West Seattle, Washington
04 Wednesday
Heading home from the School Board work session in Sodo (one more report to come, including video from the concurrent Arbor Heights Elementary meeting), we spotted two nicely lit homes along 35th (two of many, actually), so since we’ve slacked a little on lights lately, here’s a double dose. The one above is on the west side of 35th just south of Findlay (map); the one below is on the west side of 35th just south of Edmunds (map):
Got memorable lights (and quality certainly counts as much as quantity)? Seen some? E-mail us the address, and pix if available: editor@westseattleblog.com … and remember, holiday fun with and without lights is listed on the WSB Holidays page!
They’re the biggest and brightest Christmas lights in West Seattle – the mega-display at the Menashe Family home on Beach Drive. We took a WSB video tour again this year — that first clip is a 2-minute walkthrough; next, Josh Menashe tells us what’s new this year:
Here’s a closer look at the mailbox he mentioned:
The Menashe display is along the southern stretch of Beach Drive – no direct access from the east but you can either hit Beach Drive from the Lowman Beach area and head north, or from the Jacobsen Road end and drive south. Here’s a map.
While out admiring the sunset (photos of that are up next), we scouted Christmas lights – and happened onto this house on SW Spokane, east of 58th, on Charlestown Hill (map). The tree is covered with green lights on its trunk, purplish-pink through its branches, echoing one of the prettiest areas of the Point Defiance Zoolights display, so we’re featuring it here. We’ll be out looking at many more in the nights to come; got tips, and/or pix, please e-mail us!
From Arbor Heights, a cheerful display, 12000 block of 39th SW (map). Gratuitous reminder – Join us for the annual West Seattle Community Christmas Tree Lighting, 5 pm Saturday in The Junction (Farmers’ Market parking lot), with your WSB co-publishers helping emcee an all-star lineup for one hour of holiday fun — including the Endolyne Children’s Choir, “Plaid Tidings” cast members from ArtsWest, singalong holiday caroling, and the first drawings in The Junction’s $5,000 Holiday Giveaway (multiple chances to win gift certificates! – have you entered yet?). And in the meantime, please send us Christmas lights photos and/or addresses!
Tonight we’re pointing to last night’s Beach Drive Blog featured home. The tree is just too gorgeous. (BDB says the house is just south of Jacobsen; here’s a map.) Meantime, thanks for the address tips that are starting to come in — a few were described as works in progress so we’re going to give them a few days till we come by! We did get one photo that doesn’t qualify as lights – but it can’t go unnoted:
Nicole from Chill says that turned up last Sunday by Jan’s Salon next door (here’s a map; and yes, that’s a school – Gatewood Elementary – in the background).
When we looked at the photo before reading the accompanying e-mail, we had a bit of a headscratch moment – but Keri‘s note explains why she sent it, and why we in turn are publishing this photo (sans location, but that’s not the point here anyway):
I’m sending you a photo that, when compared to the other seasonal light display photos, seems rather paltry. However – this display is in the alley that runs behind my house … it made me laugh out loud as I was coming home from the bus. I just think it’s so cool that these neighbors would decorate the ALLEY – it really cheered me up on this gloomy evening.
And after all, isn’t that what decorations are for – not just to dazzle, but also to cheer? Send us photos, addresses, etc. any time during this season – editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks! (All previous Christmas-lights pix, including the ones we ran last year, can be found here.)
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!)
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!
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.
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.
Found this nicely lit corner house in Arbor Heights, at 34th SW & SW 114th. Now that Christmas has arrived, this will be the last of our nightly photo posts, but if you’re still planning to tour West Seattle’s best and brightest, you’ll be able to find all 38 featured locations on our Christmas lights map on the WSB Holidays page through New Year’s Day. Thanks to everyone who sent photos and suggestions … and of course, everyone who decorated their home, apartment, and/or business, with displays of all sizes, for others to enjoy … Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Yes, we do mean “light” singular – tonight we spotlight the fact that, as the photo above (taken under the Our Lady of Guadalupe tree) shows, there’s still light in the sky after 5 pm because THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER!!!! The OLG tree, by the way, is one of the 37 West Seattle light displays on our clickable WS-wide map, usually available on the WSB Holidays page but here now for your Christmas Eve convenience (click the “view larger map” link beneath the map to go to a page with a full list of all locations, or click any one of the blue icons in the map for a thumbnail photo):Read More
Not one of the brightest displays in West Seattle but on this Christmas Eve-Eve, we’re going for whimsy:
That’s a snowman on the roof, and a JackoLantern headed scarecrow-ish character in the yard to the right, northwest corner of 49th/Alaska. Now it’s on the clickable West Seattle Christmas Lights map that you can find on the WSB Holidays page (along with lots of other info including Christmas coffee, Christmas Eve/Day church services, and events through New Year’s); the photo features are all archived here. Bonus link: Pam at Nerd’s Eye View toured West Seattle displays, some of which we have featured here and some of which we have not; her post with a Flickr gallery link is here.
Jumping it off the top page so the amazing car story stays high up:Read More
Thanks to daPuffin for tipping us off to the Santa hat, on Roxbury at 36th. It’s now on the West Seattle Christmas lights map that you’ll find on the WSB Holidays page, and it’s in the light-display archive here.
Thanks to Elisabeth for sending this photo of the carefully crafted light display at 39th & Dakota; 
she warns it doesn’t do the lights justice, but the way we look at it, the pix are generally just to give you a hint there’s something cool at such-and-such an address, get out and see it if you’re holiday-lights fans like we are. Every display we’ve featured, going back to the very first one of the year — Salty’s, featured here on November 12 — is on our clickable, printable West Seattle Christmas lights map (find it on the WSB Holidays page) and in this archive.
Thanks to Margelyn for this photo of another Alki-area light-covered tree (a popular feature in that vicinity) — this one’s at 63rd/Hinds, and now it’s on our West Seattle Christmas lights map (available on the WSB Holidays page) as well as with other featured displays in this archive.
One week till Christmas … and at 4050 21st in Pigeon Point, all the lights are lining the walkway with care …
Thanks to Chris Wells for that photo. And thanks to Todd for e-mailing us about 2424 Alki, which looks awesome at night but also simply must be seen by daylight because of the decorated backhoe:
Both these displays are on the ever-growing list of what you can find with our West Seattle Christmas lights map, reachable at the WSB Holidays page, and they’re archived with all other displays we’ve featured, here.
One week till Christmas Eve! If your dream would resemble a warm Christmas more than a white Christmas, check this out:
Thanks to Becky for the photo, which she reports is from “36th or 37th just south of Roxbury” — we’ve added that approximate location to our clickable, printable West Seattle Christmas lights map (find it on the WSB Holidays page), will try to nail it down more closely with an in-person visual tomorrow. With your help, we’ve now featured 30 displays, all archived here.
This is one of the flashiest displays in the greater Admiral area — 45th and Stevens, just west of PCC. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed us to make sure it made the WSB roundup! While snagging this photo tonight, we noticed several other well-lit houses along 45th north of this spot. Please keep sending in suggested locations – we’ll continue featuring local lights nightly through Christmas; you’ll find them all on our clickable, printable West Seattle Christmas lights map, viewable on the WSB Holidays page, with the nightly features archived here.
Jodi e-mailed WSB (thank you!) about a house in the 4000 block of Fauntleroy, which runs parallel to the end of The Bridge; we hope this is the right one — impossible to see street numbers in the dark, and there are several nicely lit homes on the block, but this one is the brightest, and the photo barely does it justice because there’s a whole lot of blinking and strobing going on. It’s the latest addition to our clickable/printable West Seattle Christmas lights map, linked from the WSB Holidays page and now featuring 28 locations, all around our peninsula, and all also archived here.
First, the 3400 block of Walnut; thanks to Wendy for the tip:
Lots of nicely decorated homes in that general area between Admiral and The Junction, including this one on 42nd north of Spokane – not splashy, just nicely arranged.
We’ve added both these homes to our updated-nightly West Seattle Christmas lights map, which you’ll find on the WSB Holidays page, and you’ll find all featured displays archived here.
Again tonight, two pix – have to double up to get everything in before The Big Day:
The first one is a beautiful tree, one color of lights for each branch, pointed out to us by The Velvet Bulldog; it’s on Hinds at 62nd. The second one is a photo from CA Joyce, described as a treehouse dressed up for the holidays, 53rd & Dakota. Both are now added to our clickable/printable West Seattle Christmas lights map, which you can find any time on the WSB Holidays page; all previously featured lights are archived here. And thanks to everyone for continuing to send in all the tips and pix!
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