West Seattle, Washington
19 Friday
We’ve mentioned before that White Center holds many pleasant surprises for WSites who venture south of the city limits. Cafe Rozella, for one. Not far from there, also on the WS-WC border, if you can call it that, is the Salvadorean Bakery. We’ll admit to not having been there, yet. This detailed post/review has us ready to check it out, as soon as we can!
Might be too early in the morning for you if you’re still up as we post this, but worth a mention anyway, however belated: West Seattle does have a bonafide Easter sunrise service, with several churches participating — 6:30 am @ Forest Lawn (east of High Point).
A few weeks after our last update on the neighborhood organizers determined to take Ercolini Park west of The Junction from purchased parkland to bonafide park by summertime, there’s more news. Organizer Bill Barna says they’re almost halfway to their goal of getting 1,000 hours of volunteer time pledged; find out more about what’s up and how you can help, at the park website or e-mail Bill directly.
Both finalists for the Seattle Public Schools superintendent job were in town this week, and both visited four schools including Chief Sealth HS here in WS. If you’re interested in more on the finalists and what district-watchers think of them, there’s excellent coverage on the unofficial Seattle Public Schools (formerly Save Seattle Schools) blog.
Or so say a couple newspaper articles today, including this one from the Times with a mostly-WS focus. Almost enough to make you want to put yours on the market and reap the profits … oh wait … as we remind ourselves here at WSB HQ, the only problem with selling our house at a nice (relatively) fat price would be, then we’d have to go jump into one of those bidding wars for some other house up for sale at a nice (relatively) fat price … sigh.
Busy weekend in store for West Seattle — Saturday morning has a holiday-weekend event at each and every one of our city-run community centers, and that’s just a start — lots more, just a click away:Read More
Thanks to Shane Marr for sending this photo of the harbor-seal pup who’s been the center of attention on Alki (larger images on his site). We haven’t been able to make it to the beach; any updates on its status, please add a comment or e-mail us — thanks!
If you’re not spending Saturday morning at an egg hunt (those will be in our weekend roundup tomorrow), here’s your chance to spend a few hours helping document the state of part of WS, for posterity, history, later reference, all sorts of worthy reasons. The Admiral Neighborhood Association would love to have your volunteer help with its “street-level survey” of the Admiral District. Just show up @ Megawatt HQ at 9 am this Saturday morning; what will ensue will be a bit of training (combined with some free food) with the devices you’ll be using to record what you see, followed by strolling around to use ’em. Here’s what last year’s survey found, in case you’re curious.
Got a note from someone concerned about a baby seal that turned up out of the water on Alki, and wondering what to do in a situation like that. Authorities’ advice: Leave it alone, until and unless at least 36 hours have gone by; seal moms sometimes leave their babies on a beach so they can go look for food, and they’ll be back. If you think that much time has gone by, or you think it’s injured or otherwise in imminent danger, there’s a hotline at 206-526-6733. (And lots more information here.)
The Stranger is the latest to gush over Beato, under the headline “West Seattle Grows Up.”
For those of us curious what Mars Hill changed inside the former Doxa church on 35th, but not planning to attend a service there to find out, they’ve conveniently written it up online.
Just happened onto this rather amazing tale of road rage, or should we say parking rage, near Caffe Ladro.
Been away from the inbox for several hours; seems we missed something startling in the WS sky this evening — at least a dozen people have written to ask what was up with the chopper activity. We’ve seen military aircraft around here before — after all, we have beaucoup bases nearby — but this must have been truly out of the ordinary, given the mail barrage. We’ll see what we can find out; if anyone out there in WSB-land is a military insider or called authorities to ask and actually got an answer, please leave a comment. (UPDATE: One commenter says it was part of the Mariners’ military-salute promotion.)
This isn’t happening till Saturday, but you need to pre-register, and organizers say space is limited, so here’s an early alert: People for Puget Sound is kicking off a kids’ art contest with a “beach treasure hunt” and low-tide walk at Lincoln Park this Saturday afternoon. Go here to find out more (including contact info for signing up).
More “public art,” according to a reader tip. We won’t get to check this out for ourselves for a while so we’ll take the liberty of quoting the reader, who reports the sighting from a bus ride over The Bridge:
This morning I had no choice but to crack a grin as I spotted a herd of crouching Groucho Marxes in the woods of Pigeon Point. They can be seen from the eastbound lanes of the West Seattle Bridge and are tucked into the woods maybe a couple hundred meters after the merge.
Somehow missed this till a reader tip … Sound Transit will study the possibility of a light-rail extension between West Seattle and Ballard. Maybe even Burien.
The new High Point gets a mention in this article today about the high cost of homeownership (condos included) within city limits.
Fauntleroy Creek (across from the ferry dock) is worth a visit sometime soon if it’s not someplace you regularly visit. Not only is salmon season revving up, it’s also the annual blooming time for the official favorite flower of WSB, Darwin’s barberry, which comprises an entire hedge at the creek overlook but still hasn’t caught on as a garden plant (aside from a spray on Genesee Hill, one along Beach Drive, and one along Fauntleroy; let us know if you’ve seen others).
As Mars Hill prepares today for its first services at the ex-Doxa location on 35th, seems it’s not the only local church coping with parking challenges. Just north of The Junction, West Side Presbyterian Church has posted a detailed “parking possibilities” plan, made necessary by the Cali Ave repave-o-rama.
Wanted to make sure you’ve all heard about an event that’s still a few weeks away, but likely to be the West Seattle smash of the spring. Posters are up all over town; tickets are on sale; Husky Deli even has a clever little Beanie Baby animal display promoting it. Three weeks from today @ Hiawatha — the first-ever “West Seattle Pet Rodeo and Snooty Walk.” (We plead guilty to not having a clue about what a “snooty walk” is supposed to be.) Besides the critters, WS-dwelling human celebrities are promised too, including Hizzoner’s spouse Sharon Nickels and former “Almost Live!” (love those 1:05 am Saturday night reruns) star Tracey Conway.
Just a bit north of Verge Condos on Harbor Ave, two more big buildings (six stories) just got permits, with plans for condos over retail: 3257 Harbor and 3303 Harbor.
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