West Seattle, Washington
19 Thursday
From the south end of WS – folks who say they “live on 42nd Ave SW, just up the hill (north) from the Fauntleroy YMCA” just had “an adorable little Pomeranian … wander onto our street this afternoon … Looks just like the doggie in this photo.” No tags or collar, further described as looking “very tired.” If you have any clue who it belongs to, please e-mail us and we’ll put you in touch with the people who found it.
Days after the city carried out its plan to take out the Avalon crosswalk by Java Bean and Luna Park Cafe, it’s also finally answered a couple of tough questions posed by a concerned citizen.
First time this citizen wrote to the address the city offers for comments/questions, WalkAndBike@seattle.gov, he got what sounded like a standardized reply. So he tried again. That exchange, after the jump: Read More
The West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival float has been making the rounds — including this past Saturday’s WS parade — and now its appearance in The Biggest Parade Of All is just days away. But as Hi-Yu President Tim Winston puts it:
“The 40 year-old Oldsmobile V-8 under that beautiful wrapping is overheating & our usual mechanical help is unavailable. Torchlight is a long parade and the street surface air temp is often close to 100 at the end of a hot day.”
Hi-Yu is a volunteer, nonprofit effort on a tight budget and they’re hoping someone out there can point them to “flexible and free” mechanical help for the float, ASAP. If you can come to the rescue, please e-mail Tim at info@hiyu.com — TIA from parade fans everywhere (who would hate to see West Seattle’s pride ‘n’ joy depart 4th Avenue on a tow truck!).
If only more political events were set up this way: Two weeks from tonight, as the Aug. 21 primary election approaches, at least 10 Seattle School Board candidates (including 2 incumbents) will be at Pathfinder K-8 for an ice-cream social and moderated forum the evening of Aug. 6 — no, not in the cafeteria, but on the school’s front lawn, atop lovely Genesee Hill. Picnic dinners encouraged. Free ice-cream bars served. So far, forum organizer Eric Baer of the Pathfinder PTSA (co-sponsoring with counterpart PTSAs from 3 other WS elementaries: Alki, Arbor Heights, Sanislo) tells us the confirmed attendees include 4 of the 5 candidates in the WS-centered District 6 race, as well as candidates from the 3 other districts to be decided this year. Don’t just wade frantically through your voters’ pamphlet at the last minute; hear and see candidates in person. Aug. 6; see you there.
… KEEP YOUR PETS INDOORS! If you don’t, as this article just posted by the P-I reminds us, they are liable to wind up as Coyote Chow. Though as we’ve noted before (last August and last September), coyotes are nowhere near the most lethal threat faced by pets whose owners let them roam free. So just say no to anti-coyote hysteria; find out more about these amazing creatures (including video) at this great site forwarded by Charles Redmond, who reports he saw one strolling 39th SW, heading south from Elmgrove, a couple weeks ago. (WS coyote pix, anyone? Send ’em!)
Looking around at WS pump prices for our now-weekly update, we reflected a bit on what was happening when we started WSGPW with this post three months ago — prices were skyrocketing. 
The highest posted price for unleaded in WS peaked in mid-May, when two stations sold it for $3.49. Tonight, one of those stations, 35th/Holden Chevron, is fifty cents lower (left photo); the lowest posted price in WS tonight is at Delridge Arco, $2.83 (right photo), down 54 cents from its May 11 peak. If you’re interested in the whys and wherefores, this article tries to explain what’s been going on in the gasoline industry.
“Sharrows.” The city’s definition: “… bicycle symbols that are placed in the roadway lane indicating that motorists should expect to see and share the lane with bicyclists.” City crews have roughed in some “sharrows” along a stretch of Beach Drive (this one is across from the north end of Me-Kwa-Mooks), as they start to implement the city’s Bicycle Master Plan:
A city handout made available at Thursday’s Alki Community Council meeting had full details on where this work will be happening and how it will affect traffic — click ahead for those details:Read More
Hi-Yu festivities aren’t over yet. The community brunch just wrapped up; the coronation of the next Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu is tomorrow night. But this is the last of our parade reports — a few loose ends, including the list of award winners, a few more pix, and links to other parade-photo galleries out there in WSB-land, after the jump:Read More
If you would rather peruse some stats than simply rage at the sogginess, our friends at Capitol Hill Seattle are looking back at the past decade. (We have no memory of the soaked summer of ’97. Maybe that’s a good thing.)
While we sit back in our fold-up chairs and enjoy the parade, we can’t forget how many people it takes to make it happen — not just the hundreds of participants, but the others behind the scenes. Kudos to the Hi-Yu and American Legion folks, among a legion of others. Now, another group of photos — focusing on people. We start with the Hi-Yu royalty and other Hi-Yu folks (red shirts), who held court on the SW corner of Cali/Alaska (the camera crew you see behind/above them involved Art Institute students who have been shooting video at Hi-Yu events as a project):
Click ahead for more parade people, from the famous to the oughta-be-famous:Read More
Cars, trucks, floats, you name it — if it had wheels, you probably saw it in the West Seattle Grand Parade. Including boats with wheels, like the Seafair Pirates‘ fabled Moby Duck:
More parade wheels — human-powered, gas-powered, even 100% electric-powered (or so it said), after the click:Read More
As always, the West Seattle Hi-Yu American Legion Grand Parade began with two very different police-motorcycle drill teams: Seattle Police and Vancouver (B.C.) Police. Our favorite sight is this one, where the SPD officers stand at Cali/Alaska after their performance so they can watch their VPD counterparts:
To see the officers actually on their motorcycles — click ahead:Read More
We’ve got a few dozen pix to share, so we’re going to do this in installments. This one’s all about the kids — specifically, the Rotary Club Kiddies’ Parade, which meandered down Cali an hour before the “main” parade.
Two of the most creative Kiddies’ Parade entries, after the click:
Even in Seattle, who in the world could imagine that if you wait till late July to schedule an outdoor-movie series, the first one would be rained out? Well, it happened in The Junction tonight; sign on the gate @ Hotwire says “Chicken Run” is rescheduled to Friday, August 10th.
Many more to come later. But for now, four photos, starting with deep-fried disappointment: The Spud Fish & Chips mascot did not show off The Calves (quoth one WSB Team Member, “at this rate, next time the mascot will be in a burqa”):
We did spot a letter carrier in shorts before the parade, but we were not photographing him for his legs, but rather, his scarf in honor of Literary Phenomenon Du Jour:
Here’s the parade-watcher with the best seat in over the house:
Finally (many more pix later), WTG to the Hi-Yu folks who urged the crowd in The Junction to do a “no rain” chant before the parade. Except for a one-minute spray of light mist — it worked. Later tonight, we hear, it could be a different story, so we hope we won’t have occasion to see this parade entry back in WS for something less festive:
Links to our other parade photo posts:
Second installment (The Kids)
Third installment (The Enforcers)
Fourth installment (The Wheels)
Fifth installment (The People)
Sixth/final installment (The Winners)
There IS a car show on Alki today, happening right now. We had received conflicting reports in recent days (and earlier) — it is not sponsored by any official WS-based festival so those folks weren’t involved — finally we knew it would come down to just checking out Alki this morning to see what did or didn’t show up — and indeed, there are dozens of gorgeous classic cars on the promenade. Here’s our drive-by photo. (NOW off to the parade!)
#1 — Our fly-fishing-blog friends at thee a** hooked whitey (one of the 75-plus blogs linked from our Other Blogs In WS page) report the first much-awaited Pink Salmon has been caught in West Seattle waters.
#2 — Here’s something pink you can catch without a hook or a net (just a checkbook). The famously pink Park Apartments just north of Lincoln Park are up for sale. Less than a million bucks!
Besides the fact the no-parking signs have all been lovingly placed along Cali this Hi-Yu Parade Eve, much like the stockings hung by the chimney with care on Christmas Eve …
… our top reason why you should join us as parade spectators tomorrow, rain or shine, anywhere along Cali between Lander (south of Lafayette Elementary) and Edmunds (south edge of The Junction) … surprises! One example: parade organizers have just added a late entry, likely to be a crowd fave; let’s just say it’s a float honoring a Seattle landmark. See for yourself, starting at 11 am Saturday (after the 10 am kids’ parade). We don’t need sun to have a blast.
The ex-Travelodge on Alaska just west of 35th, where the sign had been under a blue bag for months, is now suddenly redubbed SEATTLE WEST INN & SUITES. (We know you won’t believe it without a picture, but it’s such a dark & stormy night, ours didn’t come out.)
Harbor Avenue around the northeastern edge of the WS peninsula will be in for big changes if either or both of two ambitious ideas presented at last night’s Alki Community Council meeting become reality. It was emphasized that the two plans are not officially linked — but they have undeniable “synergy.” They involve land adjacent to, and east of, what many describe as West Seattle’s “secret gem,” Jack Block Park.
First: The Pier 1/2 concept for a new Water Taxi dock. It’s an unofficial proposal but may be gaining steam, since most would agree the Water Taxi can’t stay at Seacrest forever (among other things, the parking crunch is just too ridiculous). Pier 1/2 is Port of Seattle property adjacent to Jack Block Park. Much more on this and the other proposal, after the click …Read More
Two months after a liquor-license application revealed that Legends would be renamed Redline Music & Sports, looks like the change will happen next week.
Yet another tidbit from last night’s Alki Community Council meeting, big changes ahead for the semi-monthly Alki News Beacon: Its webmaster Cami MacNamara will take over as editor, as Christine L’Ecluse moves on to “a new adventure”; plus, toward the end of the year, subscribers will receive the Beacon by mail instead of by carrier. (If you pick it up at local businesses, don’t worry; Cami tells WSB that copies will still be made available at Alki/Admiral-area businesses.)
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