West Seattle, Washington
24 Wednesday
While we compose our epic forthcoming post about tonight’s meeting on the ex-Hollywood Video-etc. Junction project (could keep us up all night), please enjoy this amazing tale centering mostly on two of West Seattle’s many Starbucks.
After we posted about the award-winning wine made at SSCC, we got some questions about where to buy it. We checked with the college, and here’s the scoop: Nothing left from the first release of white wine, but a big party coming up in October will debut their first red wines — plus two chardonnays and one “late-harvest” sauvignon blanc. You can get your name on the list for an invitation to the Oct. 15 party by clicking here to e-mail SSCC’s wine-technology coordinator Regina Daigneault.
If you think the nearest winery is in, hmm, maybe, Woodinville — nope. The Puget Ridge Winery is in east West Seattle at SSCC, and it’s just won an award for student-made wine — click to read the college’s press release:Read More
Just saw channel 7 in The Junction outside West 5 to present coverage of tonight’s City Council nightlife-ordinance hearing; the story’s not on their website as of this writing, but you can read about what happened (minus the WS angle) at the P-I site. Also at Slog, where Skylark gets a shoutout.
Progress on two in-the-works coffee shops within a mile of each other on Delridge: First, the coffee-shop-in-progress at 5605 Delridge now has a name on its awning – “Pacino’s Coffee.” Second, at 4800 Delridge, exterior work is mostly done (photo below) at the sister shop to Bubbles on Alki; a WSB reader tells us she stopped in recently and heard they hope to open by month’s end, offering savory treats (crepes, sandwiches) as well as coffee & bubble tea.
It was rumored in the comments here a month ago, and now it appears to be headed for reality — according to the liquor-license applications site, someone is applying to take over Legends Bar & Grill, and the “new business name” would be Redline Music & Sports.
With so many blossoming businesses in West Seattle — West 5, Skylark, etc. — concerned about the so-called “nightlife premises legislation” that’s been making its way through the City Council, we thought you might want to know the next hearing has just been set (June 4).
In Morgan Junction, exterior work on the ex-Video Vault building, future new home of Beveridge Place Pub, has accelerated lately, so we e-mailed the pub owners to ask what’s going on inside and when they’re planning to open. Here’s their reply, as well as photos we snapped on a sunnier day earlier this week:
Well, like most renovation projects, the more you get into it, the more problems you find. Right now we’re doing our best to make sure the building remains standing: replacing dry rot, new roof, shoring up a retaining wall, etc. The interior is nothing but stud walls. The false wall out front is there so we can start to replace all the windows and doors. Next we’ll build an addition on the north side to cover the stairwell and provide access to the 400 sq ft patio! We hope to be moved in while the weather’s still warm enough to use the patio this year, but no definitive date at this time.
We had seen the “for sale” signs at the “Koze” store/house next door but didn’t realize till an e-mail tip that Carosello Coffee (the location’s latest incarnation) on 35th is for sale too. Interesting caveat in the listing fine print forwarded by our tipster (or is this par for the course with business listings?) — “DO NOT DISCUSS SALE WITH EMPLOYEES!”
It’s Our First Marquee Mention Ever, courtesy of the salubrious Java Bean! Spotted it while riding the Water Taxi Shuttle down Avalon yesterday; tried to take a photo last night; our cranky old camera ate it. Before we could try again today, a kind reader snapped it and sent it. We are most honored because as we’ve written before, Java Bean is a true West Seattle classic – we got morning lattes from Tony and family at their cart in front of the pre-fire Thriftway back in the ’90s, and have rooted for their success ever since. Thanks, guys!
Checked out the WS Farmers’ Market a few minutes into opening day, and we are thrilled to see that our personal faves are back, including Eats Market Cafe, Herban Feast with its strawberry-lavender lemonade, and best of all, Langley Fine Gardens, which brings over beautiful plants from its Vashon nursery, including exotic solanums like the one at left (3 for $8!). The market’s open today till 2.
While up around 35th/Holden on Gas Price Watch (for the 1st time in 3 mornings, no increase), we stopped at Carosello for our morning coffee, first time in a while. We were more than pleasantly surprised by some improvements there: They’re serving some local brands you don’t see many other places: coffee from Caffe Umbria, organic treats from Boulangerie Nantaise and Mighty O Donuts. (If you’re a public-service worker, drop by on Thursdays in uniform and drinks are 2-for-1.)
3 months after going public, WS-based Schooner Exact says business is hopping. They e-mailed us to make sure you know they’re the “featured cask” tomorrow night @ 6 @ Beveridge Place Pub, with what Schooner Exact partner Marcus calls “a seriously over-the-top Imperial 3 Grid IPA, on cask, naturally fermented, dry-hopped.” (We are beer idiots but we’re guessing that means it’s fairly swell stuff.) Marcus also tells us they’re up to three kegs/week, with new equipment and more on the way. He says you can find their creations “on a rotating basis” at West 5 too; follow their adventures on the Schooner Exact blog.
From the “triangle” where Delridge cuts between 16th/17th before Roxbury, a former auto shop is transforming into what city records describe as “West Seattle Bible Church”:
Further north on Delridge, the neon sign for the sister shop to Bubbles is up and running (our camera disc decided not to capture it, sorry); not far away, in the 5600 block of Delridge, a former roofing business also appears to be morphing into a “coffee shop”:
Tonight, a rare sighting of squadcarfuls of West Seattle’s Finest taking a break someplace besides Caffe Ladro: at the Westwood Village Barnes ‘n’ Noble.
Local public school athletic programs get 15% of whatever you spend at Tully’s today.
P-I “Internet reporter” Monica Guzman has posted about her Sunday morning stop @ Hotwire.
Flyers on the window at Bikes & Brew, west of Easy Street in The Junction, are advertising its liquidation sale, saying that B & B is going out of business. SUNDAY UPDATE: Bikes & Brew replied to the e-mail we sent seeking further details; here’s what they wrote:
We will be open for the next several Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm selling everything in the shop. Lots of people showed up yesterday so it looks like the last Saturday that we are open will probably be in early May. Please tell your readership that we thank them for their support over the past few years.
Vente Caffeinato took the Alki Point (and beyond) aerial view we recently linked to and overlaid it with coffeehouse locations, mostly in WS.
So it’s Sunday morning, you’re not in such a rush, thinking about wandering out for coffee. Do you always go to the same place, or do you get adventurous every now and then? We’ve been trying to branch out, try the places we haven’t been to in a while (if ever), and we have to say, we’re really impressed with Cafe Rozella, on the southwestern edge (the “cutting edge,” their site says) of WS. Excellent coffee & ambience. See you there.
Businesses in the repaving zone are hopeful we won’t all abandon them during this time of inconvenience. We’ve been to Hotwire, where a handwritten sign on the door says, THANKS FOR BRAVING THE CONSTRUCTION/YOU MAY PARK IN THE COURTYARD FOR 5 MINUTES. If you’ve got any artistic inclination, you’ve got a week and a half more to get in on their “First Annual Coffee Cup Design Contest.” Submit a design by 3/31; customers will vote on the entries in early April. (Entry form & guidelines here.)
Let’s call it “try to knock Howard Schultz a couple spots back down the Forbes Billionaire List.” How, you ask? Drink as much as you can during the big 10 am-noon free coffee blitz today. You can make it to every Starbucks in West Seattle during that window — north to south, it’s Alki to Admiral to Admiral Safeway to Jefferson Square Safeway to 35th/Fauntleroy to Morgan Junction to Westwood to Westwood QFC to Roxbury Safeway — that would be 108 ounces of coffee, all on Howie’s dime!
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