West Seattle, Washington
29 Tuesday
According to media reports, two relatives got into it along Alki Ave Friday night (in the Bamboo vicinity), and one stabbed the other. One left the beach in a squad car, the other in an aid car.
Just made our semi-monthly pilgrimage to Burien. As of a few days ago, TJ’s is taking American Express. (Well, we were excited, anyway.)
Beyond the trick-or-treat events (see post below), here’s some of what else is happening this Hallo-weekend around West Seattle … Our favorite is WASL Haunted High at Youngstown Arts Center tonight … Tomorrow night at Youngstown, it’s “Grease Frightening” (scary tweaked photo on the info page) … Also unusual, the themes for the arts conference at Mars Hill/West Seattle today & Saturday … Admiral Theater moves up the monthly “Rocky Horror Picture Show” (get in the mood with this video) screening to Saturday night (scroll down this page) … “Haunted Hoedown” tonight at Skylark Cafe … As mentioned earlier this week, Seattle Wireless Field Day is Saturday at 3 locations including Alki … The WS Chamber puts on Monster Bingo tonight at the golf course … Free Halloween Family Swim, 7 tonight at the Southwest Community Center pool … Halloween Carnival at Alki Community Center, 6:30-8:30 tonight … “Halloween in the Forest,” two sessions tonight at Camp Long … “Freaky Fall Festival,” 6-8 tonight at High Point Community Center, and in a slight variation, it’s the “Freaky Fall Carnival” 6:30-8:30 tonight at Hiawatha CC … “tick, tick … BOOM!” ticks on this weekend at ArtsWest … Leave a comment or e-mail us with anything we’re missing (and don’t worry, we’ll get to the Monday & Tuesday Halloween festivities in a day or so)!
Not enough time at the moment to post ALL the stuff that’s happening this pre-Halloween weekend — we’ll get to that first thing in the morning. But we’ve gotten some notes asking about, and telling us about, the business district trick-or-treat events, so here’s the full scoop lowdown on those: Junction trick-or-treating is Saturday afternoon, 1-3 pm (the nice folks down there say “don’t let the road work keep you away,” and honestly, there’s not much of it left anyway); Admiral trick-or-treating is 3-6 pm on Halloween (Tuesday, if you’ve lost track); Alki trick-or-treating is also on Halloween, 1-6 pm (the WS Chamber site has all three of those on one convenient page); and what a coincidence (oddly NOT listed by the WS C&C, or are they and WV on the outs?), Westwood Village has trick-or-treating 5-7 pm on Halloween night.
Lydia from the Easy Street Cafe gets a lot of ink in today’s warm-n-fuzzy Seattle Times portrait of a visit to The Junction. Even if WS Blogger Spouse and I only get around to chow at Easy Street every few months, she always greets us as if she saw us every day. That takes talent (and heart).
A few posts down, a comment asks what’s up with a couple sites between Admiral Junction and The (Alaska) Junction, including the burned-out Schuck’s @ Charleston & Cali. Just so happens, the Design Review Board meeting for that site is tomorrow night at the Madison Middle School library. Anyone who’s able to go (we can’t), we’d love a firsthand report!
The relatively new shop Divina north of the Junction has a website now (discovered via the Herald). This led us to wonder whatever happened to the plan for a “Divina Cantina” just east of the shop’s location. Owner Julie tells us she’s trying to work out some code issues with the city — if all goes well, the Divina Cantina would be a tapas bar — if not, she’s got “a backup plan to make the space a gallery of sorts.”
Not sure if all this is enough to qualify WS as Geek Capital of the World. (Though we aspiring geeks at WS Blog World HQ think it’s a great place to be.) But two upcoming WS events are noteworthy for those with technotendencies: This Saturday, Alki is one of three spots for Seattle Wireless Field Day; in a few weeks, Youngstown Arts Center will host Seattle Mind Camp 3.0.
Thanks to a WSB reader for writing to inquire why the number for O2, the Cali Ave restaurant launched by Ovio, was disconnected. Reminded us that we had seen a liquor-license ap several weeks ago for the same address under the name “Beato Food and Wine”; went by O2 back then, saw no signs of change, forgot about it till now. But today, there it is in the window — a sign saying O2 is closed but Beato will open soon. (The sign also touts a website that as is usually the case with these things, isn’t up yet. Argh.)
At least once a week, someone writes to ask if we’ve heard anything new about the longstanding rumor that Trader Joe’s will sweep triumphantly into West Seattle, at last relieving so many of us of the need to frequent Burien. Got another such note today and we’re thinking it’s time to publicly say, we unfortunately have not heard a word of anything new. The rumors for a while circulated around the future development near Metropolitan Market … which doesn’t even seem remotely close to groundbreaking anyway. But we know the WSB visitorship includes a few insiders from the business and development communities; if anyone cares to share any inside scoop, we promise your anonymity’s safe with us …
We didn’t think he was long for this world after the School Board smackdown of his Phase II Closure Recommendation last Wednesday, just hours after it came out. And now comes the news – superintendent Raj Manhas is leaving.
If you want a chance to decide on all the hot topics and hot races on the fall ballot — have a say on strip-club rules (Seattle Ref 1), special deals for sports stadiums (Seattle I-91), Hizzoner’s road tax (Seattle Prop 1), The Exec’s bus tax (King Co. Prop 2), etc. — today’s your last chance to register to vote, if you’re not registered already. But you gotta do it in person.
Now that the weekend’s over … you don’t have to wait till next weekend to have fun. Just discovered an exceptionally worthy-sounding wine tasting & auction happening here in West Seattle, this Thursday, to raise $ for WS Helpline. You can even buy discount tickets online.
The annual salmon drumming at Fauntleroy Creek, 5 pm today, isn’t just another event. If you are relatively new to WS, you probably haven’t heard how this creek made a comeback. It’s easy to drive by or use the Fauntleroy ferry dock without ever knowing about the charming little creek overlook area (and its spectacular spring hedge of Darwin’s barberry) right across the street. It’s been six years now since the restoration, which brought inspiring success, but over subsequent years, heartache too. It’s a little beacon of hope that we haven’t lost (or destroyed) everything that’s pure and true and original about our beautiful home, so the salmon need every ounce of energetic encouragement you can give them by joining the welcome-home party tonight.
In fact, there’s an olive branch of sorts extended right now across the north side of the Fauntleroy walkover — a huge banner reading THANK U, SCHOOL BOARD. Couldn’t tell in the dark if it was courtesy of Cooper, Pathfinder, or both. But it deserves a little notice while the Wednesday night rumble is still getting play.
… to West Seattle HS for the Huling Bowl victory against Chief Sealth last night. While we walked around Westwood Village in the same time frame (see below), we couldn’t miss the raucous cheers (and band drums) echoing from the field to the north.
Christmas stuff keeps coming out earlier and earlier every year. This year seems more out-o-control than ever. Three examples are in full force at Westwood Village as we write: The Rite-Aid Halloween stuff is already on sale, with Christmas creeping into the aisles; in the “seasonal” section @ Target, it’s already gotten to the point where cute-n-cuddly Animated Lighted Sea Lions (for your yard) are rubbing elbows, er, flippers with the Animated Teeth-Chattering Skeletons; and Pier 1’s window signs proclaim this to be Ornament Preview time. WAIT UNTIL HALLOWEEN’S BODY IS COLD, FOR GOD’S SAKE! ISN’T NOVEMBER FIRST EARLY ENOUGH?
Meantime, if you are doing early holiday shopping anyway, here’s a sincere recommendation: The 2007 West Seattle Calendar. Here’s where you can buy it. (Honestly, who needs “16 Months of Precious Pugs” when you can represent for WS Pride!)
Got a closer look Friday at two of the higher-profile projects around WS: In The Junction, raised-crosswalk work has begun with an extensive dig-up on the east side of the southern block (near Petco). One observer noted he thinks the city should be putting up ground-lit crosswalks (as in White Center) instead of these speed-bump crosswalks. Too late now … Over at the ex-Rainier Roaster, workers were doing something with the second-story siding as the drive-thru Starbucks transformation rolls on. Wondered if they’re going to turn the 2-story building into a 1-story facility for SBUX, but the permit aps say “non-structural improvements.”
West Seattle might make the news again tonight, thanks to yet another car crash. We saw at least two tv camerapeople getting video of a car that smacked into a brick column in front of the Admiral Heights complex on California just north of Admiral earlier this afternoon.
And now, from our weekly sampling of What’s Up Around WS This Weekend (starting today — doesn’t everyone want a three-day weekend?) … as always, we don’t claim that this is all-inclusive … but fun nonetheless: Youngstown Arts Center is a jumpin’ place again this weekend, with events including “Ghost Game†dinner theater tonight and “The Night Parade†(featuring trapeze performances) on Saturday night … Fauntleroy Creek is a hive of excitement this weekend, with a Megawatt “field trip†on Saturday (you need to sign up, if they have room left) and drumming at 5 pm Sunday to call the salmon home … Then there’s lots of live music, including The Bend and The Quiet Ones @ Easy Street tonight, a full weekend of bands at Skylark Cafe … if you like bingo, the West Seattle Senior Center schedule says it’s Halloween Rainbow Bingo tonight … fun for the family with a marionette puppet show at Alki Community Center on Saturday afternoon … and “Tick, Tick … BOOM!†continues this weekend at ArtsWest; LATE ADD: how could we forget the Huling Bowl, WSHS vs. Chief Sealth, 7 pm tonight at the stadium next to SW Community Center! … As we say every Friday, please leave a comment or e-mail us to let us know anything cool that we’re missing!
… the city road-work crews, that is. (Perhaps even including the lady with the My Little Pony backpack.) The latest official update says work in The Junction could take up to three more weeks, now that crews have moved on to the “raised crosswalks” (aka mega-speed bumps).
Didn’t stay up to watch the rest of the turbulent School Board meeting (see below) – woke up early to find out it ended with an unexpected vote that iced the Pathfinder/Cooper merger and everything else left in the superintendent’s “Phase 2” plan. According to this morning’s P-I story, West Seattle school board rep Irene Stewart explained, in proposing the sudden vote, “I don’t think anybody needs to go through this for two more weeks.” (As the Times also notes, the board originally wasn’t supposed to vote on the plan till Nov. 1.) So our prediction turned out to come true after all, albeit in an unexpected way.
Just happened to catch the school board meeting live on tv. Stopped to listen for Pathfinder testimony … after a couple of fairly mellow people from Pathfinder (and a West Seattle guy who sends his kids cross-town to another alternative school that’s threatened with “consolidation”), the public speakers turned to a more broad focus, including some quite incisive rabble-rousing, and a confrontation ensued. Something about a guy threatening one of the speakers. Hard to tell in those wide-angle public-access tv shots, but looked like someone might have gotten arrested or at least thrown out of the meeting. Wow. Will have to look for the online replay later.
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