Thanks to Katie for e-mailing to tell us about this house in North Admiral (west side of 45th SW, south of SW Seattle). This is a camphone photo; the real thing is exponentially more festive. It’s the latest addition to our clickable, photo-embedded West Seattle Christmas lights map, viewable any time on our WSB Holidays page.
What a night last night turned out to be — not just because of the Christmas Ship, but also because “West Seattle Art Attack” and accompanying elves (explanation and background here if you need it) struck again. Here are a few of the pix that arrived with the WSAA communique:
ORIGINAL 10:40 AM POST: Just getting reports and pictures. Will have something up in a couple mins. 10:42 UPDATE: First photo from WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli. He says California is closed here because of all the firefighting equipment. This is near California/Spokane (map).
Another view of where the street was blocked off comes in this photo from Jerry (thank you!):
10:55 UPDATE: This building is home to a salon and insurance agency among other businesses; here’s a picture from a leasing-agency site. Here’s 2 more photos from Christopher, in which you get a better look at the ground floor of the building. We’re listening to scanner communication – doesn’t sound like a huge fire, which is good news.
Christopher reports no smoke smell or visible damage. We’ll let you know if/when we find out anything else.
Our hosting company had an outage this morning that, judging by our logs, rendered WSB inaccessible for about an hour and a half. Please forgive us. It’s normal for any website to have the occasional flutters but if we ever intentionally plan on something long like that, we will forewarn you; thanks to the people who e-mailed to be sure we knew WSB was out of commission. Now, on with the day; sounds like other areas got some snow but so far we’ve been spared – here’s the newest forecast. 1:36 PM ADDENDUM: The hosting company says there may be intermittent problems for a while. So if you wander by and see the Internet equivalent of this … know we’ll be back soon (here’s hoping).
I visited the gas station/convenience store at 35th and Barton earlier today, and the front wall of the store had been smashed in. The owner said it was a car sometime in the night, probably stolen. The store was open and he had a crew there making repairs, so I guess the business won’t be interrupted, but it must be costing him quite a lot of money.
The picture doesn’t do it justice but this is one of our favorite simple-yet-striking Christmas light displays every year – it’s directly east of the Metropolitan Market parking lot, across 41st. The lights alternate red/white, and trace the home’s features quite beautifully. This house is now added to our clickable West Seattle Christmas lights map, which you can find any time on the WSB Holidays page.
Three West Seattle stops down, one to go (Don Armeni, tomorrow night @ 7:10) for the Christmas Ship. We are just back from the Alki visit, quite a party with live music, free treats, and even Santa Claus — on a motorcycle:
We’re still testing out the various video-uploading options; tell us how that one worked for you. Meanwhile, two more clips:Read More
This time of year, ours is one of only two Farmers’ Markets still running in the whole city – we’re lucky! And it’s continuing on into the winter (in January it will switch to a slightly shorter schedule, 11 am-2 pm, but right now, it’s still 10 am-2 pm). Here’s the latest “fresh sheet” from the Farmers’ Market organizers:Read More
Under brilliant sunshine, in the face of biting cold wind, about 20 people just took the climate-change-awareness Alki plunge we mentioned yesterday. We’ve got the video to prove it (ADDED 3:40 PM; trying YouTube’s player again for the folks who say MySpaceTV isn’t working so well for them):
First, there’s the Kitten Holiday Party (listed on the West Seattle Weekend Lineup) at Pet Elements south of Morgan Junction:
That’s where we found this new kitten owner adopting what she referred to as “Elliott’s new friend.” (Elliott being the cat who will be surprised and hopefully pleased to meet his new pal.)
Also today and tomorrow, noon-4 pm (and those hours Thursday-Sunday every week), an exhibit at the Log House Museum with a unique take on Seattle history, and it’s only there a few more weeks – here’s what the LHM folks have written up about it:Read More
(photo from Shannon, taken this morning in Fauntleroy — thank you!)
It’s one of those rare times when Saturday and sunshine synchronize. We’ll be out decorating (after braving the basement, who knows what moved in down there during the bad weather); after night falls, please let us know what spectacular new holiday displays you see, for the ongoing WSB Christmas lights features (photos archived here, clickable map on the Holidays page). We’ll also be covering some of the numerous events happening today and tonight (check the West Seattle Weekend Lineup for the most detailed list) and are especially looking forward to the Christmas Ship’s three WS stops tonight (Seacrest at 5:15, Lowman at 8:50, Alki at 9:40). So enjoy all this because we just checked the forecast and tomorrow says “chance of rain or snow”!
With the recent rash of break-ins in my part of West Seattle, I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for the best local alarm system installation and monitoring company to use? I don’t want to get one that’s expensive and find out they’re 1) crappy on response time and/or 2) monitoring, half asleep, in Montana (no offense to the Big Sky state.)
Please respond by posting a comment with your recommendation; thanks to everyone who helps with the RRRs, which are all archived here.
OK, so it’s not the splashiest outdoor Christmas tree in West Seattle, but the spirit was certainly there as the Our Lady of Guadalupe tree was lit tonight, as our video in the post below proves. So it’s our official nightly Christmas-lights photo. Its location (34th/Myrtle) has been added to the WSB West Seattle Christmas lights map, which you can access any time from our Holidays page – click any location in the map and you’ll get its title plus a thumbnail photo. We’re also making the rounds of the suggestions e-mailed to us by folks in WSB-land, too. (In addition to clicking the aforementioned map, you can also check out all the West Seattle Christmas lights we’ve featured by going through their category archive here.)
Along 35th, across the street from the highest point in the city, Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated its annual Christmas tree lighting tonight. Here’s Father Jack Walmesley with the countdown:
And here’s the crowd singing “Jingle Bells,” jingling car keys in lieu of bells:
In case you missed it last weekend, here’s our video from the lighting of the West Seattle Community Christmas Tree in The Junction. (And we’ll be posting a wider photo of the OLG tree shortly as our Christmas lights pic of the night.)
If you missed it in the comments on this post last night – “West Seattle Art Attack,” the mysterious glass artist who roamed West Seattle around Halloween (as reported here, here, here, and here), has surfaced again. Pictured at left is one of the “elves” who accompanied WSAA on an attempt to find a certain house last night; we’re told they may be out and about again over the weekend – stand by for updates.
Out of the WSB inbox, from “The Velvet Bulldog,” as the heart of December brings the longest nights of the year:
In the past month during evening driving (read: dark) I’ve had three incidences of narrowly missing bicyclists who were riding without adequate visible materials. One guy was in all black, had no reflectors on his bike and wore no helmet. I kinda wonder if he’s even still alive to tell his tale. Thursday night it was a guy with a few strips of reflective material on his coat (covered by his backpack) but no rear light. I also recently had the unsettling experience of coming around the bend on the uphill side of Admiral near the infamous crosswalk at Alki Mail and Dispatch and a woman was running in the street facing oncoming traffic. She also didn’t have bright clothes on. (Also, I’m really curious – why are runners in the street rather than onthe sidewalk? It seems dangerous.) I just want to ask any of you who are bike riding or running (again–why??) in the street, or if you know someone who does, to ensure you’ve got the gear to be visible in the dark. I’m all about sharing the road with bicycles, but I have to be able to see you to safely share with you!! Thank you!
(26th/Juneau photo by Kristin, originally posted Monday)
From the city and county, via the North Delridge Neighborhood Council: If you suffered flood damage from the Sunday/Monday deluge, be sure to call 800-523-5044 as soon as possible — local governments are trying to get an accurate picture of how much damage was done, for reasons including helping the federal government decide whether to make low-interest loans and other types of aid available. The hotline’s answered 7 am-7 pm daily; if you have trouble getting through, you also can report damage online. Also, if you need help clearing storm-related debris, you can call the city @ 206-684-3000 to find out how to get assistance.
Just out of the WSB inbox — Sustainable West Seattle and friends are suggesting you jump in the Sound! But not till tomorrow afternoon. That’s when climate-change activists are inviting you to meet at the Alki Bathhouse for a polar-bear swim to raise awareness about global warming, and in particular, the climate talks under way right now in Bali, as well as “the importance of this issue during the upcoming elections, and … the danger posed to the Arctic ecosystem (and its polar bears!) from the rapidly melting ice caps,” according to organizer Kristin Wheeler, who also says, “We will taking pictures and making ‘holiday cards’ for Congressman Reichert (the only W. WA member of Congress not doing what he should be doing for the planet!) beforehand and then we will plunge at 12:30 pm.” Kristin also says the nearby Tully’s is donating coffee to be provided to the chilled warming-fighters immediately afterward. It’s part of a national day of action; more info here. (That link asks the question “Have you invited local politicians to your plunge?” — hmm, given his activism on the issue, you suppose Mayor Nickels will walk down the hill to take part?) The weather tomorrow should be clear and bright (and cool!), by the way. This will be added to our Events page shortly as well as the forthcoming West Seattle Weekend Lineup list.
OK, so it’s not the splashiest outdoor Christmas tree in West Seattle, but the spirit was certainly there as the 
If you missed it in 
Just out of
| Comments Off on West Seattle Christmas lights, 12/9/07