January 2011

Machel Spence, a West Seattle photographer that the West Seattle Herald first told you about last March will be showing her world class photography of mushrooms and other fungi, all shot here locally at Coffee to a Tea with Sugar in the junction from Jan. 2 until the end of the month.

"There will be an opening on January 13th," for the first West Seattle Artwalk of the year, "from 6-9 and I will be there to talk to people."

Spence whose main goal has always been to capture the delicate beauty of this fleeting life form is now seeing new horizons open thanks to the quality of her work.

She said, "I have been contacted by an editor for the book division of National Geographic about doing a possible book so that's pretty exciting."

You can see more of her work online at www.spencephotography.com

Happy Hour, started at 3:00 pm Jan. 3 was a little bit happier for the team at Avalon, the new restaurant at 2940 s.w. Avalon Way. It was opening day for the new venture and Deborah Breuler, Thomas Breuler and Mary Palmer plus a group of close associates offered some special enticements to bring people in for their first taste of what they hope will be a regular stop for West Seattle people.

Before the opening Breuler said, "I'm just about to leap out of my skin, "I'm so excited."

Bar Manager Mary Palmer said, "Happy Hour is small bites, and some special drinks such as the Avalon Vanilla Martini with Vanilla Vodka, di Saronno and apple liquore, a Rosemary Martini with Rosemary Gin, simple syrup, lemon juice and gin."

Breuler said of the food they are serving,"We will have Chorizo Meatball Sliders, Italian fried risotto balls called Arancinis, some mussels, duck flat bread on the Happy Hour menu, toasted hazelnuts with some truffle oil and truffle salt, mixed olives with orange zest and Rosemary."

After 62 years Totem House has to close its doors. The touristy eatery across the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks on 3058 N.W. 54th St. had been serving seafood and chowder since 1948 but in can no longer sustain itself in this economy.

A sign in the front door announces the closures and reads, "Goodbye Friends. The economy has overtaken us. We will miss you greatly."

Setting sail into a second decade, we present the annual Top 10 Stories of the Year in Highline column.
In 2010, Highline communities generated enough news, controversy and intrigue to fill up a couple of newspapers seven days a week. In fact, through annexation, Burien surpassed the population of Olympia, which sports a daily newspaper.

As usual, the rankings are somewhat arbitrary. Feel free to cut and paste in order to create your own personal top ten.

1. To avoid foreclosure, Burien Town Square developer Urban Partners hands over ownership to a division of its loan lender.
Urban Partners will manage the project. It'll take longer than hoped to get it all straightened out, but there are businesses and people waiting to move in when the price is right. Kudos to pioneer resident Renna Pierce who cheerfully reports it is "a wonderful place to live."

Click on photo to start the slideshow.

There were several new year’s plunges around Ballard on New Year’s Day.
The first, sponsored by the Lock and Keel, took place at Golden Gardens at 10:00 a.m. with a couple dozen brave participants.

It was an extraordinarily brief event, lasting 40 seconds at most amid shouts of WOO! and Oh My God!
Some followed the "requirement" of a full head-immersing plunge, while others opted for half a dip.

Kristin Faith Michelle and Michael Donovan had not only made the commitment to get cold and wet on New Years Day, they also ended their plunge the right way - with a big kiss.

The VanHollebeke family took the last plunge at Golden Gardens with over a dozen family members and relatives. The VanHollebeke family said they actually started this tradition decades ago.

"I started this 27 years ago with my brother in law Mike Maxwell when I was in college at the U, so I've done it every year,” said realtor Leo VanHollebeke.

The clan leapt into the water and surprisingly several of them went back for a double or triple dip.

While many this time of year recall personal ups and downs in 2010, and hold renewed hopes for 2011, West Seattle's Hermine Berner, 91, believes her life is a miracle and, in recent history, each of her years has passed with much optimism.

"People ask me, 'What's your secret?' " said Berner, referring to her sharp and active mind and body. "Why do they ask? You think I look young? You think that's a secret?" she said with a sample of her sarcastic wit.

Berner, who lives near Alki, does have secret of another sort, one she speaks about when gently persuaded. She is a Holocaust survivor who was shipped to Auschwitz, the notorious concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, while visiting Budapest, Hungary with her father. Their home was in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

SLIDE SHOW:

Over 100 participants lined up east of the Alki Bathhouse and rushed in and out of the Sound from Alki Beach at 10:00 a.m. this morning at the 11th Annual West Seattle/White Center Polar Bear New Year's Day swim. There were many "repeat customers" while some newbies gave it a try.

"This was the biggest year ever," enthused event organizer Mark Ufkes as his eyes scanned the long line of swimmers.

Afterward, Dukes Chowder House offered free chowder on the beach, and Christo's on Alki, right across the street, gave 20- percent discounts to shivering customers sporting bathing suits.

Louis Frank, wearing a sparkling cardboard Happy New Years hat said he came out for the fun and excitement.

"This was on my bucket list and I had to do it," he said. "I don't know if I'll ever do it again."

We could tell you that this was what we were trying for but we know our readers are smarter than that. The truth is that Alki was so crowded we went up on the hill to a typical West Seattle street, wires and streetlights included to watch the spectacular Space Needle fireworks display.

Even with a partially obscured view, and no beautiful reflections in the water, it was great.

Happy New Year West Seattle. Thanks everyone for all your support and readership throughout 2010.

Thank you to Siddharth Shah and family for sending their spectacular photos of the Space Needle show which you can see by clicking the image above.

Credit for those photos goes to Tarang, Tanvi, Amit and Sid Shah.

Just added more photos from David Rosen of SlickPix Photography whose photos are truly world class, just amazing captures.