West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
Progress on two in-the-works coffee shops within a mile of each other on Delridge: First, the coffee-shop-in-progress at 5605 Delridge now has a name on its awning – “Pacino’s Coffee.” Second, at 4800 Delridge, exterior work is mostly done (photo below) at the sister shop to Bubbles on Alki; a WSB reader tells us she stopped in recently and heard they hope to open by month’s end, offering savory treats (crepes, sandwiches) as well as coffee & bubble tea.
At least two WS gas stations are down below $3.20 this morning: Admiral/Cali Chevron (left) at $3.17/regular, and Delridge Arco, which had a worker out changing the signs (all four of them; tough job to have to switch numbers on up to twelve displays every time there’s a price change!) to $3.19/regular as of about half an hour ago.
There is a problem with people making illegal U-turns on Harbor Island near the “low bridge,” according to the P-I traffic troubleshooting column. (We had trouble placing the location so here’s a better map.) If this is something you do regularly, you’ll want to know that the city says, in the P-I column, it’ll be changing the curbing again soon to try to stop the U-turners.
… an hour or so after that evening cloudburst, this oddly creased cloud formation turned up in the eastern sky (view from Westwood). Can’t find any clue as to its meteorological backstory.
Just 3 weeks ago, we mentioned it looked like Seattle Music Fest at Alki would return this year; its website indicated dates were set. Now (thanks to reader e-mail for the tip), it’s suddenly off again (though the SMF website insists dates are set for 2008). However, fans of live outdoor music should still get a treat during Summer Fest in The Junction in mid-July (in fact, tomorrow is when they’re supposed to start notifying acts accepted for the festival).
If you haven’t checked out the comments on our post below – note that readers have revealed a brand-new, huge condo conversion in the works at the Graham Street Apartments just north of Morgan Junction, on the southeast corner of Cali/Graham. As first posted by Sue, here’s the property sale record (almost $9 million) finalized just a few days ago; here’s the condo conversion application noted on the city site.
Meantime, for those joining us in keeping track, here are a few of the other “multifamily” buildings currently listed for sale in WS, with links to the listings:
–West Aires, 6001 Cali, $2.2 million
–Riviera West, 7100 Cali, listed as “pending,” with “condo declarations in place,” $1.9 million (next to SeventyOne)
–Apartment/commercial building on Cali, south edge of The Junction, (with some units described as “condo quality”), $1.3 million
–5000 Fauntleroy, “pending,” $1.2 million
We usually find out about impending teardowns-to-townhomes by watching the city permit process. Today, though, we’ve got one that came to our attention from the people who are getting the boot before the backhoe shows up: the current renters of a doomed brick duplex along Fauntleroy, a couple who moved here from back east last year, and like so many of us, fell madly in love with WS. They aren’t ready to buy; one of them is in grad school. But now they’re on notice they’ve got to be out by the end of this month. There’s one instructive thing about their story; first, here’s a photo they kindly sent of their soon-to-be-ex-duplex …
The tenants note in their e-mail to us: “We rent through a property management company and didn’t know, till now, who the owner was — it’s Soleil Development.” (Which has other WS projects, including this one.) We checked property records for their address; Soleil technically didn’t take ownership till last winter, after these tenants moved in; but before their arrival last August, it was purchased last June by Dan Duffus, Soleil’s owner. So perhaps it would be worthwhile for would-be renters to use this site to check who owns their prospective new home; if it’s a development company, or someone you can easily see in search engines is linked to one, know you might not live there for long.
What a surprise to wake up to sunshine. Honestly, when we filed the post below, late last night, this page insisted we’d wake up to clouds and showers. Now it says “mostly sunny” all day. Glad they were wrong!
Might have been; the forecast doesn’t look too promising. (Photo taken @ Lowman.)
For a whopping two days now, Admiral/Cali Chevron (left) has held the title of lowest posted regular gas price in WS – $3.21/gallon. According to AAA’s price tracker, that’s not only below the current Seattle average, it’s even a bit below the average price one year ago today.
Rhonda @ Beach Drive Blog tips us to a must-go event (for us WS history fans, anyway) tomorrow: memories of Luna Park, at the former site of Luna Park. Conveniently, this will be happening during low-tide time, when what remains of the LP pilings can further fuel your imagination. (Here’s the Luna Park history link from our WS History page.)
-2 low tide bottoming out at Alki right about now, and it’ll be replicated just after 1 tomorrow afternoon. Caught this group & their reflection as the tide was on its way out.
As the Times points out this morning, election season is about to begin. You’ve probably already noticed 
that one candidate has gotten a jump on things by blanketing West Seattle with yard signs (photo at right) even before officially filing to run. Steve Sundquist is the first declared candidate for the WS (District 6) school board seat that Irene Stewart is giving up. We don’t know much about him yet (here’s his site if you want to peruse for yourself), but we’ll miss Stewart, who we thought was doing a decent job in a difficult (to say the least) situation. As for when we’ll start voting – the primary is now earlier than ever – August 21.
The city permit files say a pet-food store is in the works for Westwood Village. We can’t find a center blueprint to match WV “suite numbers” to specific stores, so we can’t tell if that’s what’s going into the laundromat space (below) that just emptied out north of QFC, but crews are certainly working fast and furious to convert it into something. Also, the permit files mention progress on the WV in-the-works Taco Del Mar.
One of the things we adore about West Seattle is that downtown is so close … yet it can be “out of sight, out of mind” until and unless you choose to stop for a view like this:
Hadn’t heard much about the case against the mayor’s son (who reportedly had been living at the family home here in WS) since it was announced last week, till the Daily Weekly unearthed this tidbit about the lawyers hired to defend him.
That “thank you” comes from Ercolini Park project organizers, who are working to transform a big beautiful empty lot west of The Junction into a real park. They say WSB readers have stepped up to commit dozens more volunteer hours to the project since our last update earlier this week. And they just got great news from the city — pending mayor and council approval, they’ll get a $90,000 grant, to complement $10,000 in “volunteer time and cash” that they will have to nail down by Halloween. They’ll also be teaming up with the folks working on Junction Plaza Park (on Alaska between Cali and 42nd) for fundraising efforts, with a joint meeting set for June 13.
As discussed at the community meeting regarding efforts to save the Charlestown Cafe and stop the site from being turned into Petco’s new location or any other “big box” development, plans are now in place for a picketing demonstration. According to the announcement just posted on the Our Town West Seattle Yahoo! group, it’ll happen 11 am-2 pm June 30, along California, in front of the restaurant.
Happy June! Lots to choose from in a full slate of WS weekend events, one click away.Read More
Fired assistant coaches are suing parents who spoke to the Times, says the paper.
… so fast, we can barely keep up. Now the lowest posted price we’re seeing (but not by much) is Fauntleroy/Alaska Shell, $3.24/gallon.
Starting today, you can register kids/teens ages 5-18 to be part of the West Seattle Soccer Club for its fall youth soccer season (mid-Sept. through mid-Nov. for most players). League officials 
(who provided the photo below, from a 4/29 visit to WSSC by Seattle Sounders players) say “the emphasis is on fun and soccer skills” — and a wide variety of playing environments are offered, including coed. You can learn more about WSSC, and you can register online, at their website, or click here to e-mail the league if you have questions. P.S. They’re offering soccer coaching clinics in June and summer soccer camps in July & August, too!
Supposedly next week brings the gray back, so we’re hoarding the beauty shots till then:
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