West Seattle, Washington
27 Saturday
Someone in Florida who clearly has ties to Seattle includes descriptions of our city’s neighborhoods in this blogpost today, describing West Seattle as the essence of “old Seattle.” Though we still love WS fiercely and cherish its unique charms, we wonder if that atmosphere isn’t eroding a bit with the building boom, among other things. P.S. When you want to wallow in a little nostalgia for the bonafide “old Seattle,” check out the excellent new local-history blog, Vintage Seattle.
What many of us saw this morning was indeed, as some guessed, a training exercise: “Multi-agency escort training for traffic units,” according to the police department, further explaining that this sort of training is vital because motorcades for dignitaries can be dangerous, and practicing with other agencies helps troubleshoot any communication issues that might arise during “the real thing.”
Time for our annual pitch for Race for the Cure (three weeks from Saturday). You never know, this could be the last year you get to walk on the viaduct. Really is a heck of a view from up there, when you’re on foot and able to enjoy it. P.S. Another cancer-fighting fundraiser happens even closer to home, Relay for Life at WS Stadium, June 22-23.
–10 AM TODAY: Ticketmaster sells tix to tomorrow night’s Robin Williams show @ the Showbox, with his proceeds going to the West Seattle Food Bank.
–6 PM TONIGHT: (added 11 am, thanks for the reminder) First meeting of Sustainable West Seattle, 6 pm, High Point Library.
–7 PM TOMORROW: community meeting @ Chief Sealth HS on the general topic of sex offenders in the community. (Here’s the site that shows if any live near you.)
–6 PM WEDNESDAY: Fauntleroy-area residents are invited to the Fauntleroy Community Association’s annual Membership Drive/Food Fest event. Free eats!
Along the walkway to the Water Taxi dock, at/below the waterline of the pilings beneath the Seacrest Boathouse pier, here’s the kaleidoscope from almost-mega-low-tide time this afternoon (tomorrow will be still good but not as low):
When you stop at the store today or tomorrow, buy extra “non-perishables” for the Letter Carriers’ Food Drive this Saturday. It’s a mega-simple way to help others — put together a bag of canned/boxed/bagged food items, and leave it by your mailbox (door, if you have a mailslot) Saturday for pick up. Look how well WS did last year!
Not only did Megawatt move into the new WS Community Resource Center @ 35th/Morgan as of today, so did the West Seattle Food Bank, according to a DNDA e-mail newsletter kindly forwarded to us by a stalwart reader. Congrats to everyone who’s worked on that project for years! (WS Helpline tells us they’re making their move into the building next month.)
After we referred to the forthcoming, long-in-the-works Giannoni’s Pizzeria at Westwood Village as “mysterious” one too many times, their owners surfaced in our inbox and shared some details about what they’ll be doing when they open (south side of WV, next to Sally’s Beauty Supply). And they confirmed, they’re not a chain! Click ahead to read their full e-mail:Read More
Some upcoming, mostly eclectic events that deserve an advance shoutout:
–THIS THURSDAY: “Home Buying De-Mystified” free seminar @ PCC
–THIS SATURDAY: Bead 4 Life, 11 am-4 pm @ at T(ea) Gallery (a semi-hidden treasure on Cali, south of Admiral): beautiful beadwork displayed/sold as a fundraiser
–THIS SATURDAY NIGHT: Silent Auction to benefit another WS blogger‘s breast-cancer-fighting 3-Day Walk team (event’s on QA but such a great cause, with a WS link, we can’t resist)
–THIS SATURDAY NIGHT: Free theater! “One Night Only” — also @ Youngstown Arts — short pieces (4-10 minutes each) that The Community Theatre’s members have been working on in workshops. 7 pm reception, 8 pm show, free treats promised!
–LOOKING WAY AHEAD TO MAY 15 BUT YOU CAN BUY TICKETS RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE: The Taste of West Seattle, which benefits the wonderful WS Helpline, whose site has more info and a link to buy tix online.
More going on than just repaving:
–Set aside some time this Saturday to join West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician and a multitude of cool people at the Admiral Neighborhood Clean & Green event, 9 am-1 pm, meet at the Metro Market parking lot. Read more here about the whole Clean & Green mission.
–Say “so long” to the SOA storefront headquarters of Megawatt. Big sign in the window notes they’re moving to the new West Seattle Resource Center as of next Tuesday. (We’ll miss their SOA presence; best place to walk by and check out posters for everything and anything coming up in the ‘hood. We don’t usually hoof along 35th so we’re going to have to get our poster fix elsewhere.)
Some would call him/her/them an artist, some a vandal. Whatever the case — looks like the person/s behind the bear, the owl, the Grouchos, etc., has struck again — the photo below is just in from Nick Peters, who spotted it under The Bridge (and at almost the same moment, we got a note from someone else saying only ONE Groucho is left! LATE UPDATE: a photopost proves it).
Some of what’s happening in WS this week, before we get anywhere near the next fun-filled (Water Taxi! Farmers’ Market! Hall @ Fauntleroy open house!) weekend:
–Tonight (Monday): Celebrate National Poetry Month (and Shakespeare’s birthday!) with a Poetry Read-Around @ the gorgeously renovated Southwest Library (35th & Henderson).
–Tuesday: Have dinner tonight @ Endolyne Joe’s and part of the proceeds will go to the Fauntleroy Fall Festival.
–Wednesday: This is your last-chance deadline to register a yard sale as part of Megawatt’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale on May 12.
–Thursday: Dine Out for Life to fight AIDS. West Seattle participants are Abbondanza (dinner), Angelina’s Trattoria (lunch & dinner), Blackbird Bistro (lunch & dinner), Buddha Ruksa (dinner), Eats Market Cafe (breakfast/lunch/dinner), Mission (dinner), Ovio (dinner), Skylark (lunch & dinner). Also: After an early dinner or before a late one, check out WS-based Adventure Associates‘ free slideshow “Adventures in Mexico: Copper Canyon,” 6:30 pm @ C & P Coffee.
Haven’t mentioned these in a while; slow day so far, so here goes.
-When you hear sirens and want to know what’s up, the fire department’s live 911 page is the place to go.
-We’ve added several more blogs in the past week to our Other Blogs in WS page. (58 total and counting.) We’ll reorganize it alphabetically someday soon, but in any format, it’s a fun list to check if you’ve got web-wandering time on your hands.
-If you would like to subscribe to WSB — notification by e-mail every time we add a new post — send us your address.
–Tomorrow night, ArtsWest presents Ladies Night Out, featuring not only that night’s performance of “On the Verge,” but also drinks, snacks, door prizes, and trendy clothing/shoe displays from local boutiques. Call ArtsWest for ticket info.
-Also tomorrow night, maybe not quite that much fun but potentially life-saving, a Disaster Preparedness Workshop @ High Point Community Center. Did you feel unprepared when the windstorm hit? This is a great way to figure out how to be ready NEXT time.
-And a sneak weekend preview — Friday night‘s bound to be incredible at Cafe Rozella as it celebrates its second anniversary — with a free 7:30 pm flamenco performance by Eric and Encarnacion from the spectacular local group Children of the Revolution.
We appreciate the growing number of folks who e-mail us with info about upcoming events as well as news tips, photos, sightings, questions. Two such e-mails in the past week or so are about summer events for which you can register now:
-Team sign-up is under way for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life at WS Stadium June 22-23. If your life has been touched by cancer (whose hasn’t? each member of the WSB team lost a parent to Big C), consider participating or at least donating. Lots of info here.
-With just two more months left in the school year, it’s time for parents to plan kids’ summer activities, often a crazyquilt of day camps, babysitters, etc. Here’s a day-camp week right here in WS: Camp Fire is sponsoring a weeklong day camp at Lincoln Park, July 30-Aug. 3. More here about the activities; go here to register.
We actually consider 13 a lucky number, so this is bound to be a great weekend. Garden plants for sale, free family fun courtesy of the WS YMCA, tons of tunes, and surprises as always — one click away:
Results from last weekend’s “street-level survey” in the Admiral District are already available online.
Fun stuff happening midweek on our side of the bay, so here’s an advance alert:
-For family fun: High Point Community Center sponsors Springfest tomorrow.
-Two big entertainment events in The Junction on Wednesday night: “On the Verge” opens @ ArtsWest; Jonatha Brooke performs live-in-store @ Easy Street.
If you’re not spending Saturday morning at an egg hunt (those will be in our weekend roundup tomorrow), here’s your chance to spend a few hours helping document the state of part of WS, for posterity, history, later reference, all sorts of worthy reasons. The Admiral Neighborhood Association would love to have your volunteer help with its “street-level survey” of the Admiral District. Just show up @ Megawatt HQ at 9 am this Saturday morning; what will ensue will be a bit of training (combined with some free food) with the devices you’ll be using to record what you see, followed by strolling around to use ’em. Here’s what last year’s survey found, in case you’re curious.
It’s Friday, and that means time for the West Seattle weekend roundup. Indoor and outdoor fun to follow …Read More
Busy dance card tomorrow night for West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine. He’s the guest of honor at a fundraising “roast” at West 5, kicking off his next campaign. But his staff tells us he’s hoping first to drop in and “touch base” with the gathering crowd at the Charlestown Cafe meeting, which they regret was scheduled long after the West 5 shindig was nailed down. (Afterparty, anyone?)
Seattle Public Schools now seems settled on the plan to sell the old Fauntleroy Schoolhouse building as well as several other pieces of “surplus property.” It’s home to a busy child-care center as well as The Hall at Fauntleroy; many have wondered what a sale would mean to the site’s future. The Fauntleroy Community Association site says an event is now set for April 29 to serve as both an open house and “an opportunity to express your ideas for this property if it were in community hands.”
We had heard of the downtown demonstrations tomorrow and Monday, but not about “655,000 Steps for Peace” till we checked the WSNPJ site. Looks like the walkers will be passing through WS from the south tomorrow morning, scheduled to reach Harbor Ave, heading for downtown, by 2 pm.
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