January 15, 2018 - Luna Girls

Lezlie Jane's "Luna Girls", a sculpture of flame cut slab steel standing over nine feet tall, graces the Alki Trail on the west side of Elliott Bay.  The early 20th century inspired beach attire pays homage to the Luna Park recreational park that opened in 1902.  The attraction included heated pools, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster and restaurants.  Much of the attraction closed by 1913, but the collections of pools, the Natatorium, remained opened until 1931.

The sculpture was originally hoped to be installed at Alki Beach but was installed at this part of Alki in February 2014.

From this part of the West Seattle waterfront you can view the comings and going of ferries, waterfowl and seals. 

January 14, 2018 - Brackett's Landing

The M/V Spokane makes its way east after departing Kingston, headed towards the Edmonds ferry dock next to Brackett's Landing late on a winter's afternoon.  Temperatures in the upper 50s and gorgeous sunshine brought out a lot of people on this holiday weekend.  The clouds, mountains, lighting and view didn't disappoint.

January 13, 2018 - Tree of Life

Just beyond the north end of Pike Place Market is Victor Steinbrueck Park, a small parcel of land where the Seattle Armory once stood.  Since 2012 there has stood a "sculptural celebration of the lives of the homeless in King County."  The sculpture grew out ongoing vigils that local groups were held whenever a homeless person in Seattle died.  It represents two leaves with many leave cut outs that are lost forever.  It is mounted on a glass base whose roots are lit up at night.  Clark Wiegman, Karen Keist and Kim Lokan are the artists.  There are over 10,000 homeless persons in King County.

January 13, 2018 - Bridge From Under At

The Duwamish Waterway and the Duwamish River Bridge is peaceful early on a Saturday morning as viewed thru the rails of part of the Alki Trail on the Spokane Street Bridge below the 150 foot high West Seattle Bridge at the south end of Harbor Island.  On the weekdays the traffic on and over this gritty section of waterway is thick.  Early on a Saturday morning it was quiet and calm.

The West Seattle Bridge is a cantilevered segmented bridge that was dedicated July 14, 1984 at the cost of $150 million.  In 2009 it was renamed the Jeannette Williams Memorial Bridge after the city council person who actively worked to get the important transportation structure built.

The previous West Seattle Bridge was opened to traffic in 1924 and by the 1970s was one of the worst bottlenecks in the city due to the frequency the bridge opened to allow shipping to pass.  In the early hours of June 11, 1978, the 550 foot freighter Antonio Chavez struck the 54 year old structure leaving it in the open position, unrepairable and unusable for automobile traffic for 6 years.

The city had planned on replacing the bridge with a span that wasn't impaired by shipping traffic as early as the 1960s, but a scandal that involved the bribery of state and city officials ended the project in the mid-1970s.  Three bids to replace the bridge at the cost of $1.5 million came in, but the project was awarded to another firm with a bid three times higher and ties to the Speaker of the House in the state legislature.  The conspirators went to prison.

Before the opening of the new bridge the property values in West Seattle were rather low.  The opening of the bridge significantly increased property values and, as with many Seattle neighborhoods, the amount of development.

The Duwamish River Bridge is a Strauss heel trunion (single leaf bascule) railroad bridge that was opened in 1928 and is still in use today.

The Spokane Street Bridge was completed in 1991 with just a 45 foot high navigational clearance.  Its design is unique in the world.  A pair of 7500 ton, 480 foot long sections, each floating on an 8 foot steel barrel in hydraulic oil, pivots 45 degrees to open the shipping channel. 

The industrialized terminus of the Duwamish River, where it meets Seattle's Elliott Bay, is commonly referred to as the Duwamish Waterway.  The Duwamish River is actually named for the lower 12 miles of the Green River at the confluence of the Green River and the Black River.  When the Lake Washington Ship Canal was opened in 1916 Lake Washington dropped 9 feet and the Black River dried up.

The Duwamish Waterway, the Duwamish River Bridge and Mount Rainier as viewed from the West Seattle Bridge several hours after the first photos were taken.