Free tix, cool pix
There’s a new link in the gray navigation bar atop the Admiral Theater home page, enticingly titled FREE TICKETS. Click it and you’ll find this page about its restoration project. Donate $40 and they promise a name plate on a new seat, plus two tickets to any regular Admiral showing. Photos on the page include two historic pix, 1930 and 1949.
Mystery plane
We noticed it while out walking in our Upper Fauntleroy hood a little while ago, and some readers wrote us that they saw it too: this mysterious white plane doing low circles over WS. We tried calling the FAA to find out what they knew; their 866-TELL-FAA hotline was amazingly unhelpful, and when we finally found a local number, they were closed, with a recording “leave a message.” Here’s hoping it’s nothing to worry about. We would speculate the dark object hanging off the side might be a camera, though we thought more aerial photography is done with helicopters than planes. Any enlightenment welcome. 9:45 PM SEMI-UPDATE: We think we at least know whose plane it was; an e-mail tip says a call to 911 yielded a mention that a State Patrol plane was in the area — this article about those planes mentions the camera mounted in a “black bubble” on the side.
Shadowland takes shape
The facade of the former Neilsen Florist shop in The Junction continues to evolve toward the space’s new identity as Shadowland.
Its proprietor tells WSB “things are moving along well” — they’re now drywalling inside, and hoping to open in about a month, though he adds it’s been tough to nail down a date (so many factors outside a would-be entrepreneur’s control, as we have learned while watching other new WS businesses-in-progress).
Gather ’round Camp Fire
With school starting in less than 2 weeks, the machinery’s starting to rumble for kid activities too. We got e-mail this week from Camp Fire USA, which wants WS families to know it’s starting registration for group programs (and in addition to what’s mentioned in that link, even has a preschooler-level program for kids as young as three; Camp Fire offers “community family clubs” too). We have a soft spot for Camp Fire; one of us was a Blue Bird way back when (and was sad to learn while working on this post that the Blue Bird designation was retired in ’89).
WS weekend lineup: Cross your fingers for sunshine
Last weekend in August, and we just can’t bear to see any more rain. We’ve got rowing & volleyball at Alki, the Art in Nature Festival, a narrated history walk around eastern WS, and a job fair (today!) … 31 ways to have fun without leaving the peninsula:Read More
Construction countdown
Just one week till construction starts “in earnest” on Ercolini Park west of The Junction, according to Bill Barna, one of the neighbors who’ve been leading the drive to make it reality. He sent us a photo (below) showing the park site tarped over after city crews busted sod to clear the lot in preparation. Just one little thing preventing everything from being perfect … the last leg of their fundraising effort is a few thousand $ short, which could affect how EP ultimately looks and functions. If you can help, they’re taking donations quick ‘n’ easy online.
Storm recovery, eight months later
South WS drivers beware: Seattle city crews have stepped up the drainage work at the south end of the Cali straightaway (Cali/Thistle) and, a block downhill, next to the Thistle/Northrop sinkhole that opened in the deluge before last December’s windstorm. Heavy equipment tore up more pavement today at Cali/Thistle (photo below) and the Thistle/Northrop bend is squeezed to one lane.
Selling by the seashore
Two retail notes from Alki this afternoon: First, if you look down 61st, you’ll see this umbrella right by the Homestead:
Thanks to the Alki Beach Community group on Yahoo! for tipping us to the little produce stand now set up under that umbrella. Fruit on one side, vegetables on the other, all organic, obtained from Charlie’s Produce. According to what Homestead owner Tom Lin told the ABC group, its operator is a UW student named Eric. First place on Alki you can buy uncooked food since Alki Market shut down again. Speaking of that space …
… that’s the scene next to Cactus, as the future All the Best Pet Care continues getting ready for business. This will be West Seattle’s northernmost pet-stuff store, joining (north to south) Mud Bay, Next to Nature, Petco, Pet Elements, and Pet Pros.
Caught on camera! A short burst of summer!
We were so hoping to snag a pretty summer sunset photo tonight for the first time in a while. The clouds refused to cooperate. So instead, in case you didn’t get to go out and enjoy it, here’s actual proof that summer returned for a while this afternoon …. honest.
Election results update
King County has posted its latest ballot count, and in Seattle School Board District 6, nothing has changed from last night – looks like it will be Steve Sundquist (left) vs. Maria Ramirez (right) for the West/South Seattle school board seat that Irene Stewart is giving up. After today’s count, Sundquist has 51.8% of the vote, Ramirez has 24.1%, with Dan Dempsey at 17%. The unofficial Seattle Public Schools Blog notes that more people voted in our district than in the other district with a primary battle, North Seattle District 2, and also notes that while the primary votes were by district, the entire city votes for all school board races in the fall, so Sundquist and Ramirez (along with other school board candidates) will have to campaign citywide. One other WS note from the election: King County Councilmember Dow Constantine lopsidedly (91%-9%) beat his eclectic fellow Democrat primary challenger Goodspaceguy Nelson, and now goes on to a general-election race against Republican John Potter (who doesn’t seem to have a campaign website).ÂÂ
From the “be on the lookout” file
Reader e-mail:
I’ve noticed a couple of well dressed guys driving around in a new Ford Explorer, blue. They’re trying to pull the age old scam of saying that they were out on an install for ‘home theater equipment’ and that they accidentally picked up a double order and they’re willing to sell it to you for dirt cheap. This is a scam … also when I turned down their offer to buy this home theater system they got upset and hostile.
One of the comments on our last door-to-door alert thread mentioned, ask to see a “residential sales license” before buying anything at your door from anyone.
This is it … the final weekday morning of the I-5 work that once swamped us in speculation that West Seattle would be cut off from the rest of the known world. 
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