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West Seattle Christmas tree price survey, first 2008 installment

treesgraphic.jpgAfter a few hours out and about Sunday afternoon, we are convinced there is no better time to shop for a Christmas tree than a foggy afternoon, with the tree boughs glistening from the moisture left by the mist. Once again this year, we’re sampling prices. We don’t have an across-the-board comparison, since the various tree-sellers engage in different price-styles, from flat fees for a certain type in a certain height range, to per-tree labeled pricing, to per-tree “you gotta ask” pricing — but this might at least give you a little budgeting information, for starters. We intend to update this as tree season progresses in the next few weeks, and possibly to break out some side notes too (your options for living trees, for example). Anyway, here goes:Read More

West Seattle Christmas lights, 11/30/08

November 30, 2008 7:09 pm
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 |   Holidays | West Seattle Christmas lights

Some of the displays we featured last year (here’s last year’s map; this year’s is in the works) are back in business after some weekend work, like this one near Seacrest (1600 block of Harbor; map)- it’s a quick clip rather than a still because it twinkles! We also noticed that West Seattle’s biggest and brightest light show, the Menashe Family‘s Beach Drive display (in the 5600 block of Beach Drive; map), is up tonight – although perhaps not entirely finished, as we saw folks still working when we drove by shortly after 5 pm, so we haven’t photographed it (yet). Our spotlighted Christmas light pix from this year and last are all archived here, by the way. (Got a great display, and/or seen one? Send us the address, or better yet, a photo – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!)

West Seattle Christmas trees: Holy Rosary lot opens

Our camera followed Holy Rosary‘s Father John Madigan up and down a few rows during the annual “blessing of the trees” on the Holy Rosary Tree Lot’s opening day today – a mostly silent blessing, as he was having some hoarseness trouble. This was just hours after volunteers spent the morning setting everything up:

As always, Holy Rosary donates a portion of its proceeds (15%) to local charities (all listed here); the tree lot’s been an HR tradition for 20 years (and it has its own info-laden website too). Now that Holy Rosary’s open, here’s the West Seattle Christmas tree lineup as it stands tonight:

Holy Rosary (behind Admiral Safeway; map)
Home Depot (just west of Delridge between Webster and Orchard/Sylvan, map)
QFC (southeast side of Westwood Village, map)
Rite Aid stores (SE side of Westwood Village, map; 5217 California SW, map)
Tony’s (35th and Barton, map)
TrueValue (44th and Edmunds in The Junction, map)
West Seattle Bros. (on Alaska just west of Howden-Kennedy, map)
West Seattle Nursery (WSB sponsor; 5275 California SW, map)

We haven’t yet finished compiling our price-check data, but hope to add that tomorrow. (Looking for a cut-it-yourself lot? None in WS, but here’s the list of our state’s Christmas tree farms, county by county, including one in not-too-distant SeaTac.)

West Seattle Christmas lights, 11/29/08

November 29, 2008 9:33 pm
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 |   Holidays | West Seattle Christmas lights

Clearly this was a busy day for holiday decorators around West Seattle – we’ve just driven a few sample neighborhoods and noticed many more displays than we saw this time last night. The one above is on the east side of 39th just south of Hanford (map) – with motorized features including a merry-go-round and ferris wheel! We’ll start creating one cumulatively updated map for these tomorrow (last year’s map is here but no guarantee they’re all decorating again this year!). If you’ve got a particularly festive display, or see one, please e-mail to let us know!

Toys for Tots: Drop off toys at West Seattle fire stations

November 29, 2008 9:40 am
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 |   Holidays | How to help

That city-made map shows your West Seattle fire stations — Station 29 in North Admiral, Station 36 in North Delridge by The Bridge, Station 32 in the Triangle, Station 37 in Gatewood/Westwood (the city calls it Roxhill!), and Station 11 in Highland Park. They’re all collecting new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots (along with the city’s other fire stations) — drop your donation(s) off by December 18th.

Happening today/tonight: “Grease” is your word; “trees” is ours

From the latest edition of the West Seattle Weekend Lineup:

If you started to sing along with that clip – then you might consider cruising to the Admiral Theater tonight for the sing-along edition of “Grease” – girls’ lyrics in pink, boys’ lyrics in blue. Also on the agenda today/tonight, more holiday mania: West Seattle’s most famous Christmas tree sellers, the volunteers of the Holy Rosary Tree Lot south of Admiral Safeway, open their doors today, so we’ll be publishing our West Seattle tree-lot list/price survey by day’s end. Noon-4 pm, you’re invited to drop by the Log House Museum to help decorate – bring an ornament or something else to make the home of West Seattle history just a bit more special this season. Same hours, Santa arrives at Westwood Village … hmm, didn’t we just see him downtown Friday morning?

He’s making a lot of West Seattle appearances this holiday season (in The Junction starting next weekend), so he’ll have no excuse not to hear what’s on your list. Two more notes: Southwest Youth and Family Services continues its holiday plant sale 9 am-1 pm, and the White Center Swap Meet and Flea Market (WSB sponsor) celebrates its official grand opening with new hours, 8:30 am-4:30 pm. Lots more in the Saturday section of the Weekend Lineup (hop to it directly from here).

West Seattle Christmas lights, 11/28/08

We’re featuring another home from the inland side of the south end of Beach Drive, where we found our last featured display – because we’re just not seeing many light-draped homes around West Seattle, yet. (What is it about Beach Drive, anyway? Perhaps inspired by the Menashe family – whose legendary display isn’t done yet, but the cherry-picker’s parked across the street …) When you do see — or create — someplace particularly bright and festive, let us know — meantime we’ll be wandering around, watchfully.

Tree lightings: Downtown tonight, West Seattle next weekend

November 28, 2008 10:01 pm
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 |   Holidays | West Seattle news

We were on our way to a behind-the-scenes view of the Westlake tree-lighting downtown tonight … when downtown gridlock caught us in its clutches (we should have heeded the SDOT warning we published). We did make it to the edge of the crowd in time for that video clip of the lighting itself (note the many people in front of us also capturing the scene, on their phones); no fireworks – too windy. West Seattleites participating in the ceremony were to include Alki’s Shauna Causey, on behalf of sponsor Comcast (and reminding us all to support nonprofits, especially this holiday season), and Mayor Nickels, though an audio glitch apparently truncated the speeches before we got there. Earlier, we photographed the mayor in the downtown parade this morning as he walked with wife Sharon and fire chief Gregory Dean (dignitaries walked this year instead of riding in cars – Seattle Climate Action Now, perhaps?):

Back to the topic of tree lightings – hope you will join us in The Junction (your WSB co-publishers will be helping with the event) next Saturday night (12/6), 5 pm, Farmers’ Market parking lot behind Key Bank, for the West Seattle Community Tree Lighting – one jampacked hour of fun, including free entertainment, and the first drawing for some of the $5,000 worth of gift certificates that West Seattle Junction Association (WSB sponsor) merchants are giving away as part of Hometown Holidays (enter for free at any participating store). Also coming up – Our Lady of Guadalupe lights its Christmas tree (the highest-elevation one in Seattle!) at 7 pm December 12th (see the event flyer here).

Happening now: Holiday plant sale at SWYFS

November 28, 2008 3:56 pm
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 |   Delridge | Holidays | How to help | West Seattle news

Got word from Southwest Youth and Family Services that they’re open till 7 pm tonight and 9 to 1 tomorrow for their holiday plant sale, with poinsettias, wreaths, rosemary trees, and more. 4555 Delridge (map). SWYFS has a big new job ahead, in addition to what it already does – it’s this area’s lead agency for the city’s new youth-violence-prevention plan, so helping SWYFS can ultimately help make this a safer place to be.

Dreaming of doorbusters: “Black Friday,” early watch

November 28, 2008 4:52 am
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 |   Holidays

Since nobody opens in West Seattle till 6 am, we decided to go see what the pre-dawn doorbuster rush was like in the Southcenter vicinity — one member of the family actually tried to shop that way a couple years ago, not realizing people line up hours in advance; said family member eventually straggled home, wild-eyed, muttering unspeakable stories of crazed crowds. Kinda quiet here, actually, but busy — here’s what we’ve seen so far: We drove by JC Penney just as the doors were about to open at 4; a line snaked around two sides of the building. (Added later – here’s our video – note the line-cutters running out of nowhere, about 25 seconds in)

Now we’re by Best Buy a mile or so south; what you see above is the end of the line as of 4:30, half an hour before BB opens – that’s the BB sign way off in the distance to the left. Police are even here just in case $400-laptop-hunting gets unruly:

Next stop, 6 am West Seattle shopping — we’ll see if anyone’s camped outside any of the Westwood Village stores scheduled to open early. 5:34 AM UPDATE: We’re here at WV. Nothing like Southcenter. About a dozen people each outside Target and Staples (both of which open at 6 am, along with some other stores which seem to be line-free):

5:42 AM UPDATE: Must be something good on sale at Target – we just went back around to the south side of WV and the line’s grown dramatically, more like 40 people now.

Funny thing is that the doorbusters seem to bring spectators as well as shoppers. At Southcenter, just before Best Buy opened the doors at 5, about half a dozen people suddenly showed up near the head of the line – to aim their cell-phone cameras at the doors as they opened, fishing for YouTube fodder, we suppose. Here in the WV parking lot, there’s a carload of teenage girls next to us just sitting there giggling at the goings-on.

Hours till the official kickoff of shopping season

It’s on the marquee for the Luna Park business districtlet, but it really goes for all of West Seattle. Sure, we know some West Seattleites are going to do the early-morning Black Friday thing – we overheard chatter about it everywhere we went the past few days, from coffeehouses to our dentist’s office. Some chain stores in West Seattle (Target, Staples, Radio Shack, Kits among them) open at 6 am; at the malls, some stores will throw open the doors at 4, and you’ll probably see doorbuster-dreaming shoppers on stakeout, interviewed on tonight’s 11 pm news. (This BF site says many of the deals are already “live” online, by the way.)

Once all that is said and done — show your West Seattle shopkeepers some love; they’re trying to show some right back. The West Seattle Junction Association (WSB sponsor), for example – inviting you to not just “shop local,” but to go all-out and “Live Local” – has dozens of stores participating in a $5,000 giveaway – enter the raffle for free at any participating store (see the list here), and you’re in the running for all sorts of gift certificates, with winners to be drawn at three Junction events, starting with the Tree Lighting at 5 pm 12/6. Many shops have special events in the works too — like some late-night shopping on Art Walk night 12/11 (with free child care — more here) plus offerings from open houses to trunk shows (many are listed on this page of the Junction website), some in conjunction with special “Hometown Holidays Sundays” 12/7, 12/14, 12/21, when you can also get Santa photos and take mule-wagon rides.

Speaking of Santa, he’ll be in the house at Westwood Village (the Santa House by Bed Bath Beyond, Eats Market Cafe, and Wyatt’s Jewelers) on Saturdays and Sundays starting this weekend. Merchants elsewhere in West Seattle are geared up too – like those in the Admiral District:

That’s some of the decor inside Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor), which has some seasonal scoop on its blog — like decorating ideas and the “Gifts Under $10 List.” Click! is one of many West Seattle stores adding extra days and hours for the holiday season. They’ll be open 7 days a week starting next week; we noticed on a recent stroll through The Junction that the Discovery Shop (American Cancer Society thrift store) is adding Sunday hours till Christmas; West Seattle-based online toy sellers Nico and Zoe will open their ActivSpace storefront 11 am-2 pm on Fridays through the holiday-shopping season. We’ll keep scouting for West Seattle shopping news as the season progresses – and let us know what you’re hearing and seeing! (P.S. This reminds us we haven’t yet mentioned one West Seattle gift idea – local photographer Christy Johnson, who has contributed photos to WSB in the past (like this one), is selling a calendar of her photos, Scenic Seattle 2009; read about it — and preview it — here; buy it here.)

Freedom Church free feast also “more than just dinner”

November 27, 2008 3:28 pm
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 |   Arbor Heights | Holidays | West Seattle news

The volunteers serving free Thanksgiving dinner at Freedom Church (in the old Safeway building at 35th/Roxbury) were crazy-busy when we dropped in a few minutes before their 3-6 pm free dinner began – but we did get to see that, like the Fauntleroy volunteers, they’re sharing more than a meal:

Groceries for those who need them, and nice clothing:

They also had shampoo and soap available. Which reminds us that many West Seattle businesses, churches, and other organizations are colleecting those types of items as well as food and clothing (and diapers for WestSide Baby!) donations this holiday season – keep an eye on the WSB Holiday Happenings page for those opportunities, and also please let us know if you and your business/school/etc. are offering people the chance to reach out. If you have something to offer, you can also consider posting it in the WSB Forums‘ Freebies/Deals/Sales section (where an offer of “free bikes” has just been posted, to add to what’s already there).

Sharing the bounty: Free Thanksgiving dinners this afternoon

You probably don’t have to cook for a crowd the size of the one that Don is preparing for. We caught him with huge pots of gravy (etc.) in the kitchen at The Hall at Fauntleroy, where Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Catering is again serving up the annual free Thanksgiving dinner, noon-3 pm (map). The tables are waiting, as sun dapples through the huge south-facing windows:

Those who come also will be able to take something home – donated clothing and other items are laid out:

Also offering a free Thanksgiving dinner in West Seattle today: Freedom Church (35th/Roxbury), 3-6 pm. Many people are spending part of their holiday volunteering to make these events possible – we are thankful to live in a community with so many who give so much.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008, West Seattle!

HappyTgivingJavaBean.jpg

(2007 photo of Java Bean marquee courtesy of Jerry from JetCityOrange)
We are thankful that we’re here, and that you are too. Hope you have a great holiday. Again this year, we’re offering information you might find useful – it’s been on the Holiday Happenings page for a while, but now that The Big Day is here, it’s front and center – coffeehouse hours, supermarket hours, free dinners, transit etc.:

WHERE TO GET CAFFEINATED
Here are the coffeehouses (standalone sites only, in-store stands not included) we know are open — there may be others, but a few didn’t have anything posted on the door AND didn’t pick up the phone.
Aimonetto, 6 am-noon
Bohemian, 8 am-2 pm (espresso and pastries only)
C and P Coffee, 7 am-1 pm
Cafe Rozella, “in the morning”
Caffe Ladro, 5:30 am-2 pm
Cupcake Royale, 8 am-2 pm
Diva, 8 am-1 pm
Easy Street, 7 am-noon (coffee only)
Freshy’s, 8:30 am-1:30 pm (time approximate, when we checked)
Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor), 8 am-2 pm
Java Bean, open 6 am-2 pm
Red Cup, 7:30 am-1 pm
Salvadorean Bakery, 8 am-5 pm
Shoofly Pie Company, 10 am-noon
Starbucks, all WS locations open normal start time (Triangle drive-thru and Morgan Junction are earliest @ 5 am) thru 4 pm
Tully’s Alki, 7 am-4 pm
Tully’s Morgan Junction, 7 am-3 pm
Uptown Espresso in The Junction and on Delridge, both open 6 am-3 pm

OTHER INFO THAT MIGHT INTEREST YOU

THANKSGIVING DAY SUPERMARKET HOURS: Thriftway open 5 am-4 pm; Metropolitan Market open till 2 pm (then closing till 6 am Friday); QFC open till 6 pm (then closing until 5 am Friday); Safeways open 24 hours; PCC closed

FREE THANKSGIVING DINNER IN FAUNTLEROY: Free Thanksgiving dinner catered by Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes at The Hall at Fauntleroy, noon-3 pm (read all about it here)

FREE THANKSGIVING DINNER IN ARBOR HEIGHTS: Freedom Church (35th/Roxbury; here’s a map), 3-6 pm

FREE THANKSGIVING MORNING EXERCISE CLASSES: Gobble Stomp! Free Thanksgiving Day workout class presented by West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor), open to the community: (Donations to West Seattle Food Bank or WestSide Baby appreciated, especially newborn-size diapers.)
@ West Seattle wellness facility: doors open 8:20-8:30 am, workout 8:30-10 am.
@ Fauntleroy wellness facility: doors open 7:20-7:30 am, workout 7:30-9 am
More info here

THANKSGIVING BENEFIT CLASS: Thursday, 9:30–11 am at 8 Limbs Yoga (WSB sponsor): Join your 8 Limbs Community for an all-levels yoga class to give thanks and raise needed funds. A great way to start your Thanksgiving. Suggested donation: $20 benefiting Union Gospel Mission

FREE THANKSGIVING MORNING MARTIAL ARTS: (Found on Holy Rosary’s website) Lee’s Martial Arts says, “Come join us as Instructor Lisa & special guest instructors get you prepared to face the rest of the day’s festivities and meals by having an incredibly energizing holiday workout!!! This is our 3rd annual and each year it keeps getting better and better. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face and to burn lots of calories! This event is FREE with a donated food item. Or you can give a monetary donation at the door. (donations go to West Seattle Food Bank) 8:30-10 am

HOLIDAY CHANGES: No trash/recycling, no regular-mail delivery, no city pay-station/meter parking charges, government offices/facilities closed, banks closed; Metro schedule info here; Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry route on regular schedule

Yet more on the Holiday Happenings page, along with a long list of other events happening for the rest of the holiday season in West Seattle – Santa sightings, Christmas Ship, much more.

Thanksgiving Day info: Grocery-store hours too

Also from the WSB Holiday Happenings page, just in case you forgot something and have to rush out tomorrow to find it: Metropolitan Market will be open till 2 pm (then closing till 6 am Friday); Thriftway will be open 5 am-4 pm; QFC will be open till 6 pm (then closing until 5 am Friday); the Safeways remain open 24 hours; PCC will be closed.

Holiday traffic alerts, if you’re going downtown this 4-day weekend

November 26, 2008 1:49 pm
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 |   Holidays | Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway

Finally, an excuse to use the photo we took as the holiday merry-go-round near Westlake Center was being set up last weekend! Just got the SDOT traffic alert about holiday 4-day weekend activities including the Friday parade (we’ll be there – never met a parade we didn’t like) and tree lighting/fireworks plus the Seattle Marathon, so here’s the announcement in all its glory:Read More

Looking for West Seattle Thanksgiving info?

We’ll post everything here on the home page first thing in the morning as has become a WSB tradition, but in the meantime, if you want a preview of who’s offering a free dinner, who’s offering a free workout, which supermarkets and coffee shops are open, all the info we have gathered so far is all on the Holiday Happenings page.

West Seattle Christmas lights: The season begins!

Not the most spectacular Christmas lights in West Seattle, but these make us smile every year because they’re decorations with a mission – the green and gold lights in the 5200 block of Beach Drive (map), and the accompanying “God Bless the Oregon Ducks” banner. Once again this year — now that Christmas is just a month away — we’ll be showing West Seattle holiday lights every night, but we may not find the best and the brightest without your help — send us the location of noteworthy lights you’ve seen (or put up!) – photos welcome too; just e-mail us at the usual mailbox: editor@westseattleblog.com. And remember, the latest Holiday Happenings from around West Seattle (including the Thanksgiving roundup, from free dinners to holiday hours for coffeehouses and grocery stores) are all listed here.

West Seattle Weather Watch: Thanksgiving forecast update

Thanks to WSB’er “Hopey” for sending that photo of tonight’s sunset. The latest forecast suggests we may not see such nice weather for a few more days – Thanksgiving is now projected as cloudy with a chance of rain; as you know if you’ve lived here more than 5 minutes, it’s a tough place to forecast – so we checked to see what’s been written by the often-right-on-the-money meteorologists with whom we used to work at Channel 13 – tonight Walter Kelley writes (halfway down this page) “a few showers near the mountains or coast but no storm.” For the official kickoff to shopping season Friday, “mostly cloudy but pleasant” (the Holiday Happenings page will have the latest on early store openings, etc.; we’ll have that info finalized by tomorrow).

White Christmas already: Tony’s is 1st to open (flocking and all)

That’s the legendary Tony, of Tony’s Produce and – this time of year – Tony’s Christmas Trees, applying flocking to one of said trees. We went by after Sandra e-mailed the tip (following up on our earlier mention of tree lots in progress) that they were open (1st one in West Seattle that we know of). Tony says they’re there 9 am-9 pm daily, starting now (35th/Barton, here’s a map). We also have updates on two of the Christmas tree spots we mentioned earlier: “West Seattle Bros” on Alaska west of Fauntleroy will open Friday, and West Seattle Nursery (WSB sponsor) will start selling trees Friday too. ADDED LATER: Skyline Secure Park will have “Christmas Trees on Alki” again this year, entrance across from the Harbor Ave 7-11, also opening Friday.

West Seattle scenes: Crunched car; new tree lot

Fauntleroy Way has its radar speed signs … and it has other reminders of the perils of the road, like this car with a smashed-in rear end. We spotted it along the south-of-Alaska stretch (the one proposed for repaving and reconfiguration) a few days ago but don’t have the story behind it (yet); Scott M suggested it was worth a photo, so here it is. Will be checking again shortly to see if it’s been towed yet. Not far away, Mike J spotted this new Christmas tree lot getting set up on Alaska, between Howden-Kennedy and Bank of America:

Once the lots are all up and running this weekend, we’ll bring you the annual WSB Christmas tree lot list (and price check). Other lots where we’ve seen setup include the legendary Holy Rosary Christmas Tree Lot, which opens this Saturday behind Admiral Safeway, and the lot at Tony’s Produce (35th/Roxbury), which shut down fruits and veggies a few weeks ago to get ready for the Christmas focus.

Another proposal from the “work out before you pig out” file

We told you Tuesday about the free “Gobble Stomp” exercise classes being offered Thanksgiving morning by the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) at the Junction and Fauntleroy locations. Now, another option for pre-turkey exercise — just out of the WSB inbox:

Hi, I’m hoping to find some sportin’ folks of all ages and both sexes for a little pre-gorging two-hand-touch football on the athletic field at Madison Middle School. Very inclusive, get-everybody-involved, size-doesn’t-matter kind of fun. Approximately 9 am-10:30 (Thanksgiving morning). Gavin Layton, 206-937-5478

You can also e-mail Gavin if you’re interested – gavin@gavinlayton.com

West Seattle weekend scenes: Open the doors; deck the halls

A few things we didn’t get the chance to share earlier because of everything that was happening: First, just in time for West Seattle Junction holiday shopping, the renovated Stop and Shop opened today on the street level of the Senior Center of West Seattle. Among the eclectic offerings, a $25 Santa suit:

Stop and Shop is now open 10 am-4 pm, seven days a week. Also in holiday mode today, the Camp Long Lodge, where a festive crowd turned park tree trimmings into wreaths:

At the center of that photo is Camp Long’s Gretchen Graber, who reminds you NOT to get your own trimmings at city parks – these were salvaged from work crews — but you can certainly make wreaths out of greenery from your own yard. In fact, your next chance to learn the art of wreathmaking is this Wednesday (11/26) at West Seattle Nursery (WSB sponsor), with a free wreathmaking class at 10 am (and more later in the holiday season – see the Holiday Happenings page).