West Seattle, Washington
10 Tuesday
Here are a few things we just didn’t get to – more video from the Coast Guard tall-ship arrival (including a chopper flyby), baby announcement, new sign:Read More
That’s part of the scene on the South Seattle Community College campus as “Field Day” for local amateur-radio operators (part of a nationwide drill) is more like “Field Weekend” — you can check it out tomorrow, too (southeast corner of the campus). Next, from the final hour of another longrunning West Seattle event this weekend:
That’s the “kids’ lap” in the final hour of Relay for Life of West Seattle, the American Cancer Society fundraiser that ran continuously from 6 pm Friday to noon today at West Seattle Stadium (we showed you the event-opening “survivors’ lap” here). Finally, more playground progress:
By the time we got to Gatewood Elementary at late morning, the wood-chip-shoveling work party was already over – and the area around the newly installed play structure is looking better all the time – we’ll let you know when inspectors give the all-clear and it’s ready to open (parent volunteers HOPE that might be in time for next weekend).
WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli sent that stupendous shot – airshow-practice season! – and the next two wonderful water scenes:
The riders crowding the top deck of the Water Taxi no doubt had a view of Mount Rainier today, but nothing like this one sent by Scott (who lives in West Seattle but happened to be “above Enumclaw” at the time he took this:
Those are the “beauty shots” – more photos coming up in a bit from some of the events/activities around our area today. (Thanks to Christopher and Scott, and to everyone who sends pix, video, and info … editor@wsb.blackfin.biz, any time.)
Thanks to Christy Johnson of On Focus Photo for that incredible shot of this morning’s sunrise, taken just after 5 am. (Just LOOKS like a day that’s going to get close to 90 degrees; in fact, the National Weather Service now has a “Heat Advisory” in effect till 9 pm Sunday.) Christy also advises us she’ll have a booth selling her work at the upcoming West Seattle Summer Fest (7/11-7/13) in The Junction. Speaking of The Junction – if you’re driving in that area today, be forewarned about this:
We told you Thursday about the plans for last night’s road work – and the “seal coat” you see above is the result of that, with cars kicking up some dust when we passed through earlier today.
Thanks to JayDee for sending that view of a state ferry and cruise ship on Elliott Bay, photographed from the 4:40 pm Water Taxi run. A few hours later, we captured this view from High Point Pond:
Good birdwatching at the pond – besides the two Canada geese on the pond in the photo, down by the water’s edge we saw two baby ducks and their mom (photo didn’t come out, unfortunately) and abundant barn swallows.
The jail forum (much more to come) was tonight’s biggest event but not tonight’s only event. At Youngstown Arts Center, area Democrats gathered to help West Seattle’s three state legislators kick off their re-election campaigns: left to right, it’s State Sen. Joe McDermott, State. Reps. Sharon Nelson and Eileen Cody.
And on the other end of Delridge, at Cafe Rozella, that’s Branden Born and Alon Bassok from the University of Washington, who will be there for the next few Thursday nights to chat with anyone and everyone about how the Delridge and White Center areas could be even more livable, framed in the issues central to the King County Food and Fitness Initiative. (6:30 pm next Thursday, join ’em there!)
Update on our post from this morning … here’s what we saw as we just passed through 35th/Morgan headed southbound on our way home from the Viaduct briefing downtown (liveblog notes here; summary still in the works, along with images of the options – if WSDOT doesn’t put them online soon, we’ll take pix of the printouts we have).
Thanks to Erin for the tip on this – she spotted that new basket of pedestrian flags at Avalon/Yancy (map) – while out and about this morning, we spotted two others on California SW, one north of The Junction, one south. The basket says they’re from SDOT and bears the slogan “Grab, Walk, Wave” – we’re checking to see if more are on the way (we checked some previously flag-bearing intersections around WS like the notorious 47th/Admiral, and it still has the old orange flags). Also seen while out and about:
The signal at 35th/Morgan is off at the moment (see the temporary stop sign at lower left) and a new configuration of turn lights appears to be on the way — this view is facing south on 35th.
Wendy Hughes-Jelen of High Point sent that photo along with a link to her blog post about spotting that car at Hans VW on 35th. We traced the number to the website for Datel Communications — in Avon, MA — then called to ask what it was doing here. A very polite and patient lady who probably has to answer that question dozens of times a day explained that it’s now a fulltime “art car” touring the country and even has its own website, thephonecar.com (where you can also see its creator pictured with his extensive telephone collection). Subsequent searching reveals it was at the Fremont street festival last weekend and mentioned in a Big Blog post before a Seward Park stop last week.
Thanks to Kevin McClintic of Arbor Heights for sending us that photo taken from downtown (with West Seattle in the background), which he captioned “When the Water Taxi Grows Up.” Yes, that’s the Elliott Bay Water Taxi dwarfed by the cruise ship Golden Princess as it headed off for another weeklong Alaska cruise late yesterday afternoon. Back on land, thanks to Jim Edwards for this shot:
That’s the long-shuttered 76 station on Roxbury, which has been cleaned up in recent months, and this would seem to be potential confirmation it’s gearing up to reopen. Might soon be another stop on our weekly West Seattle Gas Price Watch surveys (archived here) – next one coming up late tonight. ADDED 12:12 PM: Another photo just in – came in on our phone so we’re not sure who sent, nor do we have the kids’ names, but this appears to be another lemonade stand (with baked goods AND “saxophone entertainment” per the sign and the instrument at left!) on Alki – raising money for the Obama campaign:
Can’t recall ever seeing a campaign bake sale. (Glad to see kids getting excited about politics so young; your editor was 12 when she discovered her mom wasn’t registered to vote, and made a deal – “you register, Mom, I’ll do the research to help you figure out who to vote for.” About seven years later, Mom belatedly completed college … as valedictorian … with a degree in political science.) 12:41 PM UPDATE: Thanks to JanS for enlightening us to the fact this is a nationwide event (as were yesterday’s nonpolitical charity lemonade stands); they’re listed online here – the Alki one doesn’t appear to be registered, though the one at The Junction is.
The banners are up for the Seafair Pirates‘ Landing, two weeks from today (July 5th; event details here, including freebies for kids). Further down the beach, we couldn’t get out of the car in time for a full view of that last sunset moment (that’s a picnic-shelter roof in the center of the pic), but it was a beauty:
High tide and sunset were almost concurrent tonight – this table has high tide at 8:56 pm; the sun finished slipping behind the Olympics at 9:01 (by our clock). One more interesting stat (hat tip to The Weatherman, where we found the link) — the “length of visible light” is 17 hours, 20 minutes (scroll down this page to “astronomy” section). And another Alki note – in the WSB Forums, JoB reports seeing a whale (believed to be a humpback) off Alki Point today!
Passing through Westwood Village on the way back from dropping in on Grand Opening Day for Full Tilt Ice Cream (an update on that is coming up shortly), we noticed the bloodmobile at WV, just east of Barnes and Noble. That reminded us we hadn’t passed along word of the “Give Twice” drive that the Puget Sound Blood Center recently launched to avoid a dangerous summertime blood shortage — even if you can’t get to WV today (sorry for the short notice, looks like it’s only there till about 3 pm), there’s a June 30th blood drive at Admiral Safeway, July 2nd at PCC, and then back at Westwood Village July 26th. Or make an online appointment here to donate some other time at one of the PSBC’s regional centers. Meantime, here are full details about “Give Twice” – with a freebie for participants:Read More
Photos to share, and mention — first, a Father’s Day fireboat display off Beach Drive, photos at BDB. Next: a garden sighting:
As WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli observed in the note with that photo, it’s difficult to catch hummingbirds on camera – but he finally “caught” that one. Next – what’s missing in this picture?
Wendy Hughes-Jelen says tai chi is what’s missing – she can’t believe nobody’s doing it at High Point, and she has already gone to great lengths to find someone to launch outdoor sessions by the pond you see in that photo shared by Wendy. Read all about it at her blog, which includes how to reach her if you’d like to get involved with the tai chi quest. Last but not least – a photo Jerry from JetCityOrange actually sent a few days ago:
On Thursday morning, he e-mailed us the photo and this note:
Appeared overnight as one goes from Harbor Ave/Avalon onto either bridge around Nucor. Street art or vandalism? You decide.
Beautiful day to show off classic cars – the sun gleamed off every beautifully maintained participant at the Providence Mount St. Vincent Father’s Day Car Show this afternoon – these two VERY classic cars in particular:
The owner of this one told us he really does drive it. 20 horsepower though, so it’s not much for the freeway:
“The Mount” has another big event tomorrow – a job fair, 1 pm-6 pm. Find out more here; the hilltop facility just south of The Junction says it’s West Seattle’s biggest employer.
On Alki tonight, the first clear night since the big beach-fire briefing at the Parks Board meeting (WSB coverage here), things weren’t too crazy at dusk – that fire ringed by tiki torches was the biggest one on the beach; Seattle Police kept watch nearby:
Right across the street, hours earlier, a cloudy morning didn’t keep West Seattle Moms of Tots from carrying on with a bake sale to fight childhood hunger — with this sweet (in more ways than one) cake among the offerings:
Selling the treats, Amy Evans and Cynthia Tamlyn, on the north side of Aimonetto:
As reported earlier in the WSB Forums, they are more than halfway to their $750 fundraising goal after this morning’s bake sale, part of a nationwide effort; even if you missed the bake sale, you can donate online here (look for the “make a gift” link on the right side of the page). Meantime, they weren’t the only ones giving their time to a good cause this Saturday morning:
If you drove along Delridge at midday today, chances are you saw at least one yellow-bag-equipped volunteer taking part in the North Delridge Adopt-a-Street cleanup. North Delridge is one of several neighborhood/community groups that make Adopt-a-Street commitments to tidy up a certain area at least once a quarter. And finally – WSB Forum Community members, who have rallied around many a good cause, got together for a fun time late today at Beveridge Place Pub – here’s one tableful:
And of course the conversation continues, online anytime, in the Forums.
Finally, photos of a West Seattle bee swarm — Several people have e-mailed/texted/called us in the past few weeks about bee swarms turning up in their neighborhoods, and every time it happens, we roll out, only to find the bees have moved on. This afternoon, though, Christine not only sent us a text and e-mail (thank you!!!!) — she also took photos of the bees that turned up at her house near Riverview Playfield (map). Click each photo for a larger version (the little golden spots in these versions look more like bees when you view the photos that way).
Here’s what Wikipedia says about bee swarms.
It IS indeed opening day for Lincoln Park‘s wading pool – the only one in West Seattle scheduled to open this weekend – despite the slightly chilly weather. We just dropped by to check for ourselves and as we snapped that pic of the pool getting filled, the person on duty told us it will be open both days this weekend “pretty much no matter what.” Till 8 pm today, 11 am-8 pm tomorrow, toward the south end of upper Lincoln Park, near the playground on that side. And speaking of water:
Till 4 pm, at Swedish Automotive (WSB sponsor) on 35th, the West Seattle Thunder fastpitch softball team will wash your car to raise money for its trip to the national championships (more details here).
And thanks to SP for sending that photo of a house in the 7100 block of Othello, just north of 31st, high in the sky. “Something you don’t see every day,” SP noted. According to the online permit, it’s being “raised and remodeled.” More West Seattle scenes later – we’ve been out checking out some other happenings, plus we’ll be photographing the Chief Sealth graduation this afternoon (two other West Seattle schools had their ceremonies Thursday night – West Seattle High School photos here; Seattle Lutheran High School photos here).
Thanks to Sean for that photo and the report that the new Fauntleroy/Dawson pedestrian signal (map) is just about ready for action, exactly a month after neighbors reported getting word the construction schedule had been moved way up – he says it was in “flashing yellow” mode when he went by. (We’ll check back on it in a few hours if we don’t get an update first.)
Managed to grab and deploy the camera quickly when we happened onto those motorcycle officers late this morning on 35th by the Golf Course entrance. That, a phone call, and a new comment on yesterday’s post makes us think we should re-mention, if you encounter a similar scene again today — it’s not an escort for a visiting dignitary, it’s annual training.
In the Admiral District, Revolution Coffee proprietors David “DJ” Johnson and Angie Houck threw a sidewalk party today to celebrate their shop’s third anniversary.
Meanwhile, on Alki, well-wishers were invited to sign a big old door propped up out front of Coastal Boutique, celebrating its fifth anniversary today with a beach sandbox party today. Even the littlest partygoers got to leave their mark:
That’s an SDOT crew giving a facelift to the California SW crosswalk at SW Findlay.
Not sure if it was SDOT or someone else, but there’s also been a “facelift” on that bridge column on the west side of the low bridge — and that covered the wolf art that’s been there at least since we posted about it almost a year ago. (Thanks to Patricia for the tip.)
When we did a West Seattle-wide gas-price survey last weekend, we mentioned we couldn’t include biodiesel prices because they’re not posted for drive-by viewing. The new Propel station at 35th/Barton has just changed that.
In The Junction, the Morton’s-to-Pharmaca pharmacy transition is almost complete. It’s scheduled to become official at the end of this week; as we reported two weeks ago, they’re offering freebies during the “grand opening.”
Thanks to Greg for sending word of the wood sculpture that he says has just emerged from beneath a tarp at 44th/Brandon. Here’s a wider shot:
Call it the first semi-official night of summer. Alki was the place to be. A few more pix ahead:Read More
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