Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
The Rotary Club of West Seattle built Rotary Viewpoint Park in 1976 and donated it to the city. On Saturday, August 1, we cleaned it up for its 50th.
Before and after: two Rotarians, a Saturday, and 50 years of West Seattle history.
Tom Wise and I spent the day at Rotary Viewpoint Park at 35th Ave SW and SW Alaska Street — scrubbing graffiti off the brick and clearing trash out of the planting beds — getting it ready for the park's 50th anniversary commemoration on August 11.
Before 1976 this was an overgrown piece of city land people used as a dump. Rotarian and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce executive Norm Beers challenged the club to fix it, and the club took it on as its U.S. Bicentennial project, then donated the finished viewpoint to the City of Seattle in August 1976.
The 18-foot cedar totem pole was carved that same year by Robin Young, a Native artist who taught woodcarving at Highline Community College. It depicts Thunderbird, Whale, Beaver, and Raven. Rotarians repainted it in the 80s, rebuilt it in 1992, and when it was stolen in broad daylight in November 2009, it was Rotarians — Ken Wise, his son Tom, and Duane Ruud — who tracked down the witnesses that found it. The restored pole went back on its base on July 28, 2010.
Sixteen years later, Tom was next to me with a scrub brush.
📍 Rotary Viewpoint Park — 35th Ave SW & SW Alaska St, West Seattle
🗓 50th Anniversary Commemoration — August 11
ABOUT THE ROTARY CLUB OF WEST SEATTLE
Meets Tuesdays at West Seattle Golf Course, 4470 35th Ave SW. Doors 11:30am, lunch meeting noon–1:30pm. Visitors welcome — email ws_rotary@yahoo.com by noon the Sunday before. Lunch is $30, free if you're looking at membership. I chair the speaker program, so reach out if you've got something worth hearing.
More: westseattlerotary.org
Full story on the blog: gibsonhomeloans.com/rotary-club-of-west-seattle-viewpoint-park-50-years
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#TotemPole #WestSeattleHistory #Seattle #CommunityService #ServiceAboveSelf #PugetSound
The Rotary Club of West Seattle built Rotary Viewpoint Park in 1976 and donated it to the city. On Saturday, August 1, we cleaned it up for its 50th.
Before and after: two Rotarians, a Saturday, and 50 years of West Seattle history.
Tom Wise and I spent the day at Rotary Viewpoint Park at 35th Ave SW and SW Alaska Street — scrubbing graffiti off the brick and clearing trash out of the planting beds — getting it ready for the park's 50th anniversary commemoration on August 11.
Before 1976 this was an overgrown piece of city land people used as a dump. Rotarian and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce executive Norm Beers challenged the club to fix it, and the club took it on as its U.S. Bicentennial project, then donated the finished viewpoint to the City of Seattle in August 1976.
The 18-foot cedar totem pole was carved that same year by Robin Young, a Native artist who taught woodcarving at Highline Community College. It depicts Thunderbird, Whale, Beaver, and Raven. Rotarians repainted it in the 80s, rebuilt it in 1992, and when it was stolen in broad daylight in November 2009, it was Rotarians — Ken Wise, his son Tom, and Duane Ruud — who tracked down the witnesses that found it. The restored pole went back on its base on July 28, 2010.
Sixteen years later, Tom was next to me with a scrub brush.
📍 Rotary Viewpoint Park — 35th Ave SW & SW Alaska St, West Seattle
🗓 50th Anniversary Commemoration — August 11
ABOUT THE ROTARY CLUB OF WEST SEATTLE
Meets Tuesdays at West Seattle Golf Course, 4470 35th Ave SW. Doors 11:30am, lunch meeting noon–1:30pm. Visitors welcome — email ws_rotary@yahoo.com by noon the Sunday before. Lunch is $30, free if you're looking at membership. I chair the speaker program, so reach out if you've got something worth hearing.
More: westseattlerotary.org
Full story on the blog: gibsonhomeloans.com/rotary-club-of-west-seattle-viewpoint-park-50-years
—
#TotemPole #WestSeattleHistory #Seattle #CommunityService #ServiceAboveSelf #PugetSound
