West Seattle, Washington
27 Saturday
The banners on the Fauntleroy walkover are getting livelier. Spotted one the other night that simply read TOGA, TOGA, TOGA. On the other side, somebody declared his love for his wife on the occasion of “30 HOT YEARS OF MARRIAGE.” One of these days, we’re going to get somebody in the WSB Posse to sneak up in the dead of night and hang something like WESTSEATTLEBLOG.COM LOVES YOU. (Because of course we do.)
The arrival of August is bittersweet because it’s both the best part of summer (the nicest weather) and the worst part of summer (most of the big festivals and celebrations are over). However, the fine folks of Morgan Junction are going to stretch out the season with a community festival in mid-September. If you live on the other side of WS, come down this way sometime and check it out — the “big” Junction gets more attention, but things are hopping on the south end too. Have a Caffe Ladro latte and try their espresso cheesecake; check out the fiery-sweet General Tso’s Chicken at New Teriyaki & Wok; then head west to our “south West Seattle” beaches (Lincoln Park & Lowman) or take a ferry ride to Vashon and Southworth. Lots of teardowns-to-townhomes on this end too, so things won’t be quiet for long.
If your neighborhood doesn’t already have something planned, it might not be too late … tomorrow night is the annual “National Night Out” show of citizen anti-crime solidarity. Here’s the Seattle PD page about it.
for the rest of the day & night, just a reminder about some of what’s up around West Seattle:
—Alki Art Fair today & tomorrow.
–“Jumanji” tonight at Sidewalk Cinema next to Hotwire Coffee, north of The Junction.
–May be too late by now, but I just found a notice about outrigger-canoe racing that was happening relatively early today off Alki. I haven’t seen outriggers since Hawaii.
–Tangentially WS-related: If you’re going to tonight’s Seafair Torchlight Parade downtown (wouldn’t miss it; fun to applaud the runners before the parade, too), remember the brand-new Miss Seafair is from West Seattle! So you can cheer her on the Seafair float as well as the delegation on the Hi-Yu float.
After tonight, it’s on to wondering exactly when the Blue Angels will arrive at the Museum of Flight in advance of next week’s excitement … Monday? Tuesday? The MOF site only lists the public Thurs-Sun activities, but I believe at least a few of them arrive earlier in the week. Might just have to wander over tomorrow in person to inquire.
–Some construction work seems to be under way at the old Mail & Dispatch building just east of Slices. When we passed last night, the signage area across its front and side bore the odd scrawls “Act Like It’s a Cigarette/He’s a Narc.” (Graffiti, or a past life as a head shop?) Speaking of Slices, the Alki noise/booze flap has now made The Stranger, one week after the writeup in The Herald.
–Also on the Alki restaurant beat, the Cactus Restaurants website finally has been updated to reflect the impending Alki location. New info includes its hours.
–And back in the non-virtual world, business appears to be booming on the relatively new Alki Crab & Fish beer/wine patio. Big crowd when we went by last night, and the adjacent Seacrest pier was jammed with fisherfolk. (By the way, it was a bit of a thrill to browse the counter in AFC and happen onto a copy of the Alki News Beacon, left open to the page with their kind little writeup about us.)
-Not only is West Seattle home to the mayor, we’re also now home to Miss Seafair! (Official coverage and photo on the Seafair home page, here.) So now if you’re joining us at the Torchlight Parade downtown on Saturday night, you can cheer crazily for her as well as for the fine folks on the Hi-Yu float.
-Haven’t heard a lot of noise on the school-closure issue lately, but the final School Board vote is set for tonight. There’s been a lot of excellent, thought-provoking discussion for the past few months — including issues beyond the closures/consolidations — on the “Saving Seattle Public Schools” blog, whose main contributor will be a Pathfinder parent next year.
-Lost/found dog/cat notices are sadly common on poles and windows — but last night while out and about, we spotted a “found rabbit” notice. It’s in the window of Pet Elements on the south end of Morgan Junction, and pretty vague, mentioning only that a “small domestic rabbit” was found “on California Avenue” and suggesting a call to the Seattle Animal Shelter if it might be yours.
The ruling’s in, according to a short post on the Seattle Times’ home page, which says regulators have pulled the school’s two titles because of the girls-recruiting scandal.
Most of today has been spent in pursuit of ways not to roast. We’ve guzzled gallons of ice water. We’ve run up our SPU bill by running the hose on the car, the plants, each other. We oohed and aahed over the air conditioning at Target, while in search of summer-specific merchandise that of course is no longer available, since that type of store has now turned its marketing attention to “BACK-TO-SCHOOL SEASON!” (despite the fact we’re not even midway through the miserably short summer break). Now it’s time to make a nice cool salad with lettuce procured at the Farmers’ Market earlier today, and think warmly (?) about the lower temperatures allegedly on the way.
Also time to look ahead to next weekend … looks like one of the marquee events on our side of the bay will be the Alki Art Fair, Saturday & Sunday.
Wandered around for a while tonight just south of Admiral Junction — spotted three things to share, including one sighted as we passed through The (Alaska) Junction en route home:
-Yet another thing to do this weekend: Free outdoor movie in the Junction! “Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” which won the Oscar this year for Best Animated Feature. Good thing we bought new chairs-in-a-bag for the parade — they should work for this too!
-Another good cause to lend your $ to this weekend, besides “Stuff the Bus” on Sunday (we bought our diaper donations at PCC tonight): I didn’t even know the West Seattle Thunder girls’ fastpitch softball team existed till I saw the posters on numerous south-of-Admiral businesses, touting a fundraising car wash this weekend (they’re trying to get to a big game out of state). Sorry to say I didn’t note the exact location and time, and it’s not on the Thunder website, but take a peek at windows including Spiro’s and Megawatt, and you’ll see the poster.
-New (or at least, we just noticed it) business on the south edge of the Junction, on the southeast corner of the multi-points intersection that also features Ovio, Uptown, and 7-11: a criminal-defense law firm. Or at least, a banner for it (its website claims it’s located downtown; then again, we seem to be awash in sites that lag). Seems to be one of those “we specialize in DUI” types. I know everyone is entitled to representation and all that, but still … permit me my soapbox … it’s a senseless crime that should be punished vastly more harshly than it is now.
OK, that’s it for tonight … tomorrow morning, the #1 reason to love the parade (and to join us on the sidelines!) …
How about Shakespeare in the park … Lincoln Park!
And we’ll mention Sunday’s Farmers Market side event once more — Westside Baby’s “Stuff the Bus (with diapers)” drive (even though they’ve got big bright banners on both sides of the Fauntleroy walkover so they probably don’t need the plug)!
Whatever you do, keep cool …
For all the times you’ve driven over The Bridge, have you ever taken a good look at the waterway it spans?
Over the weekend, we did. On a whim, after leaving the house with the intention of walking straight to Summer Fest, we redirected ourselves all the way to what’s most commonly called the “Low Bridge,” which has a well-protected sidewalk/bike path along its south side. Walking that path provides a fine view of the waterway and everything on it, including the Harbor Island Marina, where I would love to be able to keep a boat someday … From the Low Bridge, you also get a better appreciation of the sleek structure of the “high bridge” (which, according to this HistoryLink.org page, just passed its 22nd anniversary, a day before our walk!).
If you want to try this adventure, you don’t have to do what we did (trudge all the way from home) — there are places to park not too far from the access path.
If you, like me, are “just a spectator” at street festivals, here’s an interesting perspective … a blog entry by a soapmaker who apparently has a booth somewhere at Summer Fest.
Meantime, one last observation, and then I’ll get on to wishing the Garden Tour folks (today!) good luck, and looking ahead to next weekend (THE PARADE! THE PARADE! plus on Sunday 7/23, it’s “Stuff the Bus” time for Westside Baby — you can get slightly more environmentally sound disposables at PCC, btw): Among the more interesting sights on the southern block of WSSF are side-by-side outdoor areas for Talarico’s and Elliott Bay Brewery. The former is behind a tall chain-link fence; the latter, behind a cheery-looking short white picket fence. Maybe just something to do with the whole “no kids” thing? All the same, the Talarico’s visitors look like they’re in jail.
Local friends of ours here in WS need a real-estate agent. House is a fixer at least — nothing too major — more likely, a remodel or even teardown, peek view now, they say potentially a great view with another story or two. Anybody to recommend? Post in “comments” or e-mail me from the “about” page, and we’ll forward.
Back from a long day in the sun that included the Seafair Pirates’ landing at Alki.
We’ll confess, it’s been many years since we checked out the pirate event. Last time, somewhere in the ’90s, it was pretty pathetic — we wandered down to the beach, found disorganization and apathy. We enjoy the Pirates’ other appearances — especially in parades — so we decided we’d stick with those.
But given all the advance publicity this time, plus our honor-bound duty to report for This Here Blog, we decided to check out today’s event. As we arrived at the beach (on foot, after getting a ride as far as Admiral & 59th), our jaw dropped. Not just a massive crowd, but also food and merchandise booths, and even other events under way on the beach — some sort of pole-vault competition (!?). It looked like a beach in California, and we mean that as a compliment … a beach where people were truly having tons of fun in the sun.
So we staked out a spot on the rocky shore, not far from what appeared to be the designated landing spot west of the Bathhouse & statue, and watched. The fireboat Chief Seattle went by, putting on a show. A flotilla of various sailboats, power boats, and classic wooden yachts kept shuffling about, with at least one boat flying a pirate flag, leading us to wonder if the Pirates had swapped out vessels this year.
Finally, a cannon boom in the distance — and a sighting of the Army barge-type boats that we knew the Pirates had been using for these landings. One came ashore with just soldiers on board (military invasion of WS? has it come to this?), then backed up, and cleared the way for the Real Deal. Huge cheers and applause. Lots of little kids — and young women — in pirate togs. What a greeting those guys got.
We have no idea what they did AFTER storming ashore from their barge — we started walking toward the water-taxi shuttle. But we were so heartened to see thousands of people show up. Dear everyone, PLEASE turn out for the parade in two weeks along Cali Ave, OK? That’s the real heart of summer fun in WS — and it has been a bit sparse in recent years.
Seafair Pirates on Alki tomorrow!
And we got in the mood by seeing “Pirates of the Caribbean II” today. West Seattle Blogger Spouse appropriately summed up some of its derivative nature by calling it “Pirates of the Lost Ark Strike Back.” I won’t say more, not into spoilerage :) Long but fun, anyway.
It was better to approach Alki from the south rather than the north. The traffic coming off the bridge was at a constant crawl. We gave up on the crowded beach and went to the Junction to be part of the ice-cream-seeking throng spilling out onto the sidewalk in front of the Husky Deli.
KOMO has the list of record temp busters here.
– As of 7:53 it was 70 degrees at Alki Point.
– At 9:30 it was 70 at Boeing Field.
– Compare and contrast with Miami, FL where it’s 75 now on the way to a high of 86.
What are you doing to stay cool today?
Interesting quote in this P-I article on the flap over this weekend’s official gay-pride celebrations moving from Capitol Hill to Seattle Center:
Moving the pride parade off Capitol Hill, Benner said, is “like holding the Fremont (Solstice) Parade in West Seattle.”
Does that mean we’re too dull for words out here? Or is it just a geographic reference, and she could just as easily have said “like holding the Solstice Parade in Lake City”?
I for one don’t consider WS boring, although we could use a few naked bike riders — that would really spice up the Seafair Pirates Landing! And good heavens, you have to remember that the Rat City Rollergirls were “born” in neighboring White Center. (Still a bummer about that rink.) I’ll think of some other reasons we’re not boring … just give me a bit, still waking up.
-A final word from today’s crash-caused traffic jam: While trying to get out of WS in the late morning, West Seattle Blogger Spouse reported a suspected sighting of Councilguy Dow in the next car. I’m a little suspicious since it would seem Councilguy Dow would be the first to switch to the Water Taxi. But perhaps he was just on his way to Seacrest …
-Unrelated to the traffic but vaguely relevant to the title of this post — when the street in question is Alki Avenue, anyway — today’s batch of city land-use-permit applications includes one from the Celtic Swell for a sidewalk-cafe’ area. Wonder if they’ll keep it open for the hale ‘n’ hardy St. Paddy’s Day crowd …
The West Seattle Bridge reopened in both directions late this morning after wreckage from the overnight crash was cleared. We’ve heard that the Water Taxi did extra business because of the traffic nightmare, and it’s adding some extra runs for folks returning home tonight. As of mid-afternoon online reports, no information apparently about who the crash victims were or what exactly caused the crash.
Summer solstice arrives at 4:26 am our time on Wednesday.
(Suppose there’s any chance summer weather will arrive with it?)
Forgive me if this is old news; just happened onto the definitive declaration that there will be no “Seattle Music Fest” at Alki this summer. The Alki Art Fair is still in the works, though.
PAST:
The annual Viaduct Walk on Saturday morning was moving as always. To truly immerse yourself in the spirit, you have to read participants’ T-shirts, placards, and signs. This time around, the whimsical included “Babes for Boobs” and a contingent with bunny ears; the somber included a pink-shirted “survivor” with a note attached to her race bib “in memory of (name)/we’re walking today together.”
PRESENT:
Chances are you’ll read this on Sunday, when another potentially memorable event is scheduled to take over part of Roxhill Park, across from Westwood Village.
FUTURE:
A tipster e-mailed to say he’s seen posters suggesting the music lineup for this year’s West Seattle Junction Festival/Street Festival, now rechristened “Summer Fest,” has some intriguing acts — including, he says, John Doe of “X” — can’t find any corroboration to that online but there does seem to be a tangential West Seattle connection; JD duetted with our resident rock megastar on a recent release. He also mentions 50 Foot Wave, whose own site does mention the WS Summer Fest gig. (The festival’s own site doesn’t list the music acts yet.) Tomorrow when we’re at the Junction for the Farmers’ Market, I’ll look around for the Summer Fest posters.
ALSO FUTURE:
Just another early plug for The Big Parade. July 22. Be there.
If you’re still looking for an interesting way to spend your afternoon, the relatively new police precinct on our side of the bay is holding a picnic/open house event 1-4 pm today. (That link leads you to the precinct home page, and it’s got some other interesting info, such as this map … do you live in “F” sector or “W” sector?)
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