New guidebook offers 101 things to do in West Seattle

When the schooner Exact landed at Alki Point on a rainy November morning in 1851, Arthur Denny peered past the beach into the sodden forest and declared it, "As wild a spot as any on Earth."

Some 150 years later, there's still a pioneering spirit in West Seattle, where people with creative visions are finding ways to balance old and new. Although easily accessible via the West Seattle Bridge, many uptowners peg the peninsula as too remote, never venturing farther than the volleyball nets of Alki Beach. In her new book "West Seattle 101," author Lori Hinton offers just as many reasons to go a little out of your way.

"There's a small-town feeling here that's lost in a lot of places," she said on a recent whirlwind tour of her home neighborhood. "There aren't a lot of chain stores and minimalls, so you end up knowing the people at the coffee shop and the post office." "This is one of my favorite spots," she said with a wide smile as she pulled up along Constellation Park just south of Alki Point. Here constellations are set into the sidewalk that parallels a beach popular with low-tide fans. "It's also a great place to watch storms, even from inside your car."

Divided into sections on recreation, dining, entertainment and enrichment, her guidebook is a collection of stories about West Seattleites involved in activities as far-flung as pet Reiki and disc golf, and down-home as swing dancing and thrift shopping. The book includes many free activities..

"This is not a dining guide to every new restaurant — the foundation of the book is everything that was here before," said Hinton. "There's a harkening back to 'West Seattle past' without being a history book."

West Seattle

Special event this weekend

West Seattle's Log House Museum celebrates Founder's Day Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Included: a performance by Singing Feet, traditional Duwamish drummers and dancers. Members of the Descendants Committee of Seattle in period costumes will share pioneer stories and host an historical scavenger hunt for children. There will be Indian fry bread and apple cider. 3003 61st Ave. S.W., 206-938-5293.

Attractions

Constellation Park, just south of Alki Point, 6300 block of Beach Drive Southwest

Alki Homestead Restaurant, 2717 61st Ave. S.W., 206-935-5678

West 5 Lounge, 4539 California Ave. S.W., 206-935-1966

Seattle Fish Co., 4435 California Ave. S.W., 206-938-7576

Husky Deli, 4721 California Ave. S.W., 206-937-2810

Fauntleroy Creek, across the street from the Fauntleroy ferry dock. Coho salmon are returning throughout November. Shortly after high tide is the best time to see them. Look for the salmon windsock that is raised whenever fish are seen.

But if history happens to be your thing, just a few blocks up from the park is the Log House Museum. Built in 1902, it was one of the settlers' first year-round structures, originally serving as the Bernard family's carriage house.

Museum displays set among the richly dark, shining log walls pay tribute to early Seattleites and the Native Americans who lived here thousands of years before Captain Vancouver set sail.

Just up the street is the Alki Homestead Restaurant, originally the Fir Lodge, where the Bernard family lived. Hinton remembers fondly many a Mother's Day brunch here with her grandmother, crystal clinking over white tablecloths.

Rediscovering the area

Hinton grew up near the Fauntleroy ferry dock. After college and travels around the world, she didn't plan to return to West Seattle to stay, but what she found there lured her back. The book grew out of her West Seattle Herald column, "101 Things to do in West Seattle." She recently bought a house within walking distance of her childhood home, where her parents still live.

"In addition to rediscovering what I already knew was here, there were all these new culturally oriented things like the outdoor cinema, farmer's markets and a brewery," Hinton said. "Not only was I reintroduced to this great place, but the great place had evolved and become even better."

The Junction, where California Avenue and Alaska Street intersect, is the heart of West Seattle's new generation of businesses. Just north of Alaska, West 5 Lounge co-owner Dave Montoure seems to embody the new breed of West Seattleite, whose aesthetic borrows from the past to inform the present.

His eyes brighten as he recalls the origins of reused barstools and tabletops, shelving and décor. His favorite find is a painting of the schooner Exact, formerly the centerpiece of Vann's Bros. diner, once a West Seattle institution.

"West 5 is a perfect example of the kind of business here that caters to the new demographic but still has this great appreciation for the past and the people who came before," Hinton said.

Just up the street is another West Seattle original, The Seattle Fish Co., where patrons can pick up what are touted as some of Seattle's best crab cakes or learn about one of several exotics, including the sweet and mild opah, from Hawaii.

"When people buy fish, they default to what they know," said owner Hobey Grote, who is here to change all that with infinite recipe ideas, a fish-friendly wine selection, and staff who know their tombo from their toothfish.

Community feeling

A little farther south on California, the Husky Deli holds a history that defines the neighborly compassion West Seattleites take pride in. When owner Jack Miller's grandfather opened the deli in 1932 during the Depression, many customers were too poor to pay for the basics, so he let them run tabs.

Meanwhile his Husky ice-cream invention — a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate and nuts — was contracted for school lunches by Seattle Schools. This profitable account allowed him to lend credit to those in need, which Grandfather Miller viewed as giving back to the community.

"To me, Jack's story embodies West Seattle," Hinton said. "Husky earned community loyalty that still exists today."

More than just humankind is considered part of the West Seattle community. In Hinton's own neighborhood, Fauntleroy Creek's coho salmon are eagerly awaited each November by scores of salmon watchers.

"Early settlers were in the business of conquering nature, we're in the business of listening to it and responding in the most responsible way we can," said salmon advocate Judy Pickens, who 10 years ago never imagined she'd be counting fish in her spare time.

Taking responsibility is a thread that runs through "West Seattle 101." The stories encourage a thoughtful new discovery of one of the wildest spots on Earth.

Kathryn True, a Vashon Island writer, is a regular contributor to Northwest Weekend.