West Seattle, Washington
19 Wednesday
Take your reusable bows and other package trimmings to Beveridge Place Pub – where Furry Faces Foundation is collecting them, as explained here. (We’ll have more post-holiday recycling info this weekend.)
Now that it’s Christmas night, thoughts turn to New Year’s Eve/Day (if they haven’t already). The list of events on our West Seattle Holidays page keeps growing – and the Highland Park neighborhood parade (first reported here in HP Action Committee coverage 2 months ago) is among the most intriguing. You have a chance to prepare for it at a workshop Sunday – but whether you can join in that or not, they hope to see you Thursday night – here’s the announcement of the workshop, parade and (right afterward) party, courtesy of Julie @ Highland Park Improvement Club:
Sunday, December 27th from noon until 6:00 pm
The Highland Park Improvement Club (1116 SW Holden) is hosting a luminaria (lantern) making workshop in preparation for our New Year’s Eve Neighborhood Parade! HPIC members, friends and families, and neighbors are welcome to join. Even if you are not making a lantern, please stop in and say hello to your neighbors!
Visiting artist Tricky Bunny from the Fremont Arts Council will provide instruction on how to make a papier mache lantern. To make a balloon lantern, please bring:
– Balloon(s)
– Tissue paper (colorful tissue paper looks especially pretty)
– Wire to attach your lantern to a stick or rod
– Tea candle (the kind where the candle is in a metal cupTricky Bunny will provide Elmer’s wood glue, dry wall paper paste, acrylic medium for paper mache, and a hot glue gun and hot glue gun sticks, along with demonstration. Wear clothing that you don’t mind getting glue or papier mache goop on. (Also, for gluten allergy sufferers, please note that wallpaper paste contains gluten.) Bring snacks to share! Children are welcome.
New Years Eve: Thursday, Dec 31 – Not-So-Silent Night Parade – meet at 6:30 pm, HPIC parking lot
Bring drums/pots & pans/tambourines/musical instruments
followed by the Sage Comet performance, HPIC parking lot after the parade, around 7:30pmand then the Highland Park House Party at 8 pm
an electronic jukebox with playlists from the neighborhood: a guaranteed eclectic assortment that will dance us all into the New Year. Gourmet homemade food from the neighborhood foodistas! (byob) $15/person, $5/kids under 12 and bring dollar bills for the jukebox!
For more information on any of the above, e-mail HPIC1919@gmail.com or leave a message at 206-762-9825; HPIC is online at www.hpic1919.org.
Another story of holiday giving: We received a news release announcing that West Seattle resident Elaine Cornell won a statewide drawing held by her employer, Umpqua Bank, for a $500 donation to be given to a charity of her choice. She chose Northwest Kidney Centers, where she received dialysis treatment more than 20 years ago, while awaiting a kidney transplant, which came from her sister, RoseAnne Tobelaine of Snohomish (at right with Elaine in the photo below). Along with the news release came Elaine’s first-person story.
The gift I Received and why I want to give to the Northwest Kidney Centers:
Winning the first prize in the Associate Giving Campaign has given me a great opportunity to, in part, give back to an organization and foundation that was there for me during my greatest time of need and express my gratitude for the “Gift of Life” I received from my sister.
In 1986 I was in my third year at the University of Washington, when I learned, thanks to a very pro-active and thorough Navy doctor, that blood tests showed my kidney function was in the abnormal range. In addition to the blood tests, I had high blood pressure readings (which were not normal for someone of my age who was not overweight, in good physical shape and not a smoker) and I was weak.
Elaine’s story continues ahead:Read More
Happy Christmas Day! We’ve put this info out as lists over the past several days, but here it is on a map – coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants in West Seattle (and a few in north White Center) that told our researchers (or posted on their websites) that they’d be open today – marked with cups, bags, forks/knives respectively (click each icon to see the business, its address, and its hours). If you happen onto something else that’s open in these categories, please post a comment so everyone else will know too! And if you’d prefer to see the lists in text form, here are the original links:
Grocery stores
Restaurants
Coffee shops
Also open today – West Seattle’s only moviehouse, Admiral Theater, with showings starting at 4 pm. Here’s the slate of movies today:
Where the Wild Things Are (PG) 4:00 7:00
The Fourth Kind (R), 9:00
Pirate Radio (R), 6:50
Law Abiding Citizen (R), 4:05 9:10
Last but by no means least, several West Seattle churches have services today, too:
FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF WEST SEATTLE (4105 California SW)
Festival Liturgy and Holy Eucharist, 10:30 am
HOLY FAMILY PARISH (20th/Roxbury)
Mass in English – 10:00 am
Mass in Spanish – 12:30 pm
HOLY ROSARY PARISH (42nd/Genesee)
Christmas Masses, 8, 9:30 am
HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH
10:30 am
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE (35th/Myrtle)
Mass, 10 am
PROVIDENCE MOUNT ST. VINCENT CHAPEL
Christmas Mass, 10:30 am (music by Friends of Providence)
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (3050 California Ave SW, next to West Seattle High School)
10:00 am Holy Eucharist with Carols (*quieter celebration of Christmas with special music; a festive reception follows the service)
Hope you’re having a great holiday!
From Rick R, a sighting off Brace Point this afternoon. Merry Christmas Eve! P.S. Our handy West Seattle holiday links again —
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day church services
Grocery stores’ hours for Christmas Eve/Day
Restaurants open Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day
Coffee shops that’ll be open a while on Christmas
Christmas Light displays we’ve featured
ADDED 6:17 PM: Another sighting!
Thanks to Cathy for the photo of Santa on 2 wheels.
We shared this link at White Center Now but wanted to point you to it from here as well: a touching tale on the White Center Food Bank site – a reminder that those to whom you give, are givers too. CHRISTMAS MORNING UPDATE: There’s a postscript to this – read it here.
(Yet another video from the smash-hit music-synched lights at 3908 Charlestown)
Christmas Eve is here. (NORAD is tracking Santa Claus already!) Here’s some basic info to get things started:
NEED WRAPPING HELP?
Watch this WSB Forums item for update on last-minute fundraising gift-wrap service
WEST SEATTLE HOLIDAY INFO-LISTS
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day church services
Grocery stores’ hours for Christmas Eve/Day
Restaurants open Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day
Coffee shops that’ll be open a while on Christmas
OTHER NOTES
Metro Transit on “reduced weekday service” today
Most King County offices/facilities closed for furlough day today
LAST-MINUTE SHOPPING?
Consider the deals on the WSB Coupons page (improved printability – only center column of page will print)
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
If you haven’t seen the big displays we’ve featured this year, check our archives
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEW YEAR’S EVE?
The list on the West Seattle Holidays page keeps growing
If you squint really hard at our iPhone photo, you’ll see the musicians up on the “balcony” at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) tonight – we dropped by for a few things and suddenly, loud and clear, live Christmas music resounded throughout the store. (Our checker said they had a harpist last night and there’ll be carolers tomorrow – they close at 6 pm – our Christmas Day grocery-store-info list is here.) We’ve also noted more than a few reports of Santa at West Seattle Thriftway (like this one in the WSB Forums) – and other merchants in extra-festive moods; in Northwest Art and Frame in The Junction, for example, during a busy time just before 6, cookies and skin-care samples were being handed out to people waiting in line to check out. Happy West Seattle shopping to all! (Some Christmas Eve shopping hours, just sampled from what was tweeted today on Twitter – Click! Design That Fits [WSB sponsor] in the Admiral District is open 11 am-3 pm tomorrow; Easy Street Records is open till 6.)
What will Santa bring? If Stu Hennessey from Alki Bike and Board knows, he’s not telling. Not even the kids who stopped in and looked up at the “on-reserve” section in Stu’s Admiral District shop (2606 California SW) on Christmas Eve-Eve. AB&B is one of the Admiral merchants who banded together to sponsor WSB this season with an invitation to “Shop Local in the Admiral District” this holiday – here’s the whole group (you’ll find coupons on that page, and more WS coupons here) – also in the group, Linda’s Flowers and Gifts on the SE corner of California/Admiral:
That’s owner Linda Harader, back left; we dropped by as she and her team worked on more pre-Christmas orders. A bit further south – it’s not just retail merriment this Christmas week – think local for your services, too:
That’s longtime WSB sponsor John Moore, whose Northwest Insurance Group is at 3210 California SW, has one of the more unusual office trees in the Admiral District – he says it was salvaged from a Starbucks where it appeared to be destined for the trash one post-Christmas season. We asked him for a holiday message – and he offered some safety advice:
Happy Holidays to our existing clients and future clients from Northwest Insurance Group! Please be extra diligent this Holiday Season to keep gifts and personal belongings out of view in your cars as it is the season for car break ins. Let your Neighbors be aware to keep an eye on your place if you are traveling during the Holidays and be sure to install some inexpensive timer switches for lights to go on and off.
Make sure you double-check that your plumbing lines have been wrapped to protect against freezing weather, and you might consider shutting off the hot water tank if it’s older since they likely to cause the most damage on vacation weekends or holidays. If you are brave enough to deep fry a turkey, please exercise extreme caution and locate the deep frying device a nice safe distance from your house! … . We wish you all a Very Happy New Year!!
(Northwest Insurance Group represents more than a dozen A-rated companies.) More shopping check-ins tonight and tomorrow!
Making your plans for Christmas morning? Here’s our final holiday list (joining West Seattle restaurants open Christmas Eve and/or Day, West Seattle grocery store hours for Christmas Day, and West Seattle Christmas Eve/Day church services). This time, we’ve canvassed the coffee shops, as per WSB holiday-season tradition, to see who’s open Christmas Day:
Cafe Rozella – 8 am-noon
Caffe Ladro – 7 am-noon
Diva – 8 am-1 pm
Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) – 8 am-2 pm (with staffers who volunteered, says proprietor Lora)
Pioneer Coffee – 7 am-1 pm
Starbucks/Morgan Junction – 8 am-3 pm
Starbucks/Triangle drive-thru – 7 am-3 pm
Tully’s/Alki – 7:30 am-3 pm
Tully’s/Morgan Junction – 7 am-2 pm
This also will be linked from the West Seattle Holidays page, and in the sidebar list of headlines. If you have additions/changes, please share that info – we’re also collecting notes on Christmas Eve hours (when your store’s closing, etc.) and you’re welcome to send those along. (Now, off to The Junction and Admiral and Triangle and Alki and Westwood and … clock’s ticking for last-minute shopping!)
(Rerunning 12/12 photo by Michelle Edwards, our favorite so far this season)
Now that it’s Christmas Eve-Eve, we’re wrapping up our in-advance info lists. 2 already published: Restaurants open Christmas Eve/Day and grocery-store hours for Christmas Eve/Day; this morning, West Seattle churches’ plans for services on Christmas Eve/Day. A few churches are missing because the information was unavailable – we will add to the list today when/if that changes – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks! – click ahead for the list (which also is now updated on the West Seattle Holidays page)Read More
Hadn’t seen a video from the all-West Seattle benefit compilation “We Are The Junction” till this link landed in our Facebook box courtesy of the artist, Kirk Dubb, whose trademark phrase is “Chug-A-Lug.” Produced & directed by Dynomite D, this isn’t kid stuff, but hey, it’s late night. And a good cause. Many West Seattle nightlife shoutouts. (Look for the “Happy Festivus” lights’ cameo.” Multiple artists (listed here) on “We Are The Junction” in addition to Kirk Dubb; proceeds benefit the West Seattle Food Bank. You can buy it for just $10 at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), Easy Street Records, West 5 and Shadow Land.
We’re continuing to wrap up our Christmas info lists (here’s the updated Christmas Eve/Day restaurant list) – tonight, local grocery stores’ plans:
Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor)
Closing 6 pm Christmas Eve
Closed Christmas DayPCC Natural Markets/West Seattle (WSB sponsor)
Closing 7 pm Christmas Eve
Closed Christmas DayWest Seattle QFC stores:
Both close 6 pm Christmas Eve
Junction store closed Christmas Day
Westwood Village store open 8 am-3 pm Christmas DayAll 3 West Seattle Safeway stores
Closing 7 pm Christmas Eve
Open 9 am-3 pm Christmas DayWest Seattle Thriftway
Closing 9 pm Christmas Eve
Closed Christmas Day
The in-progress list of Christmas Eve/Day church services is on the West Seattle Holidays page; and we’ll have the Christmas Day coffee map done soon.
This morning, e-mail came in from Lee:
If someone wakes up and is missing lit-up Xmas animals from the front of their house, I just walked by a seal and another thing (didn’t look too closely as I was rushing to catch a ferry) at the bottom of the Thistle stairs on the side of the street.
Just went down to check – what Lee reported is still there, along Thistle at 46th (map):
Whether related or not, that sighting comes hours after a report of stolen decorations in North Admiral – witnessed by “octoberjem,” who posted the report in the WSB Forums, including a description of and partial plate from the pickup truck seen making a getaway. Read that report here.
ORCA WATCH: Howard Garrett from the Orca Network – which tracks whale sightings all over Northwest waters (and often beyond) – sent this word last night, suggesting whales might pass us today:
There are a lot of orcas in the south sound tonight, and they may be there tomorrow as well. The last report, from Steve Rees, was in the final glimmer of winter solstice light, at 4:25 pm from Richmond Beach (Gig Harbor), describing 30+ orcas heading north up Colvos Passage. 30+! If anyone sees them, please call Orca Network at 866-ORCANET (672-2638) and call the West Seattle Blog so everyone will know where to look.
(We’re at 206-293-6302 round the clock.) Colvos Passage, by the way, is the channel that runs west of Vashon.
787: One week after the much-cheered first flight of Boeing‘s new Dreamliner, the second one goes up this morning – again planned to leave from Snohomish County’s Paine Field and to arrive just east of West Seattle, at Boeing Field.
BENEFIT CONCERT: 7 pm tonight at Mars Hill/West Seattle, violinist Angela Fuller performs to raise money for the medical expenses of bicyclist Angela Sweet (story here).
LAST-MINUTE HOLIDAY GIVING: As reported here last night, WestSide Baby needs car seats and diapers by tomorrow to meet its holiday goals – details here. And Jill at CAPERS in The Junction shares a photo of their Giving Tree, which is there through Christmas Eve:
Jill explained:
CAPERS is accepting gifts for the Hickman House, transitional housing for women and children surviving domestic violence, until December 24th. Pick up a gift card while you are out shopping and drop it off if you are too busy to pick up a star.
Other donation drives are listed on the West Seattle Holidays page – along with other Christmas-week info and an ever-growing list of New Year’s Eve/Day events – plus look for a couple more lists later today to join the updated holiday restaurant list.
We’ve got several updates this morning about Christmas-week events at West Seattle-area churches. This one in Highland Park is the most unusual we’ve heard yet. Here’s the full announcement:
CHRISTMAS EVE EVENT REMEMBERS WORLD WAR ONE CHRISTMAS TRUCE
On Christmas Eve, 1914, between the muddy trenches along the Western Front, the armies of World War I spontaneously stopped fighting. They came out of their trenches and met each other in No Man’s Land as unlikely friends.
This Christmas Eve celebrate the 95th anniversary of the incredible “Christmas Truce.” In an inter-faith and non-sectarian event, hear the story in letters, drama and song. See images from the period and the truce. Share the hope of peace in the most unlikely of places.
Featuring performances by The Seattle Labor Chorus, Seattle-area singer Dan Roberts, Raging Grannies, and the Southwest Seattle Readers Theater. Also participating are Rabbi Daniel Septimus, of Temple De Hirsch Sinai, Imam Hisham Farajallah, of the Idriss Mosque & Islamic Center of Washington, Pastor Jim Major of the Highland Park Community of Christ, and Chris King, Founding President of the Seattle Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, representing a secularist perspective.
The event is free of charge, but seating is limited. The doors open at 6 PM; the program begins at 7 PM and will not last more than an hour and-a-half. The event will take place at the Highland Park Community of Christ, at 8611 11th Ave SW [map] – next to Highland Park Elementary School and the park and ball-fields. Reserved seating for disabled or special-needs persons is available with advance notice.
For more information or disabled seating reservations e-mail ChristmasTruce.Seattle@gmail.com.
We are building the list of West Seattle Christmas Eve/Christmas Day services on the Holidays page (if yours isn’t there yet, we’re actively researching, but info is also welcome at editor@westseattleblog.com). Meantime, one church has a special service tonight – the “Longest Night” service at Tibbetts United Methodist Church. Rev. Dr. Joanne Carlson Brown explains:
No, this isn’t an Elvis Christmas program. For many people this is not the most wonderful time of the year no matter what the song says. Perhaps you have lost someone and this is the first Christmas without them. Perhaps you’ve lost someone around Christmas time and this time of the year is always hard. Perhaps you’ve lost your job or the times of your life are just challenging. This service is a place to acknowledge those feelings of pain and loss and grief and just general out-of-sortedness. Through readings and music and prayers and lighting candles we will move from the dark to a bit of light and comfort and, yes, hope. All are welcome.
Tibbetts is at 3940 41st SW (here’s a map). (Its Christmas Eve service, at 8 pm, is a Celtic celebration again this year, by the way.)
Along with generous donors, the unsung heroes of holiday help are the volunteers who sort, who gather, who greet ... Darrell was among the volunteers at the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) residents’ holiday party at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center this afternoon. DNDA’s Phillippia Goldsmith had sent us word of the party, and added, “A big thank you to all West Seattle supporters who were a big part of making this happen for the families who live in our affordable housing!” Guests enjoyed food and music – the latter, provided by brass players who told us they’re from the Ballard Odd Fellows:
And then they went into a nearby room in small groups to choose presents from tables overflowing with donated items, like these:
Back out in the hall, while families waited their turn, some kids were so excited they were literally jumping with joy.
We were working on this when the Fauntleroy Church fire broke out, so it’s a bit delayed, but not too late: Holiday fun happening in West Seattle right now! From the team at Wrap It Up, till 5 at Beveridge Place Pub:
Join us for an exciting day of Seahawk football and bring all the gifts that you need wrapped! The Wrap it Up party is in full swing right now at the Beveridge Place Pub. Donations for giftwrapping benefit the Animals First Foundation. Wrap it Up is sponsored by Furry Faces Foundation. We are here till 5pm!!!
And till 4 pm, Santa photos continue – The Junction is where we found Eamon getting ready to meet the big guy for the first time:
(You know you’re a Northwest kid when you’re not used to the sun, which made a cameo! Thanks to Eamon and mom for posing.) Also in The Junction, volunteers from Pathfinder K-8 were facepainting till about 3 pm:
Over at Westwood, like The Junction, we found a good crowd (but not a massive wait) for Santa photos by mid-afternoon:
That’s it for West Seattle Santa pix after 4 pm today, till next season, but holiday fun continues – like Christmas lights-viewing – the ones we’ve featured, each with a map link, are here.
With Christmas just days away, we’ve received questions about which West Seattle restaurants will be open on the holiday – either Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day. Once again, volunteer help has saved our bacon, so to speak: First, thanks so much to Suzanne Tiedeman for her volunteer help with this research – (Suzanne is mom to a Junior Girl Scout and Bear Cub Scout and promises to let us know about their upcoming fundraisers – for her daughter, cookie pre-sales are starting soon; for her son, they’ll have a food drive in the 1st quarter of 2010). Now, to the restaurants: So far we’ve confirmed two THREE FIVE places open Christmas Day – Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) with a limited menu, (under new ownership) The Thaitan, (added 4:38, confirmed what Rick reported in comments) Ho-Win and (added Tuesday morning) Redline and Triangle Pub. Click ahead for the list of what we have so far (and please let us know if you have additions/changes – thanks! – we expect this list to evolve over the next few days):Read More
Gretchen made an unexpected discovery this morning and wondered if anyone is looking for the item she found:
We found a lovely wreath under the play structure at High Point Community Center’s playground this morning. We brought it home and it is now on our front step. It might get hung up if I can find our hanger as it should be displayed. Anyway…if someone wants to claim their lost wreath, they can swing by and snag it.
She added, “I’d rather not have to navigate around a pickup and just let someone pick it up whether we’re here or not,” so the wreath is outside their home at 7339 30th SW (map).
(If you have a lost or found item to report, you are welcome at any time to post it in the WSB Forums; if it’s a pet, please send us info, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com so that we can showcase it on the Pets page – worth bookmarking in case, heaven forbid, you ever have to look for one of your furry friends.)
SANTA TIMES TWO … WELL, MAYBE ALMOST THREE: Santa photos in The Junction with Donna Ryan Photography (moving into that spot permanently when the holidays finish). Santa’s in the house noon-4 pm (with wrapping by Swee Swee, free if you spend at least $50 with participating Junction merchants)- remember the hours have moved up earlier for the lovable mules drawing carriages, 11 am-3 pm today:
Before you board the carriage by KeyBank, your young shopping companions can get facepaint from Pathfinder K-8 volunteers at the Hometown Holidays (co-sponsored by WSB) booth at that same corner. And of course remember, just west of there, it’s the last West Seattle Farmers’ Market before Christmas, 10 am-2 pm (here’s the fresh sheet). About that second Santa? Westwood Village, noon-4 pm – bring a food bank donation – also bring diapers (sizes 3-6 especially) for WestSide Baby. The “almost third” Santa – Babbo Natale at Cafe’ Revo (WSB sponsor), telling Italian Christmas stories for kids lunching between 1 and 3 pm. (Bring a gift for WestSide Baby or Furry Faces Foundation and get 10% off your Revo bill! Speaking of discounts – don’t miss the print-em-now WSB Coupons! – and if you go to Jan’s Beauty Supply in The Junction, mention Jan’s WSB ad and get 20% off.)
MUSIC: The Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) holiday concert is tonight at 6; that’s also when The Way Church has a Christmas musical/service; it’s all-ages night at Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) with Ambulance, Typewriters, The Hoot Hoots, 7 pm.
REMINDER – DONATE PRESENTS FOR TEENS: And noon-2 pm is today’s window at High Point Community Center for the items needed to make this a happy holiday for area teenagers- full details (including what items are needed) here.
For today’s full list, in chronological order, see the West Seattle Weekend Lineup; for holiday events by activity (including lights and tree info), it’s the West Seattle Holidays page.
Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) is throwing an End-Of-Decade Party next Saturday (day after Christmas). But have we even figured out what to call this decade yet? Was it the ot-ots? The oh-ohs? The two-thousands? Whatever you call it, Skylark proprietor Jessie SK invites you to:
Dress as your favorite person, event, meme, or thing from the years 2000 to 2009. Best costume wins $100 Gift Card, and there will be runner-up prizes and recession-friendly drink specials aplenty. 8 pm.
Jessie’s got her full holiday lineup in this online update – including Skylark’s New Year’s Eve plan with locals Stevedore and Guns & Rossetti (we’ve added that no-cover bash to the list in the New Year’s section of the West Seattle Holidays page).
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