March 22, 2021 - Trailer Boneyard

 

Intermodal container trailers stacked four high fill a lot in an industrial area of Seattle. 

April 7, 2020 - Pink Moon

This year's brightest New Moon - the Pink Moon - as viewed from West Seattle's Totem Pole Park at the Rotary Viewpoint.  With about 200 cloudy days each year, we're not often lucky enough to view the different new moons.  The Pink Moon is named after Phlox, the early blooming flowers, native to, and found throughout North America.   Other traditional new moons - Worm Moon (March), Buck Moon (July) and Sturgeon Moon (August) - don't have quite the aesthetically pleasing moniker as April's.

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.

July 18, 2018 - Thunderbird at Sunset

The Rotary Viewpoint in West Seattle was adopted and developed by the local civic club from a neglected piece of city land.  On August 10, 1976 the small park was presented to Seattle mayor Wes Uhlman.  The primary feature of the small park, aside from the view, was an 18 foot totem pole, topped by a spread-winged thunderbird, carved by Robin Young, a Native American from South Dakota.

In November 2009 the totem pole was stolen, in broad daylight, by a local resident who had plans of installing it in the stairwell of his two story garage/workshop.  Unfortunately, the crane truck used to remove the 500 pound totem pole got stuck in the wet ground and required a tow.  Once the totem pole was reported missing it didn't take long for police to track down the thief.  The 70 year old man was arrested, the totem pole was returned (along with a second one stolen from a local Fred Meyer!) and $21,000 in restitution was paid.  The funds paid for the totem to be completely refurbished, repainted and reinstalled.  It was rededicated August 10, 2010.

July 3, 2016 - Market at the Junction

The West Seattle Farmer's Market takes over California Ave, the Junction, on Sunday mornings.  The wares of local farmers make for a colorful bouquet of scents and flavors from the fresh produce, organic, locally sourced goods and flowers displayed.

June 29, 2016 - Intersectional Twilight

One should regularly stop to take in the beauty of nature that surrounds us.  Sometimes, such as at this regulatory traffic symbol, one is legally required to do so.

March 26, 2016 - Sunny Seattle Spring Saturday

The sun was out on an early spring Saturday morning and with it came all manner of Seattle residents and tourists.  They were out in kayaks, on stand up paddle boards, traveling on ferries, walking dogs, playing volleyball in bikinis (never mind that it was barely 50 degrees out), on roller blades, in running shoes, on skate boards, taking photos, on bicycles or barefoot playing in the sand.

From Alki one can see the Olympic Mountains across a calm Puget Sound to the west, the Cascade Mountains across Elliott Bay to the east and to the north east the Space Needle and the houses on Queen Anne Hill.

January 18, 2016 - From Plymouth Rock to Alki

On Seattle's Alki Drive, a concrete obelisk commemorates the 1851 arrival of the Denny Party, credited to be the founders of Seattle.  The party of 22 dubbed the area "New York Alki".  Alki was a term used by the Chinook tribe to mean "by and by".  It is now the motto of the State of Washington. Arriving in November the group was assisted by local native Americans, including Chief Seattle, in getting shelter from the winter weather.  The next year Arthur Denny moved his nascent settlement across the bay.

The obelisk was erected in 1905 and contains the names of the Denny Party.

In addition to the names a plaque reads "At this place on 13 November 1851 there landed from the Schooner Exact Captain Folger the little colony which developed into the City of Seattle".


On this balmy 45 degree morning the long stretch of beach was busy with bikers, joggers, strollers, strollers with strollers, joggers with strollers, dogs and even a stand up paddle boarder.  All were watched by a Bald Eagle on a branch above the obelisk.

October 11, 2015 - Fauntleroy Promenade

At West Seattle's Lincoln Park, a young father works hard to get the attention of his little one, held in the embrace of mother and grandmother.  In the background the 79,000 ton Singapore-flagged MOH Promise makes its way to the Port of Tacoma.

It was a pleasant autumn day, not just for family photos, but for a stroll, a jog, a nap, or to take in a view of the 37 foot high Alki Point Light three miles to the north, or the boats or the ferries.

November 29, 2014 - Rank Has Its Privilege

West Seattle has a number of gorgeous views of the downtown skyline, including this one on Admiral Way.  The view never gets old.