If your Alki summer already has a rhythm to it, you don't need another list of sunset walks and volleyball nets. What's worth your attention this year is smaller and closer to the sidewalk: a handful of storefronts turning over, a new way to get on the water from Seacrest, a park curfew that shifts what a Tuesday night looks like, and one landmark quietly closed for reasons most neighbors haven't heard about. The postcard version of Alki is unchanged. The everyday version is being rewritten in pieces.
The storefronts along Alki Ave are turning over
The most tangible change this summer is on the strip itself. Do Si Korean BBQ is expanding into the former Duke's Seafood location that closed in April at 2516 Alki Avenue SW, with the restaurant set to open the first week of July. That's a meaningful swap in category. A longtime waterfront seafood room becomes a Korean BBQ house on the same footprint, and the block gains a cuisine it didn't have.
A block or two down, the old Alki Starbucks space is finally being reworked. Jonathan Stebbins is opening Alki Coffee Co. there, plus a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop, with a goal of opening in time for the beach season. The coffee side is not a chain rebrand. The shop is partnering with Local Goods Orcas Roast, working with Rob Kirby to create a couple of blends specific to Alki Coffee Co. If you've been ordering from Ampersand by default, there's a new option to test drive.
Farther from the water, the peninsula lost something older than most of us. Alki Lumber made its final West Seattle sale this spring after more than 100 years as the peninsula's only full-service lumber yard, moving from 4422 36th Ave SW and reopening as Alki Marine Lumber at 558 S. Kenyon Street in South Park. The name stays on the building for a while yet. The trip to buy a 2x4 does not.
One landmark you can't tour this summer
Before you point out-of-town guests toward the point, know this:
The Alki Point Lighthouse will not be open for tours for the rest of summer. Recent testing has revealed a higher level of lead in the lighthouse structure from old paint than was previously found. The Coast Guard, out of an abundance of caution, will not allow public access to the site until the lead level can be significantly reduced.
In a normal year, first visitors enter the site at 1 p.m. and the last tour begins at 3:45, every Sunday afternoon through Labor Day weekend. This year the gate stays closed. The exterior views from the beach and Beach Drive are still there, and the Coast Guard Auxiliary is planning educational content on their Facebook page in the meantime.
New reasons to be on the water, not just next to it
The most interesting programming addition this year isn't a restaurant. It's a schedule. Alki Kayak Tours is launching new community paddling events for the 2026 season, offering a new perspective of West Seattle from the water, with weekly community paddles and classes that will eventually culminate in a Blake Island Overnight Paddle. They'll train paddlers to get there and offer classes for people getting comfortable on the water, while experienced paddlers with their own gear are invited to join the weekly events with only a waiver on file.
Their standing Thursday morning slot is already live: Thursday Kayak Club at 10 a.m. with Alki Kayak Tours at Seacrest, 1660 Harbor SW. If you've lived here a decade and still haven't paddled out past Duwamish Head, this is the year the excuse gets thinner.
The calendar, with dates you can put on the fridge
The big set pieces are all returning. Here's what's actually on the books:
| Event | Dates | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Alki Art Fair | July 18–20, 2026 | Alki Beach Park / historic Alki Bathhouse |
| West Seattle Saunter (12-mile walk) | July 11, 2026, 8:45 a.m. | Starts at Water Taxi Pier |
| Alki Beach Pride | Saturday, August 15, 2026, noon–8 p.m. | Alki Beach |
| Beach fire season | May 22 – September 7, 2026 | Designated pits, Alki Beach |
The Art Fair is still the anchor. You can walk the promenade past creations from over 100 local artists, from metalwork and textiles to pottery and painting, with food from on-site vendors and a silent auction in the historic Alki Bathhouse. Hours run Friday, July 18, 2 to 8 p.m., Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, July 20, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
If you'd rather walk than shop, the second annual West Seattle Saunter is happening July 11, 2026, a roughly 12-mile walk beginning at the West Seattle Water Taxi Pier and ending at West Seattle Summer Fest, free to participants with flexible route and pace, starting at 8:45 a.m. on the second day of Summer Fest.
And Pride returns to the sand. Alki Beach Pride is a family-friendly event with free activities, vendors and community organizations selling handcrafted goods and food, DJs and a variety of LGBTQIA+ performers, on Saturday, August 15, 2026 from noon to 8 p.m.
The park itself is running on a shorter clock
The change most likely to affect your Tuesday evening walk isn't a new business. It's the gate.
Starting Friday, May 1, 2026, permanent summer hours are in effect at select parks and boat ramps across Seattle, with summer hours running May 1 through September 30 from 4 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. That 10:30 close is the "Summer of Safety" schedule, and it's not a rumor. Illuminated trailer-borne signs are already out on Alki Avenue posting the dates and the 10:30 p.m. summer closing time. If you're used to a late-July walk toward Duwamish Head at 11, that's the year that ends.
The fire pits have a defined window too. The 2026 beach fire season runs Friday, May 22 to Monday, September 7, from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day, first-come, first-served, and fires must be extinguished with water by 10 p.m. The park closes 30 minutes later.
Put those two facts next to each other and a pattern shows up. The city is compressing the "evening on Alki" window on purpose, not by accident. If you host a summer birthday or a family reunion here, plan for a 9 p.m. wind-down, not a 10:30 one.
Read together, the story is small businesses replacing chains and institutions
Look at the moves side by side. A national coffee chain leaves the beach; an independent coffee shop with a Puget Sound roaster takes its place. A longtime seafood name closes; a Kent-based Korean BBQ family opens on the water. A 100-year-old lumber yard moves off the peninsula; an outfitter that was already here adds weekly paddles for neighbors instead of one-off tourist tours.
None of these are dramatic on their own. Together they say something specific about who is investing on Alki right now: smaller operators, mostly local, mostly betting that residents show up in the shoulder months, not just when the volleyball tournaments are on. The postcard traditions still land in July. The businesses selling you coffee on a Wednesday in October are the ones changing.
If you're planning a summer weekend, keep it simple: put the Art Fair on July 18–20, block August 15 for Pride, sign the kayak waiver before Fourth of July so you can drop in on a Thursday morning without pre-registering, and get your late walks in before 10:30. Save the lighthouse for next year.
Let's Connect
If you own a home on Alki and you're curious how these small changes on the strip are shaping what buyers ask about, or you're thinking about what your place might do in this market, I'd love to talk. Reach out through Real Estate With Sav and we can trade notes over coffee at whichever new spot on Alki Ave you want to try first.
