West Seattle, Washington
21 Wednesday
The new holder of the “lowest posted price for regular gas in West Seattle” title is … Shell @ Fauntleroy & Alaska (photo right). It’s been in a price war of sorts with the kitty-corner 76 for a few weeks — one would drop a couple cents, the other would match or edge lower — but suddenly sometime since this morning, the Shell slashed its prices and now sells regular for $2.69. That’s six cents cheaper than the station that had been the low-price titleholder for a while, Arco on Delridge, which is at $2.75.
The beautiful murals around the heart of West Seattle are getting some long-awaited TLC. WS Junction Association president Dave Montoure of West 5 describes it as “the long process of restoring the salvageable murals in The Junction.” As our photos below show, they’re starting with the Hi-Yu Parade mural on the side of the Post Office, hit by taggers some time back. Dave also notes regarding the overall project, “Earl Cruzen, the gentleman who was a key figure in the original murals installation project, has stepped forward yet again — he’s a true WS treasure — to locate the original mural artists about restoration, replacement and, unfortunately in some cases, disposal.” Read more about the WS murals here and here.
P.S. We didn’t realize till a viewer e-mail following this post that the high-rise megaproject on the drawing board west of Jefferson Square is to be called “Mural,” in tribute to the WS murals … scroll down this page for a rendering.
On the easternmost edge of West Seattle, a couple of parks dot the shore of the Duwamish, including T-107 Park, where a WSB reader spotted two signs like this:
-Tomorrow night is the monthly West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction; more than a dozen stops and their intriguing offerings are listed on the Art Walk blog (a fine resource that also includes direct weblinks for many of the participating artists and businesses). Among the participants, the growing Ginomai center for artists.
-Also tomorrow night, it’s opening night for two musicals here in WS: The Twelfth Night Productions presentation of “Oklahoma!” @ West Seattle HS Theater (tickets available online), and the ArtsWest Summer Musical Theater Conservatory Program presentation of “Disney’s High School Musical” (tickets available online).
-Friday, three one-time-onlies (more Fri-Sat-Sun events when our weekend lineup appears on Fri morning): In the afternoon; golf in WS for a good cause; then in the evening, the weather should be nice for the makeup showing (remember the July 21 rainout?) of “Chicken Run” at Sidewalk Cinema’s Movies on the Wall next to Hotwire Coffeehouse — and for the 34th District Democrats’ annual Garden Party Auction fundraising bash @ West Seattle Nursery.
Two more photos just in. The first two are from the Ercolini Park gathering, where Bill Barna reports not only was a good time had by all, but $1,000 more was raised for the park (now just a few thousand to go; find out how to help at their website).The second one is from the 3200 block of 45th SW, courtesy of Luckie.
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The three photos below are from the first two sets of pix (including a full gallery here) we received, both from the gathering at and around 39th/Elmgrove, which we’re told got two visits from nearby landmark Fire Station 37. (One attendee offers a shoutout to hosts Wally & Wilma.) Keep the pix coming; we’ll add as the day goes on — also, thanks to everyone who shared their locations in advance — heartening to know there were so many around WS.
Wonder what these are going to look like? Our imagination doesn’t paint a pretty picture.
On the west end of the Alki restaurant district, the Pegasus Pizza building project (2758 Alki) is no longer alone. Another project has surfaced in the next block: The last little low-rise residence (2810 Alki), sandwiched between Bamboo and the ex-Alki Market, is slated to be replaced by a three-story building described as two floors of restaurant topped by one residential unit. A Design Review Board “early design guidance” meeting for the project is already set for September 13th.
As the I-5 closures roll ever-closer, the very nice folks in communications @ WSDOT are working overtime to be sure even small news “organizations” like WSB are supplied with every last little bit of info. Among today’s bits: This helpful link including the specifics on exactly which lanes are scheduled to be closed when. That includes a complete lack of access to NB I-5 from the east end of The Bridge this weekend — so don’t even try.
This Thursday night, the city’s Southwest Design Review Board will take a look at the latest design for the proposed Petco store at the Charlestown Cafe site.
We’ve received a pre-meeting update from Mark Wainwright with Our Town West Seattle, the community group keeping a close watch on this project and the restaurant’s fate; the group met last Thursday to look ahead to this week’s Design Review meeting.
Mark says there’s a new architect for the Petco plan, Sienna Architecture, based in Portland but with a Seattle office. He adds, “The project design is, in a word, better … this design may have the potential to be Petco’s nicest store.”
Click ahead to read what else Mark says:Read More
Thanks to the WSB reader who sent e-mail to call to our attention the fact that, not long after its sale, Carosello Coffee (former Coffee Shoppe, former Casablanca) on 35th north of Holden is closed. Handwritten sign on its door says NEW OWNERSHIP, WILL REOPEN SOON. The business next door (also recently sold) has already changed from Koze to Northwest Montessori (which used to be on the grounds of the former Calvary Lutheran Church at 35th/Cloverdale, now Life Church Ministries, the congregation, previously known as Gatewood Baptist before selling its Cali/Othello building to developers who resold it to Seattle International Church … whew, sounds like a soap-opera recap).
All over West Seattle — and much of the rest of the country — you’ll see something you don’t usually see in most neighborhoods: Neighbors out in the street, sharing good times, good food, good ideas. It’s Night Out, the sleek new-ish name for what once upon a time was known as National Night Out Against Crime. Neighborhoods that met the deadline for registering their events with the Seattle Police Southwest Precinct here in WS will get to close off (non-arterial) streets for their block parties. SPD said they were unable to provide us with a list, but some neighborhoods told us about their locations; others were posted online. Click ahead for the latest list (updated as people send us more locations); if you’re involved in any Night Out event tonight, we invite you to send us a photo afterward for posting here at WSB (represent!).Read More
It was about 15 minutes before the end of tonight’s school-board candidates forum on the lawn at Pathfinder K-8 when our internet-attuned ears really perked up.
First, Dan Dempsey (photo left), one of 4 contenders for the West Seattle-centered District 6 seat that Irene Stewart is giving up, declared he has multiple blogs on his campaign website, but isn’t getting much feedback yet. (Reviewing his site, it appears he’s put up more discussion boards than blogs, but nice gesture anyway!)
Then, answering the same audience question about ways the board could improve communication with the public, District 1 candidate Peter Maier (photo right) offered his observation that the official Seattle Public Schools website just isn’t particularly easy to use — tough to access documents, etc.
Understatement of the night, from our quarters (and not just us; a fair amount of those in attendance laughed knowingly). But as she rose next to answer the same communication question, District 2 incumbent Darlene Flynn (photo left) was clearly not amused, retorting sharply, “That website didn’t even HAVE documents on it four years ago.”
Not surprisingly, given the rocky year the school board has had, Flynn and the other incumbent in attendance, Sally Soriano (photo right), spent a lot of their time defending and detailing what they believe to be their key first-term accomplishments. But that was really a small part of a fascinating evening that probably helped clarify a lot of August 21 (and beyond) decisions … much more after the click:Read More
We are working on a list of who’s got wi-fi access around WS, besides the obvious (coffeehouses), for anyone who really can take the advice of West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician and telecommute to avoid the I-5-related trauma expected during FF ’07. The latest addition, if you weren’t aware: Public library branches. West Seattle has four of ’em: Southwest, High Point, Delridge, and of course, WS (north of Metro Market).
According to this afternoon’s e-mail update from the city Transportation Department, the paving closures on Admiral aren’t scheduled to start till Thursday night. Click ahead for the full text of that e-mail update (including a warning for neighbors about possible side effects inside their homes):Read More
Following up on the weekend bulletin about a new plan to move the recast Statue of Liberty into the Alki Bathhouse, we checked today with Pamela Kliment, the city Parks Department’s project manager. She says the exact timetable for this interim move depends on what she finds out from the foundry that’s housing the statue; she also says the September 13th public meeting about the statue’s future is still on, because “since that location [the Bathhouse] is temporary, there is more work to do.” We also have heard from the staff of Councilmember Tom Rasmussen (a WS resident), who’s working on helping make this happen, and they too await more information before a date can be set for the statue’s Bathhouse arrival.
-Believe it or not, less than a month till the first day of school (9/5) for most local kids. (SPS ’07-’08 calendar here.)
-Congratulations to the Community School of West Seattle, which, after a dinner/auction last month and other fundraising efforts, now has enough money to buy its building (photo at left) at 22nd & Roxbury, which was being eyed by a developer.
-Last reminder about the school board candidates’ forum (free ice cream!) on the lawn at Pathfinder K-8 tonight, all welcome, bring a picnic.
We’ve been watching for this link since seeing it on the late news last night. Now it’s online — videotaped fight at Alki, and worried neighbors.
It’s on the same type of frame as a “for sale” sign, but this sign (right) at the Ercolini Park site on Alaska west of The Junction can be best described as “for info.” Right now, it’s stocked with flyers for a block party alongside the park site during Night Out tomorrow (6-9 pm, along 48th SW between Alaska and Oregon); park organizer Bill Barna says they’ll be accepting donations during the party as they finish up their last round of fundraising following a city matching-funds grant. (Speaking of Night Out, if your neighborhood is having a party and you don’t mind telling us about it in case any neighbors haven’t heard, leave a comment here or e-mail us; city organizers say they can’t give us an area-wide list. Also we’re hoping to post Night Out pix afterward, so even if you don’t tell us about your party in advance, take a pic and send it to us!)
Our Sunday night activity, round trip on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry. Here’s the view as we pulled into Vashon on the westbound return.
For those of you who were just holding your breath till this whole Seafair thing was over, thanks for indulging us and scrolling past these posts. As for us, well, one more round of photos from the Museum of Flight (today’s pre-takeoff and post-landing), and then it’s off to dream about ’08.
More of what you don’t see if you only watch the airshow over the lake … click ahead:Read More
In case you saw the same police activity at WV Barnes & Noble this morning (we were at the Museum of Flight) — four police cars, people in handcuffs, store briefly closed (or so one would-be customer was told) because of it — here’s what WSB reader Liz later heard from store staff: it started as a shoplifting investigation, then appeared to involve credit-card fraud, and there was concern one suspect was armed. Ended uneventfully with up to 3 arrests.
We’ve been warned: Friday night is the start of the three-week project that will close much of northbound I-5, off and on, round the clock, right where West Seattle drivers roll onto 5, between Spokane Street and I-90. A few more planning tidbits today:
-Remember the suggestion from West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician, to work from home or hang out someplace with wi-fi? Coffeehouses aren’t the only places you can get online; for example, Matthew @ Skylark Cafe wants everyone in WSB-land to know Skylark (north end of Delridge, just south of The Bridge) has wi-fi and welcomes telecommuters – open at 11:30 am Tuesdays-Fridays, 9 am Saturdays & Sundays. He adds, “We have air conditioning and happy hour all day til 7pm … we are also family-friendly until 9 pm when we become 21+.”
-Another e-mail suggested we remind everyone that some bus routes will change during the construction too.
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