We reported over the weekend about the preparations to open the second 'secret' Starbucks on Capitol Hill taking an odd step backward -- a worker painted over a recently completed Roy Street Coffee sign above the new shop. No matter. Starbucks says it's a go for a Wednesday opening. Here's our favorite line from the media announcement, below:

Like other new stores we’ve opened recently – 1st and Pike and University Village in Seattle, Paris Disney and Conduit Street in London, this coffeehouse is a celebration of the community’s personality and values.

Capitol Hill is just like Paris Disney. Here's the announcement:

On Wednesday, Starbucks will open our new Roy Street Coffee & Tea, inspired by Starbucks, in Seattle, WA.  In the same spirit as 15th Ave. Coffee & Tea, Roy Street Coffee & Tea is a new concept coffeehouse that reflects the local neighborhood’s values and personality and celebrates the Pacific Northwest’s coffee heritage, materials and artists.

Like other new stores we’ve opened recently – 1st and Pike and University Village in Seattle, Paris Disney and Conduit Street in London, this coffeehouse is a celebration of the community’s personality and values. Like all new Starbucks stores, whether they are Starbucks branded or the new concept stores, Roy Street Coffee & Tea uses regional materials, features the work of local artists and is designed for sustainability. We look forward to being a part of the vibrant and resurgent Broadway neighborhood when Roy Street Coffee & Tea opens on Wednesday.

We invite you to a media preview event tomorrow with Major Cohen and Liz Muller from Starbucks Global Development team as they discuss the design and construction strategies behind the new concept. As the second store in Starbucks LEED® Volume Certification pilot program (announced just last week), Tony Gail with Starbucks Environmental Impact team, will also be onsite to discuss Starbucks goal is to significantly reduce its environmental footprint through green construction, energy and water conservation, and recycling. Additionally, store manager, Jacob Webber, will be available to discuss the Roy Street Coffee & Tea’s connection to the surrounding neighborhood.

You might recall that the opening of the company's first stealth 'indie'-styled cafe on 15th Ave inspired a few shenanigans. We'll see what happens at Roy and Broadway on Wednesday morning.

PoDog fits in with the gritty, industrial surroundings . . . and then there's the pug

We attended a friends & family event last night and can report that  Po Dog is ready for the public starting today .  We were pleased with our choice of a couple of Veggie Dogs (smartly - they are using field roast ) with a side of fries and PBRs on tap.  We then split a Chicago Dog (you can substitute a field roast dog in any of their offerings).  A great cheap meal for under $30.  Po Dog is located at 1009 East Union (next to the Lifelong Thrift Store) and hours of operation will be: Mon-Thu 11am-Midnight, Fri-Sat 11am-3am, Sun 11am-10pm

Po Dog already has a Happy Hour offering.  Hours will be 4:30 - 6:30 M-F.  Included food: Mini Dog Sliders ($4.97) and Homemade Chips & Fries ($1.75).  Included Drink: PBR Draft ($2), Manny's Draft ($3), Domestic Bottles ($2.5) and Import ($3).

Curtis Bigelow talks with a worker putting the finishing touches on the Lobby Bar

CHS was lucky enough to join co-owner Curtis Bigelow for a quick tour of the transformed space that was once King Cobra and will soon be the new Lobby Bar . But this picture was the only shot I could take -- the new project is still under construction and under wraps. The transformation is impressive. Bigelow says he and Paul Villa hope to create a space for members of the LGBT community who are interested in getting a good, reasonably priced drink in an comfortable, inviting environment -- and the people that love them.

An elegant seating area with black glass chandeliers greets you on entry to the new space. A massive, marble-topped bar dominates the center of the Lobby. Behind the bar is a mix of finished, glossy cabinetry and the rough exposed brick of the building's walls. Staircases to the left and and right invite you to the upper level where the railing will invite you to spy on the activities below.

Bigelow told CHS he and Villa hoped to open in early December but -- like most new businesses -- Lobby is facing delays in permitting. As for the newly announced next-door business The Money Tree, CHS had heard rumors that the location would house a sandwich shop, but Bigelow said the money lenders have been mostly good neighbors so far.

As the Seattle Times (via the Associated Press) reported this morning, there was an early morning fire on 11th Avenue between Republican and Mercer.  We have a call in to the Seattle Fire Department for additional information:

Smoking in bed started a fire that injured two men early today in an older house that had been converted to apartments, according to the Seattle Fire Department.

Spokeswoman Dana Vander Houwen says firefighters responding about 2:30 a.m. found one man in a room. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries.

She says another man who was able to get out of the house on his own also was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover.

Damage is estimated at [$]20,000 to the three-story house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Update (11/11) 2:19 pm: CHS has learned that the man who started the fire has died

Update (11/11) 2:51 pm: Line Out identifies Comet Bouncer Ben Hills as the man killed in the fire

Update (11/11) 5:08 pm: Line...

A purse snatcher tried to ruin this man's Halloween by snagging his bag from his gorilla-suited paws. All the thief made off with was the man's car keys. Props to the gorilla for finishing his night of fun before going to the fuzz.

The gorilla did it! Sorry for the error!

Meanwhile, Capitol Hill was the site of one of *two* unrelated bleach attacks in the city. More from our partner site, SeattleCrime.com:

On October 31st, 10:30 a.m. a man walked in to Duvall's apartment building on 10th Ave E and E Roy inquiring about renting an apartment. Duvall, prosecutors say, approached the man and threw a coffee mug full of bleach in the man's face

Five hours later, court records say Duvall, 40, approached a woman on 10th Avenue E and E Roy carrying two yellow tumblers. As he passed the woman, records say, he turned and threw bleach into the woman's face. Moments later, Duvall approached another man riding his bike on Roy Street and threw a cup of bleach in his face, and ran back into his building. Duvall's neighbors identified him to police, who took him in to custody.

SeattleCrime is the project of former Stranger reporter Jonah Spangenthal-Lee. In addition to the occasional crime news of the weird (see above), Jonah has been adding great reporting to the citywide coverage of the Tim Brenton murder investigation.

In addition to quality local journalism, SeattleCrime also has some pretty cool bells and whistles that we continue to work on. You'll be seeing more of these tools in our CHS crime reporting.

The SeattleCrime Map is especially useful. We're mapping 911 callouts, Central District News scanner reports and police reports from across the city. We're still refining and fixing things like enabling permalinks but it's already a pretty interesting tool. You can use it to drill down on any area in the city to see what from the crime files has been happening lately. Here's a view of recent automobile-related theft on Capitol Hill. Can't show you the trend yet -- but take my word for it, there's been a bump in the last few weeks with a mini-outbreak between Broadway and I-5 shores.

Welcome Jonah and his team to the Seattle Internet. Oh, and don't forget to remove your valuables from your car.

It appears as though a man was hit by a car on 15th and Madison, but details are fuzzy. At least 17 patrol cars, 2 fire engines, and 2 ambulances showed up. Another man in a wheel chair seemed involved as well. Update to follow.

You might not have noticed but another large media entity has geared up to offer a 'hyperlocal' site for Capitol Hill. The Seattle PI has had a Cap Hill blog forever but they recently gave it the same upgrade they've rolled out in a few other neighborhoods in the city. You can check out the Seattle PI site here. Or just enjoy this fine screen grab and save the click.

Like the PI's effort in other neighborhoods, the Hearst-backed online news outfit isn't committing any dedicated reporters or photographers to Capitol Hill and its posts come from unpaid community members. Contrary to what you might think, CHS is happy to have more people writing about the Hill -- we just wish they weren't doing it in a way that lines the pockets of a big corporation. Why not start your own site?

If you would like to help line our pockets, however, anybody can post an article to CHS. You just need an account -- then click the Post link in the menu and let it rip. And if you're serious about it, drop us a line and we can add you to our revenue sharing program. Yup -- unlike the PI, we pay. We're a community site, full of community voices. We welcome you to join the conversation.

Broadway retail had another hole poked in the middle of it tonight as, under the cover of darkness, employees scrambled to gut the Hollywood Video next to Dick's Burgers and directly across the street from the empty lot where Sound Transit's light rail station construction is soon to begin.

A sign on the door said the location is permanently closing and directed customers to the next closest Hollywood Video in Magnolia. Despite the sign, a customer tried the locked door before dropping his movie in the return slot. He said he had just joined Hollywood's monthly movie plan.

UPDATE: Adding some information about the building itself, the $2.8 million, three-story brick building was built in 1929 and is owned by Ron and Edel Amundson, according to King County records. It is also home to online provider of phonics-based spelling lessons, Headsprout and a company called Antique Cycle Northwest. From the Department of Neighborhoods:

Historic Name:      Del-Teet Furniture     &...

• Tuesday 11/17/09, 6PM at Miller Community Center: Join former Mayor Norm Rice for the kick-off of a major update to Seattle's Comprehensive Plan "Seattle 2030 and Beyond". 6 - 8 PM, presentation at 6:30. Mayor Rice introduced the "urban village" idea to Seattle, back in the 90's.
• Most of you sensibly avoided going out last Tuesday to the "Neighborhood Plan Status Check" presentation. After an introduction by Sally Clark, the 30 or so of us Queen Anne/Belltown/Pike-Pine/First Hill/Eastlake/Cap Hill/Centralites were treated to a brief Powerpoint presentation, and then broke into our separate areas (I attended the Central Area one). We discussed minutae, voted on priorities via sticky dots, then decided we couldn't even read the accursed neighborhood planning matrix in the time available, let alone comment sensibly on it.
• YOU can achieve much more, from the comfort of your couch, by reading the summaries of discussions and answers to questionnaires for the Capitol Hill area (attached here, more at Planning Commission...

This upcoming Wednesday there will be an Early Design Guidance Meeting for the mixed-use apartment complex proposed for Thomas and Broadway (details below). The site includes the properties that house Cafe Septieme, Noah's Bagels, Pho 900, Bank of America, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, and the Broadway Farmer's Market, among others and will have approximately 24,000 sqft of commercial space, 235 residential units, and about 250-275 parking spaces. The project is being developed by SRM Development and the Merrill Gardens Company, a family-owned, Seattle-based company behind the Merrill Gardens Retirement Communities throughout the United States (and most recently at U-Village).

The project is pretty standard in terms of new Capitol Hill development. Ground floor retail will front Broadway and wrap around Thomas St with upper floors consisting of mainly studios and one bedrooms, with a few 2 bedrooms interspersed. The building will drop from 65ft along Broadway to 40ft along 10th Ave and 7 Live/Work units will front the ground floor of 10th. Since it is early in the design process there are no official designs for the facade but the proposal does include a few sketches of possibilities. In talks, SRM Representative Andy Loos has repeatedly mentioned Brix as something similar in scope and design.

First Floor Plan

While all the existing buildings will be demolished, Loos said that current commercial tenants have been contacted and offered space when construction was complete. Bank of America has already agreed to return to the new building and are currently looking for a temporary location in the vicinity. No others have confirmed. Loos also said that the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce would "certainly be welcome" when construction was completed but the Chamber's Jack Hilovsky said that they are looking for a new location for when their lease is up next Fall and don't have plans to return at this time.

The most intriguing part of the proposal is a community space that would be available to tenants as well as community groups and organizations. While nothing has been confirmed (entrance location, square footage, included equipment, etc.) I am told that Merrill Gardens incorporated a similar space in their U-Village development.

Idea for 10th Ave Entrance

The least intriguing part is the parking. Even though the site will be less than one block from the new light rail station, the First Hill Streetcar, and bus routes 8,9,43,49, and 60 and is zoned with no parking requirements, the developers are still proposing more than 250 parking spots. I asked Loos if there was any chance that the parking could be reduced. His reply:

We have discussed the parking spaces and will do further review to determine how many we will provide.  We certainly don’t want to be under-parked since finding spaces on the street in Capitol Hill is virtually impossible today and if our residents were to have to find street parking in order to park their cars we’d be adding to an already significant parking problem.  There could be a segment of the residents that have cars but choose to use public transportation anyway.  They will still need a parking space even though they don’t use their car every day…we want to be able to accommodate them.  We certainly don’t want to build parking spaces that

I guess you can't win them all.

Project: 230 Broadway E  map

Review Meeting:	November 18, 6:30 pm
	SU Alumni Relations & Admissions Building
	824 12th Ave  map
	Meeting Room
Review Phase:	EDG--Early Design Guidance past reviews
Project Number:	3009249 permit status | notice
Planner: Lisa Rutzik

New management at PIke Street Fish Fry means more freebies for you.  If you haven't been to Pike Street Fish Fry in a while, give their new french fries a try.  The $2 Fat Tires & Mothership Wit (my favorite in the New Belgium lineup) should be a draw too.  Let us know how the fries are in a review.  CHS apologizes  for the goof last month - hours for the free giveaway are most definitely 5 to 7 this Friday (11/20).  

For the next month, a very large percentage of your daily Seattle news intake will be produced within a three-block radius on Capitol Hill.

CHS has new officemates today as the staff of Publicola are making their temporary home here at Office Nomads for a month before they move back to Belltown and into new office digs.

For 'Cola's Josh Feit and Erica Barnett, it's a return to their Capitol Hill stomping grounds from their days at the Stranger. With the Slog's nerve center still operating across from Bobby Morris playfield and Cal Anderson Park, Pine is suddenly the city's new, new media corridor. For a month, at least. But that's like three years in Internet time.

Monday is the deadline for community suggestions to name the two new parks being built on Capitol Hill. An e-mail from Capitol Hill Community Council president Jennifer Power spells out the parks department rules:

The Park Naming Committee is comprised of one representative designated by the Board of Park Commissioners, one by the Chair of the City Council Parks and Seattle Center Committee, and one by the Parks Superintendent. Criteria the committee considers in naming parks include: geographical location, historical or cultural significance, and natural or geological features. A park may be named for a person no longer living (deceased a minimum of three years) who made a significant contribution to parks and/or recreation. The Park Naming Committee will consider all suggestions and make a recommendation to the Superintendent, who makes the final decision.

Suggestions should be sent to paula.hoff@seattle.gov

We've written about the naming process several times -- here are most of the suggestions we've seen on CHS. The only one we can endorse is the idea to name the 16th at Howell greenspace after Gray Lambert, the activist nearby Lambert House is named for. Some other ideas from CHS comments:

Summit at John An angled, sloped walkway separating a grassy grade and community garden plots. With skateboard element and picnic area	Howell at 16th A level turf area in the middle of the site, bordered by a collective garden to the north and a crushed rock plaza and allee to the south
Suggestions: Paradise Park Summit Slope Park Wayside Park Rest Stop Park	Suggestions: Shannon Harps Park Desmond Tutu Park Queen City Park Emerald City Park Parkcrest Park Maidan Park Flattop Park Mia Zapata Park Riot Park Seven Hills Park Capitolinus Park Second Hill Park Lambert Gray Park Obama's mother's park

Maybe we're not as tuned into the Hill's history as we should be but there aren't any ideas that seem like obvious choices. Honoring Cal Anderson at the time the Hill's park was being built, wrote community organizer Kay Rood, just seemed right:

State Senator Cal Anderson died of AIDS in August 1995, just as Groundswell was mobilizing on our first big grant project. One of our steering committee members suggested that we name the new park for him, and the idea seemed just right from the very beginning. I never knew Cal, but I know from all I have read and heard that he was an exceptional person. Widely praised for his work ethic and personal integrity, he worked tirelessly on behalf of the disenfranchised. A park in the heart of the 43rd District named for him would bring a pride of place to our community, a new name for a new future. We tucked the idea away. I figured we would know when the time was right to propose it, which was not until we had assurances that there would be a park worthy of Cal’s name.

Other Capitol Hill parks followed a more random path to naming. Tashkent Park, for example, is named for Seattle's sister city in Uzbekistan. There's a Jimi Hendrix Park (not on Cap Hill) -- why not a Kurt Cobain Park?

Some other notables with Capitol Hill ties who died in recent years:

• AIDS activist Bill Lake
• playwright August Wilson
• philanthropist James Ray
• politician and pharmacist George Benson and his wife Evelyn Benson
• peace activist Richard Carbray

Photo by Yehudit Solomon

Fore! Smash Putt, "a temporary mini golf course/art installation on Capitol Hill," is open for play:

Assembled inside a dingy 12th Avenue building by Rusty Oliver and a group of industrial artists who call themselves the Hazard Factory, it's 10 holes featuring crazy contraptions involving catapults, air compressors, power tools and 33-1/3 rpm turntables.

At hole No. 2, which is called "Driving Range," you can launch a ball through an air-powered machine gun toward the upturned innards of a piano: "Clang — ng-ng-ng."

At hole No. 5, "Roulette Francaise," a motorized scooter turns a platform that shoots your ball off in one of four directions — one containing a hole. (And feel free to toot the scooter's horn whenever, just for fun.)

View Larger Map

There's also beer and snacks in the Miniature Golf Apocalypse clubhouse. You can buy tickets and get more info at http://www.smashputt.com/ The playing season is a short one -- Smash Putt will only be open for play these final three weekends of November.

The Hazard...

An unexpected scene for a new business gearing up for their opening -- the freshly painted sign for Roy Street Coffee is being painted back over this afternoon by the same man we saw creating the large white letters earlier this week. Not sure what was behind the paint over. The marketing folks were excited by the sign. Perhaps the coffee giant is changing its mind about opening its second Stealthbucks on the Hill. More likely, somebody in corporate didn't like the look. We'll probably have to wait for a leaked memo to find out.

Viper Creek Club is hosting a music video shoot tomorrow (11/14) at 7 pm.  Here are the details from Brandon Jensen, Viper Creek Club's guitarist: "757 Broadway E. 7pm, 21+. We'll have a keg, but byob as well. House party video shoot!"  Seattle Show Gal has a full length interview with both Jensen and lead singer, Mat Wisner and some more information regarding the video shoot.  They will be filming a video for their single Eliza.

Artist ELITE, whose work was featured at Throwbacks NW this month, spotted at Featherston Gallery admiring the works of fellow artist Elizabeth Jameson (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

Observing "Post-Bellum" by Elizabeth Jameson at the Featherston Gallery (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

Guitarist Reji LeFleuer plays on the steps at Retail Therapy, adding sound to the paintings by featured artist Jenna Colby (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

Babeland's Plastic Porn (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

Listeners in Steampunk attire listen to Cherie Priest read her similarly themed Sci-Fi novel, "Boneshaker" at 15th Ave Coffee & Tea (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)

Some highlights from this second Thursday's Blitz Capitol Hill Arts Walk.  Live music at some of the venues this time:  Katherine Hepburn's Voice  at Cupcake Royale (7 pm),(KHV broke up! no band for Cupcake Royale!), Reji Lefleur at Retail Therapy (5 pm) and Lushy at Fetherston Gallery (6 pm). Note that  Seattle Asian Art Museum provides free admission during Blitz (5 pm to 8 pm). A few samples of what you'll see this month and a map of all the venues, below.

Maria Toro at Retrofit

Marion Resur at Caffe Ladro

Elizabeth Jameson at Fetherston

Atlas Clothing celebrates the one year anniversary of the new location for its Capitol Hill store on November 11 at  Sole Repair.  It will be a Free "Mad Men"-themed party and fashion show between 8 and 11 pm.  "We invite the Capitol Hill community to join us" says Holly Ricciardi, an Atlas Sales Representative.  

photo by Julie Harmsen