West Seattle, Washington
08 Sunday
West Seattle might make the news again tonight, thanks to yet another car crash. We saw at least two tv camerapeople getting video of a car that smacked into a brick column in front of the Admiral Heights complex on California just north of Admiral earlier this afternoon.
Made it up to the Admiral District for the first time in a bit … the road work’s started there too. But don’t let any of this keep you from spending your green in the local bizdists … just allot a little extra time, and get creative with the parking!
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!
-Finally tried Cactus. Tasty food, even better atmosphere. Kept thinking about what used to be in that space two lifetimes ago — the original OLD Alki Market, with a crab tank that had a moldy plastic decoration and always one sad crab, right about where the new restaurant has beautiful colored glass panels near the front door.
-Several people have written to ask what’s up with the other half of the market space, the half that Cactus isn’t using. Still listed for lease.
-An eyesore may be finally on its way out … a renewed notice just went up online for the development permit application at the site of the burned-out Schuck’s at California & Charlestown. Interestingly, it mentions restaurant space … interesting since nearby Charlestown Street Cafe is on its way out.
-The teardown-to-townhomes project on Cali Ave south of Morgan Junction, north of the Caffe Ladro etc. business districtlet, now has a name … sign just went up proclaiming these the “Bayberry Townhomes.” From the mid-300s. Wow.
-Last but not least, for lovers of semi-classic ’70s cars … particularly Fords … we spotted a very clean Pinto on a lawn along 62nd just north of Admiral … then seconds later, along the other side of Admiral, a well-preserved Maverick. Sigh.
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OUT: Just yesterday, the city issued a demolition permit for the old “West Fuel” place on 35th south of Legends. Drove by the site tonight — it’s already rubble. No indication yet what’ll replace it. (Three guesses?)
IN: Next to Pagliacci, the lights were on tonight inside the new little shop “Clementine” next door. As promised on the original butcher paper, it’s displaying purses and shoes. Likely to be a huge hit with all those trendy young ladies we see milling about the hot new Junction nightlife.
OUT: More and more of the pavement in the middle of Cali Ave in The Junction’s south block, scooped away, leaving quite the deep trench in spots. We’re thinking it might be fun to see this filled up a la the canals of Venice. Imagine navigating from Admiral Junction to Morgan Junction in a gondola. Also note, contrary to our observation from last week, in the heart of the construction zone, the NO PARKING rule is in effect around the clock TFN … makes sense since now there’s only one passable lane in each direction, fully utilizing the space all the way to the curbs.
IN: A bigger sign on the window of the forthcoming “Swee Swee Paperie,” just east of Cupcake Royale. It promises offerings including “corporate gifting.” I’m sure it’ll be a swell store, but it’s a shame SSP is participating in the verbing of nouns …
Two sightings tonight on our side of West Seattle have us in eye-rolls:
(1) A set of teardown-turned-condos on the east side of Cali Ave now bears a name on a big advertising banner: “NOMO 12.” Took us a block or two to figure out that “NOMO” has nothing to do with Hideo the baseball player or Stan Boreson’s basset. Though we can’t find an online reference to confirm this, it HAS to be “NoMo” as in “North of Morgan (Junction),” a la all those pretentious names you find in NYC, Belltown, other trendy or wannabe-trendy neighborhoods. Cringe.
(2) Someone has peppered power poles on the south end of Cali Ave with laminated bright red flyers shouting, COYOTE WARNING/MULTIPLE COYOTE SIGHTINGS IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD/KEEP PETS INDOORS! Heaven & stars, all the flyer’s missing is a picture of Wile E. Coyote with a big circle/slash “no” symbol through his face. We suppose “keep pets indoors” is a more appropriate exhortation than oh, say, “shoot on sight,” but really now. The anti-wildlife hysteria is a little out of control. Keep your pets indoors is a great idea so they won’t get run over; that’s a bigger threat than hungry wildlife. Hmm, maybe we’ll go make up some flyers along the lines of CAR WARNING/MULTIPLE CAR SIGHTINGS IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD/KEEP PETS INDOORS …
Our trek around The Junction tonight revealed that city crews have done a pretty job roughing up the street surface already. Getting a parking spot along the newly grooved pavement was a cinch — most people don’t seem to realize yet that the NO PARKING signs are posted for DAYTIME only — it’s OK to park at night. (Though a few spaces are out of commission in front of Taqueria Guaymas & Poggie, taken up by monster-sized pieces of city equipment.) Also seen in The Junction tonight: The “for lease” sign is down and the liquor-license-app posting is up at the future home of Garlic Jim’s Pizza.
Perhaps just a coincidence … Two banners on the north side of the Fauntleroy walkover — different material, different lettering — are addressed to “Rachel.” The one on the left says, “Has it been 10 years already? Happy anniversary, Rachel, I (heart) U.” The one right next to it says, “BON VOYAGE, RACHEL.” If Rachel & 10-year hubby were going on an anniversary trip, wouldn’t he get a bon-voyage shoutout too? (Side note – According to the High Point development site, the walkover and its banners are part of what make WS “quirky.” I think the collection of other semi-landmarks mentioned on that page is missing a few things, such as the Admiral Theater, perhaps America’s only moviehouse designed to look like a ship.)
Despite not being boat owners, we managed to get out on the water anyway — started the day with a ferry ride, ended it with a Water Taxi trip.
Inbetween, some snags and some sightings:
SNAG: Wanted to have lunch at the new Cactus on Alki. We even called — twice — to make sure it would be open for lunch. We were assured yes, it would be. Then we showed up … nope, not open. Through the open roller doors, workers told us, no, it would only be open tonight for dinner. Bummer. We proceeded to Bamboo, which we’d never tried, believe it or not. (Having now tried it, I don’t believe we were missing anything. The sand under the outdoor tables is a nice touch, but the food was meh.)
SNAG: Since we planned to be downtown a few hours, we were glad to hear the Water Taxi was running into the evening. Unfortunately, we discovered belatedly that its transit connections did NOT run into the evening — the shuttle to the Junction stopped about half an hour before we returned, and no regular Metro buses were running past Seacrest. If we hadn’t had someone to call for a ride home, we’d still be walking.
SIGHTING: Still not entirely sure what kind of store “Divina” (north of Hotwire & its adjoining dentists) is meant to be, but it’s now posted as opening tomorrow.
SIGHTING: Interesting things tacked to the front glass of Liberty Bell Printing — a frantic note pleading for the new Homestead menus not to be printed because of some kind of error — and a month-old “lost bird” flyer that says the bird FLEW THE COUP. (Which coup was that, I wonder — have to go catch up on my international news.)
SIGHTING: Dall’s porpoises from the ferry, jumping fish from the Water Taxi. What a cool life.
Actually, they’re not particularly fragrant. But if you want to see quite a sight, check out the yard full of sunflowers on the north side of Admiral, just west of 63rd. (Sorry I don’t have a photo; we’re going to add images to WSB one of these days …)
HERE: As promised, Cactus on Alki just opened. Must have been a blitz of last-minute touches — the landscaping, the green neon sign, all up in the last week or so. We cruised by around sunset; looked like a lively crowd. We haven’t even been to Coyotes yet, so we might not make it to Cactus any time soon; please share reviews when you give it a try!
GONE: A little corner on Cali Ave at the bottom of Gatewood Hill is a lot less bright tonight. The found-items-turned-flowerpots, the stuffed-animal sentinels, the whimsical little signs, all gone from outside the funky old brick apartments (scroll down this page for photo) that are two buildings and one street south of Caffe Ladro. The corner unit is suddenly empty, bereft of the longtime tenant who clearly had a sense of humor, joie de vivre, and flair, at least so far as we passersby could tell. We walked past her/his displays dozens of times, almost always stopping to notice something new that had joined the eclectic collection of repurposed bric-a-brac arranged against walls and clumped on the parking strip. Wherever you went, whoever you were, hope your new neighbors and passersby are getting the same chance to harvest a smile from your sidewalk garden.
Got out and about for the first time in a few days … First, a couple notes from the Junction: Though the space posted as the future “Divina Cantina” does not appear open yet, a new store in front of it called “Divina” appears to be almost set to go. Its doors are posted with an artsy flyer trumpeting simply “Divina/Objects Of Beauty.” Looks like said objects include clothes, dishes, and wall hangings, among other things we didn’t quite have time to catalog while peering through the window … Also, just noticed that the former “In-Out Espresso” south of Pagliacci has changed its name to “Red Cup Espresso.” Sorry if that’s old news — gotta wonder, though, did those California burger people come after them, or did they just get tired of saying “No relation”?
Now, from Beach Drive … the “For Sale” sign at the historic Satterlee House sprouted a “PRICE REDUCED” signlet sometime in the past week or so, so we checked the listing again … wow, down to $2.5 million, from the original $3,000,000. Gosh, maybe I should try the mortgage calculator again.
Last but not least, we returned home to find out in a roundabout way that one of our favorite non-amateur blogs has poked fun at us, sort of. Wow … when the venerable Dan Savage is aware of your existence, you know you’ve really arrived.
Somewhere.
-The Cactus Restaurant webpage for under-construction Alki has mentioned only “August 2006” as its opening date. So now that August is half over, will that really happen? Just got e-mail from an Alki reader who said she called one of the other Cactus locations to ask and was told they’re “shooting for” August 28.
-Something’s in the works at the former Cat’s Eye Cafe just north of Lincoln Park. Construction permits are posted in its windows; the online info describes the work only as “rewire/remodel studio.”
Bad billboard placement:
Yet another one of those stupid double entendres on behalf of Las Vegas tourism, this one declaring “I JOINED A THREESOME.”
Location: Right over West Seattle Montessori School, right where families turning left into the drop-off alley can’t miss it. (“Mommy, what’s a …”) Nice.
We’ve managed to renew our car tabs online the past few years, since the DOL upgraded its web offerings. However, this summer, we were baaaad … let our tabs expire … so a few days ago, we wound up having to go down to the DOL office south of The Junction in person to make things right.
So we had to stand in line for 20 minutes or so. Funniest thing, I can’t tell you how many people walked in, looked at the half-dozen or so of us standing in line, sighed loudly, and went back out again. Clearly none of them ever have lived in the other “western states that shall go nameless” that we have previously lived in, where instead of a nice neighborhood DOL office, you have a centralized “DMV” where you can count on spending AN ENTIRE DAY and possibly needing A SLEEPING BAG AND A TENT until you get close enough to possibly transact your business. Half a dozen people at the DOL office? Pshaw. Nothin’. And once we got up to the counter, it was a two-minute transaction. Trust me, here in WA, we got it good, in a variety of ways.
Thanks to the e-mail tipster who told us about the latest “coming soon” sign to sprout in The Junction — the former West Seattle Books space just east of Cupcake Royale is about to become “Swee Swee Paperie.” All I can find out about it so far online (aside from a city business license listing that merely affirms the address as that of “Swee Swee Paperie and Studio LLC”) is this blurb that came up after a long semi-bloggish entry about gift wrapping, on a site with party tips:
Ann Conway, a clothing designer in the fashion industry for over 15 years, is preparing for the Fall 2006 opening of her gift-wrapping and contemporary stationery store – Swee Swee Paperie, in Seattle, Washington.
Just noticed the big banner across the closed gate of Hertz Equipment Rental, previously AA Rentals, on Fauntleroy. Marquee says it’s moved to Sodo. So what’s next for that spot? Another Huling expansion? Or perhaps … another condo/grocery combo? Nah, guess we’ve got enough of those on the way.
Hotwire, In-Out, Capers, Coffee to a Tea, Easy Street, Cupcake Royale, Bikes & Brew, Infinity, Uptown (who are we forgetting?) have a new fellow member in the Junction coffee club: Starbucks. Didn’t know the franchise-mad mermaid had swum into that zone until we took an e-mail tipster’s advice and wandered into the newly remodeled Jefferson Square Safeway — and there, we found a Starbucks kiosk, just like the ones in the Roxbury Safeway and the Westwood Village QFC (which is just steps from the standalone WV Starbucks). At the very least, this is a reminder — as more grocery stores prepare to move into The Junction — that they’re more than grocery stores these days; most include banks and coffee stands, both already in abundant supply in the neighborhood.
A small number of our fellow human beings do horrible things sometimes. Though there are far “worse” crimes, the offense that for some reason infuriates us more than almost anything is graffiti vandalism, aka “tagging.” This morning, our blood pressure is somewhere in the stratosphere because of what we just saw in the Junction.
First, there’s the tagging on the Hi-Yu parade mural on the side of the post office. An e-mail tipster told us about this a couple weeks ago, and we didn’t get around to checking it out immediately. Looking at it this morning, with the Saturday sun blazing against the beautiful mural and the hideous black scrawl across its lower left quadrant, we fumed.
Moments later, heading back down California, we saw an even fresher example of this type of brazen, pointless vandalism — tagging on several business signs on the west side of Cali Ave, including WaMu, Radio Shack, and Be’s Restaurant.
We’ve tried to figure out why tagging pisses us off worse than some of the more newsworthy crimes that involve blood, pain, and prison time. Perhaps it’s partly because the evidence is so public and flagrant — it takes time and money to arrange to have tagging/graffiti vandalism painted over, and until/unless you get that time and money, the crime scene just sits there, smirking at you. (Outside WS, a particularly galling recent example is a huge tag that appeared this week across the side of a classic brick building that’s highly visible to thousands of drivers daily as they drive northbound on the viaduct, into the Battery Street Tunnel. That type of vandalism can’t just be painted over, without ruining the beautiful old brick. Don’t even know if sandblasting will get rid of it.)
Anyway, the fact is, this morning the Junction is uglier, because of some idiot criminal(s) who decided to sneak onto business roofs, no doubt in the middle of the night, and deface signs. It feels like they’re spitting in the faces of the business owners and all those of us who live here and will have to look at it for who knows how long. (We volunteered for graffiti paintout patrols long ago and far away; do they still exist?)
Far from the first time, and we suppose it won’t be the last time. Is security too lax? Are the laws too loose? How do we stop this? We’ll be thinking hard about it. We hope you will too.
The experts insist the heat wave is finally ending. Still — if it’s still sweltery tomorrow night — here’s a different way to try to keep cool by pretending to feel wintry: Cruise past Canine Casa in Fauntleroy (just south of Endolyne Joe’s) and check out the red-and-green holidayish lights. Bonus: Tuesday happens to be exactly five months till Christmas.
Took a closer look at the in-the-works Dakota Place Park, north of the Junction, on Sunday morning. Cool way to honor a chunk of West Seattle history (instead of, oh, say, turning it into more condos). The official city info page is here; citizen organizers have a site here. Several other park projects are under way on our peninsula too, including the ex-monorail site in Morgan Junction — where butcher paper just appeared on the windows of the ex-Video Vault building, to become the new home of Beveridge Place Pub as part of a deal with the city.
The intersection at the heart of The Junction suddenly has enough neon to resemble a corner of the Las Vegas Strip. Try driving through at night — the big new Cupcake Royale/Verite Coffee sign anchors the northeast corner, the relatively new Super Supplements sign glows on the face of the ex-Urban Fitness storefront on the southeast side, and on the northwest corner, there’s the Easy Street Records sign that started it all. Missing in this equation: Key Bank, on the fourth corner of the fabled “Walk All Ways With Walk” intersection. C’mon, guys, how about at least a red neon key like the one on your much-maligned arena?
On a pole at the corner of Delridge and Thistle: “MOVING IN TOGETHER SALE.”
Somewhere on 34th SW — didn’t catch the whole address while driving by the sign. Anyone who does see the sale — tell ’em good luck!
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