West Seattle, Washington
30 Friday
It’s been a few days since we put out the last WSB Reader Recommendation Request; we’ve got a few in queue, and here’s the first — it’s from Sarah in Gatewood, a West Seattle native who just moved back after 2 years away (welcome back!):
I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on a good, very basic, beginners, yoga class in the area. I have never taken one before, but am really anxious to try. I am really not too interested in the Bikram classes (the only ones I could find for beginners), as I think they might be too intense for a brand newbie, but really would welcome any suggestions.
Leave yours as a comment on this post; remember, all previous RRRs are archived here.
At the court hearing we reported on last week, the lawyer for the 17-year-old suspect in the October 13th fatal shooting at 59th/Admiral said he would argue for his client to be set free on his own recognizance, released to “home detention,” or at least for his bail to be reduced. Then, earlier this week, we told you the lawyer’s rationale for that request — he contends his client was sexually abused for years by the man he is accused of shooting, has no history of violence, and would not be a danger to the community. Today, we have just learned from court documents posted online that King County Superior Court Judge Michael Trickey did grant a bail reduction earlier this week — cutting the amount of bail the suspect would have to post to get out, from the original $500,000, to the new amount of $200,000. However, according to the online jail roster, he is not out yet. He’s due back in court next Wednesday.
If you’ve been through The Junction today, you may have noticed the broken front window at Northwest Art & Frame. Manager Debbie just told a WSB team member that they don’t know when or how it happened — obviously sometime Halloween night — but they do know this: Somebody out walking their dog very early this morning noticed the broken window. Nobody of course was at NW A & F at that hour, but the dog-walker found somebody to tell, next door at Bakery Nouveau. They in turn called the Seattle Fire Department, which sent a crew, who cleaned up the broken glass, and put up some temporary covering (Debbie says Bakery Nouveau gave them treats in appreciation). Whoever the dog-walker was, NW A & F is very appreciative.
Two clips from West Seattle’s own homegrown Skeleton Theatre last night; you may recognize the soundtrack. (Read all about Skeleton Theatre, including where and when to go see it for Night 2 tonight, on the ST site.)
(video no longer available due to host’s shutdown, sorry!)
As we reported earlier this week, a hugely important date in the Water Taxi’s future comes next Thursday (11/8), 2 pm @ the county courthouse, when King County Councilmembers — 
meeting as the King County Ferry District board — have the one and only public hearing about what the KCFD should be doing in the year to come. In-person testimony is the most impressive, but if you absolutely can’t be there, the online form for your Water Taxi “testimony” is now ready, as promised by West Seattle’s KC Councilmember Dow Constantine. Find it here. Councilmembers will be especially interested in hearing your personal Water Taxi stories and why you support it, as well as affirmation for the positive effects of using boat transit to get traffic off the roads (and, in the case of the Vashon foot ferries that KCFD also will run, getting traffic off the state ferries from Vashon and therefore off already-busy WS arterials like Fauntleroy). P.S. Two things — remember tomorrow’s the Water Taxi’s last day of the year; also, check back here for more on the proposed operations/funding plan for the Ferry District, once it’s made public later today.
Even as some of the bar parties just start getting into gear, we are in for the night. We traveled north to south, east to west, across West Seattle, including a stop at Skeleton Theatre (we’ll put up video in the morning — it’s playing again tomorrow night, so you have another chance to go see for yourself). We saw luminaria and lights, costumes from A(ngels) to Z(ombies), but we’re also glad to be back at WSB HQ sharing your Halloween scenes — including this last round of photos before the Witching Hour arrives. First, from the inbox: Tigger turned up to greet trick-or-treaters at Westwood Village tonight:
More major cuteness from the inbox: Baby Nate goes crustacean for his first Halloween:
We had seen this cool decoration outside a house not far from Skeleton Theatre but didn’t get a picture – Todd did:
Todd also was one of 2 people who sent us a photo of “Feed-O” the scary cat – this “Feed-O” photo is by MIST, who says the cat “was spitting out gummy rats”!
Now a final round of jack-o-lanterns. From Danny and Diane, a pumpkin with a statement:
A seasonal pumpkin array, from “mtnester” of Shorewood:
Huindekmi sent this next one and noted, “We don’t carve our pumpkin till Halloween”:
And the proud wife of Dan sends his creation, saying, “he just LOVES Halloween” …
Speaking of attacks – we have heard one more time from “West Seattle Art Attack,” who e-mailed WSB to say: “I placed a final pumpkin tonight in a deserving yard. It was a very pretty purple and pink one that my wife didn’t want to part with. I’ve discreetly checked on a couple of my previous placements and they haven’t moved. I’m not sure if the owners even know they are there.” Quick! Go check your yard (or tell your friends to check theirs)! You don’t want an unnoticed WSAA pumpkin sitting out there till spring … 11:55 PM ADDENDUM: This blogger tells the sorrowful saga of a nearly trick-or-treater-less night for her first West Seattle Halloween. Boo!
Be safe, whatever you are up to. Here’s another West Seattle jack-o-lantern photo, this time from Heidi & Daniel; one more round later tonight — and thanks again to everyone who has sent theirs in!
Just received two notes in the past few minutes (thank you!!!!) about “PUBLIC AUCTION” signs up at the ex-GEE/ex-Huling site. As we reported last week, an auction was indeed part of the plan to enable the Gees to officially clear out by the end of November. 6:30 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Mike for finding this webpage about the auction and sending this photo:
While looking online for the legends of “haunted West Seattle,” the most unusual one we came across was … the Rite-Aid on California between Alaska and Morgan Junctions. Scroll to the 4th entry under “Seattle area” on this page. (It’s right below a much-better-known allegedly haunted WS spot, the Rainbow House.) Any favorite lesser-known haunts to share? Meantime – more jack-o-lanterns; first, “pumpkitties” from Margelyn:
And these two are from Kevin — a witch with cauldron, followed by “a tree that wishes you happiness”:
Still time to send yours; we’ll post more during Halloween night.
Someone e-mailed us a few weeks ago saying they had heard Thai on Alki (1325 Harbor Ave, next to Alki Tavern) was going out. So we’d been keeping an eye on it; drove by last night and, for the first time, noticed the interior looked fairly empty except for people doing some work; went by this morning to try to find out more — the signage is gone (as shown at left), the place looks cleaned out. No permit applications for anything at the site, no note on the door; the phone is answered with an announcement that sounds like business as usual, but it didn’t allow message-leaving. Looking up the corporate registration for the company that holds the business license, we found the name is the same as someone who had a Craigslist ad up a few weeks ago (pointed out to us at the time by a reader) selling restaurant items (the ad’s not cached in Google but one line of text from it that is, includes the Thai on Alki number). Another tidbit noted during research: The parcel has been owned since 2004 by “Salty’s Properties.”
OK, maybe “caught on camera” isn’t entirely the best phrase, since this photo (and others) came from “West Seattle Art Attack” him/herself — and proves they have accomplices — shown here at one of the five houses where they say they left pumpkins last night. (Catch up on what this is all about by reading yesterday’s first post and later update.) Ahead, see if you recognize the four other distinctively decorated homes “hit” last night — plus, beneath the photos, one caveat from WSAA:Read More
(Jack-o-lanterns designed by Ryan & Abby, carved by Lisa & Abby) The big day/night has arrived. Many Halloween happenings are on our WSB Events page; some biggies include:
MORE BUSINESS TRICK-OR-TREATING: The merchants of the Admiral District are offering treats 3-6 pm today; Westwood Village businesses are welcoming trick-or-treaters 5-7 pm.
GROWNUP FUN: Many WS establishments are partying tonight, including Skylark, where the “Come as You Aren’t” Battle of the Bands sounds like a hoot (full lineup here); and northeast West Seattle will be alive with the sights and sounds of Skeleton Theatre, 6-9 pm.
HIGH POINT HAPS: Check out the full list on the Events page – some great stuff going on in West Seattle’s award-winning development, including a canine costume contest at 7:30.
LATER: We’ll be mentioning some legendary West Seattle haunts, including the most unlikely-sounding one we’ve come across so far. Save your faves for comments on that post!
Just two days ago, we told you about the fundraising deadline today for matching funds to make Ercolini Park (48th/Alaska; photo above from last summer) a true park when construction work begins shortly — and we have word from Bill Barna that, thanks to one last big donation — $2,800 from Wanda Pommer — they made it! Bill and everyone at Friends of Ercolini Park send out a huge thanks to everyone who helped them reach the goal and says the big thing now is to make good on commitments of volunteer time (also vital in the “matching funds” process); as Bill explains, “It is also important to remember that all the volunteer hours that were pledged have actually been assigned a dollar value. If the volunteers don’t make good on their contributions some of the park features may suffer. So, PLEASE, everyone who committed time … make good on your pledge.”
Frank Coluccio e-mailed WSB late tonight with a hearty “GO GATORS!” — on behalf of the Holy Rosary 7th grade girls’ soccer team, which has made it to the Catholic Youth Organization championship game, after defeating St. Bernadette of Burien, 3-0. The Gators play Sacred Heart for the title at Bishop Blanchet, noon Saturday.
Before Halloween Eve makes way for Halloween … more pumpkin pix. First, call it the ultimate glass pumpkin — outlined in the windows of the WaMu Center, visible from West Seattle’s north- and east-facing shore – several people sent us photos (thank you SO much!!!!) – this one’s from Allie:
Now a few more jack-o-lanterns from WSB-land, starting with these from Cori and Keith:
Here we have Claire‘s pumpkin:
And from the Heck Family:
Thanks to everybody who’s shared their pumpkin creations with us and the rest of WSB-land … more to come tomorrow (and you can still e-mail us your pix!).
For everyone who just couldn’t wait to find out more about this suddenly much-advertised condo conversion south of Morgan Junction … the website is now up. (As are [illegal] sandwich-board signs all along southbound 99 going at least as far back as the Battery Street Tunnel.) If you’ve got some time to kill, take a look at the site and (a) find the errors and (b) tell us if you recognize the coffee shop on the “contact” page.
NOTE ADDED 12/22/07 FOR ANYONE WHO FINDS THIS WHILE GOOGLING FOR “NORAD TRACKS SANTA” SINCE IT’S FOR SOME REASON THE #1 RESULT – YOU’LL FIND THAT SITE HERE.
… it’s “WSB Tracks the Art Attack(er)”! Well, “tracking” isn’t quite the right word, but we have received another communique from the mysterious artist leaving glass pumpkins in deserving West Seattle yards. “AA” reports having visited Alki already tonight and is at last report headed elsewhere. (Should we be leaving cookies and milk on the doorstep?)
More detailed declarations are out today from various local/regional government agencies saying they are all set to handle whatever winter throws at them (oh, say, something icy like the weather that led to the scene below in Upper Fauntleroy last January). Here’s what the state says; here’s what the county says; and here’s how the city puts it.
There are some specifics of interest, including, from the county press release: “Through an effort spearheaded by the King County Department of Transportation, cities all across the county have teamed up with Metro Transit and the county’s Roads Services Division to more closely link priority snow removal routes with bus routes.” And from WSDOT’s press release: “This year WSDOT has: installed new, more reliable wind sensors on the SR 520 and I-90 bridges; added new supply stockpiles at locations closer to the roads they serve; added more deicer capacity to dozens of trucks; provided hand-held road temperature sensors to dozens of drivers; incorporated transit routes into snow removal plans; sent more staff to snow college to become better trained in snow fighting; cross-trained additional staff to work in the emergency operations center and serve as plow truck operators Incident Response Team members.” The various agencies also are teaming up on the Take Winter by Storm website. No early November storm in sight at this point, knock wood; the forecast for Friday and beyond looks promising.
HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN: Fun stuff happening around West Seattle tonight, including Costume Karaoke at Skylark; check the WSB Events page for more.
JACK-O-LANTERN WATCH: Thanks for sending in the pumpkin photos — keep ’em coming; even after this batch we have more left, but we’ll get them all in before Halloween has come and gone. Our theme this time — jack-o-lanterns with an edge (to say the least). First, we have Luckie‘s cutely cannibalistic creation:
The other two “edgy” jack-o-lanterns are even more PG-13 so our dainty sensibilities are leading us to put them a click off the home page — YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!Read More
-After driving under the Fauntleroy overpass “Help 7-year-old Dylan fight leukemia!” banner again, we caught the phone number (and realized we originally posted the wrong name – surname on the banner is actually Redlinger). So we called that number last night to try to find out more; it was answered by a very generic voicemail/machine message. We left our contact info; no response yet.
-More on the lightning-speed condo conversion at the newly renamed West Water, south of Morgan Junction. Sarah e-mailed to say she saw a TV commercial for it, adding: “Thought it was interesting that they didn’t show any pictures of the condos themselves, but there sure were plenty of Alki and downtown!”
-One week till Election Day. You may well have voted already (if you vote in person, like us old traditionalists, this may be your last chance, we’ll see you at the polls). There’s been so much great election coverage all over other media sources lately that we haven’t had anything unique to add, but here’s one note we’ve been meaning to mention — if you are still trying to sort out where you stand on Proposition 1 (“Roads & Transit”), Chas Redmond pointed out the recent Sustainable West Seattle forum on Prop 1 is captured in a podcast (mp3 download) on the SWS site. One other election note – saveseattleschools.blogspot.com has an interesting West Seattle-specific observation on the School Board District 6 race. (Though the entire city votes on every School Board seat that’s on the ballot, whoever wins District 6 — Steve Sundquist or Maria Ramirez — will be “our” representative, replacing Irene Stewart, who decided not to run again.)
If you’re at home – go peek at your yard – you might have a present from a mysterious, anonymous local glass artist who tells WSB he/she has been leaving surprises in yards around West Seattle “that look like their owners would appreciate a new bit of unexpected art.” The artist sent photographic proof (the one at right was taken under cover of night):
The artist says you’ll know it’s one of theirs if it’s signed “West Seattle Art Attack.” Let us know if you find one! (P.S. More jack-o-lantern photos coming; still time to get yours in.)
First one is a simple reminder: The Elliott Bay Water Taxi between West Seattle and downtown is in the final days of its extended 2007 season; after the afternoon/evening commute runs on Friday, it’s docked for the year. Second one, not quite so simple, but even more important:Read More
… it’s also the fundraising deadline for Friends of Ercolini Park, to help them qualify for city matching funds in their work to create a park for the growing residential neighborhoods west of The Junction. (The land has been set aside — but now it’s time to start putting in the features that will transform it into a park.) The group says work should be starting within a few weeks, and they expect to have “a park to play in by spring!” Read more about the project on the city’s page about it, and to help Friends of Ercolini Park get across the $ finish line, use the “donate” link on the group’s website. (Also coming up, this blog post from an Ercolini relative reminds us, is the deadline for the city to accept name suggestions, though as that writer notes, it’s hard to imagine it could end up being named anything else.)
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