West Seattle, Washington
18 Monday
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
Our post about the start date for this year’s Elliott Bay Water Taxi season brought lots of questions — we took them to County Councilmember Dow Constantine’s office, which has graciously provided lots of answers. His staff’s entire, info-laden reply, after the click:
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Actually, this time we’ve got events in West Seattle AND a bit beyond … just a click away:Read More
This seems to be moving pretty fast. All but one outside lane in each direction is now chewed up/dug up all the way to SW Spokane on the north edge; the southbound lane is extremely groovy, and not in the good sense of the word.
Seattle Public Schools now seems settled on the plan to sell the old Fauntleroy Schoolhouse building as well as several other pieces of “surplus property.” It’s home to a busy child-care center as well as The Hall at Fauntleroy; many have wondered what a sale would mean to the site’s future. The Fauntleroy Community Association site says an event is now set for April 29 to serve as both an open house and “an opportunity to express your ideas for this property if it were in community hands.”
Getting a jump on our weekly “what’s happening this weekend,” which will be up tomorrow as usual — we wanted to give you 24 (or so) hours notice about two benefit events, both happening tomorrow (Friday) night. #1 — From 6 till 8 pm in the West Seattle High School commons, it’s the annual chowder cookoff, with chowders from local restaurants offered in what the school calls a “blind taste test.” More info a ways down the school’s home page. #2 — The West Seattle Big Band is playing @ Evergreen HS (between White Center and Burien) as part of an “Evening of Swing,” 6:30-9:30 pm, benefitting the school music program.
Haven’t seen this on any of the newspaper sites, but Seattle Police confirmed for us that they have arrested a suspect in the 37th/Findlay shooting that killed Dewayne West. The suspect’s name is Jabarie Phillips. Police couldn’t share a lot of details but do say their original suspicion that this “wasn’t random” was indeed the case. Our research found that he, like the victim, is in his 30s, and has a criminal record stretching back into juvenilehood, most recently some sort of drug case dismissed less than two weeks ago. He is in the county jail, bail listed as a million dollars.
Businesses in the repaving zone are hopeful we won’t all abandon them during this time of inconvenience. We’ve been to Hotwire, where a handwritten sign on the door says, THANKS FOR BRAVING THE CONSTRUCTION/YOU MAY PARK IN THE COURTYARD FOR 5 MINUTES. If you’ve got any artistic inclination, you’ve got a week and a half more to get in on their “First Annual Coffee Cup Design Contest.” Submit a design by 3/31; customers will vote on the entries in early April. (Entry form & guidelines here.)
This morning’s P-I dissection of Pointlessness at the Polls points out, pointedly, that despite WS being home to Hizzoner, our collective voting position was a 180 from his. (P.S. Don’t forget, the Lame-Duck-A-Duct is closed most of this weekend.)
The date is set for its 2007 debut — April 29 — running thru late September.
The city says the grass ballfields are open again. Guess our spectacular sunny morning did the trick.
The Coast Guard returned to Don Armeni at midday today, launching at least three of their inflatables, with another hovering offshore. Still wondering why they often turn up here, instead of launching from their convenient downtown base across the bay?
As of midmorning today (camera pointing northwest, SW Alaska in foreground):
Now most of Cali between Hinds and the post office is chewed up/grooved, so slower going. We tried side streets to the west as a detour; won’t do that again, those free-for-all intersections aren’t cut out for the overflow. Unrelated side street note: On 41st north of Admiral, heading north from Metro Market, the center stripe is green, leading all the way to a “shamrock” near the end of the street. Our e-mail tipster says the repainting is a St. Patrick’s Day holdover that apparently happens every year; first time we’ve seen/heard of it.
On the east edge of The Junction, developers of the mixed-use project with the QFC didn’t waste much time after booting Hollywood Video. A reader e-mailed us late yesterday that demolition work was racing ahead. What you see behind the backhoe is actually a house behind the ex-store – by late last night, it was just a shell:
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