be built on its site, you’ll want to be there 7 pm this Wednesday night for the long-awaited community meeting.
Looks like Admiral Safeway has budged a little from its hard line against non-shoppers using its parking lots. We were just forwarded this snippet from a bulletin sent to Lafayette Elementary families by the principal:
I have spoken to Steve Rood, the Manager of Safeway. He assured me
that Lafayette parents can continue to use back (south) parking lot for up
to 2 hours for drop-off and pick-up. Also, if we have an evening event,
with prior notice, we can continue to use the Safeway parking lot.ÂÂ
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