Ten new banners hang on California Ave SW, each with its own design and some with historic photos of the district. Each one carries a QR code that leads to the Admiral Neighborhood Association. On Friday afternoon, families heading to Admiral's trick-or-treat will walk under them toward the intersection of California and Admiral. At the start of October, the southeast corner there was still boarded up while new windows went into a 1906 building that is becoming an event venue.
The Admiral Neighborhood Association runs the event from 3:30 to 6:30 pm on Friday, October 30. West Seattle Blog counts more than 50 businesses on the list, stretching from Mioposto in the north to Shug's in the south. More than 50 is a lot for one stretch of California. You only reach that number because the association asks more than shops to take part. The list works as a directory of everyone in Admiral who chose to open a door on a Friday afternoon. The one corner that can't open its door yet is the clearest example of how much work it takes to join that directory.
Friday at a glance
| Detail | What to know |
|---|---|
| Date and time | Friday, October 30, 3:30 to 6:30 pm |
| Organizer | Admiral Neighborhood Association |
| Route | California Ave SW, Mioposto at the north end to Shug's Soda Fountain at the south |
| Participants | More than 50 on the ANA list |
| ANA candy booth | Near West Seattle Grounds |
| Late opener | The Nook opens at 4 pm |
| Volunteer shifts | 3:15 to 5 pm and 4:45 to 6:30 pm |
Admiral comes last of West Seattle's three big business-district trick-or-treats this year. The Alki Beach event ran at noon on Saturday, October 24, and the West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival followed on Sunday, October 25. Admiral's is the only one on a weekday, timed for after school and running into dark.
A list longer than a row of shops
Read the ANA participant page from top to bottom and the retail stops are the part you'd expect. Mioposto, Pizzeria 22, Sopranos, In Pizza We Crust, Mission Cantina, Taste of Mumbai, Prost, The Admiral Pub, Circa and West Wings handle the food and drink. Menchies, Shugs Soda Fountain, BAKED, Freshy's and My Necessitea cover sweets and treats. Current Coffee and West Seattle Grounds supply the caffeine for the adults doing the walking.
The rest of the list stretches the idea of a business district. These participants don't usually have a reason to see a crowd of kids walk in:
- Park West Care Center, a care facility on a candy route
- St. John the Baptist Church, which also hosted ANA's September meeting
- Anthonys Plumbing and Financial Designs Insurance, service offices with no storefront traffic most days
- Levy Dermatology, Admiral Vision, West Seattle Natural Medicine and Equilibrium Therapy Group
- Corner Chevron, a gas station counted as a stop
- Crossfit West Seattle and Fit Bar
- Seattle Dive Tours, which promises extra candy for marine-life costumes, for all ages
The Seattle Dive Tours offer isn't limited to kids, so an adult in a homemade octopus costume qualifies. The Nook has its own wrinkle. Its listing says it opens at 4 pm, half an hour after the route starts.
The specialty shops make up the middle of the list, and they're the ones a parent may want to come back to without a costume on: Seattle Yarn, Meeples Games, Thunder Road Guitars and The Bass Shop, WEND Jewelry, Ella and Oz, Zelda Zonk, Alair / My Three Little Birds, Otter on the Rocks, Alki Bike and Board, Welcome Road Winery, Mud Bay and West Seattle Runner. Larry's, PCC and the Admiral Theater fill out the larger addresses.
West Seattle Runner already has a connection to ANA's calendar. At the August Admiral Block Party, the shop's Lori McConnell received this year's Patrick Sand Community Advocate Award, named for the late founder of West Seattle Blog.
The volunteers who make the crossings work
A route this long crosses California and Admiral Way more than once, and ANA staffs those crossings with volunteers. At the association's September 16 meeting, West Seattle Blog reported that ANA needed volunteer crossing guards and would run its own candy booth near West Seattle Grounds. The ANA volunteer page offers two shifts, 3:15 to 5 pm and 4:45 to 6:30 pm, and says crossing guards get safety vests and signs.
At that same meeting, ANA raised the possibility of closing California north of Admiral for the event but said it hadn't been decided. Before you head out Friday, check connecttoadmiral.org to see whether the north end will be car-free or open to traffic as usual. According to the same report, last year's event was rainy and still busy. That night also ran into early dark, which falls before the 6:30 finish.
Individual memberships are what keep the costumes and candy coming. ANA reported a hearty jump in individual memberships, and that money helps pay for its events and programs. The banners were the same kind of volunteer work. ANA's Ryan Crompton got credit for them at the September meeting.
The corner at California and Admiral
The corner trick-or-treaters will pass is the future home of The Last Parlor. Cori Luckenbach is building it as an event venue in the space where she used to run Bebop Waffle Shop. She told West Seattle Blog on October 1 that "The Last Parlor is very much alive!" She added that the new windows had arrived that week and were being installed. Once they're in, the boards come down and she can paint the façade.
The holdup came from the building's age and its new use. According to that report, the interior of the 1906 building had to be brought up to code as an assembly space, and the work with the city has been long and detailed. The same article says an opening is in sight but gives no date. You can sign up for updates on The Last Parlor's website.
The waffles never left the block. Luckenbach still runs Bebop as a pop-up in the BAKED space next door, and BAKED is on Friday's trick-or-treat list. The Last Parlor isn't on this year's candy list, but the business behind it is still serving customers next door.
Joining the list just means opening a door and setting out a bowl. Opening a new venue in a century-old building on the main intersection takes windows, code upgrades and months of permitting. When the ANA's president was asked in September whether anything new was coming to the district, she said departures were more likely than arrivals. That makes the participation on Friday's list matter more.
One block west, a playground on the move
Families who go on to Hiawatha Playfield at 2700 California Ave SW will find a park partway through a planned change. Seattle Parks and Recreation is moving the play area from the park's north end to a new site just south of the wading pool. The project includes new play equipment, landscaping and a nature-play area where the old play area stands now.
As of the project page's October 20 update, the city had awarded the construction contract to LW Sundstrom, Inc. The page gives a start date of the week of July 20, 2026, and schedules construction from summer 2026 through winter 2027. The existing play area near the tennis court stays open until the new one is finished. The wading pool sits outside the construction area and also stays open. The 2013 King County Parks Levy pays for the project with $800,000.
Hiawatha could also become an event venue again. This summer's AMP concert series, which organizer Meagan said drew 1,500 people across three concerts, hopes to bring at least one concert back to Hiawatha next year. That concert would probably replace the one at California Place Park, which sits next to what will likely be a construction site by then.
Next on the ANA calendar
The association's next public meeting is Wednesday, November 18, at 7 pm, with officer elections on the agenda. Winter Wonderland follows on Saturday, December 12, from 11 am to 2 pm, across the business district. Participating businesses will host family activities or offer specials. The Winter Wonderland page asks businesses to register by November 20 and promises an online map of participants. Crompton also said ANA will work with businesses on holiday lighting.
The December map will show which businesses signed up this time. If The Last Parlor's façade is painted by then, the corner at California and Admiral may finally carry its own name.
At Hines Group, we keep a close eye on Admiral's calendar, from the trick-or-treat route to the corners waiting to open. If you're an Admiral homeowner wondering how what's happening on California SW affects the value of your own home, Request a Complimentary Home Consultation and we'll walk through it together.
