West Seattle, Washington
23 Tuesday
Thanks to Tracy from T(ea) Gallery — who as we mentioned recently just closed her Admiral location soon to focus on her new downtown store — for a tip about another business on the move – she noticed a “for rent” sign in the window at Basic Green Box (3407 California) and wondered what’s up. We just heard back from Charlotte of Basic Green Box, who says they are moving in April — new location not confirmed yet; they’re looking at several spots. BGB is next door to yet another space that’s in transition, the former Leslie’s Country Store spot that is becoming The Bohemian (our last update on that is here; they’ve since posted the same info on their website and MySpace).
Just got a reader tip that traffic is starting to slow because of a medic call at 42nd/Alaska (Capco Plaza construction site) – don’t know the nature of what happened but at least two fire/medic units have responded, and our tipster saw somebody down on the ground being helped by fire crews. 11:23 AM UPDATE: Just went down to have a look – the scene is clear now.
Just in from Lina:
Yesterday I was walking in Fauntleroy Park, and the entrance by the YMCA had a handwritten note alerting walkers in the park that the writer had found small bags of food in the park and this has been a method of spreading poison.
I assume that it is intended for wild animals or coyotes but often this poison/food gets ingested by pets. Either way – it is concerning to me that someone would set out poison bait – for any animals. Over the years I have also seen similar warnings in the Junction too.
Lina wonders if anyone else has heard of or seen anything like this recently, while hoping that this is NOT a case of anti-coyote vigilantism. While we try these days to keep our personal opinions off this site, we have to say, we hope so too. We have posted reader reports about coyote sightings NOT to incite you to panic, but to inform you, and so that anyone who still allows pets to roam loose outside — against experts’ advice (coyotes are far from the only threat) — might reconsider. And as an FYI, if you think you know of a coyote in a situation that is truly a danger to someone or something, King County Animal Control says they’re not the people to call — they would fall under the jurisdiction of the state Fish and Wildlife Department — which has some excellent information, including coyote myth-debunking, on this webpage.
As mentioned here on Friday, the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry runs are down to 2 boats through mid-February, starting today, because repair work is reducing the number of ferries available systemwide. Here’s the WSF overview, which mentions added passenger runs between downtown and Vashon to try to relieve some of the potential pain. Here’s the new F-V-S schedule; looking at the always-cool WSF GPS-powered Vessel Watch, it appears that Issaquah and same-class Kitsap will be the two boats on the run, since Chelan is going into drydock. For non-ferry riders, the effects you’re most likely to notice will be potential longer backups along Fauntleroy during the evening commute — considering Southworth-bound drivers will have a long gap between the 4:40 and 6:20 departures — and possible bus delays/overloads that Metro is warning riders about.
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.
Thanks to “k” for pointing out that West Seattle’s rock superstar Eddie Vedder won a Golden Globe Award tonight. It’s for the song “Guaranteed” from the soundtrack of “Into the Wild”; just last Monday, his video for the song premiered, billed as his first solo music video.
Two days till the deadline for the Seattle (Alki) Statue of Liberty Plaza Project to finish fundraising and figure out if they have enough to cover the full plaza design that’s proposed. We checked in with the project’s co-chairs this afternoon to see where things stand:Read More
Thanks to Tippy for that photo of a great blue heron taking a rooftop break on 38th south of the Admiral District … Not too far away, from along Admiral near The Bridge, we have Andy‘s report (thank you!) of the latest urban coyote sighting:
We spotted a coyote when driving down Admiral hill towards the bridge this morning. I slowed down when I thought I saw a dog running into the street, and my wife recognized it as a (large) coyote. It tried to cross Admiral right above City View St, and then ducked back into the green belt. This was at 8:45 am on Sunday.
Drivers and pet owners beware!
Two people just e-mailed WSB about this. The following account is from Luckie (thank you!):
Last night at about 7:50, three shots were fired on SW Hanford near 44th Ave, and then a car was heard speeding away toward California Ave. I immediately called 911, as did several other neighbors. This morning, I searched the area where I heard it happen, and found three bullet casings and a slug in the street. A neighbor’s car, parked on the street, now sports two bullet holes. We called the police non-emergency number, and an officer arrived about five minutes later. She gathered the evidence and took statements. I don’t wish to give any more details, but this car was a specific target—this wasn’t a random shooting.
We will be checking with the Southwest Precinct to see if there is anything more. MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Lt. Steve Paulsen @ the precinct says, “We are working hard on this … [indeed] it was not a random event.”
That house is at 5933 California (map), immediately south of the townhouses going up on the former Guadalajara Hacienda site (as we most recently documented here). On Friday, the city granted a permit to tear down this 85-year-old house; more townhouses are on the way. About a mile and a half north on California, in the 3400 block (map), demolition equipment is likely to be seen soon here:
We first mentioned the impending teardown-to-townhouses status of this site in October. The demolition permit’s been in effect since November but we just noticed the fence.
We told you yesterday about registration under way for West Seattle Pee Wee baseball; today, we’ve got a preview of West Seattle Little League registration, which is just days away:Read More
The controversy over West Seattle High School‘s impending switch from 4-period days to 6-period days is simmering on; the group behind this pro-4-period blog (with a comment thread where the fur’s been flying) sent this notice last night:
“Students for Democratic Process” are sponsoring: “March of the Wildcats” on Jan. 17 … 2:30-5 pm … WSHS students are marching from WSHS to Alaska Junction to protest the school district’s decision to switch WSHS from a 4-period day to a 6-period day. We invite all pro-4 students to join in! It’s our turn to roar!!
We have a follow-up question out to organizers, asking whether this Thursday protest is intended to be a march down the sidewalk, or the sort of street march for which a city permit might be required. 12:05 PM UPDATE: Just got this from one of the parents who will serve as a “monitor” during the march:
The students (and several adult monitors) will march from WSHS to the Alaska Junction, staying on the sidewalks and crossing with the lights. Once at the Junction, they will hold signs, pass out flyers, and cross four-ways at each “walk” sign.
I have applied for a permit in the event the number of students is high, and I have provided the police at the S.W. Precinct with a copy of our application and a map of the route.
In case you missed the spectacular sunbreaks while, oh, say, indoors watching The Game … above, we present a snippet of video from Beach Drive, as the sun held court over Vashon. Below, we dropped by the Pigeon Point Park environmental-restoration work party (video preview here) and while the Nature Consortium folks and their volunteers were just getting going, we found artist Aaron Voronoff already well into the process of making an ever-evolving sculpture out of trash and plant debris that work-party participants were collecting:
Voronoff’s creation was to be disposed of later, by the way. The Nature Consortium tells us that most of its work parties feature environmental entertainment like this, with artists, musicians, etc.
Winter hours are a little shorter (11 am-2 pm) but the fresh sheet’s pretty long:Read More
Back in August, we mentioned that this building and the house behind it at 3256 California were up for sale, and the Beauty Box salon had posted plans to close. Though this parcel is now right in the middle of the proposed “upzone” area, it looks like the buildings will be around a while – we stopped today to read the sign in the window, which says it’s the new home of West Seattle Natural Medicine, moving from 4141 California to open at this location Jan. 21 (a week from Monday). There’s more about the move on the clinic website.
One more reminder that friends of Angelia Paulsen, the Red Cup Espresso owner killed in a crash last Monday, are planning a candlelight vigil outside her shop in The Junction tonight – 7 pm, 4451 California (just north of Oregon; Ginomai has offered its parking lot on 42nd just south of Genesee if you have trouble finding parking). And anyone who wants to make memorial donations to help pay for her son Julian‘s education can do so at Viking Bank.
Also, a followup – it’s been exactly a week since a diver died after getting into trouble at Seacrest; his fiancee (who provided the photo shown at right) posted about him on WSB the next day. According to an online obituary, the diver, 33-year-old Josh Magee, was laid to rest yesterday in Reno, where he lived before moving to Seattle in 2000.
Stephanie just sent this photo (thank you!), saying “Didn’t see any Seahawks Spirit on your page. We have the Seahawks Spirit! :) And so do our kids Jordan and Jett.”
A few weeks after we reported on the appearance of that sign in the long-awaited Spring Hill restaurant space (ex-In Bloom) that we’ve been watching for more than a year on the north end of The Junction, we have just heard from Mark and Marjorie Fuller, owners of the restaurant-to-be — who want you to know they’re looking for a maitre d’:
Spring Hill restaurant will be opening in March, maybe April and for now, are looking to hire one good person for our Maitre d’ position. We were wondering if the West Seattle Blog would help by posting our craigslist ad.
Sure thing. Here’s the link; and here’s the text of that ad, which reveals a little more about Spring Hill:
SPRING HILL, Chef Mark Fuller’s contemporary/casual restaurant is seeking an experienced Maitre d’ to work evening dinner shifts.
This is a full-time position with good pay and many benefits.
We are looking for enthusiastic and professional people with a genuine feel for hospitality and attention to detail.
The restaurant will be located at 4437 California Ave SW in West Seattle and will open this Spring. This is a brand new 74-seat restaurant. Expect the food and wine menus to reflect the Pacific Northwest.
Please email a resume and brief cover letter to springhilljobs@gmail.com.
We have follow-up questions out to the Fullers to see if we can get a bit more info to share with you about what Spring Hill will be like.
It doesn’t seem to be online yet but if you go out and get an early copy of the Seattle Times Sunday edition, columnist Danny Westneat has written up the results of an long conversation he had with your editor here after he called us up a couple days ago and said he wanted to talk to us about WSB. It’s mostly accurate and we very much appreciate the Times’ interest in writing about what we’re doing as a hyperlocal news website (which would be impossible to run without your help, support, tips, photos, etc.). However, there is one incorrect and, we feel, unnecessarily inflammatory aspect of what he wrote that we want to go on the record about, even before much of anybody else even sees his column.Read More
Registration is already under way for this year’s West Seattle Association of Pee Wee Baseball league, which is for 5-10 year-olds, both genders. WSAPWB president Doug Groesbeck kindly took some time to talk with WSB so we’d be able to tell you more:Read More
We are starting the weekend with the traditional WSB welcome for a new sponsor – this time, everyone say hi to Alex Garcia and his fellow agents at Keller Williams Realty Seattle Metro West in The Junction. They are part of the growing trend of real-estate bloggers; their ad on the right sidebar links to the KW team’s new blog, currently featuring everything from information on the open houses that its agents are hosting tomorrow, to a recap of Keller Williams’ participation in Thursday’s West Seattle Art Walk. Thanks to KW and our other sponsors for supporting WSB; they’re all featured on the Advertise page, along with information for other local businesses interested in joining them.
NEW PAGE LISTING ALL WEST SEATTLE SCHOOLS: Thanks to the WSBers who suggested, in e-mail and forums, one comprehensive list of all West Seattle schools would be helpful during this intense choosing-a-school time of year. Here’s version 1.0 (and you can find it any time from the “schools” tab atop WSB pages). Despite our best efforts, we suspect there’s a likelihood we missed someone; if so, please let us know! We’ll meld the school-tour/open house info onto this page over the weekend, too (for now it’s on the Events page).
UPDATES ON CRIME WATCH AND PETS PAGES: On the Crime Watch page, you’ll find a reader report with an Admiral-area alert, as well as the latest Southwest Precinct Public Safety Newsletter. On the Pets page, we have added a “found pet” you might want to know about.
LAST CALL FOR NOMINATIONS, AND A REMINDER TO JOIN US NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT: Tomorrow’s the deadline to suggest someone for the first-ever quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards (read more here); winners will be celebrated at an informal gathering to which you’re invited, 7 pm Friday 1/18 at Capers in The Junction – come by and say hi!
Have you ever been to Pigeon Point Park? The trail we walked in the video clip above is just a small part of this hidden treasure next to Cooper Elementary School in northeast West Seattle. Tomorrow, it’s one of the places on the WS “east side” that will get special attention during Green Delridge Day — plenty of time for you to participate before settling in for the Seahawks game. The Pigeon Point Park event is the first-ever work party there for the Nature Consortium, whose restoration-project staffers Mark Tomkiewicz and Elizabeth McDonald gave us a mini-tour (much of which we videotaped):Read More
| 2 COMMENTS