West Seattle, Washington
02 Friday
Yeah, we know that headline looks funny. Just a reminder of something we mentioned yesterday — tonight is Salute to Armed Forces Night at Safeco Field, and on that night last year, military aircraft over West Seattle caused quite a stir. (We’re off to Alki so that if it happens again, we’ll have photographic proof to add here.) 7:45 PM UPDATE: Whew, cold out there. Did get a little video of the flyby though (will post after dinner), but next year we’ll go to one of the Admiral viewpoints – the approach was mostly from Magnolia/Queen Anne; West Seattle got buzzed on the way back. 9 PM ADDITION: Here they are heading back west over Alki, directly over us as we walked back to the car thinking we’d seen the last of them after they made their Safeco approach from the north side of the bay.
TONIGHT: If you commute from or through downtown, one last reminder that the Mariners are playing their home opener right now (follow it live online), and since it started at 3:40 pm, it’s likely to break up during the evening commute, with attendant effects on popular West Seattle-bound routes including The Viaduct, Alaskan Way, 1st and 4th Avenues.
TOMORROW: Speaking of the Mariners — tomorrow is Salute to Armed Forces Night at Safeco Field. On that same night last year, many West Seattleites were rattled (literally and figuratively) by the aircraft queueing over WS before their Safeco flyovers. (Here’s what we posted that night last year.) So this serves as your early warning for tomorrow night.
ALSO TOMORROW: The first cruise ship of the year will be visible from West Seattle shores – it’s Celebrity Cruises’ Mercury, the one with the “X” on the funnel seen at right of the photo below (taken toward the end of last cruise season; see this year’s full Seattle cruise-ship visit schedule here):
From Shannon Felix at Avalon GlassWorks, blown-glass razor clams that she says are the “sleeper hit” of the Shell Show her shop’s having through April. A portion of the $30 price goes to the Seattle chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Next, the ongoing art of nature itself, shot at Alki by Jessica Seeley (who was there doing legwork for an Alki tour you’ll see on her Seattle Neighborhood Watch blog later this week):
Also from the shore, one more shot of the Corinthian Yacht Club race featured here yesterday – this pic came in tonight from Tracy W, with a Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry appearing to mix it up with the sailboats (CYC has now posted race results, BTW):
And finally, we go indoors, for a triumphant shot from Saturday night’s “Blarney Bowl” fundraiser at West Seattle Bowl, put on by Beer Church to raise money for Whisker City (and raise $ they did – more than $6,000, as you can see on their site). The night included the first-ever “Bar Brawl” with local establishments fielding teams for friendly competition; this Beer Church photo shows Beveridge Place Pub proprietor Gary Sink at left congratulating “brawl” winner Dave Montoure of West 5, who’s getting a hug from a member of the BPP staff:
One last photo-related note — this time, about a photo featured here earlier this week: The most-recent WSB picture of the Lincoln Park house with the war-toll sign led to a followup posted tonight on the P-I site, including quotes from the original comments posted here.
That’s the scene a short time ago in the Seattle Lutheran High School Gym on the north edge of the Junction (Genesee just west of 42nd) – the Booster Club‘s rummage sale to raise money for SLHS athletics is under way till about 4 pm today, and one of the most surprising finds we noticed was a large quantity of lovely wood furniture. This is yet another reason for us to remind you that WSB is presenting West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day this year, and it’s now six weeks away! We have set the date for registration to open — APRIL 10 — and hope you’ll sign up to be part of it – both individual sales and group sales are welcome and we’ll be promoting the heck out of it in hopes of bringing garage-sale throngs here to WS to shop and buy; watch both WSB and also our official WSCGSD site (westseattlegaragesale.com) for ongoing updates, and if you’d like to be on the e-mail list for announcements and reminders (we promise, no spam, no high volume) please e-mail us at garagesale@westseattleblog.com – thanks!
We have sent a message to try to find out more. Meantime, figured you’d want to know about it if you hadn’t seen it already: CL ad even better than the one we linked in the WS Weekend Lineup post below — West Seattle bomb shelter for rent; the photo at left is one of four accompanying the CL posting. (Thanks to Diane for the tip!) P.S. Ever since seeing the ad, we haven’t been able to get this song out of our head, since the video came immediately to mind:
6:41 PM P.S. The bomb shelter’s owner e-mailed us back. We speculated in our first e-mail to them that they’d probably be inundated with conventional-media requests too, and in fact, the owner says channel 5’s coming by tonight. We’d try to doubleteam it but we’re headed for the Dyan Cannon lookalike winner announcement before “Deathtrap” at Youngstown Arts Center.
VIADUCT REMINDER: The closure started an hour ago, continues till 6 pm today, then again 6 am-6 pm tomorrow. The Battery Street Tunnel is scheduled to be closed for the duration, all the way till 6 pm tomorrow. Inspection results are promised next Friday; we’re heading out momentarily to see how the “warning-lights test” is going.
EGG HUNTS: There are a multitude this morning around West Seattle, all listed on our Events page (which is also where you’ll find a link to our list of WS Easter Sunday services).
When we mentioned The Tap Project the other day, a few commenters mentioned they were offended by a particular radio commercial they had heard. They’ve received a response from someone local who worked on a different part of the Tap Project publicity campaign, and since the item’s a few days old, we wanted to spotlight that new comment here:
I work at the ad agency Publicis West in Seattle. I am the Creative director and copywriter of the local public service campaign for the Tap Project Seattle. I did indeed write a radio spot which is airing, but it doesn’t mention anything about a waitress. I am not sure where the radio spot you’re talking about came from.
Please know that the Seattle restaurant community are our best friends in this project and we have been working hand-in-hand with restaurants to support this great cause. I was a waitress myself all through college and would NEVER suggest that a food server not be tipped. In fact, I had lunch today at Le Pichet and we gave both a big tip to the waitress and a $75 donation to TAP!
Perhaps the radio spot is part of the national public service campaign. If so, they are definitely utilizing a tongue and cheek tone and probably didn’t have the intention of offending the very people who are supporting the TAP Project.
Below is the script for the radio spot currently airing in Seattle:
ANNC: This morning when you woke up there was a 65% chance it was falling from the sky. You turned on a tap and bathed in it. You turned on another tap and brushed your teeth in it. You put on clothes that were washed in it. You flushed a gallon and a half of it down the toilet. You got in your car and crossed large bodies of it. You drank a latte steamed with it. You gossiped next to a cooler of it. And you haven’t given it a second thought. You haven’t had to. Because in Seattle we’ve got plenty of water. But not everyone in the world is so lucky. The fact is, 5000 children die every day from a lack of safe water. During world water week, we can help change that. Dine out March 16th through the 22nd and donate a dollar for a glass of tap water. That dollar will provide 40 children with safe drinking water for one day. And because you thought about water for a change, someone else won’t have to. For participating restaurants or to donate online, go to tapproject.org/Seattle
Doesn’t solve the mystery of that other commercial, but just wanted to share this with anyone concerned there was some local snarking going on.
Lots going on today/tonight in West Seattle; the Events page has the full list – here are a few highlights:
LIBRARY GAMES: Libraries aren’t just for books any more. It’s game time for ages 8-18 @ Delridge Library this afternoon, 3-5 pm — particularly the kind that actually involve body parts beyond the thumbs – Wii and DDR. (P.S. Did you know the Delridge branch is an official Homework Help Center?)
WE ALL SCREAM FOR … IDOL ICE CREAM? Yes, today’s the big day (previous coverage here). One of last year’s “American Idol” finalists, Chris Richardson, is touring the U.S. hawking “Idol” ice cream, and his only Seattle stop is (sort of) in West Seattle – Roxbury Safeway (map), 3:30-5:30 pm
FREE BOOKS! Sanislo Elementary (map) is throwing open its doors tonight for the “West Seattle Reads” kickoff; read all about it here, and don’t miss the free books and kite-making kits, 6:30-7:30 pm tonight.
LAST NIGHT FOR TEGC @ KENYON HALL: We went on night 1 (video-enhanced coverage here); tonight’s the final night of Pat Wright and Total Experience Gospel Choir at Kenyon Hall (map) before their return to the South to continue helping with Katrina relief.
P.S. – APOLOGY: An unintended WSB event happening today — server trouble at our hosting company. If you have trouble getting into the site, please accept our apology; we have reported the trouble, and they are planning some sort of major upgrade later this week that we’re hoping might fix the latest problems.
HIGH POINT ON TV: Thanks to Marco for the tip – we now know when the PBS show featuring High Point will air – High Point will be featured during “Place Matters,” part of the third episode of the 4-part documentary series “Unnatural Causes,” 11 pm April 16 and 1 pm April 19 on KCTS (channel 9)
WSB ON TV: Your editor here had the privilege of appearing on the Comcast Local Edition “NewsMakers” mini-show for one of the interview segments that air on the Headline News channel. The interviewer is one of my former Q13 FOX co-workers (who you may know from other TV stations too), Tony Ventrella; we spent a grand total of 4 minutes talking about WSB and new media. When I was in TV, 4 minutes was forever for us behind-the-scenes types (sitting in the control room hollering for an anchor or reporter to just wrap up already), but I learned during the “NewsMakers” taping that 4 minutes for the guest feels like the blink of an eye. My 4 minutes will replay 17 times in the next 12 days, including 6:50 am tomorrow (Friday) and 1:50 am Saturday. If anyone really cares about the rest of the schedule, ask and I’ll post it in comments, but I won’t be hurt if you don’t :) Headline News is on Comcast channel 45, by the way.
LAST PITCH FOR VOTES: We mentioned it yesterday and now there are just hours to go in the Metroblogging Seattle “blog tournament,” with WSB in the final three. You can only vote once but if you haven’t already, please consider going here and clicking for WSB. The tournament party is 6:30-8:30 tomorrow (Friday) night at Skylark, and we’ll be there even if Seattle Daily Photo or Accidental Hedonist (who’s featured on our Other Blogs in WS page) comes out on top – join us if you’re out and about!
After a day of forum and comment turbulence, a referral from here turns up in our site logs (one of our police-report summaries is referenced in the thread). We’ve never heard of that site before so forgive us if it leads you anyplace even stranger, but we just had to share.
TONIGHT: Four restaurants in West Seattle participate in the Dine for Darfur fundraiser (more info here).
TONIGHT: Family Night at Chief Sealth High School is tonight, 6-8:30 pm, potluck dinner plus speakers with info on helping your kids stay safe and healthy in a challenging world. Here’s the official flyer.
NEXT WEEK: Just announced by West Seattle Second Thursday Art Walk organizers — three of West Seattle’s hot boutiques will join with the relatively new Junction branch of Twilight Art Collective to present “wearable art,” models and all, during the March edition. 6-9 pm Thursday 3/13; more info on the Art Walk blog. If you’ve been waiting for the winter chill to pass before checking out the Art Walk, no excuse left now! (Plus, with Daylight-Saving Time starting this weekend, it’ll still be light for the first hour or so.) ADDED 10:24 AM: Here’s the full list of participants (23 – new record!), plus the official map, just e-mailed by Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) proprietor Lora Lewis:Read More
Just in case you haven’t heard a reminder already. Kind of jolted us when we heard it today. (Sunday morning at 2 am, “spring forward” to 3 am; 2nd year for the early start.)
Got some notes from folks awakened by helicopters: TV choppers covering this spill at Terminal 5. (Which part of the port is that, exactly, you ask? Here’s the official Port of Seattle directions.)
First photo in, from WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli. At least one more pic to come. And go out and have a look if you see this relatively close to when we posted it! 8:25 PM UPDATE: Er, hope you got a chance to see it – in the past 15 minutes, a cloud layer has swept in, though the edge of the emerging-from-eclipse moon is peeking through. Anyway, here’s another photo, this one from WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham:
9:26 PM ADDITION: Thanks also to Minette Layne, who sends this photo from Gatewood Hill:
11:29 PM ADDITION: And thanks to Jill in Highland Park for this pic:
What awesome photos, compared to the lousy example we ourselves provided during that wee-hours eclipse six months ago. Apparently we won’t see another one for a couple years.
As of about an hour ago, Radio 33 is on at 87.7 FM, as announced earlier this month.
Jim e-mailed WSB to say he found “what looks like a stolen bike” near 47th/Dakota — pink and white girls’ Schwinn with the derailleur kicked in. Know whose it is? E-mail us and we’ll put you in touch with him.
-Several incidents from the Monday West Seattle Crime Watch report have turned into citywide media reports today: the P-I wrote up the 16th/Myrtle flasher – note that one child reported seeing this guy a couple times – the headline suggests multiple victims but that wasn’t what was in the report we reviewed; KING 5 looked at the latest round of graffiti, including the car in the Admiral/42nd garage.
-Chocolate, anyone? Karen and Phyllis are West Seattle residents who run Alaska Silk Pie Company in Sodo and wondered if we’d mention a baking class they’re doing this Saturday. You can read about it in their newsletter.
–West Side Presbyterian Church is launching its free two-week “Alpha Course” tonight – tackling The Big Questions such as “Why are we here?, Does my life have meaning? Is there something more?” – 6:45 pm, casual meal and child care included; sign up by calling 935-4477. (Church events are welcome for our Events page and other occasional spotlights — just e-mail us!)
-Last but by no means least, if you have a son 6-8 years old, Kirsten is hoping you might be interested in a group she’s trying to organize. Here’s her e-mail:
Dear West Seattle parents of 6-8 year old boys,
I am trying to form a Camp Fire group of 5-7, 6-8 year old boys. If anyone is interested in working with me to make that happen, please let me know.
Camp Fire USA is a fantastic organization that I am proud to have participated in as the third generation in my family and now I’d really like for my son to be involved, but unfortunately there isn’t a group for him to join in our area. I am happy to take on the role of leader or to collaborate with another parent on this, but the first step is getting an interested group formed. If you’d like to learn more about the organization, check out their website.
You can reach Kirsten via e-mail; click here.
ADDED 10:35 PM: Thanks to Shawn for sharing this moonrise shot from Seacrest:
ORIGINAL POST: Rode the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry round trip late today to see how things are going since the big schedule upheaval. No real tales of woe but we did happen onto another great sunset coinciding with a moonrise.
Thanks to Marco for that photo taken in the midday sun near the West Seattle Farmers’ Market. About the same time we received it, we also got this note from SL, which we wanted to share in the weekend’s final moments:
My wife and I just returned from a stroll in the sunshine along Alki beach. Sitting on the bench sipping our coffees (this is after all, Seattle), we soaked in the sunshine, the crystal clear spectacular views of the snow capped mountains, the cormorants on the water and the ferries and sailboats scuttling across the sound and just listened. Listened to the world walk past us enjoying the exact same thing. Mixed amidst the squeals of children’s laughter and the friendly yipping of dogs we heard animated conversations in Farsi, Hindi, Russian, Mandarin, Scottish, Spanish, Vietnamese and several other assorted dialects in addition to English. It simply reminded us again, of what we enjoy so much about living in West Seattle – the richness of beauty and cultural diversity that exists here. What a truly wonderful corner of the world we live in and what a pleasure it is to live in West Seattle.
10 events listed/linked here, for today/tonight alone – from school tours, to the School Board on Denny/Sealth, to the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s annual meeting, to the Nucor public hearing. Oh, and a premiere too!
Ours: Sanity, reason, compassion … and we want to see orcas up close and personal for the first time in a decade-plus. Yours? Discuss here.
DEVELOPMENT NOTE: You’ve probably noticed that crews also have torn down the ex-Mailbox West/Eyes Rite building as well as the old green rentals in the 4100 block of California. (Rowdy reminiscences on the latter have turned up in comments here, by the way.) And now the city building permit for the mixed-use replacement is official.
BUSINESS NOTES: The newest WSB sponsor, Curious Kidstuff, has added a coupon to its ad on the right sidebar – click the ad or this link and print the ensuing coupon to take it in for your 20% discount, through Christmas Eve. … Another WSB sponsor note: Click! Design That Fits in the Admiral District has just launched a blog – including a preview of the Christmas cookies that proprietors John and Frances Smersh will be offering during tonight’s final Late Night Thursday shopping event at the store … Belated anniversary congratulations to Beato, which has been open one year as of last night; next big occasion is a special New Year’s Eve menu that’s linked from the WSB Holidays page, where we’ll be adding more WS NYE festivities as we find them. Also on the Holidays page — we are working today to wrap up the Christmas Eve/Day info list of grocery-store and coffee-shop hours (just heard from WSB sponsor Hotwire, which will be open 8 am-2 pm Christmas Day).
COMMUNITY NOTES: Just added to the WSB Events page, the free “Giving Back” dinner and entertainment event at Southwest Community Center tomorrow night, and another fundraiser coming up January 19 for the West Seattle High School Travel Club.
-If you planned to participate in the West Seattle High School Travel Club babysitter fundraiser tonight, the Travel Club needs you to know that the babysitting had to be canceled because “Ms. D” has pneumonia and the event can’t happen without a staff member present at all times. However, good news, the Night Out dining fundraiser tonight is still on – full details at the WSHS Travel Club blog.
-Yeah, so it’s a little breezy and wet out there today – some other awesome events are happening indoors throughout the morning, afternoon, and evening too, besides the dining fundraiser — from the C and P Coffee Arts/Crafts Fair under way right now, to several holiday concerts this morning/afternoon, and more – the WSB West Seattle Weekend Lineup has full details.
-Got a note from Jim Curtis, executive director of the North American Self-Defense Association. He’s not WS-based but he’s about to launch a class here and wanted to get the word out:
I am now registering students for a new Umibushi Goshin Jutsu self-defense class I’m teaching at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center … It’s every Wednesday from 4:40-5:30 PM … If people sign up this coming week then they get a free uniform … Umibushi Goshin Jutsu is a practical self-defense system combining techniques and strategy from karate, jujitsu, boxing and Marine Corps hand to hand combat. It’s easy to learn and does not require extreme flexibility. Also, I am seeking a new webmaster for the North American Self-Defense Association and would trade self-defense classes in exchange for this service.
If you want to find out more about the class, you can contact Jim directly at umibushi@yahoo.com.
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