West Seattle
The 7 acre, $6.1 million addition to the Southwest Athletic Complex at 8420 30th Ave. s.w. is now complete and in a walk through on Jan. 6 the former location of Denny International Junior High School, representatives for the builders, architects, and Seattle Public Schools explained the work that was done to remake the site.
The site now includes a new softball diamond, with tall fences, six tennis courts, a large field/play area (not yet open), playground equipment at the corner of 30th Ave. s.w. and Cloverdale Street, plus walkways, fences, cement seat walls, bike racks and a lot of water management features.
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On the walkthrough were Dana Amore of Bassetti Architects who handled the project design, Tim Waters and River Steenson of BN Builders, General Contractor for the project, and Mike Skutack, Capital Projects Supervisor for Seattle Public Schools.
Photo credit:
Patrick Robinson
Ben Shimizu got his dog Annie, who is a pit bull and German Shepherd mix, 4 years ago "at a dog convention downtown. They had booths where dogs were competing in both agility and confirmation and behavioral training. She was for sale by this organization called Bullseye Pitbull Rescue. They had a number of dogs there and she was the product of a litter, she was six months old at the show. I already had two dogs and two cats at the time so I wasn't looking for another dog. She had this little bib on that said, 'Please adopt me' and the rest is history."
In the house now are a one year old cat named Shabu along with Annie. "They wrestle all the time. They love each other."
"I never saw the father but the papers say he was a German Shepherd. I met all of her siblings and she was the only one that was unlike them. They all looked like what you'd assume is a pit bull but she had much softer features. A lot of that tendency comes out when she's out in the woods in the mountains."
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Photo credit:
Kimberly Robinson
The West Seattle Junction Hometown Holiday schedule officially got underway with the tree lighting on Dec. 3 but when Santa comes to town, everyone knows that's when you really get things started.
The headquarters in front of Key Bank had some face painting going on for some of the Pathfinder school and they were busy providing information on shopping, the Holiday Raffle (participating merchants are giving away $3500 in merchandise) and neighborhood events.
Professional photographer Donna Ryan was shooting photos of Santa with families who were lined up on the sidewalk to get their Christmas wishes heard. Both she and Santa will be back next Sunday, Dec. 11 from 11 am to 3pm.
Next week the Mule Drawn Carriage rides begin in junction too.
Learn more about Hometown Holidays by visiting www.wsjunction.org
Stay on top of the holiday happenings in West Seattle by checking the West Seattle Herald Holiday Events Calendar.
Photo credit:
Patrick Robinson
What does it take and what does a light display look like in the daylight? The Herald got an exclusive sneak peek at this year's show
By David Rosen and Patrick Robinson
The most spectacular Christmas lights in West Seattle, at least as far as animation, music and sheer amazement goes are back bigger, brighter and even more astounding than ever before. The West Seattle Herald brought you the story last year. Called the Helmstetler Family Christmas Spectacular it is a highly choreographed, musical and interactive display at at 3908 s.w. Charlestown Street.
The Herald got a sneak peek at this year's show with some remarkable lighting choreography to a jazzy version of We Three Kings by Go Fish (Watch the video to see and hear this one song preview). The big show gets underway at 7pm on Saturday Nov. 26 when a special member of the Seattle Sounders, Zach Scott will literally kick things into action.
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Photo credit:
David Rosen
Mountain to Sound Outfitters is on track with it's expansion plans into the space next door to its location at 3602 s.w. Alaska Street. The 1800 square foot space directly to the east of them was occupied by Westside Auto Repair but Gary Putman closed the business in early June due to illness.
Now partners Greg Whittaker and Rob Stowell are adding on in several ways as the business grows to meet an increased demand for a local supplier of skis, boots, kayaks, skates, stand up paddle boards and all the accessories those sports require.
They've added an office space in a loft that will accommodate accounting, web development.
They will offer custom ski boot fitting in the new space, plus a large display from Thule (who is coming in to help set it up), plus some new lines including Hestra gloves, Scott gloves, goggles, poles and of course skis, Forefront skis from Colorado, Mervin with NAS skis and Gnu snowboards, plus more hats, goggles and gloves.
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Photo credit:
Patrick Robinson
The West Seattle Rotary kids parade was a colorful and musical event July 23 with the inclusion of the Junior All City Marching Band, led by Sealth High School's Marcus Pimpleton.
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The entrants in the parade trickled in slowly before the 11:00 am starting time but then quickly swelled in number as the start time approached.
The children of fallen sailor Jarod Newlove, Jordan and Addison Newlove honored their dad with an appearance and the usual array of bikes, wagons, and dozens of kids in costumes walked the route from Oregon Street (where they gathered first) to Edmunds Street, all as a prelude to the American Legion Grand Parade that followed.
Click HERE for a story and slideshow about that.
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Photo credit:
Patrick Robinson
