West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
For the hundreds of times we have walked or driven past the Alki Bathhouse, we’ve been inside maybe once. Tonight — a good chance to wander in and be warmly welcomed — a spring reception, 5-8 pm (brochure page 14) — we found out from all these cheery postings in the bathhouse’s big side window this morning:
You won’t find it on the website for this converted apartment building (Cali/Myrtle) but a closer look at its streetside sign reveals creative phraseology for what one commenter called its “converted motel” look — “midcentury retro condominium homes.”
We’ve always vowed not to be another blog with cute baby animal pix .. but then came this.
While 35th/Holden Chevron still has the top-priced regular gas in WS ($3.44), the top price for any gas (therefore, premium) is at Admiral Chevron: $3.75 (left) — which becomes the most likely spot we’ll see the “magic” $4 number first. As for the cheapest regular, it was Charlestown/Cali 7-11 at $3.19, as of midmorning. Share the word about changes via comments here or e-mail. (P.S. One way to cut your gas use: Vente Caf reminds us it’s Bike-To-Work Month.) 1:42 PM UPDATE: Just passed 35th/Holden Chevron, up to $3.49/regular since late morning.
If that mess with the busted water main under the University Bridge has you wondering “hmm, how old’s the big pipe under my street” — there’s a city map resource you can wade through to find out.
The Seattle Weekly has continued digging into the background of the 47th/Admiral crash that killed City Council staffer Tatsuo Nakata; the latest edition reports that the driver who hit him has a record.
Two calls tonight for West Seattle artists to come forward and show their stuff. First: The new artists’ studio Ginomai is looking for more artists to display their work during upcoming Junction Art Walks. Deadline for the next one is next Monday. (EARLY THURS UPDATE: The Art Walk has its own blog now!) Second: This Friday is the deadline for artists and musicians to sign up to be part of this year’s West Seattle Summer Fest in mid-July. Go here to get an application.
Guess the 35th/Holden Chevron got word that the Fauntleroy/Alaska 76 had finally matched it at $3.39/regular; within the past couple hours, 35th/Holden added another nickel, landing at $3.44/regular and retaining the crown as Most Expensive Regular Gas In WS. As for Cheapest RGIWS, as a commenter pointed out here, it’s the Charlestown/Cali 7-11 — as of late this morning, still $3.17, though nearby Exxon went to $3.19.
It appears the last Groucho left in the greenery along the Delridge-side approach to The Bridge is gone. Riding shotgun along that stretch of concrete this morning, we were able to confirm the reader tip that first told us so. With the Grouchos gone, WS seems a little less whimsical. For now. (We’ll just have to go back to squinting at the Fauntleroy overpass banners.)
One day after the P-I noted that Seattle’s supply of rental homes is way down, we found a great rental right here in WS. This house first caught our eye because it had a “for sale” sign up; then a “sold” signlet went up the other day, and this Craigslist “for rent” ad appeared. See what it’s like to live in one of Alki Ave’s last remaining standalone homes! (Providing you can spare $3250/month.)
Anybody who hasn’t left home yet and has to drive Harbor Ave — two big City Light trucks are down there in the (for now) greenbelt zone, working with a power pole. Traffic cops are stopping cars, one direction at a time, so it’s a bit of a holdup.
Huling/Gee isn’t the only name change along Fauntleroy’s mini-“auto row.” At Fauntleroy/Oregon, the tattered old “Bob Ochsner Cars” sign just vanished, and a slick new “West Seattle Motors” sign (left) just appeared. (If you can’t recall the old sign, check the right side of the photo on the bottom of this city page — scroll down, then over — about the neighboring, historical-ish Wardrobe Cleaners neon sign.)
Not only did Megawatt move into the new WS Community Resource Center @ 35th/Morgan as of today, so did the West Seattle Food Bank, according to a DNDA e-mail newsletter kindly forwarded to us by a stalwart reader. Congrats to everyone who’s worked on that project for years! (WS Helpline tells us they’re making their move into the building next month.)
As of this morning: no price change for either the cheapest or the most expensive.
According to the WS Herald (which describes these as “preliminary plans”): visitation @ Howden-Kennedy May 10 & 11, rosary @ Holy Rosary May 11, funeral (also at HR) May 12.
After we referred to the forthcoming, long-in-the-works Giannoni’s Pizzeria at Westwood Village as “mysterious” one too many times, their owners surfaced in our inbox and shared some details about what they’ll be doing when they open (south side of WV, next to Sally’s Beauty Supply). And they confirmed, they’re not a chain! Click ahead to read their full e-mail:Read More
Some upcoming, mostly eclectic events that deserve an advance shoutout:
–THIS THURSDAY: “Home Buying De-Mystified” free seminar @ PCC
–THIS SATURDAY: Bead 4 Life, 11 am-4 pm @ at T(ea) Gallery (a semi-hidden treasure on Cali, south of Admiral): beautiful beadwork displayed/sold as a fundraiser
–THIS SATURDAY NIGHT: Silent Auction to benefit another WS blogger‘s breast-cancer-fighting 3-Day Walk team (event’s on QA but such a great cause, with a WS link, we can’t resist)
–THIS SATURDAY NIGHT: Free theater! “One Night Only” — also @ Youngstown Arts — short pieces (4-10 minutes each) that The Community Theatre’s members have been working on in workshops. 7 pm reception, 8 pm show, free treats promised!
–LOOKING WAY AHEAD TO MAY 15 BUT YOU CAN BUY TICKETS RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE: The Taste of West Seattle, which benefits the wonderful WS Helpline, whose site has more info and a link to buy tix online.
The city website just put up this alert about paving work on Roxbury over the next few days.
Just posted at the P-I site: Flashing incident over the weekend in the 4500 block of 36th SW.
According to Councilmember Dow Constantine’s ace staff, the official count for Elliott Bay Water Taxi passengers on kickoff day was 2,545 — which they suspect was an all-time WT record (previous known high, 1,600-plus on the day last summer when a crash closed The Bridge). As for the King County Ferry District plan that could ensure the WT’s future — DC’s team says it made progress today in the council’s “Committee of the Whole” (8:17 PM UPDATE: click ahead to read the full press release on that):
Last week we tracked the 35th/Holden Chevron, which to our knowledge still has the highest posted price for regular gas in WS (holding at $3.39 as of an hour ago). 
Some folks wrote us asking for help in finding the cheapest gas. As of our unscientific drivearound survey last night and this morning, the Cali/Andover Exxon and Cali/Charlestown 7-11 (left) appear to be tied for that honor, at $3.17/gal for regular. (Both are in the repaving zone, so getting there requires patience.) As of last night, the Arco near Home Depot on Delridge wasn’t too far above that, at $3.19. Let us know if you’ve seen cheaper!
#1 — Avoid the parking crush by Seacrest (photo below; it stretched for a mile each way); walk or take the water-taxi shuttle (weekend schedule here; also this year they’ve printed schedule cards, easier to use than the brochure formats from previous years). The shuttle is running 7 days/week but parking probably won’t be quite as crunched on weekdays.
#2 — If you want to save a few bucks, now that the annual freebie day has passed, the best bargain for WEEKEND WT use is the Metro all-day pass. $2.50/person gets you all-day use for one full day on Metro buses and the Water Taxi – which otherwise is $3/each way. Remember that you can only buy this pass on board a Metro bus, only on Saturdays/Sundays, and it’s only good for the day you buy it. But what a deal!
… currently home to 2 houses on 42nd, just listed at $1.5m “to be sold together.”
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