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Black Coffee, anarchist co-op that left Capitol Hill, calls it quits

IMG_4484Eighteen months after announcing it was leaving “Capital Hell” and looking for a new Seattle home, anarchist cooperative Black Coffee says it has given up the search:

in the past year since we closed doors, we’ve met almost every week, looked at dozens of spaces and almost signed several leases. on multiple occasions we were within days of signing a lease, only to have things fall through. sometimes, it seemed like our reputation had preceded us. finally at the end of the summer our most promising space looked like it was going become a reality, only to fall apart at the last moment. doing what we wanted with the space would have gotten us kicked out and sued, not doing what we wanted would have meant abandoning the reasons we started black coffee to begin with. after six months of negotiation, even though we had secured financing and created a strong plan for the project, we had to walk away.

“We are burnt out, out of ideas, and our lives are moving on,” the Black Coffee announcement posted to Facebook reads. “It’s time to be done.”

Black Coffee began its search for a Capitol Hill home in 2012 describing itself as a worker’s cooperative “formed with the intention to create a cafe space and infoshop in Seattle.” It eventually settled into the space at 501 E Pine that had previously been home to Travelers but wrestled with the challenges of combining its social ideals with day to day operations. By the end of the summer of 2014, Black Coffee’s issues with neighboring businesses — and what its members said were neighborhood changes that made it financially (and emotionally) untenable to stay here” — inspired the collective to leave Capitol Hill. Despite the issues, the feisty collective had its fans. Black Coffee raised nearly $9,000 in pledges in a crowd-funding campaign to help with its move.

In its goodbye announcement, Black Coffee called on its supporters to create more spaces like the cafe with “a free market, a free library, a free food bin, free holiday meals, and a free parking space” — “a space where you didn’t have to spend money to hang out.”

“Please make more spaces like Black Coffee happen,” the message reads. “Anything that we did, you can do. The shape of the community changes, but the community stays.”

The E Pine space is now home to Public Bikes.

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16 Comments
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Aaron
Aaron
8 years ago

> sometimes, it seemed like our reputation had preceded us.

Yeah, no shit.

RWK
RWK
8 years ago
Reply to  Aaron

As if that was unfair. You reap what you sow.

Obi Wan
Obi Wan
8 years ago

I feel a profound sadness in the force as a faraway light goes dim…
Ooop– sorry, it was just gas, my mistake
excuse *me*

Mattypoo
Mattypoo
8 years ago

So where did all the money they raised go? $8883 to be exact.

really
really
8 years ago
Reply to  Mattypoo

To ANARCHY MAN!!

really
really
8 years ago

“doing what we wanted with the space would have gotten us kicked out and sued”

haha. And who did they think would lease to them then? What over-privileged idiots.

bobnewton
bobnewton
8 years ago

As someone who lives right near where Black Coffee used to be, everyone around here celebrated when they left and took the drugged out sidewalk sleepers with them.

Sandy
Sandy
8 years ago

Black Coffee was HORRIBLE for the neighborhood, and I’ve lived here for 10 years. They DID NOT help people, rather they gave homeless drug addicts and criminals and place to do their crime and then just watched as people overdosed on the sidewalk in front of their business.

I was glad when they left and doubly happy they are gone from Seattle forever.

Arlene
Arlene
8 years ago

Is this an instance where in their minds the failure of their venture only serves to affirm their beliefs and ideology?

pipeletto
pipeletto
8 years ago

Ah I loved that place. It was one of the few coffeeshops in this city where I could get a cup of coffee and actually have an interesting conversation with a stranger.

BC, you will be missed!

L
L
8 years ago

I was sad to see them go, and I’m sad to hear they won’t be back! Everyone that I interacted with there, patrons and co owners alike were all very sweet folks. I wish them all the best!

nettle
nettle
8 years ago

I liked them too. I was very comfortable eating and drinking coffee there. Loved their zines and library.

Next time, make sure your patrons don’t fuck up the shared bathrooms. Fuck the system, yeah, I get it…but respect what you share and be nice to your neighbors.

Roo
Roo
8 years ago

I wish they had taken their spray paint buddies at Art Primo along with them.

I am so sick of seeing public art, public spaces & community murals defaced & destroyed by Art Primo’s snotty suburban anarkid tagger clientele – all in the name of “creative freedom”.

wah
wah
8 years ago

They are real anti-CAPITAList. Hah.

andino131
andino131
8 years ago

muy bueno

A123
A123
8 years ago

That shared bathroom was the scariest place on Capitol Hill. I’d rather walk around Cal Anderson at night waving an iPhone or catcall drunk bros stumbling around Pike/Pine after 2am than go back in there. Anarchy is a terrible idea and I’m glad they’ve helped prove that.