(Slime mold evolved into iridescent spheres – photo by Rosalie Miller)

Welcome to the last day of 2022! Here’s what’s happening, mostly from the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide and year-round Event Calendar:

LOW BRIDGE CLOSED: Reminder that the West Seattle low bridge is closed to all road and path traffic until it’s fixed, and there’s no date estimate for that yet. We’ll have an update on the situation later today.

FARE-FREE TRANSIT: As announced earlier this week, most transit services – including Metro and the West Seattle Water Taxi – are not charging fares today/tonight.

FOOD DRIVE’S FINAL DAY: This is the last day of the holiday-season food drive at Canna West Culture Shop (5435 California SW), open 10 am-6 pm.

MORNING MUSIC: 10:30 am-noon at C & P Coffee (5612 California SW; WSB sponsor), Marco de Carvalho and Friends perform.

FREE WRITING GROUP: 10:30 am in West Seattle, registration required – full details in our calendar listing.

NEW YEAR’S EVE WALKS: Hosted by the Emerald City Wanderers, starting from St John the Baptist Episcopal Church. “The 6- or 10-kilometer walks are noncompetitive, starting between 4 and 7 PM on New Year’s Eve. There is no fee though contributions to help defray costs are welcome. Hot soups and beverages will be available during and after the walks.” St John’s is at 3050 California Ave SW.

NOT-SO-SILENT-NIGHT: Highland Park Improvement Club is bringing back this neighborhood tradition. Gather 5:30-6 pm at Highland Park Corner Store (7789 Highland Park Way SW), the starting point – details here.

MUSIC FESTIVAL AT THE SPOT – 6 pm to close, all ages, bands and a DJ, details here (2920 SW Avalon Way)

WEST SEATTLE YULETIDE: Final weekend for thousands of lights synched to music outside the Iversons‘ home on 38th SW between Genesee and Dakota – 6:30-10 pm.

WEST END GIRLS NEW YEAR’S EVE at The Skylark, 8 pm – details here (3803 Delridge Way SW)

NYE PARTY & COMEDY SHOW at Admiral Pub, 9 pm – details here (2306 California SW)

NYE PARTY AT LARIAT BAR: 9 pm tribute to GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling), plus karaoke and midnight champagne toast (9829 16th SW)

WEST SEATTLE BOWL NYE: 9:30 pm party, reservations here if any remain, (39th/Oregon)

MIDNIGHT FIREWORKS:the Space Needle will do it again to greet 2023. Light and drone shows too – details here. Watching from West Seattle? Most north-facing parks/hillsides have a view, but don’t go too last-minute, especially along the water – parking and standing space can fill up.

Have something to add? Email info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

Aaron reports, “35th Ave SW by SW 102nd St, two bikes stolen from carport over the last week, one Redline big BMX dark blue, 26” wheels, and one mountain bike, white and teal with 24” wheels.” If you think you’ve found either, let us know and we’ll connect you.

8:33 AM: The business run by the local family that’s almost synonymous with Christmas in West Seattle has been hit by crime on Christmas Eve. Crash-and-grab burglars hit the Menashe and Sons Jewelers store at 4532 California SW in The Junction early this morning. The store’s been run for decades by the family that’s well-known for West Seattle’s brightest display of Christmas lights. We just talked to members of the family at the store, as police investigated. Josh Menashe says they think it happened around 5 am. The gated front of the store is bashed in and vehicle debris is visible:

The Menashes believe the burglar(s) also used a mallet to try to get in by breaking a window. What if anything was taken is still being determined, but the store won’t be open today. We’re still on scene and will add whatever more we find out. This is at least the third crash-and-grab in West Seattle in the past three weeks, after Westwood Village Big 5 on December 5th and El Quetzal at Arrowhead Gardens on December 10th.

8:50 AM: We’ve also talked with Jack Menashe, who says so far they don’t believe the burglars got in or took anything, but they’re reviewing video to be sure – so what they primarily have to do is clean up the damage and secure the store.

Police have recovered more of what the burglar(s) left behind, including the aforementioned mallet:

10:57 AM: As a comment points out, the Menashes have announced the store will be open today after all, 11 am-4 pm – go to the back door off the alley and ring the bell.

11:16 AM: We’ve seen video from a nearby security camera that has not yet been released but does show what happened, in a corner of its field of view. The burglars were in a light-colored pickup truck. At 5:02 they backed into the front of the door three times, took off, came back a couple minutes later, pulled up in front of the store and someone got out (too distant to describe), then took off again, and came back a third time within a few minutes, backing into the storefront again twice, then took off. Here’s the clearest screenshot of the pickup:

(Latest images from SDOT high-bridge camera and California/Admiral camera)

5:45 AM: The ice arrived overnight and right now, much has come to a standstill as a result:

SUSPENDED/CLOSED/CANCELED
-All Metro/ST bus service suspended
–King County Water Taxi service CANCELED for reset of day
–Update: Sea-Tac (SEA) operations limited
–All Seattle Public Library locations closed
–West Seattle Food Bank closed
–West Seattle/Fauntleroy YMCA closed
-Business closures/changes – we’re making a list here
*Garbage/recycling/etc. canceled again today – no pickups until next week

The Winter Storm Warning remains in effect, with “heavy mixed precipitation including freezing rain” expected to linger for a while.

OTHER INFOLINKS
–SDOT Winter Weather Response map (which roads it’s serviced and how recently)
–Citywide traffic cams
–West Seattle traffic cams
–County traffic cams (choose “south” tab for White Center)
–Washington State Ferries alerts

7 AM: Metro has published an update and promises its next one at 10 am, so its services, including the Water Taxi, will remain suspended for at least several more hours. … The low bridge remains closed, and the SDOT map shows official closures on several notorious West Seattle hills including SW Genesee east of Avalon and SW Morgan west of 35th.

7:30 AM: We’ve had multiple reports of “flashes” and while the ones a few hours ago didn’t result in outages, we have one reported now – 218 customers in what looks to be mostly Puget Ridge:

As you can see on the City Light map, this is the biggest one in the city currently, but there’s a risk of more as the ice weighs down wires and branches.

8:10 AM: Ferry service is back to two boats on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run, so we’re moving the WSF alerts link to the “infolinks” list above. … Speaking of info, we’re also interested in business changes/closures, so please text/email if you have anything to announce (westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302). … We’re making that list here.

8:42 AM: More streets reported closed/blocks because of driver mishaps on the ice – SW Oregon east of California, SW Holden east of 35th. (Added – texted photo of SW Oregon)

Low bridge has now REOPENED.

9:09 AM: More crash reports from SDOT – Fauntleroy/Edmunds, Marine View Drive/SW 102nd. … Alki resident who just went up California from Harbor to The Admiral District reports “ice rink.” … That was from Debra, who also reports cars stuck in icy Admiral Safeway lot. … Speaking of Admiral, here’s a texted photo of Admiral Way at 47th AFTER a plow went through:

9:36 AM: SPU just made the call, no collection today either, no makeups tomorrow; if you were skipped this week, you can put out double next week.

10 AM:Metro says its service suspension will continue until at least 2 pm. Our business closures/changes list continues to lengthen. Lots of people reporting icy roads, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks.

10:41 AM: The SDOT truck above was seen on Beach Drive near Jacobsen, where Creighton reports: “Beach Drive at Jacobson zero traction, all ice. City deicing truck passed by at 9, but not able to scrape off any ice with its blade.” … Also this road report from Catherine: “48th Ave. SW at Genesee, a car tried to go southbound on 48th and is now sitting sideways across the street. The fire department is out of cones and neighbors are trying to find caution tape to block off the road at Genesee and 48th.”

11:30 AM: Above is a photo of Lincoln Park’s south parking lot, sent by Kelsey, who says it was left open last night and shouldn’t have been, so now drivers are going in and getting stuck. Avoid.

11:56 AM: Above is a photo from Paul showing the chain-reaction crash on the east side of Fauntleroy/Edmunds. Might be the same crash we mentioned earlier – most crashes are not getting cleared quickly for obvious reasons (including how backed up tow-truck drivers are). … New SDOT director Greg Spotts tweeted that he’s been out touring the city to check on crews and says the department’s West Seattle crews are doing excellent work. … We’re continuing to update the business closure/change list – including when we get word that businesses have indeed opened (Thunder Road Guitars [WSB sponsor] just did). Also, we’ll keep this report going for the next hour or so and then switch over to pm coverage.

12:21 PM: Water Taxi now canceled for the rest of the day.

12:34 PM: Thanks to the texter who reported power restored on Puget Ridge. SCL map shows all but 25 customers from that outage are back on. Meantime, an encouraging sign … the temperature has made it to 30 degrees.

1:14 PM: We’re going to end this roundup with a warm image .. Brian sent a photo of just-baked cookies, declaring this a “great day for baking”:

If you can do some baking too, this is the third day the south location of West Seattle Coworking (9030 35th SW) is collecting homemade cookies for The Christmas People – WSC’s Ross says, “We will continue collecting cookies all day and will add an extra hour to drop off ending at 4:00 p.m. instead of 3:00 p.m. that will give more time to people. Many are stuck home in a cold day so I could be a perfect day for baking cookies and do something good. Yesterday was kind of slow so we hope to make it up today.” They’ll also accept cookies 9 am-3 pm tomorrow.

(For PM coverage, go here)