Thanks to Don Brubeck for tonight’s Christmas-lights photo, which is from Alki Avenue SW and illustrates an observation we wanted to share – houses aren’t the only places you’ll find festive lights – apartments and condos can put on a show too. Besides Alki/Harbor Avenues, we also recommend the buildings on the east side of California SW south of SW Holly in south Morgan Junction.
Got lights to suggest, with or without a photo? editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
Tonight’s featured Christmas lights are in Westwood, on the east side of 30th SW, south of Barton – one recent night we noted multiple festive displays on 30th between there and SW Roxbury, and made a note to go back for a photo when we could. This particular house is notable for multiple trees of lights in the yard – hard for the photo to do justice; we had to angle the camera a bit to get everything in. Thanks again to everyone who’s been suggesting displays (editor@westseattleblog.com); more tomorrow, and if you haven’t seen the big displays yet, you can find them any time in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide.
Our featured lights tonight are on the west side of 40th SW, just north of SW Charlestown. Wendy e-mailed to say, “Check out 40th Ave SW between Charlestown and Hinds for awesome Xmas lights. Practically every house on the street (both sides) is lit up.” And indeed they are. She also pointed out that this is right around the corner from music-synched West Seattle Lights (39th/Charlestown), so while you’re checking out that show, explore the blocks nearby – we saw plenty of brightness on 41st and 42nd in the area, too.
Tonight’s featured Christmas lights are the legendary Menashe Family Lights (5605 Beach Dr. SW) – because this is the night that Santa is there, to delight young West Seattleites and to collect food for the West Seattle Food Bank.
Santa’s there until 10 tonight; the Menashe Family Lights are on nightly throughout the holiday season, leaving faces aglow with wonder:
More lights tomorrow night! See what we’ve showcased already by scrolling through our archive. And if you’d like to suggest a display, let us know where it is – with or without a photo – editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
Continuing to spotlight Christmas lights nightly … the Wenn family’s residence is still shining brightest on the well-lit 4000 block of Fauntleroy Way SW alongside the west end of the West Seattle Bridge. Many famous characters to appreciate, too, including this timely trio:
Thanks for the ongoing tips (editor@westseattleblog.com) – with a pic if you have one, and if not, we’ll check it out as we did with this one.
Thanks to Sonia for the photo of tonight’s featured lights – she says it’s just “a sneak peek” of “a holiday display worth seeing” in the 3400 block of 48th SW, noting that the same house has an “awesome Halloween display.” We’re featuring lights nightly through Christmas (and listing them in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide) – photos welcome or even just the location so we can go get a pic – editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
I decided that I wanted a tree of lights & our whole family worked together to create this. We’re on Pigeon Point & you can see it when you’re driving east on Yancy from Avalon. Happy Holidays!
Also visible to the south when driving up Andover from Delridge. We’ll be showcasing lights nightly through Christmas – thanks to everyone who’s sent tips and photos – more tomorrow, and we’ll be adding to the list in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide!
(WSB photos. Santa and Frosty are the highlight at this house)
With just under two weeks until Christmas, it’s time we start showcasing more lights, so we photographed a few displays on 16th SW tonight after getting this note from Meredith – the subject line, “Love the lights in Highland Park”:
Just wanted send some love out to my neighbors. I live in Highland Park near the fire station. I have to drive down 16th to Burien everyday for work. I just ADORE all the winter holiday lights everyone has put up on the stretch between Holden and Barton on 16th. It literally brightens my day and warms my spirit. Thanks and don’t stop!
We traveled the stretch at dusk and photographed a few displays. Nothing really big and flashy … just enough to warm the heart. This one is just south of Holden:
Next to that, lights are shining on DutchBoy Coffee:
Let us know where you’re seeing lights – we hope to feature some nightly through Christmas – e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com (photo if you have one, if not, just let us know where to look and we’ll go get one ourselves).
The video is from Mark Bader in Gatewood, who explains:
I’ve enjoyed putting up Christmas lights for years, but this year, at the urging of my wife, I’ve taken the plunge and synchronized my lights to music. I have a collection of songs – some that I’ve written and recorded – that are synced to lights, and you can tune your car radio to 103.3 to hear the music. My style of sequencing is more gentle and slow, with washes of color and motion that match the mood of the music. I try to stay away from lots of flashing. A friend said of my show, “It’s just like Disney!”.
“Austin Street Lights” is at 3711 SW Austin St, and the show runs from 4 pm to 10 pm each night. Tune your radio to 103.3 to hear the music.
We are of course adding this to the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide, where you’ll also find holiday concerts and other performances, Santa stops, tree lots, special events, church services, and more – we keep adding them as we get them – editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
West Seattle’s brightest Christmas lights went on in style tonight – to cheers, as you can hear in our video, thanks to this crowd:
Tonight’s illumination celebration featured extra elements – including Santa and a horse-drawn carriage.
As passers-by noticed and asked us about, a film crew was there too, for the big debut of this year’s display. Details forthcoming. Meantime, the lights will be on nightly from hereon out – you can go see them at 5605 Beach Drive SW. (And Santa will be back for his annual photo night – bring nonperishable food for the West Seattle Food Bank – two weeks from tonight, Saturday, December 16th, 6-10 pm.)
Every holiday season since 2009, a humble house across from the city water tank at SW Charlestown/39th SW is transformed into a platform for West Seattle Lights – the music-synched Christmas-light show created by Jim Winder, a friend of the homeowners. This year’s show launched on Thanksgiving night; we stopped by on Night 2 tonight for a bit of video – a short clip above, longer clip below:
Those two songs are WSL classics, but the show has added new ones this year too. The season-long schedule is here; you can watch while standing along the street, though the music is relatively quiet, so if you want to turn it up, you can tune your vehicle or personal radio to 101.9 FM for the soundtrack. The show has nonprofit beneficiaries, including the West Seattle Food Bank, with a bin out front for nonperishable-food donations, which totaled a third of a ton last year; you also can donate cash – all of which goes to the nonprofits, none to the show itself – via this page on the WSL website, which shares space with info about Maple Valley Lights, the show Winder added in his own neighborhood.
P.S. Wonder how many lights in all? The answer is here (with other “fun facts”).
West Seattle Lights is of course featured in the WSB WS Holiday Guide, along with other light shows, and if you have or see other notable decoration displays, please let us know – thank you!
On this Christmas night, we stopped by West Seattle Lights (3908 SW Charlestown) with time to record just one song, whatever it turned out to be. It was the grand finale of the second set (see the schedule and song list here), “Wizards of Winter,” just before 6 pm. The show goes until midnight tonight. As you can tell from our video’s audio, the best way to listen while you watch is NOT necessarily just standing along the street; if you go via vehicle, listen on 101.9 FM.
West Seattle Lights is in its eighth season, so popular that a couple years ago, mastermind Jim Winder added a show in Maple Valley (where he lives – the show here is at the home of friends). It’s also become a fundraiser/foodraiser – bring a food donation for the West Seattle Food Bank, and/or donate online to the show’s chosen charities, WSFB and the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation (donated money all goes to them – the show itself is put on as a labor of love).
For more info on holiday light shows in West Seattle, see our Holiday Guide.
1:40 AM: The photo is from Sofia, who explains a Seattle Fire call to the Menashe Family Lights on Beach Drive Friday night – trouble in the Nativity scene: “We were just looking at lights as usual, and noticed white fog coming from behind the Virgin Mary. I thought it was a fog machine, but then we realized it was a fire. Several of us called 911, someone knocked on the Menashes’ door and let them know, the neighbors got water. I guess the straw that was part of the stable scene caught fire.” We’ll be checking with the family later this morning to follow up.
12:06 PM: We just followed up with Jack Menashe. He says it was apparently a problem with old wiring in the manger display, and it’s being fixed, but tonight, the manger will instead be illuminated with a spotlight. Everything else is OK, so if you’re going for Christmas Eve, don’t worry, it’ll all be bright as ever.
More West Seattle Christmas lights! Thanks to Cindy Craig for two photos from one street near Fairmount Park: Both displays are on 40th Avenue SW between Dawson and Findlay; above, on the east side of the street; below, on the west side.
We will be showing more tomorrow and Sunday – Christmas Eve and Day – and maybe beyond if we have enough suggestions/photos – editor@westseattleblog.com. (Here’s our archive of what we’ve shown already.) Thank you!
As we continue showcasing West Seattle’s brightest neighborhood lights – thanks to Duane and Denise Davis for e-mailing to say their light-laden display is happening again this year at 4152 46th SW, just east of Genesee Hill. More than 14,000 lights – about two-thirds LEDs, with mini-incandescent lights “and 300 big C9 bulbs.” They’ll be up through January 15th, the Davises say. And you’ll see other lights in their neighborhood, to the north:
Got lights? Seen lights? editor@westseattleblog.com – thank you!
That 30-foot tree of lights is in the front yard of a house in east Gatewood, on the south side of SW Austin between 36th and 37th. Thanks to Brooke for the tip! (added) This is the “Bader Mega Tree,” as pointed out in comments, with a link to this video set to music:
(back to original report) While headed that way, we also spotted this lots-of-lights house a block away, on the south side of SW Ida between 36th and 37th:
Tips still welcome as we showcase lights nightly through Christmas – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks! Scroll through this archive to see what we’ve featured already.
Jason Hoppe e-mailed us about his house on Genesee Hill early in the season, and now that we are showing lights every night, we finally went over for a photo. More than 10,000 lights! Corner of 52nd Avenue SW and SW Dakota.
Lights to suggest? editor@westseattleblog.com – and see the ones we’ve shown this year and previous seasons by going here.
ADDED: Thanks to Glenn for this view of Jason’s lights:
Tonight’s featured Christmas lights are in that video clip sent by Jonathan, who says, “My 9-year-old neighbor set up a whole impressive light setup to music, pretty much all by himself. It’s something to see, for sure. They don’t always have the music going, but when they do, it’s really cool.” You’ll find this house in the 3400 block of 41st Ave SW, between Hinds and (updated) Manning.
Let us know about your favorite lights! editor@westseattleblog.com – and see our archive here.
With Christmas just a week away, we’ll be featuring lights every night. This one is a bit out of the way, so we wouldn’t have spotted it without a friend’s tip – we’re not sure if it’s an optical illusion or an atrium, but it appears the Christmas tree at this house is through the roof! After getting the tip, we went out for a look a short time ago. It’s on the east side of the 9600 block of Fauntleroy Way SW, a few blocks south of the ferry dock. And the street dead-ends a few doors down, so don’t head out in a big vehicle that will be tough to turn around. Some of the other homes on the street are brightly lit too, but nothing quite this out-of-the-box … er, house. Seen something unusual in YOUR neighborhood? editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
It’s a cold but clear Saturday night, and nothing could be Christmas-ier for a big night of Santa photos at the Menashe Family Lights on Beach Drive. “Santa Al” is making his annual appearance there until 10 tonight, and a box marked with the West Seattle Food Bank logo awaits your donation of nonperishable food:
Some of Santa’s visitors were dressed almost as festively as he is – check out the McFarlande family:
You’ll find Santa under a canopy right along the sidewalk in front of the famous house, which is at 5605 Beach Drive SW.
That’s how tonight’s West Seattle Junction Hometown Holidays Tree Lighting ended – with the countdown and the switch-on. That’s how it ends pretty much every year. But the celebration preceding it is not always the same-old, same-old. This year brought a first-time emcee who lit up the stage more brightly than the tree – self-described “7-foot-4 drag queen” Dolly Madison:
Dolly debuted with a show-stopping lip-synch of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which you’ll see in our next clip, after a short introduction by West Seattle Junction Association executive director Lora Swift, followed by the Endolyne Children’s Choir and featured speaker Nancy Woodland of WestSide Baby:
You can help WS Baby assist local families by being part of this holiday season’s JOY campaign. Meanwhile, the tree-lighting celebration featured even more music – the West Seattle High School Marching Band took the stage at the start:
The WSHS musicians also performed a lively streetcorner set as the crowd dispersed. Also featured, cast members from “Peter and the Starcatcher,” the current production at ArtsWest:
Aside from a few waves of light rain, the weather was reasonable (anyone remember the sub-freezing chill in 2013?), and the hundreds of tree-lighting-goers were still enthused by the time local entrepreneur Jack Menashe and his grandchildren ceremonially lit the tree around 5:30. That’s at the end of this next clip, which begins with jazzy duo Sundae + Mr. Goessl, and includes more of Dolly too:
Also new this year, along with emcee Dolly – who performs weekly at OutWest Bar – was a Night Market featuring local vendors in the street next to Junction Plaza Park (here’s our report on that). More photos to come. Meantime, this is just the start of Hometown Holidays (co-sponsored by WSB), with a long lineup of events you can see here (and in the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide).
West Seattle’s brightest Christmas lights, at the Menashe Family house (5605 Beach Drive SW), are going up right now, and got a boost today from the Junction-based crew of the Seattle Fire Department‘s Ladder 11.
Talk about a tree topper!
The big star that goes atop an ever-taller evergreen went up with the help of L11’s firefighters, much to the delight of onlookers of all ages. The Menashes tell us they’re planning to have the full display up by Thursday night (December 1st).
Santa Claus will be visiting again this year too – on Saturday, December 17th, bring a donation for the West Seattle Food Bank and take your photo with Santa under the lights, 6 pm-10 pm.
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