It has been a couple weeks since we learned the latest twist in the drama around Bauhaus Coffee, the Melrose Building and the Pinevue Apartments. The developers say they won't be tearing the buildings down. What that will mean, exactly, will shake out in coming weeks. In the meantime, here is another take on the situation from our friends at Sprudge. What does the original Bauhaus mean to Seattle's coffee culture? Parts of the answer may surprise you -- "...the coffee at Bauhaus has never been very good, and the stereotype of the snooty, aloof barista may owe a small part of its origin story to Bauhaus," Sprudge writes. The rest, however, is mostly a love poem. We've paired the offering with a piece sent in to us by videographer Aurea Astro capturing some of the ambient sights and sounds of a few moments inside Bauhaus. You'll find both, below.... (more)

CHS can say it until we're SPD blue in the face -- the city's crime rates are relatively low and Capitol Hill is relatively safe. We'll be updating the numbers again soon. We assume datapoints like these haven't changed greatly. Incidents like this can blow any rational discussion away. If you're concerned about safety on the Hill and East Precinct policing, consider checking out this Thursday's edition of the monthly EastPac meeting.... (more)

Police are looking for a robbery suspect brazen enough to pay for his dinner using a credit card stolen in an armed street hold-up on Capitol Hill.

Police believe the man highlighted in these pictures is responsible for two street robberies in which he threatened his victims with an revolver. Details on the first incident in which a man was robbed of his wallet at gunpoint on April 30th are below. CHS reported on the second incident in which two women were robbed of their purses on May 4th at Summit and E Olive.... (more)

The Melrose Promenade would help more people capture some fantastic Seattle views

Four Capitol Hill area projects have been awarded $56,750 in Seattle grants to improve life on the Hill. The city’s Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple grant program funds, more or less, any non-profit group to take on, more or less, any project that’s free and beneficial to the community. The latest round of grants reveals some important community projects in the works including a new LGBT center on Broadway and a plan to transform one of the most underutilized streets on Capitol Hill.... (more)

Photo CHS

Looks like if you want to occupy Seattle Community Colleges, it'll have to be by daylight.

In a decision over an issue inspired by Occupy Seattle's short stay on Capitol Hill's Seattle Central Community College campus and debated for months now, the community colleges board of trustees voted to revise rules regarding protest on campus to restrict overnight camping. A statement released by SCC Chancellor, Jill Wakefield outlines the new provisions made to school policy in detail.

One newly added provision states that college and non-college groups may only "use the campus for first amendment activities between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m." ... (more)

The Bite on Broadway, the first big event for a grassroots group of Broadway merchants, drew light attendance on a rainy Sunday night. Some images from the event are below. Rather than critique the event itself, let's step it up a level. As a Capitol Hill consumer, what types of promotions do you want to be part of? Are events like the Bite up your alley? Do we need to close a street like Portland?... (more)

That's show biz. The woman who has helped fill summer nights in Cal Anderson Park with quirky, campy and queer cinema is moving on to a new role. Three Dollar Bill Cinema has announced that executive director Rachel Brister is leaving the non-profit to join the Greater Seattle Business Association. Details on her move -- and this summer's slate of Brister-inspired flicks planned for Cal Anderson -- below.... (more)

This is your Manhattan without Drugs (Image: Manhattan)

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• One of the most interesting stories of the Capitol Hill food and drink economy over the last three years has been the rise of Laura Olson and Chris Pardo as some of the most active innovators in the scene. In relatively rapid succession, the duo's Pterodactyl Group has opened Po Dog, Auto Battery, Grim's, Manhattan Drugs and, now, The Social/EVO Tapas on Capitol Hill. CHS fields rumors on a semi-regular basis of plans for more. For now, however, there will be less.

Olson and Pardo are out at 12th Ave steakhouse concept Manhattan Drugs leaving a man in control of the restaurant who, until now, had been a silent partner in the project funding the restaurant from its beginning. Though, really, remaining Manhattan partner Jin Park remains silent, at least as far as CHS is concerned. We talked to a representative for the investor turned restauranteur to ask about what happened and what's next at the restaurant -- now re-dubbed to a simplified, and focused Manhattan.... (more)

Seattle Police are looking for this man who a woman says attacked her in a frightening incident in late April on Capitol Hill. Details on the attack and the attacker's description from SPD are below. We'll follow up with more as we learn it.

Seattle police need your help identifying a man who attacked a woman on Capitol hill last month.

On April 28, 2012, the victim made plans to meet a friend at a club near Boylston Avenue E. and E. Olive Way. At approximately 10:30 p.m.,the victim parked her car near a coffee shop on E. Olive Way. The victim was using a GPS App on her phone to navigate her way from her car to the club.

The suspect approached the victim at E. Olive Wy and offered to escort her to the club. They walked eastbound on E. Olive Wy. He led her northbound on Belmont Av E. and then turned eastbound on E. Thomas St. The victim looked at her phone and realized they were going in the opposite direction of the club. The suspect led her into an alley off of E. Thomas St and said this would get them back toward the club.... (more)

Keep retail off Capitol Hill's residential streets. That was the message attendees at Thursday's Capitol Hill Community Council meeting will send to city officials in the coming days.

“The development community has a interest in controlling as much space as possible,” said Hill resident Oliver Osborne at the meeting. “It has nothing to do with the needs of the community.”

Debate over the city council's Regulatory Reform package took up the bulk of the Capitol Hill Community Council's most recent meeting Thursday night. Included in a long list of tweaks, updates and economic enhancements to Seattle's development and planning code, the 67-page zoning overhaul would also enable small commercial and retail outfits to permeate off arterial roads into areas of the Hill many consider residential.... (more)

In addition to vigorous debate over potential changes to the city's zoning laws around small commercial development in residential areas of Seattle, the most recent Capitol Hill Community Council meeting also revealed an important naming decision moving forward with Sound Transit's U-Link project that will bring light rail to Capitol Hill by 2016. As we see, it you have two choices -- and it's a pretty big deal as far as the long-term "brand" of the light rail line and the neighborhood go.

Should it be Capitol Hill Station -- or Broadway Station?... (more)

I always thought that you needed an ice cream maker to make ice cream. Not so! I’m not saying this recipe is a completely casual undertaking, given the daredevil feat of making a dark amber caramel. But once that's done, all you need are a pan and a fork and a bit of freezer space to produce a perfectly creamy scoop of Molly Moon's salted caramel ice cream at home.... (more)

Shawn- Broadway & Denny... (more)

Here are the top posts from this week in 2011:

• Harvard Exit theater cleared during SIFF screening of Earth Liberation Front movie
• WSDOT's *other* battle: Hill neighborhood group ready to fight against 520 plan
• Jury will hear Broadway Steps copyright lawsuit
• Another break-in reported as man arrested near Capitol Hill burglary hotspot awaits charges
• Spinasse expands, Artusi at side, Skillet's crazy start, 'G' for Grubwich
• The Confectional and its mini-cheesecakes go big on north Broadway
• With a splash of champagne, tunneling to Capitol Hill begins

IMG_4253, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

After a few false starts, Capitol Hill's first new dance club to open in years debuted Friday night to an enthusiastic crowd and with only a few reported hiccups. Is it hot in here or is it just me!?!

It's me.

Picture of the first Friday night at The Social and its little friend EVO Tapas Kitchen, below.... (more)

Here are details of a few issues the Seattle Fire Department and police tackled around Capitol Hill on Saturday. If you see an incident others should know about, send email to chs@capitolhillseattle.com, or call/txt CHS HQ at (206) 399-5959.

• Car vs. bike on Belmont: A bicyclist suffered injuries Saturday morning on Belmont Ave E after a reported collision with a car. No details on what caused the crash just before 11a but the cyclist's injuries were not life-threatening and the driver was not cited.
• Car vs. Puch in Central District: The rider of a Puch suffered serious injuries when the moped was struck by a car at the intersection of 25th and Spring early Saturday morning. SPD says the motorized cycle's rider showed signs of alcohol impairment when he was evaluated following the 1:30a crash. Our partners at CDNews have more details on the incident.
• Small fire at E Pike apartment building: The usual large contingent of Seattle Fire units that respond to fire alarms at multi-family structures arrived at an apartment building at 617 E Pike Saturday afternoon to find a small fire burning in a planter on the building. SFD was able to use a "deck gun" from a fire engine to quickly knock down the flames. The department says discarded smoking material was to blame. The fire did $500 worth of damage.

This week, the crow learns that the "young" in "young republican" stands for "cupcake." What did you learn?

What are you up to this evening?
I just got off work -- I work over at Cupcake Royale -- and I’m waiting for my friend to pick me up.

Do you have time to answer a few questions for CHS?
Sure, but my friend will be here soon, so there’s a possibility that we’ll be rudely interrupted. If that happens…well, just make something up!

Seriously?! I can just make something up?
Sure, that’ll be fun! I’ll look forward to reading it.

Okay, then … so where are you headed to this evening?
I’m going to a Toby Keith concert.

Country singer Toby Keith? You mean, like, ironically?
Why would that be ironic?... (more)

Artist Jeff "Weirdo" Jacobson will be creating a mural today (inspired by the upcoming June 1st SAMRemix) from 11:30am - 7pm outside of The Stumbling Monk on Capitol Hill. Swing by and watch the mural creation in process! ...

(Image: CHS)

The Seattle barstool urban environment theory of Liz Dunn and her Melrose Market as catalyst for development and reshaping Capitol Hill might have something to it. Or maybe Dunn just went first. The early work to create a new 115-unit apartment building with 1,100 square feet of retail behind Melrose Market got started Friday at the base of Capitol Hill. 

With construction underway at Bellevue and Pine, and the process starting on the plan to develop Melrose and Pine, the 2010-born Melrose Market will be at the center of a rapidly changing lower Pike/Pine.... (more)

• 18th Ave purse snatcher gets away: A witness called 911 Thursday afternoon after seeing a woman robbed of her purse on 18th Ave. Police arrived but couldn't find the perpetrator, the witness -- or the victim. Police received another call some 90 minutes later from the victim in the crime. She told police she had been walking in the 1700 block of 18th Ave when someone ran up behind her, grabbed her bag and dashed off. The report on the incident does not include information from the victim on why she decided to wait to call police.
• Man beaten after stepping into Dick's altercation: A man who stepped in when he believed a man was mistreating a woman at the Broadway Dick's Drive-In Thursday night ended up getting beaten up for his concern. According to police, the victim told officers he was at Dick's around 11p when he saw a man slapping a woman at the popular late night food spot. The victim said he confronted the male -- reported to be around 6'1" and 175 pounds -- and called him a "Nazi" because of the man's black combat boots with red laces. The suspect told the victim to mind his own business. The victim told police he walked away from the restaurant and was followed by the suspect to the corner of Broadway and E John where the angry male allegedly slapped the Dick's bag out of the victim's hands. The victim continued to try to walk away but the suspect followed and punched him in the face near 10th and E John. The victim said he fell to the ground where the suspect continued to punch him in the face until a witness called 911 and the suspect fled the scene. An area check for a man matching the suspect description was not successful. The victim was treated by Seattle Fire at the scene for injuries to his face.

Sherlock Holmes says, "The wheel turns; nothing is ever new." Evidence number one: the First Hill streetcar. Its shiny, new set of wheels will soon turn again on the buried bones of the oldest streetcar on Capitol Hill.

If you're well schooled on Capitol Hill history, you know these origin stories: David Denny began selling and leasing John Nagle's property along Broadway in 1880, and James Moore developed the Capitol Hill area near Volunteer Park after 1900. We're going to talk about the period in between, a piece of early streetcar history that has not been chronicled.... (more)

Other things to do at CHBP. From 2011's Day One (Image: CHS)

We've been hearing a lot about changes coming for the Capitol Hill Block Party starting with this July's 2012 edition. One of the new additions apparently will take the form of an arts program at the three-day festival curated by Ghost Gallery's Laurie Kearney.

This week, Kearney began circulating information on a fundraising effort to help provide stipends to artists participating in the Block Party visual art program.... (more)

118/365 - Bike Parking,
uploaded by Meghan A.

Friday is Bike to Work Day, and there will be bike commute stations set up all over the region to give people passing by a little boost or a place to rest. Many commuters will make their way to City Hall for an 8 a.m. rally. For more details on Bike to Work Day festivities, see this post over at Seattle Bike Blog.

Stations around the neighborhood include one on Seattle U's campus, Stevens Elementary, Top Pot at Lakeview and Belmont and Eltana Bagels at Schemata Workshop on 12th Ave. A map from Cascade Bicycle Club is below.... (more)

QFC Liquor, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

Unlike the plans for the soon-to-be-former state liquor store at 12th and Pine, the Broadway store has faced a more uncertain future -- there might be a more lucrative way to put the property to use than joining the new era of privatized spirits retailing on Capitol Hill.

The Washington Liquor Control Board announced this week that the winning bidder for the rights to the Broadway store has backed out on his bid making the store one of 18 in the state heading for another auction one week before the June 1st rollover to the new way of doing booze business:... (more)

There's already a lot going on around Capitol Hill this weekend -- but let us know if we're missing your special event. You can always add items to the free CHS Events Calendar here. Don't forget to stop by the Bite on Broadway on Sunday, the first big event for the Broadway Business Owners Association.

Thursday 5/17

• May Capitol Hill Community Council Meeting 6 - 8P at Cal Anderson Shelter House
• Free GLBT Legal Clinic Meets Monthly in Seattle 7 - 9P at QLAW
• VOCALPOINT! SEATTLE PRESENTS "POP QUIZ!" 8P - 10:30P at Broadway Performance Hall
• Spanish Dancers: Unforgettable Wine tasting at Vino Verite
• SIFF 2012 begins...