West Seattle, Washington
31 Monday
12:22 PM: If you’re up for early-afternoon whale-watching, Kersti Muul reports transient orcas are headed this way, southbound, toward the north edge of Elliott Bay at last report. They’re closer to the west side of the Sound, so you’d need binoculars. Let us know if you see them!
4:48 PM: Thanks to Jill Anderson for sending video of the orcas as seen off the Bainbridge ferry earlier!
Two crash-and-grab burglaries to report:
GLOBAL SMOKE & VAPE, AGAIN: The all-too-familiar photo is from Sam, who was first to tip us that Global Smoke & Vape at 35th/Roxbury was broken into again, fourth time in three and a half weeks. It happened around 5:15 am. According to archived police/dispatch audio, the shop owner got an alarm notification and called police while watching the burglary on a video feed. A vehicle was used. Its description wasn’t discussed over the air but we followed up with SPD and they say it appears to likely have been a white SUV. Previous break-ins were on August 26th, September 6th, and September 13th.
MR. O.G. IN WHITE CENTER: Thanks to Zac for the tip and photo.
Zac noticed last night that the cannabis store at 9823 15th SW had the telltale boarded-up front. That’s in King County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction, so we checked with them this morning. They say a vehicle was used to break into the shop early Monday and the burglars left the vehicle (no description given) behind,
10:24 AM: Reported by Rose:
Sad to say, a neighbor who has dementia is missing.
Jim left Pigeon Point and typically walks to the Senior Center in the Junction. But he did not get there.
He is wearing a blue jacket and jeans.
He is hard of hearing.
Rose says Jim was last seen last night. The report number is 23-271803. (Call 911 and refer to that SPD case number if you see him.)
ADDED 12:38 PM: More info, from SPD: Jim is 86, 5’10”, 124 lbs, gray hair, glasses, blue ski jacket, blue or black jeans. “Last seen on 9-18-23 between 6:30-7:00 p.m. in the 3600 block 22nd Ave SW.”
This Saturday, you’re invited to the second annual Oktoberfest celebration at Alki Masonic Center in The Junction, which just might be the biggest Oktoberfest party in West Seattle. Organizers are sponsoring WSB this week to be sure you’ve heard about it, in case you haven’t already seen it in the WSB Event Calendar. This Oktoberfest party has it all – food options including schnitzel, brats, and German pretzels; beer; live music; and games (Hammerschlagen, Cornhole, Stein challenge). Even a costume contest! Tickets are $40 and the proceeds raise money for youth-scholarship programs. You can get your ticket(s) now online – just go here. The center’s at 40th/Edmunds, and the party’s happening in their lower-level event venue all afternoon on Saturday – noon to 5 pm.
6:03 AM: Good morning! It’s Tuesday, September 19th.
WEATHER AND SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES
Partly sunny, high in the mid-60s. Sunrise today is at 6:52 am; sunset, 7:13 pm.
TRANSIT TODAY
Metro – Regular schedule; check advisories here.
Water Taxi – Regular schedule.
Washington State Ferries – 2-boat service on the Triangle Route. Check alerts for changes, and use Vessel Watch to see where your ferry is.
SPOTLIGHT TRAFFIC CAMERAS
Delridge cameras: Besides the one below (Delridge/Henderson), cameras are also at Delridge/Genesee, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Orchard, and Delridge/Oregon.
High Bridge – the main camera:
High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way):
Low-bridge cam:
1st Ave. S. Bridge – alternate route across the river:
Highway 99: – northbound side at Lander.
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: See all working traffic cams citywide here, most with video options; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are on this WSB page.
BRIDGE INFO: The @SDOTBridges Twitter/X feed shows whether the city’s movable bridges are opening for vessel traffic.
If you see trouble on the bridges/streets/paths/bay, please text or call us (when you can do it safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities). Thank you!
More Crime Watch reports before the night’s out:
THREE MORE ROBBERIES: We don’t have a ton of details on these – the radio transmissions are spottier than usual tonight. Here’s what we have: A street robbery was reported around 8:30 pm in the 4400 block of 44th SW – not certain whether that is where it happened, or that’s what their victim reported it from. This reader photo shows part of the police response:
A white vehicle (not the one in the photo) was reported associated with the robber(s), possibly a RAV-4. Items taken were reported to have included a phone. … Then just before 10 pm, an armed robbery was reported at the 35th/Avalon 7-11. One robber, described as a Black man, 20 to 30 years old, 5’10” to 6 feet, in a blue hoodie and black ski mask, got away on foot. If you have any information, that robbery’s SPD incident # is 23-271572; the 44th case is 23-271510.
Then as we were writing this, around 11:50 pm, word came in of a “purse snatch” in the 4500 block of California, with a “silver car” possibly involved. We’ll add anything more we hear. Meantime, three other reports, all via email:
ANOTHER WESTWOOD CAR THEFT: From Stacey:
At 5:45 pm tonight, my husband witnessed three teens, get off the bus on SW Barton, head to the Target parking lot, and steal the ehite Hyundai on the picture below.
He tried to video it, but had trouble due to a truck in the way. The police incident report is 23-271416. The police sent someone to check out the area.
Finally, two package-related notes:
FOUND ON THE STAIRS: Chris found these on the Spokane Street Stairs:
He said they were “all Amazon” and he planned to take them to Alki Mail and Dispatch, so if you’re missing an Amazon package, you might check there tomorrow.
PACKAGE THEFT: A different Chris reports:
We had a package theft on September 11 but just discovered it today. We live in the Endolyne area near the ferry dock. We scanned our security camera and have photos of the gray car and the thief.
This clip shows the entire theft.
Both City Council District 1 candidates campaigned over the weekend, walking in South Park’s Fiesta Patrias parade, as our photos show. One week from tonight, Rob Saka and Maren Costa will be at the next WSB-presented candidate forum, Monday, September 25th, at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon). Starting tonight, we invite you to email questions – the candidates will have more time to answer than during our primary forum with eight candidates, but we still appreciate very specific questions. If you have a question to suggest, please email westseattleblog@gmail.com.
Same goes if you have any suggested questions for the candidates we’ve just added to the forum – we’ll open the night by talking with the two candidates for King County Council District 8, which includes West Seattle, White Center, Vashon and Maury Islands, and Burien. We haven’t seen many planned forums in this race, so we decided to add one to our event. We will talk with candidates Sofia Aragon and Teresa Mosqueda at 6:30 pm, and will switch to the City Council candidates at 7:15 pm. Again, this is all happening next Monday night, September 25th, at the Senior Center – you’re welcome to come watch either or both. And if you can’t get there in person, we’ll be recording and publishing video of both shortly after the event.
Police are at Roxhill Park right now dealing with two more stolen-and-dumped cars.
(WSB photos)
They are a Hyundai and Kia, one stolen while its owner was shopping across the street from the park at Westwood Village QFC – police reached her by phone and were bringing her over to the scene. The now-notorious hotwire-via-cord was visible inside:
The other car belonged to someone in Burien.
Police reported at least one of these cars eluding them earlier today elsewhere in West Seattle. Radio exchanges indicated officers apparently arrived at the park shortly after the occupants got out and bolted into the park. Last we heard, the search hadn’t turned up anything.
P.S. If you have one of the theft-prone Hyundai or Kia models, we confirmed today with acting Southwest Precinct crime-prevention coordinator Mark Solomon that free steering-wheel locks ARE available even though the giveaway sessions are over – email him at mark.solomon@seattle.gov to arrange to get one.
A new policy at Chief Sealth International High School this year – no cell phone use during class. Under the hashtag #AwayForThe Day, it’s explained: “The expectation is simple. Students will need to keep their phone away for the day. This means that during class time, phones will be in their backpack or bag and remain there until the end of class. Teachers will also have cases, lockers or something similar where phones can be safely stored if the student would prefer that.” After a survey, an FAQ was sent out, with most student questions answered the same way: “You can use your cell phone before and after school, and during lunch.” It’s going to be a topic at the first Chief Sealth PTSA meeting of the year, Tuesday night at 7 pm in the school library, PTSA leaders say guests will include Sealth principal Ray Morales as well as “a presenter from our Building Leadership Team talking about the research that went into making the phone decision.” Community members are welcome at the meeting too, even if you’re not a Sealth parent, teacher, or student. Other topics include discussing “key issues the PTSA will focus on this year.” P.S. We’ve asked Seattle Public Schools if any other schools have a similar cell-phone policy; haven’t heard back yet.
Two development notes:
(Rendering of 4448 California by Atelier Drome)
JUNCTION DEVELOPMENT CHANGES TO HALF-HOTEL: What’s expected to be the next West Seattle Junction redevelopment project to start construction, 4448 California SW, is open for comments again because of a change in the plan: What was going to be a 7-story building with commercial spaces under apartments is now changing to ground-floor commercial plus three floors of hotel, three floors of apartments. We’ve had a message out to the project team since this appeared in the city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin last Thursday; they haven’t responded, so we went digging through a virtual sheaf of documents to try to find out more. The documents show the hotel rooms are proposed for floors 2, 3, and 4; this document explains the rationale, that developers believe West Seattle needs more hotel rooms since right now there’s only one hotel (The Grove in The Triangle), and that The Junction is the perfect place for it. They are proposing 45 hotel rooms, roughly equal to the number of apartments the revised plan would have (when the project went through Design Review, 90+ apartments were planned). The original plan had no offstreet parking; so far we haven’t found anything in the file suggesting a change in that. The developer’s webpage for the project does not yet reflect the proposed change. If you’re interested in commenting on the new plan, this notice explains how. September 27th is the deadline.
NEXT DESIGN REVIEW DATE FOR AEGIS LIVING: As we’ve been reporting for more than a year, Aegis Living plans a senior-living complex on the site of long-abandoned, much-vandalized commercial buildings at 5252 California SW (and vicinity). Back in February, the Southwest Design Review Board approved the “early design guidance” stage of the 5-story, 100+-unit plan. But the process requires at least one more meeting, for final recommendations, and the city has now set a date for that meeting: 5 pm Thursday, October 19th. Links and design packet will eventually be available here.
12:04 PM MONDAY: Police are investigating a crime spree late last night that likely involved the same three people.
Around 10:15, they got a call about a street robbery/carjacking attempt near 39th/Oregon. According to what police were initially told, three people – described as “juveniles, possibly Hispanic,” all armed – robbed the victim of their watch and phone, and got away in a black Toyota Prius, that turned out to have been stolen in a Kent carjacking.
Not long after that, they answered a call about car windows breaking in the 4800 block of 47th SW and found that had happened to at least two cars, a Kia Sportage and a Subaru Outback – the suspects were described as three young Hispanic men, and a “black sedan” was seen.
Then just before 11 pm, a carjacking was reported in the 1600 block of Sunset Avenue. The three carjackers took a blue Kia Sportage at gunpoint. They were initially described as three “unknown-race males,” wearing black masks. A gray Camry was “caravanning” with the stolen car, and an officer spotted them on Beach Drive a short time later. A pursuit ensued, but he reported losing sight of them around 48th SW and Holly. Not long after that, the stolen black Prius associated with the first incident was found abandoned at 47th/Dawson.
If you have any information related to all this, the robbery was incident # 23-270527, and the carjacking was # 23-270558. The SPD tip line is 206-233-5000.
ADDED 9:09 PM: From Liz in comments: “So our son was in the blue Kia Sportage that was carjacked at 11 pm last night in North Admiral. He and his friend are shaken but doing ok. The police last night were great — I had Apple-airtagged the car, so they livetracked it with me and were pursuing it every time the AirTag updated. The cars were found in south Burien 4 mins after they were dumped — both the Sportage and the Camry were recovered.”
As we first reported on September 3rd, Metro plans to continue seven-days-a-week West Seattle Water Taxi service through the fall and winter again this year (and beyond). County Executive Dow Constantine officially announced it today. One key point in the announcement: No Water Taxi service the weekend of October 14-15, so maintenance can be done to get ready for the winter season.
(Lincoln Park – photo by Theresa Arbow-O’Connor)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, highlights for the hours ahead:
FOR VETERANS: If you need help filing a disability claim, the DAV offers free drop-in assistance 9 am-1 pm. (4857 Delridge Way SW)
LEARN CPR/AED: 2-4 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon):
Come learn adult hands-only CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) use through Seattle Fire Department’s Medic 2 CPR training. The focus of this training will be on contacting 9-1-1, practicing proper compression techniques and how to apply an AED in the event of a cardiac arrest. No previous experience is required. Advance RSVP requested.
CITY COUNCIL BRIEFING: 2 pm, councilmembers talk about the week ahead. The agenda explains how to attend or watch.
SUMMER EVENING PADDLING: Monday nights all summer long, get out on the water with Alki Kayak Tours, 6 pm. (1660 Harbor SW).
GET CRAFTY: 6-10 pm, this is “Crafting and Creativity Night” at The Missing Piece (9456 35th SW), info here.
D&D: Open D&D starts at 6:30 pm at Meeples Games (3727 California SW), all welcome, first-time players too. $5.
COMEDY: Monthly “Routine Killers” show at Otter on the Rocks (4210 SW Admiral Way), 7 pm, with headliner Phil Kopczynski. Tickets still available when we checked.
CANDIDATES: Seattle City Council candidates from all districts will be participating in the Seattle Fair Growth forum online tonight, with co-sponsors including West Seattle’s Morgan Community Association. Topics include density, affordable housing, and tree canopy. It’s separated into two sessions; District 1 candidates will be part of the 7-8:15 pm session – you can find the viewing link here.
MONDAY MEDITATION: Free weekly Zen sitting/meditation at the chapel at Fauntleroy UCC (9140 California SW), 7 pm-8:30 pm.
BEDHEAD OPEN MIC: Weekly BedHead Open Mic at West Seattle Church of the Nazarene (4201 SW Juneau), 7 pm (signups at 6:30) – info in our calendar listing.
MONDAY NIGHT TRIVIA! Three weekly events – 7 and 8 pm Sporcle Pub Quiz at Three 9 Lounge (4505 39th SW); 7 pm at The Good Society (California/Lander), 7:30 pm with QuizFix at The Skylark (3803 Delridge Way SW)
MUSIC AT THE ALLEY: Live music with The Westside Trio, 8 pm at The Alley (behind 4509 California SW), 21+, no cover.
Have a West Seattle/White Center event to add to our calendar ? Please send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
9:09 AM: Thanks for the tip! 23 homes in southwesternmost West Seattle have been without power since just before 6:30 this morning. No cause listed yet; we’re checking with Seattle City Light; a screengrab of SCL’s outage map shows the outage location.
3:36 PM: The outage has ended since we last checked the map earlier this afternoon. Here’s what SCL’s Jenn Strang tells us about the cause: “Crews found a blown fuse caused by a tree branch contacting wires near 47th Ave SW and Maplewood Place SW. Additional vegetation management and overhead line crews needed to be called in to clear multiple spots of branches growing into the lines in this area before reenergization.”
6:33 AM: WSF says the Fauntleroy terminal is “out of service due to unplanned maintenance.” WSF says it can’t offload vehicles because of a transfer span problem but hopes to have it fixed within an hour.
6:59 AM: WSF says this is now fixed.
Earlier:
6:02 AM: Good morning! It’s Monday, September 18th.
WEATHER AND SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES
Cloudy start to the day, rain possible, sun later, high in the mid-60s. Sunrise today is at 6:49 am; sunset, 7:17 pm.
TRANSIT TODAY
Metro – Regular schedule; check advisories here.
Water Taxi – Regular schedule.
Washington State Ferries – 2-boat service on the Triangle Route. Check alerts for changes, and use Vessel Watch to see where your ferry is.
SPOTLIGHT TRAFFIC CAMERAS
Delridge cameras: Besides the one below (Delridge/Henderson), cameras are also at Delridge/Genesee, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Orchard, and Delridge/Oregon.
High Bridge – the main camera:
High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way):
Low-bridge cam:
1st Ave. S. Bridge – alternate route across the river:
Highway 99: – northbound side at Lander.
MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: See all working traffic cams citywide here, most with video options; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are on this WSB page.
BRIDGE INFO: The @SDOTBridges Twitter/X feed shows whether the city’s movable bridges are opening for vessel traffic.
If you see trouble on the bridges/streets/paths/bay, please text or call us (when you can do it safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities). Thank you!
(Photo by Lynn Hall)
Tonight’s sunset ended the last weekend of summer. Autumn arrives at the equinox moment of 11:49 pm Friday (September 22nd). A few hours before that, educator and expert skywatcher Alice Enevoldsen will lead her next change-of-season sunset watch, starting at 6:30 pm at Solstice Park (7400 Fauntleroy Way SW, upslope). Not only will Alice explain the equinox, she’ll be talking about how to get ready to view the October 14th solar eclipse (partial in our area). Free eclipse-viewing glasses, too!
Starting this weeik, Outer Space Seattle plans to fully relaunch its all-day open-play space on Alki. Here’s the announcement:
Outer Space Seattle’s unfortunately timed opening in December 2019 (just two and a half months before the pandemic) left them in quite the financial predicament. The owners, Caitlin Huertas & Jeannie Hammock, pivoted their business plan by offering learning pods, child care, and preschool. While this allowed them to keep their doors open, they are thrilled to be going back to their original plan — full-day open play and café.
Huertas says, “We were happy to help West Seattle families by offering remote learning pods and child care during the pandemic. But the time has come for us to go back to our original plan: All-Day Open-Play Indoor Playground & Cafe. This also allows us to offer more play opportunities to more families. We have updated our menu, improved our sensory room, and we added sound absorbing panels to help with the noise level. We look forward to seeing everyone at our Grand Reopening this Wednesday, September 20th, 2023!”
Things to know:
-Socks are required for all
-No outside food allowed, but unopened, prepackaged baby food is ok.
-Parents need to stay onsite and supervise their children.
-The menu offers a range of family-friendly foods.Hours:
Monday – Thursday 10 am to 8 pm
Friday 10 am to 9 pm
Saturday 6:30 pm-9 pmOuter Space Seattle is closed to the public on Saturdays until 6:30 pm and all day Sundays for private parties.
They’re at 2820 Alki Avenue SW, between Locust and Cactus.
2:53 PM: Thanks to Kersti Muul for the report: Transient orcas are visible, northbound, from Emma Schmitz Overlook.
ADDED 4:35 PM: New from Kersti: “At least two humpbacks along the line from Alki near Cactus to Eagle Harbor. (Possibly three) heading toward Elliott Bay.”
As we first reported last month, the West Seattle Junction Association is turning what used to be the Harvest Festival into two events starting this year – and the first one is now a week away: The Fall Festival is planned for 11 am-2 pm Sunday, September 24th. It features just about everything you loved about Harvest Fest (except the trick-or-treating, which happens closer to Halloween) – chili cookoff, cornhole tournament, pie-eating contest, live music. (Signup links for the contest and tournament are on this page.) The Farmers’ Market will be on as always, in its usual spot on California SW north of SW Alaska, while the block between SW Alaska and SW Edmunds will also be closed to traffic and will be the site of festival fun. (Meantime, the trick-or-treating celebration is set for Sunday, October 29th, including the traditional costume parade!)
(September 2020 photo by Tony Welch – bridge with stabilization-work platforms)
No commemorations are planned that we know of, just the daily drumbeat of vehicles making the crossing, but we wanted to note that today marks one year since the West Seattle Bridge reopened. The city closed it with just a few hours’ notice March 23, 2020, after cracking left engineers concerned about collapse risk. Stabilization work ensued, followed by repair work, and finally after 2 1/2 years, the bridge was reopened to traffic just after 9 pm Saturday, September 17, 2022. Our coverage of how those 2 1/2 years unfolded is all archived here (reverse-chronological order, as per our publishing format).
Two reports this morning:
ANOTHER BUSINESS BURGLARY: Amber at The Birdhouse in Upper Fauntleroy reports they were hit by a burglar overnight – here’s what she sent:
I have attached pictures of the person who entered our building and stole our safe and till money. The break-in happened around 1:00 am. The police came after (the) Macrina driver found the crime scene about 5:30 am.
They’re still looking through security video for any other images of note, including whether there was a getaway car. The police incident # is 23-269772.
ANOTHER CRASHED, DUMPED HYUNDAI: A reader sent this photo of the car, found crashed/abandoned at Riverview Playfield:
Police-radio traffic indicates an officer just checked it out and verified it was stolen.
For the first time since 2019, the streets of South Park were alive with the celebration of Latin American cultures and heritage known as Fiestas Patrias, as hundreds of people paraded through the heart of the neighborhood on Saturday. Many of them rode – not just vehicles, but horses:
The parade ended with dozens of high-stepping horses and riders:
Earlier, there was horsepower:
Low riders from the Eazy Duz It Car Club rolled – and bounced – down the parade route:
Two-wheeled participants, too .. from scooters:
… to BMX bicycles …
… to unicycles – these students came all the way from Whittier Elementary in Ballard:
Schools from closer by participated too – here’s our video of Chief Sealth International High School‘s Cheer Team and Band:
South Park’s own Duwamish Valley Youth Corps walked in the parade:
Several folklorico groups danced along the route:
The parade was sponsored by Sea Mar Community Health Centers, which also is presenting a weekend-long Fiestas Patrias festival at Seattle Center downtown.
(Texas Striped Sweat Bee in photographer Rosalie Miller’s West Seattle garden)
Last Sunday of summer – here’s what’s happening:
ROAD-WORK ALERTS: The Junction paving project is scheduled to continue today – in the eastbound lanes of SW Alaska between California and 44th.
WESTIES RUN CLUB: Now they’re running on Sunday mornings too – meet at 9 am at Dough Joy Donuts (4310 SW Oregon).
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm, the market is open between SW Alaska and SW Oregon on California, offering late-summer fruit and vegetables as well as flowers, cheese, fish, meat, baked goods, condiments, fresh-cooked food, beverages (from kombucha to beer/wine), nuts, more. Here’s today’s vendor list.
DOUGH JOY AT OUNCES: Another 10 am-2 pm Dough Joy Donuts popup at Ounces (3809 Delridge Way SW).
DONATION DRIVE AT ALKI UCC: 11 am-3 pm, drop off donations at 6115 SW Hinds. Our calendar listing explains what they’re looking for.
‘RETHINK THE LINK’ WALK: Supporters of the “no-build alternative” will lead a walk along part of the potential West Seattle light-rail route, as previewed here. Meet at 11 am at Ounces (3809 Delridge Way SW)
SECOND-TIME SALE: Fauntleroy Church‘s mega-sale concludes today in the Fellowship Hall. Tables and tables and tables of curated, clean, lightly used items. 11:30 am-3 pm. (9140 California SW)
‘MATT & BEN’: Second matinee for the new play at ArtsWest (4711 California SW; WSB sponsor), 3 pm. Check for tickets here.
COFFEEHOUSE MUSIC Jen Howard performs 3-5 pm at C & P Coffee Company (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor). No cover.
END THE WEEKEND LAUGHING: The Junction Comedy Show is tonight at ArtsWest (4711 California SW; WSB sponsor), 7:30 pm. Ticket link is in our calendar listing.
SUNDAY NIGHT JAZZ: Triangular Jazztet at The Alley (4509 California SW), 8 pm and 9 pm sets.
Something for our calendar – one-time or recurring? Email us the info – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
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