December 2021

The White Center community proved once again how resilient they are by lighting their community Christmas tree at the Triangle on Delridge Way SW and Roxbury Street on Sunday night. 

The lighting encountered a few technical difficulties but the crowd of about 50 people picked up the slack by singing Jingle Bells as "Mac" Mcelroy and his wife Chariti with others tried to get the tree glowing after Gary's Towing got the 25 foot Douglas Fir upright and stable. Tom Salle of Meat the Live Butcher found the tree and Doug at Center Tool rental supplied the extension cords, and other gear to secure the tree. 

It rained almost all day, then as if by magic, though it was cold at 39 degrees, the holiday spirit was strong with several hundred West Seattleites and the rain just stopped. The rain was responsible for the limited sharing of Christmas music by bands though some was provided by a choir and Tony Colinares doing his Elvis tribute acapella and getting kids involved in the fun.

The tree lighting was sponsored by Verity Credit Union and Sound Credit Union.

The night market vendors were busy as every booth had lots of people shopping.

When Jack Menashe of Menashe Jewelers took the stage he thanked all those in attendance for their patience through the pandemic and introduced his grand daughters who had urged him to "bring back the lights" at his well known home on Beach Drive. He did.

Then Santa took the stage and gave credit to his elves for stopping the rain, and announced he would read The Night Before Christmas after the tree lighting.

Shawn Millard knows pizza. That's a claim made by many but what he means by it is very different. 

Specifically he knows a kind of pizza normally only found in a place where you can hear the cheers of baseball fans dreaming of another win by the White Sox. That would be Chicago and the pizza found there is deep dish.

He has been providing the unique character of that style through his "West of Chicago Pizza Company" since 2019 out of a commissary kitchen on Delridge Way. Making a go of it that way is hard enough, but then the pandemic hit and people turned to both comfort food and food to go. He was ready.

Now he's ready for the next chapter. Aiming at a March 1 opening West of Chicago Pizza will open in the former Chaco Canyon location at 3770 SW Alaska Street. 

The space seats 75 people but he knows his to-go business will remain a large component 

District 1 City Councilmember Lisa Herbold shared some additional information regarding the start of work on the final stage of work on the West Seattle Bridge that was announced last Monday.

Below is a graphic showing the locations and type of repair work that will be done. It’s listed as “Phase 2 Rehabilitation.” The work already done to stabilize the bridge is list as “Phase 1.”

The “Phase 2” repair work will include carbon fiber wrapping and post-tensioning on the center span, but also on the other two sections of the bridge, between Piers 15 and 16, and Piers 17 and 18. “Phase 1” Stabilization work done last year was limited to the center span.  The exception was a bearing on Pier 18 that required releasing and replacing.

Summer collegiate baseball team the Highline Bears announced in July they would be changing their name this year and that time has arrived. At a press conference in Seattle the team is now the Dub Sea Fish Sticks.

They hired the renowned branding company Brandiose, from San Diego California. After flying them in and running a series of focus groups they held a "Name the Team" contest and received more than 200 possible team names.