Local Day Trip Idea: West Seattle

Alki Beach

I broke out of jail recently. I escaped from the invisible handcuffs that bind me to my laptop, the ones that hold me prisoner in the small, cramped,writing/sewing/piled-with-books room I call my "office" where I work on articles and other wordsmithing jobs day after day. I broke free and headed north from Tacoma to spend an afternoon in West Seattle.

Over a century ago, my great-great-grandfather owned a large piece of land there, stretching west from California Avenue clear down to the beach. Too bad he lost it during the nation's financial panic in the 1890s. But it's still fun to go to West Seattle and imagine how it looked back then.

Surrounded by water on three sides, with views of the city skyline, two mountan ranges, and islands, it makes the perfect day trip. California Avenue runs right up the middle, connecting one fun, funky, and fabulous business district with another. Since I needed to do some research for a magazine article about the Elliot Bay Brewing Company anyway, my bossy, demanding work ethic felt satisfied too. (So when you see the picture of a glass of beer, remember, it was all to do with research.)

I hope you enjoy this little photo tour of one of the Puget Sound area's sweetest spots. A few of these shots were taken before the leaves had all come out on the trees, but I added them anyway.



Alki Beach

Monument to Early Settlers at Alki Beach

An old tree in Lincoln Park

Bakery Nouveau's colorful delights

Pastries at Bakery Nouveau

Lunch choices at Elliot Bay Brewery and Pub. GREAT food.

Research for a magazine article

The perfect pour at Elliot Bay Brew Pub

Lincoln Park

Sidewalk art along California Ave.

The place for cupcakes in "the Junction"

A house on Beach Drive

Tide is out

Admiral Theater

Old apartment building

Looking west toward the Olympics

Award-winning West Seattle Blog Featured on "Neighborhood Life" Online Journal



Alki Point

Here in Tacoma, news gets around pretty quickly, but not as quickly as in West Seattle. After interviewing Tracy Record, the woman who owns and operates the West Seattle Blog along with her husband Patrick Sand, I felt exhausted just thinking about the energy they expend to provide nearly instantaneous news reports on every little thing that affects residents, including the reason behind the sirens they hear, the latest on a burglary down the street, lost pets, traffic problems, and power outages. Need a good referral for a handyman, babysitter, or auto mechanic? You can find it there, along with a lot more.

As I worked on an article for the online neighborhood improvement journal "Neighborhood Life," I kept checking the blog, out of curiosity. Updates on a developing news story appeared every few minutes and included not only the latest details but also traffic routes to avoid and suggested alternatives. Even as I wrote about how the blog impacts life in our neighboring community across Puget Sound, I felt the tangible pulse of its energy and understood why so many people consider it vital to their everyday lives.

In the article, I quoted Record concerning the phenomenon she and her husband created:

 “The growth has been more heartening than surprising,” Record said. “Currently 30,000 homes/businesses check in at least once a week. We are getting more than 900,000 page views a month. WSB is the most-read news source in West Seattle.” Over 9,000 of those homes and businesses visit it at least once a day according to Quantcast, a service that provides publicly comparable statistics, including all those in her statements. WSB also stands out as the only local news source updated around the clock, sometimes as often as every few minutes.

Iconic theater in the Admiral District

You can read the entire story by clicking on this link for Neighborhood Life, the journal of a non-profit that began in Tacoma with the goal of improving neighborhoods across America. Now it enjoys a nationwide following. And while you look over this Spring 2011 issue, don't miss the photo feature on West Seattle. My trusty Canon and I happened to be there on a rare sunny day at the end of March. Enjoy!

near Fauntlerory