West Seattle

Well today was the most beautiful day so far, by far.  For the very first time, I woke up to blue skies and sunshine.  Do not take this for granted, people. 

It was pleasantly breezy, with a high of maybe 68, but very sunny.  By day's end the sky was a bit milky, but still!  Lovely day. 

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I ventured today out to the lovely, homey hamlet of West Seattle

Which approximately 5 miles south of downtown Seattle, across the West Seattle Bridge, past lots of industrial looking cranes and the like, then up the hill (Seattle is very hilly - some hills here are as steep as San Fran), and finally over to what is called the Alaska Junction, ie downtown W. Seattle - the intersection where California Street SW(north/south) meets Oregon SW.

Every street in Seatle, btw is designated with N, E, S, W, and then you have NE, SE, NW and SW, and then you have streets with no directional designation at all.  Which is notable because you will have Harrison Street N, E, S W, and then just plain Harrison Street.  Obviously there is lots of room for confusion to the average tourist or newcomer, which I learned on the first day I was attempting to use the local public transit website.  I kept entering the name of a street which was south of me, to determine which bus to take, and the bus map that popped up repeatedly showed me a route that went north. 

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So, West Seattle.  This is a totally unspoiled, almost 50's (in a good way) feeling area, featuring lots of little independent shops running down the main street, including two book stores (one all used, one a mix), a Cupcake Royale (simply can't shut up about that place), lots of restaurants, a few bars, a couple of lovely furniture and wares and clothing stores, a few second hand shops including one that funds the local senior center, an absolutely wicked and bewitching place called by the seemingly innocent name of West Seattle Antique Mall (three big floors of stuff!) which sucks you into it's vortex and forces you to buy

And a local treasure, a branch of legendary Easy Street Records. 

The latter is thought of, in part, for having had Pearl Jam play inside it's tiny confines well after they were huge (Eddie being a big supporter of the place and friend of the owner), and also for having a full service real deal breakfast and lunch cafe, which sits behind a big fully-windowed garage door.

This is where in fact I enjoyed breakfast this morning - right in the coveted garage door window - enjoying a burrito called The Betty, which is egg, black beans, cheese in a spinach tortilla wrap, with hash browns. Yum.

Despite this place being a (fabulous, fantastic, of course completely indie) record store, again, the food is real and not an after thought.  Genuine quality restaurant, and as I've mentioned before in this blog, among other things, it has menu items such as The Salad of John & Yoko, James Browns, the Culture Club, and the Snoop Dogg.

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I don't know what it is about this town, but it's just got a feel to it - it's sort of charm personified.  I've felt this way ever since the first visit, back in I think 2000 or '99.  It's separated from Seattle by way of being an island, and it has just somehow kept it's independent, small, old fashioned-town feel, whilst still being pretty much completely self sufficient and with plenty to see and do.  The island has one of the largest public parks in the city at 135 acres - Lincoln Park - which juts out into the ocean on the island's west side, and on the north tip, not only are their killer views of the Seattle Skyline - the best you will see in the area ...

There is also 2.5 mile Alki Beach.

From downtown West Seattle, there are amazing views of the snow-tipped Cascades:

The town also "boasts" (I hate sounding like a realtor but it's true) an enormous collection of the sweetest Craftsman houses anywhere - most of which are not gussied up, but just plain ol', older, lived in houses. 


There is historic Admiral Theater ...

And there's even a branch of the fancy "PCC" organic grocery store, which is a nice bonus, but a bit odd, as this is definitely not a fancy/yuppie town, which is one of the coolest things about it. 

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Anyway, I just really, really dig the place, and the people were way friendly.  The first place I walked into was Leisure Books - actually open before 11am!, just a few doors down from Easy Street, and it turns out the owner - the middle aged woman behind the counter - is originally from Amherts, Mass.!  I mean, what are the odds?  I asked her how on earth she ended up in Seattle, and she explained that her father was some department chair in English at UMass., and how he was transferred to the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, and she ended up going to that college herself, then couldn't find a job in the area, so headed just south to Seattle, where she's been since I think 1982.  Man, the changes she has to have seen in that time period.  I'm imaging all the sweet little Craftsman houses which now go for $375k, must have been about $40k a pop, then.

Anyway, thank you, dear, sweet little West Seattle, for a lovely day.  I will return again before I leave.