A weekly column scribed by West Seattle's own Warren Lawless describing events, history and other interests of our community. Warren claims no expertise on these fine details beyond being a life-long resident of the Westside since 1938. We've approached Warren to share his memoirs with the community and we're sure you'll find them as entertaining and insightful as we have.

“It wasn’t just his physical stature – well over 6 feet.  Our association was all too short.  He took over management of the Junction Penney’s store shortly after I moved from the West Seattle Herald print shop to management of advertising.  I’m amazed at the time that’s  Dick Oslin 1922-2010elapsed since those golden years when the Junction was a”  ...(more)

“Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), was one of the most widely-acclaimed writers of the twentieth century. His extensive vocabulary and unique writing style have put him on a literary pinnacle.  He wrote f”  ...(more)

“Up front let me acknowledge, I’m not a meteorologist – technical name for a weather forecaster.  I haven’t even given much study or thought to the weather and its changes as the”  ...(more)

“Prehistoric people were the Homo sapiens who inhabited the earth in advance of the introduction of commonly understood written symbols. The introduction of writing provided the means by which our most”  ...(more)

“  Two young ladies enjoying theHalloween Spirit in W.S.It wasn’t in the first West Seattle Herald story I read about it in 1939, but the annual kids spook celebration at Hiawatha Fieldhous”  ...(more)

“We are a mere half a year away from the exercise of counting American noses to arrive at a somewhat shaky estimate of the nation’s total populace.Although the U. S. Census Bureau originates scor”  ...(more)

“All Politics is local:  The on-line encyclopedia, Wikipedia credits Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil (D) for coining this phrase which encapsulates the principle that a politician's success”  ...(more)

“I remember a West Seattle celebration.  It was staged to the final clearance to start building the new high level bridge across the West Waterway of the Duwamish River.  Just about everyone ”  ...(more)

“When you outlive your generational peers, few people survive to appreciate your accomplishments. The names of men and women I’ve admired usually draw a glassy-eyed look from boomers and x-genera”  ...(more)

“I guess my notion about value added is a bit astray of the contemporary view of its definition.  I naively thought of it in the context like taking a tomato seed and growing a plant full of succu”  ...(more)

“"Shut up; you’re bothering me!"   It’s my experienced-backed belief that a major strategy of politicians is to deprive your constituents from hearing the”  ...(more)

“You may read this later, but as I sit in front of my vision-enhanced keyboard to write this, today is June 6, 2009, certainly an anniversary worth noting. Perhaps the occasion touches more of us as th”  ...(more)

“In the interest of honest disclosure, I confess I have been a Kiwanian for nearly forty-five of the West Seattle Club’s eighty years. Do I have a bias? I suppose so; sorry Lions and Rotarians.&n”  ...(more)

“This week, with the help of my friend Bob Ferguson, I’ve been digging through the boar’s nest that passes for my office.  Somewhere amongst the stacks of stuff is a little box contain”  ...(more)

“Good Lord don’t let me come across profound!  I have neither intellectual capacity nor scholastic credentials to pull it off.  That doesn’t mean I lack opinions or am escaping th”  ...(more)

“I first sat down in front of a computer 26 years ago when I was 65.  The ensuing journey has been interesting, compelling and challenging.  And, I’m convinced; the journey still has no”  ...(more)

“The inseparable companion of physicians during the hundred years following the Civil War was a “doctor bag,” I had one that belonged to my grandfather. A medic in the Union trenches who co”  ...(more)

“Where was I on October 29, 1929?  I was 11 years, four months and two days old, delivering the Daily News Searchlight down Elizabeth Street in Bremerton, WA.  I remember the headline: “”  ...(more)

“I can use your help:  From time to time I’ve asked for your reaction to this stuff I drag out of my memory tank.  As I have often reminded you, my recollections are not perfect and I k”  ...(more)

“The recent announcement that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is for sale, to move in 60 days or recede to an on-line format or close completely, made a lot of folks gulp.  It’s a cinch the H”  ...(more)

“In one of these essays some time ago, I Over eagerly answered the question, “What has changed most about West Seattle?” that it was unquestionably, the people.  I should have elaborat”  ...(more)

“Seattle’s streets are laid out on a grid system.  Streets run east-west. Avenues run north-south. If you run across something with another designation, like "boulevard" or "place" or “”  ...(more)

“It used to be that the classified advertising in a local paper was, in aggregate, a pretty fair barometer of the character of a town or neighborhood.  For a time during the 70’s and 80̵”  ...(more)

“There ain’t no joy in Mudville,; not since the 2008 mid-season All-star Break. From that point through a bleak autumn, the Mariners led a epidemic of mediocrity engulfing the sports landscape of”  ...(more)

“When I joined the West Seattle Herald composing room in 1938 and in the pre-WW2 years that followed, I can’t recall a single mention of homelessness on the pages of West Seattle’s com”  ...(more)

“The Dictionary describes RISK  thusly: The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger.  A factor, thing, element, or course involving uncertain danger; a hazard: “the usual risks of”  ...(more)

“No question about it, on any level these days, we have more questions than we do answers.  Some of them seem imponderable.  Example:  “How can the Washington Legislature balance t”  ...(more)

“When Gen. Douglas MacArthur took his parting shot with the comment, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away,” his words could have been describing a variety of valued careers besides ”  ...(more)

“Not everyone has a sure-fire legacy; a person whose name pops up when a certain community feature gets mentioned.  Earl Cruzen needn’t fret over his place in West Seattle history.  ”  ...(more)

“In a column posted last year, I expressed sadness that West Seattle no longer has the gumption to put together an event that will draw a large crowd.  I used themuch-heralded All-West Seattle Pic”  ...(more)

“His entrance to the West Seattle scene was due to highly-visible evidence of the initial fears and hysteria immediately following Pearl Harbor.  Local folks were reassured by the appearance of th”  ...(more)

“Thomas "Tip" O'Neill—a longtime Speaker of the House in the U.S. Congress—once declared, "All politics is local." He was explaining how the problems and concerns of towns and cities around”  ...(more)

“It started out as the West Seattle Commercial Club in 1931.  It must have seemed useful to the local business folks to pool their ideas and resources to promote the climate for community growth a”  ...(more)

“One aspect of continuing history all of us can count on is change; change of attitudes, change of values and change in priorities.  And, the rendering of community service certainly suffers the l”  ...(more)

“One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies, "I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week." The florist was”  ...(more)

“As described in Genesis, When Adam and Eve screwed up by chomping on the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden, an irate God booted them into a cruel, hard world to survive on their own toil and ingen”  ...(more)

“Historic preservation seems to be the latest hot-button issue leading media attention astray from the potential disastrous threats to 21st Century society.  With interest focused on empty downtow”  ...(more)

“This week, the political heavy hitters swarmed into town to woo Washington State’s scant cadre of delegates to the Democrat and Republican conventions scheduled this summer.  The Democrats ”  ...(more)

“Of course, there are walls, stockades and barricades, too.  All are interchangeable with fences .  . . Sometimes.  What got me interested is the opportunity to observe a lot of fencing ”  ...(more)

“Last week the Seattle Times clarioned the good news that “Metro estimates the biggest bus ridership gain in 2007 in 10 years.”   The story went on to announce, gleefully, th”  ...(more)

“On January 3, 2005, I wrote: “Westsiders sure like our cars;” a brief summary of the evolution of the car sales business in West Seattle. I noted that after I first came here in 1938 car o”  ...(more)

“There’s at least one in every functional family; one or more in every neighborhood.  He or she is the one person everyone looks to for direction and leadership.  Attracting this focus ”  ...(more)

“Downloaded from the Zogby Poll this morning, December 05, 2007: "The Angry Electorate: Four of five Democrats and two–thirds of Republicans say they are angry at the U.S. political system" ”  ...(more)

“We were married that summer, Betty and I; in June, when else?  By September we were professionally advised our family roster would increase by at least one; close to our first anniversary.  ”  ...(more)

“I hired him at the West Seattle Herald.  I had jumped from printing superintendent to advertising manager in 1961,  and was soon aware that much of the potential advertising base had been ne”  ...(more)

“As the years pile up it grows increasingly apparent that we surviving octogenarians are attending more and more funerals and memorial services.  Depending on their fields of activity, some of the”  ...(more)

“In 1909 the Most Reverend Bishop Edward J. O'Dea appointed Father Daniel A. Hanley to establish a parish in West Seattle. This new church was located at the northeast corner of Walnut Avenue and Hill ”  ...(more)

“Now that the State License Department has punched out my driver permit, I’m able to view the scenery from a passenger seat.  When one’s eyes are occupied with streets, signs and other”  ...(more)

“I never felt underprivileged or deprived when it came to being diversioned. I was aware, though, that money wasn’t growing on trees, especially during the depression era when I was in my so-call”  ...(more)

“The first of these columns was “posted” here on November 22, 2004.  Holy Cats!  Time does go fast when you’re getting old.  As I promised in the beginning, my recollec”  ...(more)

“In the days when I was required by occupation to dress presentably to meet with clients and customers, I wore a suit and dress shirt, and, of course, a necktie; sometimes in especially elite circles k”  ...(more)

“I’m reluctant to dip so much as a toe into the age-old squabble between creationists and evolutionists.  One side believes humans are born with all their assets intact.  The other main”  ...(more)

“Have people changed the circumstances, or have circumstances changed the people.  After some reflection, I lean toward the latter conclusion.  West Seattle, in its own way, provides a perfec”  ...(more)

“To Market; to Market;To buy a fat pig.Home again, home againJiggedy jig.My introduction to the word, “market” was in a nursery rhyme, my Mom read to me out of Leroy F. Jackson’s ”  ...(more)

“Surfing for an escape from the usual TV blather the other night, I hit on an interview of Lee Iacocca by Tim Russert.  The former Automaker CEO was pitching his new book, “Where have all th”  ...(more)

“For a guy written off as a crank, he certainly has built a legacy.  The news of Charlie Chong’s death last week hit the Associated Press (AP) wire and rated major coverage in dailies statew”  ...(more)

“In a January 2005 essay titled “Around the World's Murals in 400 Words,”  Kaizaad Kotwal wrote:  “Throughout the world there have been murals on walls as long as there have”  ...(more)

“By the time the Arthur Denny party of 24 bellied up to Alki Point in the Schooner Exact in November 1851, Samuel Morse had perfected the telegraph to a fairly practical level.  As a matter of chr”  ...(more)

“I can remember the little pan of paraffin melting on the back of the kitchen range.  Dad used to say, “If any fruit sits around more than a few days, it gets slapped in a jar.”  ”  ...(more)

“By the time the City of West Seattle voted to get itself annexed by the City Of Seattle in 1907, believing “Bigger is better,” it had pulled several surrounding communities into its own bo”  ...(more)

“An issue that gets tossed around a lot these days is the future of White Center and North Highline.  Will it merge with the City of Seattle or the City of Burien?  If the area beco”  ...(more)

“Surfing the TV the other night I ran into one of he frequent forums in Olympia designed to make the common folks feel like part of the process.  Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed was complet”  ...(more)

“At 7:30 p.m., Thursday, January 25, West Seattle will enjoy a rare opportunity to enjoy a Community Concert of the Seattle Symphony in West Seattle High School’s Performing Arts Theatre. In appr”  ...(more)

“It has been about thirteen months since I started remembering people and events to write down for these columns.  You might say I marked the anniversary by taking a spectacular pratfall in my off”  ...(more)

“Though I never heard Bud Olson blow his horn about any of his many talents, I know from bits and pieces of conversation that his talents were many. I only knew him as a neighbor.  When our fam”  ...(more)

“Last week, the boys of summer turned into the guys of October and hung up the Major League baseball season for 2006.  The error-riddled Tigers of Detroit, bowed to the red birds of St. Louis in B”  ...(more)

“What got me wondering is one issue frequently repeated and apparently central to the impending school closures and mergers in Seattle. Of course, that issue is that the enrollment in the District i”  ...(more)

“Entry of the single word, “consultants,” in my Google Browser, brought up 265 million responses.  Are there that many human beings, living in the noted State?  There must be good money helpi”  ...(more)

“The squiggles and marks of so-called graffiti artist are appearing wherever a space invites them.  The blogists and free-spirit crowd again are debating the cultural value against the destructive”  ...(more)

“If my arm were buried up to the elbow in a bowl of guacamole, I couldn’t come up with a green thumb.  And, don’t start throwing Latin plant derivations at me.  I wouldn’t have a clue what yo”  ...(more)

“One thing I’ve picked up in my travels through a long life is that in the excitement of hugely successful human endeavors, a few significant downers inevitably crop up. As I sit here and pl”  ...(more)

“Recently, I was asked by an acquaintance, born at the tail end of the “boomer generation:” “In your memory, what has changed the most about West Seattle since you arrived on the scene in 1938?” Wit”  ...(more)

“The now-familiar red-and-white dive flag was invented in the early 1950's by Denzel James "Doc" Dockery from Michigan. Flying from a buoy, it marked the site where a diver was underwater, asking surf”  ...(more)

“I try to think I’m reasonably up-beat and optimistic about change.  It usually doesn’t discomfort me too much.  After all, it’s the principal ingredient of improvement.  I think one cha”  ...(more)

“Please forgive me for straying from my usual practice confining these columns to West Seattle recollections.  You might, however, cut me a bit of slack.  The subject matter affects the local”  ...(more)

“An April24, 1992 story scribed by Seattle Times writer Timothy Egan announced, “Parting from No-Growth Orthodoxy, Seattle Mayor Plans 'Urban Villages.” Continuing, the story proclaimed: “Un”  ...(more)

“Competitiveness In a letter addressed to the American people, President George Bush recently wrote, “To build on our successes and remain a leader in science and technology, I am pleased to announc”  ...(more)

“Now a mere shadow of its former strength is a local paradigm once trumpeted as the “West Seattle Spirit.” I remember talking about it--a lot . . . and singing about it, under the inspired direction”  ...(more)

“When contemplating the renewed strategy of school closures to solve the monetary woes of Seattle Public Schools, one is reminded of the overused adage, “what goes around comes around.” Though it's ”  ...(more)

“There’s a report currently circulating that folks surviving into their 80s are the fastest growing segment of the population. Imagine that. At one time, we, the current crop pf octogenarians were r”  ...(more)

“When I started these columns almost a year ago, I vowed to restrict my recollections to stuff that happened in West Seattle.  For the most part I’ve stuck to that. However. the comments below, I”  ...(more)

“A good friend of mine once said that most folks can be characterized as “belongers” or “non-belongers.” That’s may be an over-simplification. When I left the West Seattle Herald printing plant ove”  ...(more)

“8:15 a.m. The phone rings. I answer. “Warren, this is Joyce. I have a real problem. These parking meters are going to put me out of business.” “How’s that,” I asked. Joyce replied. “My ”  ...(more)

“Every State of the Union Speech and every politician’s play book – Ds and Rs – contains a reference to the values and joys of volunteerism.  Otherwise it is known as giving your effort and time a”  ...(more)

“A mere glimpse of the hearings and floor debate over the Sam Alito nomination to the Supreme Court in that august body, the U.S. Senate, certainly illustrates the contentious nature of Contemporary so”  ...(more)

“Like a prodigal son, I returned to West Seattle in December 1938, I made my way back after an absence of twenty years.  Many of the constants which I grew up with, not surprisingly, still remaine”  ...(more)

“When the doctor came to our house in my childhood days, his inseparable companion was a small black leather bag.  We saw some of the contents as he brought them out in his treatment of “what aile”  ...(more)

“I guess we are stuck with transportation issues.  West Seattle’s geographic isolation certainly has added to the problem.  It always has.  Researching the web, I found Historylink.org p”  ...(more)

“The whole enterprise of charitable fund-raising may be reaching an uncomfortable level of prickliness. Illustratively, a recent letter to the editor of the West Seattle Herald expressed out-righ”  ...(more)

“As long as we are in a remembering mood, it occurred to me that we could measure our longevity on this earth against the number of West Seattle changes, incidents, improvements and characters we can r”  ...(more)

“West Seattle has been blessed through the years by many additions of public park space.  Some are dedicated to sports, others to sight-viewing, picnicking, jogging and walking.  Some have be”  ...(more)

“I remember an aged, copper-colored cocker spaniel up the block who’d -- whenever he could make it --  drag himself down in front of Mel’s garage to get his matted, tangled coat combed and soak up”  ...(more)

“It has been a long time since my Toastmaster experience ended, but I look back on it with admiration for its core principles and mission. To check my recollections, I looked up the present website of”  ...(more)

“"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, ”  ...(more)

“He was born in Van, Turkey on March 11, 1914.  His parents were missionaries for the American Board for Foreign Missions of the Congregational Church.  His father was an ordained minister, h”  ...(more)

““Never get too close behind a male driver wearing a felt hat straight on his head . . . Watch it, there’s one right in front of us . . . See! . . . he just cut across two lanes to make a left turn.”&n”  ...(more)

“Some printed glitches sneak by the proofreader’s eagle eye. Others spring from faulty facts. A few are generated from misunderstandings and lousy analysis.  On rare occasions they get there on pu”  ...(more)

“It’s been an interesting week.  When I got in Monday morning the following message was in my in-box. It interested me, so I’m sharing it with you. “Read your article. Do you know if Moe Beerma”  ...(more)

“One reads and hears and sees a lot these days about the evaporation of family wage jobs.  Much of the blame for this concern, is directed at outsourcing, especially,  during the last few yea”  ...(more)

“He never asked me if I was a Democrat or Republican. He did pointedly oppose zoning the land-side rim of Harbor Ave. S.W. for condos.  “They’d be full of Republicans,” he often asserted. ”  ...(more)

“If you have ever parked in any of the lots surrounding the West Seattle Junction, you might be interested in knowing how they happened to be there for your convenience. As the core neighborhood reta”  ...(more)

“This column calls up my recollection of a random bunch of folks who made a difference in the West Seattle scene, changed the landscape, ruffled feathers or served some beloved purpose.  Again, I ”  ...(more)

“After WWII, back working in the Herald printing plant, it seemed to me that a permanent one-family home in West Seattle would be a pretty good idea.  Betty and I spent many weekends scouting real”  ...(more)

“A group dynamics professor at the U Dub once said to me, “An important element of persuasion is treating people nice.  It works the best when you mean it.”  I believe it was a viable idea be”  ...(more)

“I was skimming through a 1935 game program of the West Seattle “Yellow Jackets vs. the Kitsap “Destroyers,” recently, and an amazing number of names popped up in the player rosters and the list of spo”  ...(more)

“Word has gone out that more help can be used to keep the 2005 Hi-Yu float afloat, refurbished, and accompanied to a bunch of parades around Western Washington.  As always, maintaining the enterpr”  ...(more)

“In the course of one’s life, a special person comes along who links with you in special ways,  Fritz Linde fit the mold for me.  At his recent funeral, the local Latter Day Saints church was”  ...(more)

“In the years following World War One, through the Great Depression and abruptly ending with the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941, there was an interest in neighborhood sports teams on an amateur ”  ...(more)

“I had a visitor this week.  He came in twice, in fact.  What he brought with him was a bundle about an inch and a half thick. ”  ...(more)

“In a recent Seattle Times story, business columnist Frank Vintuan referred to him as the “Pickle King.”  To his friends and colleagues he was usually “Dick” or less reverently, “Pickles.” ”  ...(more)

“WELL! . . . . I never claimed to remember everything.  So, I’m always grateful for reminders and information from my hordes of on-line browsers.  I was particularly elated to receive the fol”  ...(more)

“As I get longer in the tooth, I find myself seeking out the History Channel rather than the usual string of situation comedies or so called "reality TV" which attract my more youthful compatriots.&nbs”  ...(more)

“As I cautioned when I started combing my memory bank for these tidbits, I am making no claim to impeccable recall, nor attempting to dredge up obituaries of deceased luminaries or common folks I have ”  ...(more)

“It was a little before my time in West Seattle, but had to be in the early 20’s when the JCPenney presence was first felt in the Junction business district.  That was about the time the com”  ...(more)

“A remark I heard on a recent news program declared the health care system of the United States to be on the verge of implosion.  Since my age gives me more than a few years of hindsight, I make n”  ...(more)

“Commenting, as a camera scanned the courtside spectators at a recent Lakers game in L.A., the ESPN color guy, obviously a young whipper-snapper, wondered inanely who the old lady was sitting there. Ru”  ...(more)

“It is said that nothing is more unchangeable than change itself.  That’s certainly true of the Junction of West Seattle since I came here in December of 1938.   At that time it was r”  ...(more)

“A Seattle Times editorial by Lee Moriwaki recently bemoaned nostalgically about the Sundays of the “good old days” which were, indeed, set aside for family activities, or lack thereof, gen”  ...(more)

“My 12-year-old cocker spaniel, Maggie parked beside the bed put out her signal to “let me out,” at 6:30 this morning. As I passed the thermostat, I gave it a twist and the furnace rattled ”  ...(more)

“Forgive the somewhat rambling style. The following recollections are related in no guaranteed chronological order. They do, in fact just illustrate the history of surviving community culture which is ”  ...(more)

“One wonders if teams competing on the gridiron of West Seattle Stadium, golfers chasing little white balls on West Seattle Golf Course or rock climber struggling up Schurman Rock ever wonder how all t”  ...(more)

“A 20-year old, when I came to work in West Seattle in December 1938, I was relatively naive about local West Seattle politics, despite an above-average interest in State and American history. I did le”  ...(more)

“Blunt, Gruff, Huge Heart!   A mantra of abrupt, detached behavior disguised a caring visionary with fierce loyalties.   Ted Clark Best who knew how to use words, used them economically. ”  ...(more)

“Smart, stunning, eccentric -- only a few of the adjectives appropriately describing West Seattle’s Frances Farmer.  Frances Farmer - 1913-1969   The movie industry and its fans ”  ...(more)

“As you read this series of cameo descriptions of people and events, it will dawn on you that many of them have previously escaped the radar of local attention. Among these, surely, was Donald L. Gaine”  ...(more)

“Flipping through the channels with my remote Sunday night, I bumped into a BBC film on KCTS. It was a kind of choppy depiction of the reign of King George VI during WWII over the UK. Poor George was k”  ...(more)

“I can’t claim too much chronological accuracy but I can remember most of the names and many of the faces in the ongoing saga of automotive dealerships in West Seattle.    Eugene Cath”  ...(more)

“This month marked the passing of two under celebrated icons of West Seattle. They could not have been more different in scores of ways; probably attributing to their individual uniqueness. One a woman”  ...(more)

“The recent meanderings of the much-buffeted Kalakala reminds me of a special West Seattleite. Little known to the general populace; William “Wild Bill” Thorniley was a long time resident i”  ...(more)

“The soppy typical December Seattle weather reminds me of a special friend and a character out of the past who made a huge impact on a lot of lives in the West Seattle community. To his contemporary co”  ...(more)

“The Christmas shopping season in West Seattle got off to its usual start the weekend of December 3rd and 4th. The kick-off included a community party in the open space in front of the Alaska House at ”  ...(more)

“The recent passing of an everyday hero, Lloyd Jeter, reminds me of a chapter of West Seattle history that bears refreshing. Every year on a Sunday during Hi-Yu Week, Lloyd and his buddies from the Wes”  ...(more)

“When I first went to work at the West Seattle Herald as an apprentice in the composing room, I was still living with my great aunt on Capitol Hill. The commute included a cable car ride from 15th and ”  ...(more)