(Stadiums’ New Year’s Eve colors, photographed by Doug Eglington)

Welcome to 2025! Here’s some info we hope will be helpful on your New Year’s Day holiday:

BUSES: Metro‘s on the Sunday schedule. (The free rides were just for New Year’s Eve, so fares ARE being collected today.)

WATER TAXI: Not running today.

FERRIES: Weekend schedule on Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route – check for alerts here.

MORE TRANSPORTATION NOTES: No charge for street parking in areas of the city with pay stations … West Seattle-relevant traffic cameras are here; see all cameras citywide via this map.

COFFEE AND RESTAURANT/BAR HOURS: This year, we made lists, though closures for New Year’s are far fewer than for Christmas; open coffee shops are here, open restaurants/bars are here.

GROCERY HOURS TODAY: Three grocery notes for today: Trader Joe’s is closed; PCC West Seattle (WSB sponsor) opens later and closes earlier (9 am-9 pm); Whole Foods opens an hour later, at 9 am.

NEW YEAR’S DAY WALKS: Emerald City Wanderers are hosting New Year’s Day walks, starting at St John the Baptist Episcopal Church. The 5- or 10-kilometer walks are noncompetitive, starting between 9 and noon. There is no fee, though contributions to help cover costs are welcome. Hot soup and snacks will be available after the walks. St John’s is at 3050 California Ave SW.

ALKI POLAR BEAR SWIM: You’re invited to join in the annual tradition of running into Puget Sound with hundreds of others at 10 am sharp, from the beach across from Duke’s, or really, anywhere along the sand – here’s our most-recent reminder.

HANUKKAH’S FINAL NIGHT: The Torah Learning Center of West Seattle will light its giant menorah one last time at 4:30 pm east of Alki Bathhouse, all invited.

OTHER NOTES: Seattle Parks closure info is here … Libraries (city and county) are closed … Solid-waste pickups are on one-day delay for the rest of the week.

If you see/hear news, please text/call 206-293-6302 – we appreciate your tips 24/7/365!

(Pink clouds to the west at sunrise – photo sent by Janice Christiansen)

Happy New Year’s Eve! From the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide and year-round Event Calendar, here’s what we have on the list for today/tonight:

FARE-FREE TRANSIT: See this morning’s traffic etc. roundup for info on who’s not charging you to ride today/tonight.

NEW YEAR’S EVE (AND DAY) WALKS: “The Emerald City Wanderers again will host noncompetitive walks on New Year’s Eve and Day, starting at St John the Baptist Episcopal Church (3050 California SW). Different 5K and 10K walks will be offered on each day. On New Year’s Eve start any time between 4 and 7 PM from the Church, and enjoy hot soups and treats afterward in the Church community room. On New Year’s Day start any time between 9 AM and noon, with hot soups and snacks afterward. This is a great way to bid farewell to 2024 and welcome 2025. Donations are requested. Info: Mike Nagan at m.nagan@comcast.net.”

NOT-SO-SILENT NIGHT PARADE: Highland Park Improvement Club will again lead a neighborhood walk/parade with noisemakers on NYE to say goodbye to the old year. Details:

Celebrate the arrival of the New Year with friends and neighbors with an all-ages, family-friendly march through Highland Park. An annual event since 2009 (with the exception of the COVID shutdown), the Not-So-Silent-Night Parade is a community celebration to ring in the new year. All ages welcome.

5:30- 6 pm: Assemble at the Highland Park Corner Store (7789 Highland Park Way SW). The store will be open for mingling, snacks and libations.

6 pm: Parade begins

Bring your personal noise or music makers and festive lighting, and help ring in 2025 as we parade down to the Riverview Playfields for a ceremonial goodbye to the old and welcome to the new!

Tips & Info

We parade via sidewalks primarily on quiet side streets
The route is approximately one mile, with some moderate hills. Folks are welcome to join in at any point.
This is an all-weather event! Light up your umbrella, wear your snow boots, come bundled up for whatever the season brings us.
Don’t feel up to walking? Onlookers are welcome to wave and cheer us on – or meet the marchers at the end of our route to join the ceremony and hospitality table by the Playfields. Route ends at SW Webster and 11th Ave SW. Pets may want to stay home — it can get loud!

NEW YEAR’S EVE SHOW AT TIM’S TAVERN: Seven bands! Doors 6 pm, show 6:30 pm, all ages. Details here. (16th/98th, White Center)

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY AT WEST SEATTLE BOWL/THREE9 LOUNGE: 7 pm-midnight, book ASAP. Details in our calendar listing.

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY AT MAHARAJA: DJ Kingblind! 8 pm until 2025, at Maharaja in The Junction (4542 California SW).

NEW YEAR’S EVE SHOW AT THE SKYLARK: Live music at The Skylark with Cofgod, Our Ex Parris, Manatee Alchemy, Déjalo, doors at 8, music at 9, 21+. Free champagne toast at midnight! (3803 Delridge Way SW)

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY AT REVELRY ROOM: 9 pm-2 am, book ASAP. Details in our calendar listing.

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY AT WEST SEATTLE BREWING: 10 pm, DJ Raw One with hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeat. (4415 Fauntleroy Way SW)

NEW YEAR’S EVE AT POGGIE TAVERN: Champagne toast at midnight. (4717 California SW)

NEW YEAR’S EVE DINING: See the Holiday Guide for info, including our list of New Year’s Day restaurants that also are open tonight.

SPACE NEEDLE FIREWORKS, DRONES, LIGHTS: Yes, the Space Needle plans fireworks, a drone show, and a light show again to greet 2025. Ten-minute light shows at 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30, then the big show starts a few minutes before midnight. If you’re going down to the West Seattle waterfront to watch from across the bay, go early to get a spot!

Anything to add/change? westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

Every year, you can count on WSB to be your holiday-info HQ, so a quick reminder if your plans for New Year’s Eve and/or Day aren’t set – this holiday is the grand finale for this year’s WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide, and we have a dozen listings, from New Year’s Eve walking and parading to New Year’s Day polar-bear swimming, plus restaurant and coffee “who’s open?” lists.

P.S. Not too late for any changes or additions – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

West Seattle’s only holiday-season scavenger hunt keeps growing every year! Winter Wander creator Alice Kuder asked us to share this wrapup of how it went this season:

Thanks to the more than 200 fun-loving West Seattleites who participated in this year’s Winter Wander Scavenger Hunt, the event easily met its goals to provide free family fun, promote local small businesses, and solidify a West Seattle holiday tradition.

Collectively, Wanderers solved 25 clues that led them to 15 local businesses. They submitted 377 selfies to win more than $800 in prizes! There’s no way of telling how many smiles and how much laughter everyone shared, but all reports point to lots of both.

Prize donations from the businesses filled three Flee Bags® donated by event orchestrator Alice Kuder, Disaster Preparedness Coach with Just in Case, LLC. Alice is also a real-estate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, NW Real Estate.

Three lucky teams were chosen by random drawing to win the prize bags. Those teams were: The Merry Medlocks; Cotton-Headed Ninny-Muggins; and, 34th scAVEngers.

Mark your calendars now for the 6th annual Winter Wander Scavenger Hunt, which is scheduled for Dec. 5-15, 2025. If you want to be notified when registration opens in November, send your request to Alice@JustInCasePlans.com. You can contact Alice at the same address if you own a local business and would like to be featured in next year’s Winter Wander.

Thank you to all past, present, and future Wanderers! You make West Seattle the Best Seattle!

Following is a list (in no particular order) of the 15 local businesses that enthusiastically participated in Winter Wander 2024 and their associated clues. Please reward them with your patronage!

How many could you have solved?

Clue: If your angle is to test your skill, this gem of a store isn’t “run of the mill.”
Solution: Emerald Water Anglers – 4707 California Ave SW

Clue: A centripetal force infuses the Junction; at California and Oregon there’s many a function.
Solution: Center for Active Living – 4217 SW Oregon St.

Clue: Fish and rice are more than okay. Add healthy toppings at ____ ____.
Solution: Just Poké – 4735 42nd Ave SW

Clue: Full or crescent, whatever the phase, our wellness goods are sure to amaze.
Solution: Moon Room Shop and Wellness – 5902 California Ave SW

Clue: Come for the gallery, stay for the fun. Create, sip and laugh with everyone!
Solution: Alki Arts – 6030 California Ave SW

Clue: Go West of California for spirits galore. Add burgers and sports, who could want more?
Solution: Whisky West – 6451 California Ave SW

Clue: Between Red and Yellow we will show how weights and treads make fitness grow.
Solution: Orangetheory Fitness – 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW, Suite 130

Clue: A Cuban sandwich will bring you luck with boiled peanuts from my truck.
Solution: Aimee Owenz – 9050 35th Ave SW

Clue: Strength training for all on Avalon; with coaches and classes there’s no time to yawn.
Solution: Seattle Strength and Performance – 2942 SW Avalon Way

Clue: Sharing is good, my mama always said. Don’t need a full office? Try coworking instead.
Solution: West Seattle Coworking – 3703-C California Ave SW

Clue: Above the Bowl it’s not too freaky to have a drink at our cool tiki.
Solution: Three 9 Lounge – 4505 39th Ave SW

Clue: For packing and shipping we’re the best. So many services at _______ ____
Solution: Mailbox West – 6523 California Ave SW

Clue: Of clothing and homewares, curators are we. Vintage is our specialty.
Solution: Doll Parts Collective – 4832 California Ave SW

Clue: To kids in need, we bring cheer. Please donate now or volunteer!
Solution: WestSide Baby – 10002 14th Ave SW

Clue: Red tree, blue tree, green tree, white, make these grounds colorful and bright!
Solution: Florence of Seattle Assisted Living – 8424 16th Ave SW

Special thanks to Randy Winn, who contributed much of the creativity that made the clues so much fun, and to West Seattle Blog for their help in promoting the event.

On the fifth night of Hanukkah, the mood at Kol HaNeshamah‘s annual pop-up in Junction Plaza Park tonight was definitely festive. Rabbi Allison Flash (above, with song leader Henson) wore a light-up sweatshirt and had two modes of menorah-lighting ready – candles (which as suspected wouldn’t light in the wind) and battery-powered. Those gathered sang songs including “O Chanukah,” with lyric sheets distributed to the crowd:

And once the backup menorah was switched on, blessings were sung:

Rabbi Flash spoke of a long-ago “rabbinic controversy” over whether the eight candles should be all lit to begin the holiday, then one fewer each night, or, as it’s now done, start with one and add another each night. She suggested everyone should always “be seeking to … add light to your life.” The half-hour celebration included a favorite Hanukkah treat, too – donuts:

Kol HaNeshamah, a progressive synagogue co-housed with Alki UCC at 6115 Hinds, has been doing this since 2018.

LOOKING AHEAD: Another local congregation, the Torah Learning Center of West Seattle, plans a public celebration on Hanukkah’s final night, Wednesday (January 1), lighting its 12-foot “Grand Menorah” at the beach (4:30 pm).

Again this year, the final four nights of Hanukkah will bring two public celebrations in West Seattle:

(WSB photo, from Kol HaNeshamah’s pop-up in 2023)

KOL HANESHAMAH’S ‘POP-UP’ HANUKKAH: Sunday night at 5 pm in Junction Plaza Park (42nd/Alaska), progressive synagogue Kol HaNeshamah will again “pop up” to offer donuts, music, and menorah-lighting. All welcome to participate on what will be the fifth night of the Festival of Lights.

(Photo by David Hutchinson, Grand Menorah on Alki earlier this week)

GRAND MENORAH ON ALKI: Wednesday night (January 1) at 4:30 pm, the Torah Learning Center of West Seattle will again light a 12-foot-tall Grand Menorah on Alki, east of the bathhouse, to celebrate Hanukkah’s eighth and final night. All welcome at this event (which also promises donuts) too.

(2021 reader photo by Claire)

On Tuesday night, some will stay home with a bottle of bubbly (inflatable or otherwise) to say goodbye to 2024. Others will head out. And if that’s your plan, all the better if you can celebrate right here on the peninsula. So we want to be sure our Holiday Guide‘s New Year’s list has all the options. If you know of something we’re missing – bar party? live music? late dinner with a midnight toast? organized run? or? – please send the info so we can add it to the list ASAP! westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you.

(Added: Some of the cookies Andrea & kids baked)

Earlier this season, we shared The Christmas People‘s request for homemade cookies to distribute at Christmastime – and many bakers stepped up again this year! We received this report with words of gratitude to share with you:

Through the tremendous generosity of West Seattle residents, The Christmas People collected more than 8,000 home-baked cookies during Christmas week. The cookies were put up in assortments of 120 per box and distributed to 15 shelters, centers, tiny-house settlements, and tent encampments.

(Photo courtesy The Christmas People>

We also provided 1900+ meals and 1000 lbs. of bulk provisions. Thank you to Ross at (cookie dropoff spot) West Seattle Coworking and all volunteers who helped us, help others.

Fred Hutchinson, co-founder and president

And Bonnie showed us her finished cookies:

Thank you!

(Photos from texter who says, “Westwood mystery artist has been spreading holiday cheer”)

Merry Christmas today, Happy Hanukkah tonight! Here’s info we hope will be useful on this holiday:

BUSES: Metro‘s running on the Sunday schedule.

WATER TAXI: Not sailing today.

STATE FERRIES: Weekend timetable today – check the alerts page for status/changes.

MORE TRANSPORTATION NOTES: No charge for street parking in areas of the city with pay stations … West Seattle-relevant traffic cameras are here; see all cameras citywide via this map.

COFFEE SHOPS OPEN TODAY: We found eight – here’s our list. (Plans can change after our research, so if you encounter a change, please text or call us – 206-293-6302 – thank you.)

RESTAURANTS AND BARS OPEN TODAY: Fifteen are on our list – see it here. (And please let us know of any changes!)

GROCERY STORES OPEN TODAY: Again this year, as noted in our Holiday Guide, only the three Safeways (Roxbury, Admiral, Jefferson Square) are open (8 am-5 pm) – all other West Seattle grocery stores are closed until tomorrow.

CHURCH SERVICES TODAY: Four of the churches on the list in our Holiday Guide have Christmas Day services.

OTHER NOTES: Trash/recycling pickup is delayed one day for the rest of the week (next week too) … Seattle Parks closure info is here … Libraries (city and county) are closed.

SEE A MOVIE: The Admiral Theater (2343 California SW) is open this afternoon/evening – first screening of the day, 3 pm.

ASTRA LUMINA: Celestially inspired light show continues tonight on the grounds of the Seattle Chinese Garden at the north end of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus, opening at 5 pm. Timed tickets and info here.

OTHER LIGHTS TO SEE: Scroll through our archive to see the local homes we’ve shown all month!

If you see/hear news, please text/call 206-293-6302 – we appreciate your tips and collaboration every hour of every day and night!

A texter identifying themselves as veteran radio personality Bob Rivers‘s longtime agent sent that link – a new video featuring one of his popular holiday spoof songs, taking on Christmas lights and starring West Seattle’s best-known well-lit house. So if you’ve wearied of singing along with “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and/or “Joy to the World” after the 20th time, check this out. (And explore Rivers’s “Twisted Christmas” discography.)

9:13 AM: From the WSB inbox this morning:

Our Christmas cards were delivered to the wrong address yesterday and we’re wondering if the blog could help? They are labeled correctly, but a certain delivery company dropped them at the wrong house! (Photo attached – this isn’t our front porch!)

We’ve driven the few streets surrounding our house to check similar house numbers, but no matching house exists… is there a chance that the blog could help crowd-source finding our missing cards?

If you got them by mistake – contact us (westseattleblog@gmail.com or text 206-293-6302) and we’ll connect you!

2:39 PM: Nick says “the house has been located.”

The WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide already has a long list of Christmas Eve church services but if yours isn’t there yet, there’s still time for us to add it. Also, we invite businesses that plan to be open on Christmas Eve to send their hours, in recognition of our fellow procrastinators (or maybe you just didn’t have the time). In both cases, the best way to send the info is westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

P.S. The Holiday Guide already has grocery-store info for Christmas Eve/Day as well as links to our lists of restaurants and coffee shops that are open at least one of those days.

After setting up the stage in the Easy Street Café, Cocoa Cris Cringle has launched his annual West Seattle photo session. If you get here before 7 pm, you too can get your pic taken with Cocoa Cris for $20 (benefiting charity) – hats and props available if you want to use them. Kids and pets welcome too. Santa pics can be serious business but it’s always fun with Cocoa Cris – who says he’s been doing this for more than 20 years!