West Seattle, Washington
13 Tuesday
In the WSB Forums, someone’s looking for a little peace and quiet with their java. Maybe you have a suggestion to add?
Thanks to two people who e-mailed us in the past several hours that they’d heard Jefferson Square Starbucks has an official closing date (we had first word in July that it was on the Starbucks shutdown list) – we have just received confirmation from a PR firm working with SBUX (though they won’t get any more specific than “end of October”; if it’s really 11/7, that would be a few days short of what would have been the store’s 1-year anniversary, since it opened 11/9/07). Read on for the full statement we received (it’s mostly boilerplate but we always like to share the whole thing so you can read it for yourself if you so choose):Read More
Today’s the official start date of the state’s pilot program for wine/beer tastings in grocery stores. As reported here in August, West Seattle Thriftway is the only participant in WS; we just checked with its wine department, and they’re planning their first one on October 23rd, but still working out the details.
Ever since The Bohemian opened next door earlier this month, we’ve heard the question more frequently: When will Prost West Seattle (first mentioned here in May) be open? Proprietor Chris Navarra gave us a peek inside (photo above is the view looking left, south, from the front; we’ve got the bar view later in the story) during a quick interview today, so we’ve got lots more to tell you now about what he’s planning and when he hopes to be open:Read More
We first mentioned West Seattle-based CheapWineStore.com when its liquor-license application went in last December (WSB report here), and now that it’s up and running, it’s 
joined the WSB sponsor team to get the word out. Here’s what its owner (photo left) wants you to know about the business: “Patrick Collins, a fellow West Seattleite, has launched a new online wine store, CheapWineStore.com. It has been created for the person who enjoys a great wine at reasonable prices, but is also interested in trying something new. CheapWineStore.com was created for the fun, unique wine drinker who enjoys trying new wines, but doesn’t really want to pay an arm and a leg for it. CheapWineStore.com will feature more than 10,000 different labels – from organic, to Washington wines, as well as ports and fine wines from all over the world. They are also offering free delivery in West Seattle for orders over $100. Patrick’s motto is: “Try something different–it’s just wine!” Patrick Collins, owner of CheapWineStore, is like many other West Seattleites. That is, he believes in giving back to his community. Therefore, Patrick also volunteers much of his time to many local charities including Northwest Harvest, the American Cancer Society, the Son Rise House and is donating a portion of the proceeds from every sale to our local animal shelter, the Animals First Foundation.” Thanks to CheapWineStore.com and all our sponsors for choosing to grow their businesses by advertising on WSB to let you know what they’re offering; our Advertise on WSB page is where you can see the latest on our traffic, plus the full list of current sponsors and how to find out about joining them.
As we first reported here last month, the state liquor store in Morgan Junction is closing for good tomorrow, after losing its lease. Nearby Aaron’s Bicycle Shop is moving into the space. When the state announced the liquor-store closure, the Liquor Control Board said it was seeking another location in the area; we called Olympia today to see if they’ve found one yet — answer, no. So the stores in The Junction and White Center are your nearest options TFN, after the MJ store shuts its doors for good at 8 pm tomorrow.
When we broke the news last week about Zeeks Pizza moving into the ex-Corner Inn, somebody asked about the ex-Beveridge Place Pub next door (vacated when BPP moved a few steps north to the ex-Video Vault); we published this blurb about that three months ago, but we didn’t include anywhere near the amount of info about co-proprietor Jeff Gilbert that you’ll find in the P-I profile published this afternoon. (Not too much in there about the Feedback Lounge, though, save Gilbert’s description of it as a “rock ‘n’ roll bar.”
Five months to the day after we first told you about Coffee at the Heights, which Paul Binder and David Robertson plan to open at 7349 35th (map) in their former PB&J Textiles location (that shop’s now in Fairmount Springs), next to their Olympic Heights Laundry — Paul sends word that the building permit’s just been granted and work starts tomorrow. ADDED 9:40 PM: A few more notes – Paul says they’ll use Caffe D’arte coffee, Sunshine dairy products, pastry provider TBA, hours 5:30 am-8 pm daily (including holidays), compostable cups/sleeves, and will be selling coffee by the pound. They hope to be open within a month.
We told you 2 weeks ago that The Bohemian (3405 California, next to Spiro’s) was about to open; this afternoon, its proprietors opened the doors for a “friends and family” preview event (we stopped by for the photos you see above) – and say they’ll open, starting tomorrow, in two phases: This week, daytime coffee/tea operations; starting a week from tomorrow, they plan to add the food/bar operations. More info including hours can be found online. Opening day tomorrow, by the way, marks exactly a year since we brought you first word The Bohemian (at the former Leslie’s location) was in the works. (Next door, the future Prost West Seattle may open as soon as next month, according to a note recently shared by WSB’er Marco.)
We’ll explain the photo in a minute (you probably recognize the guy on the left). We took it this morning at Hotwire Coffee (WSB’s very first sponsor), which is celebrating its 6th anniversary in West Seattle this month. As part of the festivities, Hotwire’s having a weekly “Barista Balderdash Smackdown” with brain-teaser quiz questions – guess the meaning of a specific uncommon word, for example. A new Smackdown starts tomorrow; tomorrow Hotwire’s also offering a few other deals – including a chair massage/latte deal, 20-minute massage plus 12-ounce latte for $15, 9 am-3 pm tomorrow as well as the next two Saturdays (9/13 and 9/20). Oh, as for the photo? Baristas Blayne (of “Project Runway” fame) and Mary are shown with Mr. Manatee, loaned to Hotwire by WSB when we heard one of the Barista Smackdown topics had something to do with manatees’ genetic makeup. Just go see for yourself (if somehow you’ve never been to Hotwire – just past the Junction Post Office, on the east side of California just south of Genesee).
That’s an eight-second peek inside The Bohemian (3405 California; map) from our visit a few days ago. At the time, proprietor Jason Todd Rice wasn’t ready to speculate on when they would finally be able to open — but we just called to check before posting this story, and he told us the health inspector’s given thumbs up, so they’re expecting to open their daytime cafe operations as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, with the nighttime/bar operations a week or so later, pending state signoff on that. Read on to see what else he told us about how things are shaping up:Read More
Even if you don’t usually use the WSB Forums, you might be interested in this thread – WSB’ers sharing their recommendations for low-price, high-quality wine.
You see them sometimes at Alki – and they’re headquartered right here in West Seattle, at Westcrest Park – today, two members of the Seattle Police Mounted Patrol are at the Picnic at the (Southwest) Precinct, continuing through 4 pm. We have LOTS more photos and video to share with you in a separate report later, but in case you check in online before then and you haven’t been – there are also free treats (hot dogs, ice cream) in the precinct parking lot, which is off-camera to the right of this shot showing the setup running along Webster westbound from Delridge:
Cool robots, a Segway, and lots more – Delridge and Webster, park in Home Depot and walk over. While heading home, we passed the intersection of 16th SW/Holden and had to pull over when we saw these folks handing out free samples:
That’s Jodi Robbins, Pinky the dog mostly hiding behind the sample tray, Darlene, and Jodi’s husband from JoJo’s Fine Espresso at 16th/Holden. They just put their blended-iced-drink setup into action, so they’ve got a tropical setup at the corner and trays of free samples. Not sure how long they’ll be out – we were there around 2:30.
This past winter, we reported twice on a bill in the State Legislature to allow beer and wine tastings in grocery stores — first report here, second report here. 
The bill eventually passed, and tonight, the state has announced the first 15 grocery stores “randomly selected” to participate in a pilot version of the program starting this October, and the only Seattle store in the first 15 (see the list here) is West Seattle Thriftway in Morgan Junction. 15 more stores statewide will be announced soon – they’ll be chosen from chains; Thriftway and the other 14 are all independents. (Hat tip to The Big Blog.) Here’s how the state says the program will work:Read More
Call it green beer – without the usual St. Patrick’s Day food-coloring angle. West Seattle-based Elliott Bay Brewery‘s head brewer Doug Hindman sends word that EBB has become the first certified brewer of organic beer in King County. Here’s the news release.
As first reported here last week, the Jefferson Square Starbucks (the standalone store at the NW corner, not the “licensee” stand in the Safeway) is on the list of 600 company-owned stores that will close. Starbucks just released the full official list today. It’s the only West Seattle Starbucks on the list, which includes six other stores in Seattle: 328 15th Ave E, 620 Denny Way, 1220 Howell St., 2201 E. Madison Ave., 1218 N. 45th St., and the “Northgate Mall II” store. No timetable is mentioned (we’ll check with corporate PR tomorrow).
Hours after we noted that West Seattle’s Jefferson Square Starbucks is reported to be on the list of 600 company-owned stores to be closed in coming months, the company has announced the first 50 – the ones that will be closed by the end of this month. Here’s the list; no Seattle stores are on this one, but the other 550 are yet to be announced.
First one comes directly to WSB from a reliable source that’s contributed important news here before, reporting that the closure was announced to the staff at a meeting within the past several days – this is the Starbucks store that replaced Infinity Espresso less than a year ago on the north side of Jefferson Square, NOT the “licensee” stand inside Safeway. Second report of this (hat tip to TPN from Blogging Georgetown) comes from a map the Times has been keeping of reported closures. This Starbucks is so relatively new, it’s only been 11 months since we first reported it was coming – it opened in late fall. The company itself has drawn criticism for the time gap between its announcement that 600 stores would close and its upcoming public announcement of which stores are closing. Its spokespeople are not currently confirming or denying closure reports for any specific locations; we requested comment on this one and received an official (albeit generic) statement – read on for the full text:Read More
Next door to the now-shuttered Corner Inn in Morgan Junction, some have noticed work under way at the former Beveridge Place Pub site. A permit has just been issued for some preliminary work, so we called the person listed as the project contact to find out what’s up: Paul Larkin tells WSB that he and West Seattle residents Jeff Gilbert and Matt Johnson are opening a “21-and-over restaurant and lounge,” hoping to be up and running in three to four months.
We were just over at Westwood Village and noticed passersby squinting at those two big orange posters (photo above) in the window of Vatsana’s Thai Restaurant, so we had to check it out too: Liquor license suspended till 10 am Wednesday (five-day suspension, for “furnishing alcohol to a minor”; the restaurant’s regularly closed Sundays anyway, so no one was there tonight).
SEACREST SEAGULL, ER, LOL-GULL: Yes, we know, there are a million places to generate your own goofy captions for photos. However, an actual blogger from our Other Blogs list has a thread going that might appeal to those with a twisted sense of humor, as she’s inviting captions for a photo of Seacrest’s famous one-footed seagull. We contributed one already.
MORE ON WHAT THE BOHEMIAN’S GOING TO BE LIKE: We’ve told you about The Bohemian, going into the former Leslie’s Country Store space next to Spiro’s in the 3400 block of California. Its previous one-page website is now expanded into a site with full details on what they’re planning to do. (Mini-update on the future Prost West Seattle next door – it’s applied for a liquor license, and one reader got e-mail from the owner saying they hope to open in August.)
Thanks to Michelle for the tip that a sign had gone up in the window of the former Basic Green Box spot in the 3400 block of California, between the townhouse cluster and the future Bohemian: We stopped by to check it out, and it’s going to be a West Seattle branch of Prost (here’s the site for its North Seattle location). (We also bumped into Bohemian’s owner, who says they hit a snag or two but are now hoping to open in June.)
One of the business/group sites participating in West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, Freshy’s Coffee in Admiral (across from Hiawatha), caught our eye on the state’s latest list of liquor-license applications, as it’s seeking a beer/wine license. We e-mailed proprietor Amber to see what’s up:
Realistically I’m just wanting to extend my hours and allow people to come and have a glass of wine or beer or coffee while they are studying, or working or hanging with friends. I’m wanting to do more art shows or Ms. Pacman and Galaga tournaments or whatever. I’m open to anything. I think the space is super cozy at night and would like to provide an alternative to just going to bars.
As for Garage Sale Day, Amber notes that she hopes to have a “flea market” feel, and that this coincides with the monthly “Homemade Brigade” arts/crafts show/sale she’s been having. Freshy’s is one of three coffeehouses with group sales — the others area Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) and C and P Coffee. (We’ll continue to spotlight WSCGSD participants between now and sale day – check out westseattlegaragesale.com for some of what we’ve already mentioned, and to download and print out your copy of The Map! which is actually three area maps plus all the sale addresses/descriptions.)
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