West Seattle, Washington
24 Tuesday
The snow shower here in Upper Fauntleroy is pretty serious … if this goes on much longer, it just might stick. We’ll post any pix we get (or just leave a comment with the report from your part of town … already got e-mail from Westwood noting snow there too). 2:37 PM UPDATE: Looking south down California, you can see the dusting on cars & roofs:
And this photo just in (thank you & Merry Christmas!) from KA at California/Webster on Gatewood Hill:
3:05 PM NOTE: It’s almost stopped here. Just in time for Christmas dinner! 3:45 PM UPDATE: National Weather Service forecast is updated. “Light coating of snow possible.” 4:55 PM ADDENDUM: Thanks to SO near The Junction for this festive, snow-coated photo:
As a few flakes fly outside (forecast says maybe more later!), here’s an encore appearance for three WSB holiday video highlights from the past few weeks – first, the Christmas Ship off Alki on Dec. 8th (Canterbury Belles singing):Read More
Found one restaurant open as of 10:30 am – Be’s. As noted below, Hotwire is open for coffee. There’s a sandwich board outside Matador that says “open for lunch” but we just tried calling and got no answer so it may just be a holdover.
Morgan Junction is the epicenter of the Christmas Day 2007 West Seattle coffee scene, with Caffe Ladro, Tully’s MJ, and Starbucks MJ all open today, but you have options further north too — Hotwire in The Junction, Diva to the east, and Tully’s Alki. Click the dots on the map for addresses and hours; the WSB Holidays page has the list (without the map) as well as supermarket hours and today’s West Seattle church services.
Christmas is always a time for memories, making new ones and reliving not-so-new ones. We received the following story from West Seattle writer Georgie Bright Kunkel, to share with everyone in WSB-land. P.S. Georgie notes the picture preceding the story was taken “a few decades ago”:Read More
Yes, we do mean “light” singular – tonight we spotlight the fact that, as the photo above (taken under the Our Lady of Guadalupe tree) shows, there’s still light in the sky after 5 pm because THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER!!!! The OLG tree, by the way, is one of the 37 West Seattle light displays on our clickable WS-wide map, usually available on the WSB Holidays page but here now for your Christmas Eve convenience (click the “view larger map” link beneath the map to go to a page with a full list of all locations, or click any one of the blue icons in the map for a thumbnail photo):Read More
Definitely not reopening on Wednesday – according to this update, “computer problems” persist, so they’re not sure WHEN it will reopen.
(Closest thing we’re getting to a white Christmas – The Brothers as seen from Alki at midday today.) Before we step away from the keyboard for a while this Christmas Eve, one last reminder that West Seattle Christmas Eve/Day services and Christmas Day coffee-shop hours are listed on the WSB Holidays page, where you will also find the West Seattle Christmas lights map featuring all the homes, apartments, and businesses we have featured nightly for more than a month. We’ll be posting a very special Christmas Eve story here a little later, too, and after that, you can check in with the new WSB Forums, where we have launched a West Seattle Christmas Chat ’07 section (check it out here) for tonight and tomorrow.
Just received this note from WD (thank you!):
Just FYI: West Seattle Nursery just marked all big trees $10 and small ones $5 about an hour ago – although there are only a handful left. Got myself a real nice one!
We called West Seattle Nursery to confirm and they say it’s true – but they also note that as of this moment, they have only nine trees left. They’re open till 4 pm
Thanks to Bill for e-mailing us with news this sign had gone up in the window at the future Spring Hill restaurant (the sign says “restaurant & bar”) next to Seattle Fish Company on the north edge of The Junction; we subsequently snagged this photo while Christmas shopping (very busy in The Junction, watch out for crazy drivers like the 3 who almost ran us down). We have been following the progress of Spring Hill for more than a year now, since first word of its impending arrival came in the form of a liquor-license application; most recently, we noted a building permit last month, five months after the architects’ sign went up in the corner of the window.
Five more state ferries have corrosion inside their hulls, says the P-I — but none of the ferries on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route are in that group. (Right now, per WSF Vessel Watch, the ferries running F-V-S are Issaquah, Klahowya, and Chelan.) If you’ll be sailing tomorrow, by the way, WSF says it’ll be a “regular schedule”; the ferry system’s website also is testing a new format for its online schedules, and looking for feedback.
Out of the WSB inbox, from Annie:
Just thought I’d give a shout-out for a last-minute gift idea that is a win-win for all. I just visited the Admiral Theater and contributed to their adopt-a-seat campaign. It’s the perfect gift for many folks — especially movie lovers, but also the person who has everything. For a $40 donation, my gift recipient will have a name plate on a new seat and will also receive two movie passes and a VIP invitation to a private show once the new seats are installed.
The Admiral’s open for matinees today (2 & 4 pm) and evening shows tomorrow (7 & 9 pm). Got another last-minute gift suggestion that’s unique to West Seattle? Leave a comment here.
Not one of the brightest displays in West Seattle but on this Christmas Eve-Eve, we’re going for whimsy:
That’s a snowman on the roof, and a JackoLantern headed scarecrow-ish character in the yard to the right, northwest corner of 49th/Alaska. Now it’s on the clickable West Seattle Christmas Lights map that you can find on the WSB Holidays page (along with lots of other info including Christmas coffee, Christmas Eve/Day church services, and events through New Year’s); the photo features are all archived here. Bonus link: Pam at Nerd’s Eye View toured West Seattle displays, some of which we have featured here and some of which we have not; her post with a Flickr gallery link is here.
Finally finished surveying almost all the West Seattle coffee shops – so far, we’ve found six that will be open on Christmas; 
the list is on the Holidays page, as is our list of West Seattle Christmas Eve/Christmas Day church services (still a few more phone calls to make but even at this point we have Christmas Eve services for 15 WS churches), as well as our supermarket survey. And in the new WSB Forums, we’re still looking for West Seattle restaurants that will be open Christmas Day; jump in on the topic if you’ve found one.
The forecast only called for 10-20 mph wind (at least as of this writing). But it sounds a lot stronger than that out here in west-facing south West Seattle, and indeed, according to this real-time Beach Drive station, it’s in the 30s right now, with gusts into the 40s.
Beautiful scenes like that remind us what a wonderful place West Seattle is — but it’s not just the scenery, it’s the wonderful people too … which is why, in collaboration with Julie Mireille Anderson from Divina (subject of a P-I profile this weekend), and as many West Seattleites who want to be part of this, we are announcing a way for you to give the gift of recognition:Read More
Just found this in an Indianapolis newspaper, of all places: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Patty Stonesifer and her husband, nationally renowned writer Michael Kinsley, are moving to West Seattle (from Madison Park); in that article, Stonesifer lauds WS as having “some of the best views on the West Coast.” (They may be here already, since the article says the interview with Stonesifer happened last month.) Welcome!
(P.S. Gates Foundation assistance has helped with some good work in West Seattle, including a big grant that assisted with the transformation of the old Cooper Elementary on Delridge into the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.)
Another reminder – the Farmers’ Market is still happening EVERY Sunday in The Junction — 10 am-2 pm, then 11 am-2 pm in January & February. Here’s the bulletin for today:Read More
Jumping it off the top page so the amazing car story stays high up:Read More
From WSB contributing photographer Christopher Boffoli, three photos of tonight’s amazing car mishap on 47th south of Wildwood, between the ferry dock and the Fauntleroy business district:
The woman driving the car was taken to the hospital. ADDED 8:15 PM: Here’s WSB video of a tow crew pulling the car off the cable:.
No definitive word yet on exactly what happened here, except for neighbors’ speculation that the driver had trouble negotiating a nearby curve.
Big “heavy rescue” fire callout right now to 9260 47th SW, which is between the ferry dock and the Fauntleroy business district. Heard some scanner communication from just-arrived crews talking about the stability of a car – we’re en route to check it out. 6:36 PM UPDATE: Sounds like some streets might be closed off in the area (this is near Wildwood/47th) because of possible danger that might involve power lines. 6:41 PM UPDATE: First word from the scene — a car is at a 45-degree angle to a power pole — medic crews are working on at least one person. Pix and video to come. Definitely avoid that area – here’s a map of where it’s happening:
… unless you count seaspray, such as that seen in the pictures above and below, taken by Jason Parker (thanks!) at Constellation Park. Forecast looks cool and showery. But you never know.
First of all – “Cruiser” opened a potentially lively topic a little while ago – top holiday peeves. (His rant about Southcenter reminds us of what we saw passing through Westwood Village before sundown.) Check out the forum topic here. Also, if you haven’t checked into the comments below our original post announcing the forums, we’ve made some tweaks, most notably: Now if you register and sign in to the forums, until and unless you log out, that same log-in/screen name will show for any comments you want to leave in posts on the main WSB pages. (If you want to leave a comment without your forum screen name, just be sure to log out before you try that. But registration is NOT mandatory for reading the forums without posting/replying, or for reading/commenting on the rest of the site.) Besides letting us know how the forums are working, please also let us know if you are interested in adding more subforums – for now, we are starting simple, with Reader Recommendations and Open Discussion, but possibilities are limitless – so if there’s something you’d like to see that doesn’t fit under either of those areas, let us know and we’ll add it. Thanks!
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