West Seattle, Washington
13 Wednesday
Some eclectic events (and thanks to those who’ve e-mailed us about some of this happenings): Megawatt’s “Chautauqua” tonight … a health fair at Freedom Church today (little signs have been up on my side of WS for weeks) … yard sale season is winding down; this one today sounds interesting … live tunes tonight at venues including the lively Skylark Cafe … HS football tonight with Ingraham vs. West Seattle @ WS Stadium … an “educator reception” at Westwood Village Barnes & Noble today with editors and writers of books for “young adults” … my last plug for the Water Taxi’s final day (check the video link on this page; a report from yesterday, kinda cute) … still bored? peruse the offerings at our local community centers — like Alki CC (fall brochure here) … See you out and about!
Always lots to see; here’s some of what we saw: Village Woodworks has a notice up on its door, addressed to its fellow Junction businesses, alerting them to watch out for a shoplifter that hit VW this afternoon, described basically as a 20-30 y-o white guy, average height/build, blue windbreaker. (Describes about two-thirds of the guys we walked past down the block, standing outside the various Junction restaurants creating clouds of smoke.) Meanwhile, two months after the eviction notice went up on the window at Emily Ann’s Dollar Boutique, the place is finally, finally cleared out. And right in the middle of the road — repaving is progressing; the center of The Junction’s southern block is filled with new asphalt — big dig right in front of Pagliacci, Clementine, Red Cup, and Natureway, though!
Sadness: Drove home just after 7 pm, headed up 35th (not our usual route) in hopes of seeing the gathering for Susanne Scaringi at 35th & Graham. Even more striking than the growing group we saw in that bleak lot (decorated earlier by mourners, as shown in this photo e-mailed to us tonight) was the line of bicyclists making their way after dusk, up the first big post-golf course hill on 35th, to get to the memorial. Learned even more about Susanne in this article today; a recent arrival in West Seattle, gone much too soon. Godspeed.
Hope: Another media account (video link here) brings us up to date on Cheryl Stumbo, the West Seattle woman who was among the survivors of the Jewish Federation shooting attack downtown two months ago. Good to hear about her recovery.
-A visitor wrote to tell us that Swee Swee Paperie (just east of Cupcake Royale) is now open in The Junction (though its website is lagging; what is it with new businesses and site lag, like the Talarico’s site advertised in the Hi-Yu booklet two months ago, but as of this am still not up?).
-Reminder, tomorrow’s the last day for the ’06 Water Taxi as well as Rainier Roaster (future site of the first WS drive-thru SBUX).
P-I says there’ll be one for the West Seattle bicycle-crash victim tonight, after a tribute that apparently will be part of the monthly Critical Mass bike ride.
The original pictures were just a wrecked bike on the ground. Now we can see the face of, and hear about the life of, the woman killed while riding her bike near High Point on Wednesday morning.
–Cool article from the latest Seattle Weekly (if the link doesn’t work for you, try it later; the SW site seems a little quirky this am) about an artist whose striking work we saw during breakfasts at Easy Street earlier this year. Seems West Seattle’s Most Famous Musician saw them too, and … the rest is history.
-WS gets a brief mention in a Times piece today by the guy we consider the funniest writer in the local newspaper world, Ron Judd. It’s an imagined Q&A explaining the NW to a non-local, including:
Q: What should I know about West Seattle?
A: It’s lovely, and sort of an island unto itself in a social sort of way. Unfortunately, after the next big earthquake, it very likely will be an island unto itself in a physical sort of way.
Well, at least we already have ferry service.
We might have forgotten to mention this West Seattle traffic tragedy if not for a note we got tonight. A woman riding a bicycle near High Point got hit during the morning commute. I hope the person who wrote me doesn’t mind me using this excerpt — she knows someone related to the victim, but I’ve excised that detail and another personal point:
Early this morning on 35th Ave SW, a 27 year old woman riding north on her bicycle hit a van headed north that turned onto SW Graham in from of her. As she had the right of way, the van driver either didn’t see her or thought he was faster. She’s in Harborview with “life-threatening” injuries. … I’m just thankful my (child) was so entranced by the sight of all of the flashing lights that he didn’t see her bicycle and helmet there on the road.
This makes us think about all the brave folks we see bicycling to work or school or the store, even though we are sadly lacking in bike lanes and other accommodations. Just this morning, Hizzoner stood up and talked about fighting global warming by encouraging more alternative forms of transportation, such as bicycling. Is this just lip service, or will he really make the roads safer for people like this lady who are already trying to do their part?
-Is one of our best-known West Seattle day-care centers in danger? Could be, according to the last item in the new fall newsletter from the Fauntleroy Community Association. The nonprofit group that runs the Fauntleroy Children’s Center at the former Fauntleroy School (uphill from the business districtlet) gets a break on rent from Seattle Public Schools, but apparently the new push to get more $ out of closed school properties (as SPS prepares to close more) could bust that deal. (Seems like the district’s being penny-wise and pound-foolish these days.)
-On the other side of the coin(s), belated props to West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician for stashing some anti-graffiti $ in his new budget (near the end of the first list of bullet points in this city news release). If you’ve been dropping by here a while, you know we think graffiti vandalism is evil. So we don’t mind seeing a few of our tax dollars spent to fight it, although we would also like to see some thought given toward creative restitution — perhaps force graffiti vandals to create actual art that could be auctioned, with the $ to fill a paintout fund? Just an idea.
Scrolling signboard at Viking Bank (which took over the former Burger King location on the east edge of The Junction) says its “lobby” opens this Thursday. We’ve been thinking about exploring alternatives to the Locally Based SuperMegaBank that inertia’s kept us with for years, but a click on the “fee schedule” link on Viking’s home page doesn’t show anything attractive — $33 per overdraft, for example, is worse than Locally Based SuperMegaBank.
We are by no means Starbucks-bashers. You’re bound to find us going thru the new WS drive-thru every so often (especially since it’s right on our path to the bridge). But just for grins, we want to give a shoutout to the many other fine non-mega-mega-chain coffee providers around town (including those for whom coffee is not the main business). This is strictly from memory (and Googling), so please leave a comment to let me know who I’m missing:
Caffe Ladro, Hotwire, C & P, Tully’s on Alki and in Morgan Junction, Diva, Red Cup, Capers, Freshy’s, Bird on a Wire, Al’s Deli & Espresso, Thriftway, Metro Market, Revolution Coffee & Art, Uptown in The Junction and on Delridge, Sleepless, Alki Bakery, Coffee to a Tea with Sugar, Easy Street, Bubbles, Homefront, Zatz, Bikes and Brew, PCC, Verite/Cupcake Royale, Infinity, Alki Mail and Dispatch, and of course the ever-salubrious Java Bean.
You may get a different ad when you click this link for a followup to the Alki Avenue crash, but I have to say that a “Henry150s.com” ad box in the middle of a story about a vigil for a kid who died driving drunk (and the friend who died with him) just sucks. Here’s the screen grab:
Months after we first got a tip that Rainier Roaster at Fauntleroy & 35th would be transformed into West Seattle’s first drive-thru Starbucks … it’s finally about to happen. After a reader wrote to tell us that RR has a sign up saying it’s closing as of this Saturday, we checked the city permits … and there it all is, plain as day. Let’s see … Alki, Admiral, Morgan Junction, Westwood Village, three Safeways, Westwood QFC, and the “half” would be WV Barnes & Noble. Don’t we need just a few more?
You may have noticed already — the Junction boutique Clementine is now open in the former tanning-salon spot next to Pagliacci, with a sign/awning as its facade’s finishing touch. Across the street, in the old Neilsen Florist space, the city’s just accepted the construction-permit application for the food/drink spot that’s been posted for months as the future “Think Tank”; same thing’s just happened a bit to the south for the future Garlic Jim’s. Busy fall ahead (and all this amid the repaving project; a pain now, but how lovely it will be when that’s all done)!
After thinking about it for a few hours, we realized this morning’s Alki Avenue crash that killed 2 teenagers reminds us more of the crash that killed 3 teens on the bridge three months ago, than the Alki Ave crash this past spring. We’ve all been that age; we all know how much you don’t want to listen to adult BTDT wisdom when you’re brimming with the impatience of youth … but if only we could make them listen. And if only we could all join together in protecting them. Who sold or gave them the beer that police were photographed hauling out of the water near the wreckage? Were they young enough that they could or should have had curfews, and been home long before the 5 am death plunge? Truly senseless, in every sense … of the word.
-If you need to travel Alki Avenue/Harbor Avenue near the crash zone (see post below), beware — might be closed for a while — we were just down there a bit to the west side of the bend in the road, and yellow tape still stretched across the road, requiring drivers to turn around and head back toward the beach. Didn’t get to check where the shutdown was on the Harbor Ave side. Meantime, more updates are posted now: P-I story, also channel 5, also channel 7, nothing on the Times site as of 11:45 am … Consensus seems to be the SUV was speeding big-time before careening off the road.
-Speaking of traffic, we also cruised past Chief Sealth HS to see how jampacked the parking areas were for the Mars Hill/WS test run. Lots and lots of signs for “church parking,” including over on the Southwest Community Center side. Hope they are paying the city and school district a bundle of bucks for the privilege of tying all that up …
Just heard the news … two people killed early this morning after missing a turn and driving into the bay. Police 911 call log (link’ll only be valid till 11:59 pm tonight) cites 1238 Alki Avenue (map), with the first callout around quarter past 5 am. As the folks on the Yahoo “Alki Beach Community” group point out, the only local-news source with an online mention right now (including a video link) is channel 4. One of the ABC group members also says police are waiting till low tide early this afternoon to tow the car. This comes five months after another crash in the area that killed 2 people.
-The historic Satterlee House on Beach Drive (aka “The Painted Lady”) and its massive front yard are now separate listings, and the “subject to inspection” status of the listing for the “front yard” land would suggest a sale is near. (That’ll leave the house as a $1.2 million “fixer,” $300K more than it sold for in 2000.)
-Sad to see the latest permit granted for yet another teardown-to-buildup, this one at 1350 Alki Avenue, a red-and-white duplex where we recall seeing planters full of brilliant flowers (almost as memorable a display as Cindi Laws’ old place), till it was sold and marked for death. Goodbye, wood and planters, with a little room for the hillside behind it to breathe; hello, another five-story chunk of concrete, glass, and steel.
Maybe the city is a little bit serious about saving trees after all. Walking down a section of Cali Ave between junctions last night, we noticed two trees in the parking strip by a teardown-to-townhome project at Cali & Spokane — each with a plywood fence around its trunk, each with its trunk marked by a big bright green flyer with this admonition — PROTECT TREE! (I’d like to get a sheaf of those flyers and run around tacking them on just about every tree in sight.)
In no particular order, and certainly not all-inclusive, here’s some of what’s going on this weekend around our side of the bay:
WestFest at Holy Rosary (through Saturday) … second and final weekend of the Green Living Expo @ High Point (on Sat. & Sun.) … new art show opens Sunday at ArtsWest … last full weekend of the Elliott Bay Water Taxi … cooking demo on Sunday at West Seattle Farmers’ Market … debut of Mars Hill Church/West Seattle in its temporary home @ Chief Sealth HS … a cross-WS rivalry game of sorts with Cleveland (currently housed @ Boren) vs. WSHS at West Seattle Stadium on Saturday night …
Anything else?
The governor gets the final say on tunnel vs. new viaduct vs. neither. Here’s a link to tell her what you think she should do. And if you are honked off about city leaders deciding we shouldn’t have a direct say in it, here’s how to e-mail Hizzoner; links to city council members’ e-mail addresses can be found here.
As expected, the city council says “Go, tunnel, go.” However, note paragraph number three … can’t wait to see what the council’s definition of “infeasible” is.
F3 has socked us in pretty good here on the south side of WS, at least the upper reaches. I guess it’s technically the Last Summer Fog since the autumnal equinox doesn’t hit till just after 9 o’clock tonight, but let’s not pick nits over 12 hours.
I know it’ll clear up soon; wish the same could be said about some of the hot local topics in which West Seattle has a stake. Let’s see … according to the papers and the Save Seattle Schools blog, nobody’s happy about the latest school-change proposals, not even the Pathfinder people who were so thrilled to win their “No Boren” fight. And right this very moment as I write, city council members are dropping the gavel on the meeting at which they are likely to sing “Kumbaya” over the tunnel option, despite its wallet-wrenching cost, and proclaim that we voters don’t need to worry our pretty little heads over it. Last but not least, I imagine every caffeinated blogger from coast to coast has thrown in their two cents regarding Starbucks adding five cents. Guess that’s what’ll help pay for the Morgan Junction reno work. Meantime, West Seattle’s original Starbucks (the only one when we got here) hasn’t changed much over time.
Later today, something more fun: The weekend highlights, including the WS debut of our city’s most-publicized megachurch, whose leader cannily takes a dig at bloggers … in a blog entry. WWJB?
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