You might have seen the ads on CHS -- they are our peculiar little gift to a friend leaving the neighborhood -- Bailey Coy Books has announced their final day of business will be Friday. But you'll have another chance to say goodbye. Bailey Coy is hosting its own wake party on December 3rd:

Our final day of normal sales operation will be this Friday, November 20th.

BUT...Please join us for our party/wake/auction/fundraising event that promises to be a blast!!!

For 26 years, Bailey/Coy Books served as Capitol Hill's literary hub, providing the community with a place to be amongst books, talk about literature and meet their favorite authors.

On Thursday, December 3, we're holding a wake for the store, in memory of all those years, and celebrating the customers who've walked through the doors, the authors we've hosted, the generations of books we've sold and the staff who have served us so well.

We'll also hold an auction of the memorabilia we've collected over the years.  We want to say good-bye in style - and raise some cash to help the store.

Auctioneer Laura Michalek will oversee bidding on a pair of white boxer shorts signed by David Sedaris, original cartoons out of our guestbook by Matt Groening and Lynda Barry, a poster signed by Annie Leibovitz, an original painting from the Big Fucking Hands series by Ellen Forney, signed first editions and other very special and very odd items. We'll also auction off dates with two of Capitol Hill's celebrity politicians, State Senator Ed Murray and City Councilmember Sally Clark.

Entertainment will be provided by Fuschia Foxxx and the magnificent Dina Martina.  Food and champagne will be served, all provided by local Capitol Hill eateries such as Poppy, Table 219, Charlie's and High Five Pies. Tickets are $40. We will pop the champagne open at 6 PM--the entertainment, and the auction, will begin promptly at 7.

Tickets will be available at BrownPaperTickets.com or at the door.  Space is limited - so buy early and buy often.

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/90672

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     &...

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

The Stranger's Lineout blog -- where they still write about things Seattle -- reports that Sonic Boom's new location down on Melrose isn't going to be ready in time for its planned mid-November opening. SB says in its latest e-mail newsletter that it is now targeting a December 7th opening. Sonic Boom recently closed shop on 15th Ave after six years. We reported back in June that the move would both make way for Olympia Pizza to expand into the Sonic Boom space and allow SB owner Jason Hughes to be neighbors with his girlfriend Tes de Luna's also-soon-to--open shop on Melrose, Velouria.

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A Broadway small business has become entangled in business deal involving a wide-ranging Web of businesses and charities that has cost the independent retailer more than $20,000 in losses, according to its owner.

Bliss Soaps' owner Phil Wright tells CHS that he and his co-owner Chuck Sapronetti lost more than $20,000 on a wholesale order arranged with a business called Emperor's Essentials, a health and supplement product provider headquartered in Florida but active here in Washington state. Wright said everything with the deal -- one of the largest they've ever had -- seemed on the up and up until the last few weeks. Nearly three months after Bliss delivered the goods and got paid, Wright says Robert Friend, head of Emperor's Essentials, reversed the charges.

"He paid us. We made the products. Then he reversed the charges three months later. We didn't know which way to turn with it," Wright said.

Friend, it turns out, is not a stranger to financial controversy. He and his wife are involved with a group of charities that has been investigated for its questionable practices. Here is a Seattle PI article about the couple from 2007. Most recently, the activities of the American Veterans Coalition, which lists Friend as its 'registered agent,' were under scrutiny as the Gig Harbor-based charity settled claims in Arkansas and Kentucky. The office of the Washington State Attorney General would not comment on whether it is -- or is not -- investigating any of the charities Friend is involved with. Those include the AVC, the Cancer Assistance Network, the Disabled Firefighters Foundation, and the National Association for Disabled Police Officers. We have also requested information from the AG on any complaints against Friend, his organizations and his company, Emperor's Essentials. None of the organizations were included in the state's recent busts of so-called 'badge charities.

CHS also talked to Rebecca Sherrell, charities program manager for the Washington Secretary of State's office. Sherrell said her office had no documentation of any state actions against the Friend charities.

Back at Bliss, Wright said he didn't know what to do. So he gave Friend -- somebody he says he's known from the business world for seven years -- a call.

"He tries to intimidate," Wright said of Friend." "'I'm so right,' 'you don't have a chance.' I think a lot of people back down from the intimidation."

CHS got a small taste of this when we contacted Friend at his Gig Harbor home through a number provided on one of his organizations' Web sites. Friend answered the phone with a cheery "Emperor's Essentials!" Then he learned he was talking to a reporter. "Do not call me," Friend said. "This is a private residence and I do not want this to happen again."

Later that night, Friend forwarded us this e-mail without additional comment:

Phil and Chuck,

 I am going to press criminal charges, a restraining order, and harassment charges, and take this to court very quickly if you do not stop your threats and harassment. Brian and I have been gentlemen to this point. Enough is enough. All your text's are documented and ready to be supplied to the legal authorities as needed. They are in black and white. There is no wiggle room in what  you are doing. Some of what you are committing is criminal, and a lot is blat en civil wrongs.

 We feel you have miss led us, duped us, and not provided us with what we have paid you for. We also feel you still owe us a sizable sum of money and have caused us large financial losses. Let's let the courts hand down a decision.

 I suggest you allow the courts to deal with this and they will decide whom owes whom what. We have everything documented and we will provide it accordingly at the prescribed time. I am sure you are aware that Chase called last night and are leaving the charge backs right where they are, with Emperor's Essentials. They have your documents and they have ours, and they have made their decision accordingly.

 We have been trying to be patient with you, but one more action, or phone call like today and we are filing charges.

 Be under no allusion, you have been put on notice. Govern yourselves accordingly.

 Robert Friend

Wright said Bliss won't back down.

"Yesterday, the intimidation almost worked until we saw the support of people coming out to support us," Wright said. Bliss sent out an e-mail to customers telling them about the situation and announcing a sale to help the shop recoup some of their losses.

"We've made most of it back," Wright said of the response. "We were getting an order an average of every two minutes online."

But Bliss isn't finished. Wright said he expects to report the deal gone bad to the State Attorney General's office and will pursue the matter in court.

"I don't know anything about the process," Wright said. "When you run a super honest business you usually don't care about these kinds of things."

Sunrise from iLike, originally uploaded by firewallender.

Back in August, CHS reported on Capitol Hill startup iLike getting gobbled up by social media giant MySpace for $13.5 million plus $6 million in 'talent retention.' We wondered at the time how long iLike would remain in their Boylston Ave office space after the deal.

The answer? Not long.

We heard that iLike was on the move and we have been asking their PR person for information but never got confirmation. No bother. We saw an iLike employee's tweet about the in-progress move Wednesday morning. The iLike folks are heading downtown to join other MySpace development teams on Western Ave.

Adios, iLike. We'll see if we can get some more info from the iLike folks about the move but given MySpace's investment in their downtown offices, probably not much Capitol Hill could have done to keep them.

Another mystery nightclub is for sale on Capitol Hill. Which one do you think this is?

Established Capitol Hill Nightclub  $800,000 2 bars; Special amenities; Great lease; turnkey Gross $1.12M.

Clues indicate it is a currently open, high volume establishment. Let's start with eliminating contenders: not Neumos (3 bars, right?) not King Cobra (they were only asking $500K earlier this year).

Which "nightclub" with "special amenities" do you think this is? The Garage? The War Room? Chop Suey?

That price is a real stunner, innit? Here's a brief rundown of other Capitol Hill area businesses currently for sale, all with lower price tags:

Rosebud  $295,000; India Express  $190,000; and Swoon  $65,000.  Slightly off-Hill listings include: Quiznos (Madison)  $179,000;  and Plaza Select Foods (Madison) $60,000.

And now for the bonus round:
 There's a handful of  no-name-please businesses for sale who have self-identified as being in the Capitol HIll neighborhood....

Fair to say Twice Sold Tales qualifies as one of the Hill’s venerable businesses. Owner Jamie Lutton first started selling used books out of a cart in the old Broadway Market in 1987; the move to her own store front off Broadway on East John Street came in 1990, after which the store evolved into a neighborhood fixture and a business that helped define Capitol Hill.

So it's worth considering how Twice Sold Tales is doing after Sound Transit took over the block and tore down the store and other buildings to make way for Broadway’s light-rail station. The store’s most recent incarnation — call it Twice Sold Tales 3.0 — opened on the southwest corner of Harvard Avenue East and East Denny Way in May 2008 in a vacant storefront that had been a dental clinic. It’s a warren-like space with nooks and crannies that appeal to book hunters as well as the cats that call the store home. (As of this posting four felines occupy the premises.)

When asked how things were going, Lutton was quick to answer, “I’m still here!”

Any changes to Twice Sold Tales’ current fortunes are sufficiently intertwined between its Sound Transit relocation and the overall economic downturn that Lutton finds it difficult to separate the two. In simple terms, it’s been a tough stretch. Overall, she said, foot traffic is way down — not surprising given the store is no longer adjacent to a heavily used bus stop — but the people who do walk in are more apt to buy books rather than simply browse.

“More customers come with specific intent. Fewer walk in just to use the bathroom or camp out,” she said.

Shoplifting is way down, Lutton opines, because far fewer homeless people walk inside. Her clientele is a little older than it used to be and a little more residential, also not surprising since she’s closer to more apartments and condos. She said she’s now sells fewer books about drugs and marijuana growing operations and is selling more mysteries, more books about birds and more science fiction.

“I do my happy dance if someone wants to sell me science fiction titles,” she said.

Physically, the store is 50 percent larger than its predecessor and thus more titles fill the shelves, roughly 40,000 by Lutton’s best guess. But the relocation/recession meant that she recently had to lay off three employees, leaving 2.5 coworkers when there used to be eight. Lutton herself typically works six days a week, sometimes more. At one point this year she worked three straight months without a day off. Such is the life of an independent bookstore owner.

Still another sign of change: Lutton sold her Twice Sold Tales on lower Queen Anne earlier this year.

“That was a sign of the economy,” she said. “It’s just thriftier to run one shop instead of two.”

As for her experience with Sound Transit, the agency that took possession of her store through eminent domain, she’s basically sanguine about how it all went down. The relocation money provided by the agency didn’t come close to what was required to reopen her store — adding a wheelchair ramp alone cost roughly $20,000 — nor does she think Sound Transit’s efforts at signage and promotion were or are sufficient. But she said it things could have been worse; after all, she’s still in business. Lutton gives the agency a B, even B-plus, all things considered.

“For one thing, Sound Transit first told me I’d have to leave by 2001 and they didn’t get around to it until 2008. Their delay helped me out a lot,” she said.

Yes, there still are kitty cats (Photo: Doug Schwartz)

She’s less enamored with her dealings with the city, saying that obtaining the permits allowing her to convert the space into a used bookstore was cumbersome, expensive and often subject to the evolving whims of bureaucratic capriciousness.

“Don’t get me started about the city,” she said.

Lutton projects more than just cautious enthusiasm about the prospects of enduring through tough economic climes. It took years, but she said she was very lucky to find Twice Sold Tales' current location. And after 20 years she clearly still relishes being a bookseller. Recently a customer came in and asked for a specific algebra textbook. Jamie had the title at the counter within arms reach and handed it over within seconds. It had been in the store for months but Lutton was just resorting it. Such moments of serendipity — not to mention a $50 sale — bring a smile to her face, not to mention the stunned look on the face of the customer.

Lutton acknowledges that the Internet, Amazon’s Kindle, changing reading habits etc. make the notion of running a brick-and-mortar used bookstore a far more precarious proposition than it used to be. But she’s determined, and actually even nominally optimistic, about Twice Sold Tale’s chances:

“I’m having a good experience here. Business is not great but it’s acceptable. I have a corps of regular customers who keep me open and I still have eight years left on my lease. I’m planning on staying. Besides, I don’t know how to do anything else.”

We would have reported on this minor Capitol Hill business deal earlier but we were busy with more weighty neighborhood topics. Now that we have time, here are the details. Boylston Ave headquartered iLike has a deal in place to be acquired by social networking giant MySpace for $13.5 million in upfront cash and another $6 million in 'talent retention' money to keep iLike's key employees on the team. More from the Wall Street Journal:

CHS's Facebook iLike box has some bitchin tunes

What’s also been unclear is the actual price the social networking giant is paying for iLike, which has been reported as about $20 million.

In fact, only $13.5 million will be paid upfront in cash, with about $8 million of that money likely going to one of its major shareholders, Ticketmaster Entertainment (TKTM), due to its preferred shares.

Another $6 million has been promised by MySpace in forward payments to retain some key employees–including iLike co-founders and twin brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi.

Although those employees can remain in Seattle, where iLike has its HQ, they must stay employed at Beverly Hills, Calif.-based MySpace for two and a half years to get their money.

Sounds like iLike will be sticking around Capitol Hill. You can tour iLike's Boylston Ave office in this video:

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I worked for Hadi Partovi when he was still at Microsoft as part of the team that managed the MSN.com homepage way back in the day so I'm thinking CHS must be worth a million or two. But I'm a little disappointed in him because it sounds like CHS could have been worth $4 or $5 million:

The company was once valued at $53 million, back when Ticketmaster bought a 25 percent stake in late 2006, according to the Seattle Times. iLike amassed a total of $17 million from Ticketmaster and other investors like Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and former AOL exec Bob Pittman.

If you see a glum millionaire wandering Pike/Pine, give him a hug. At least nobody has to move to Beverly Hills.

Typically, we try not to bring you more questions than answers here at CHS. But in the case of what's coming next for the former home of Horizon Books on 15th Ave E, we'll only add to the mystery.

A few weeks back, a cyclone fence and this FOR SALE sign showed in front of the old house-turned retail shop at 425 15th Ave. After 30 years of business, Horizon shut down on 15th Ave back in March. We've talked a bit on this site about what we'd like to see in the space.

I gave the phone number a try to see what I could learn.

You don't see this kind of sign on prime Seattle retail space very often. This is the kind of thing you see on old trucks or maybe cabins. So I wasn't extremely surprised to find the resulting conversation to be a little unusual, also.

Here is what I, um, learned:

• The phone number is for a man named Arno. I believe his last name is Pinz -- though, after seven or eight attempts at spelling it out and neither one of us being entirely satisfied that the other one understood what we were saying, we gave up. We'll call the man Arno Pinz. You should, too. UPDATE: In comments, linder digs up the goods -- his name is Arno Prinz!
• Arno said he is not a real estate agent but he is a shareholder in the Washington State corporation that owns the property, He called it Capitola, Inc.
• There is a Capitola, Inc. listed in the state's corporations roster but it is 'inactive.'
• Arno lives in Beverly Hills.
• Arno says his corporation owns other properties but didn't want to get into it.
• Arno says he and his company love Capitol Hill and visit often. Victrola is his favorite coffee shop. The cobbler around the corner knows more about Capitol Hill than anybody.
• Arno said the property is for sale. "We hope the property is utilized for the best purpose," he said.
• Arno told me he respects the Capitol Hill Times. They are a great paper. He doesn't go online and doesn't have e-mail.
• The property is for sale for $1.25 million.
• "That's expensive," I said. "It's not expensive," Arno said. "The lots behind it sold for almost $1 million. There has been good interest in the property. People are looking for loans and they are not easy to get."
• King County last assessed the land at $527,000.
• Arno said though I'd been a very efficient reporter, he needed to go.
• "Thanks," I said.

coastal kitchen
Originally uploaded by saramarie

Chow Foods, the company behind 15th Ave's Coastal Kitchen, is splitting up and dividing its restaurants.

How Chow's locations will be divided has not been announced and a review of business license information didn't reveal any answers -- each Chow restaurant appears to be its own separate company -- but CHS has been told that Coastal Kitchen will continue to operate and to expect no major changes. Coastal Kitchen is a CHS sponsor.

A discussion about the future of a Wallingford cafe turned up this speculation about Chow:

According to a long-time Beeliner and Jitterbug staffer, the Chow Foods owners split up. They split their restaurant empire in “half” (half in quotes because one of them ended up with most of the locations leaving the rest of the staff to gossip endlessly about why).

The news will impact brunches across Seattle. Chow restaurants include The 5 Spot in Queen Anne, Atlas Foods in U Village, Mioposto in Mount Baker, Endolyne Joe’s in West Seattle,...

Demolition for the Capitol Hill Light Rail station has begun, and it looks like the business remediation portion of the project will start soon too. The Restaurant, Retailing and Human Resources Seminar Series, courtesy of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Sound Transit, starts on March 16th.  Doesn't look like they skimped either; there are a whole passel of workshops on topics from restaurant hospitality to understanding retail trends. 

Compliments of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Sound Transit. All seminars will be held at Seattle Central Community College, Room 1110.

Restaurant - Karen Malody & Dorothy Frisch (4-Part Series)

Monday, March 16, 2009 Part I 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. 

• Malody: Clarifying Vision and Integrating Concept
• Frisch: Why Nice is Not Enough: Setting the Stage for Hospitality

Monday, March 23, 2009 Part II 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

• Malody: Engineering a Profitable Menu
• Frisch: Actors and Directors: Does Everyone Know their Part?

Monday, April 6, 2009 Part III 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

• Malody:...

Just in case you missed it, we're having a little CHS Capitolhillseattle.com get-together next Tuesday night at Liberty. Here are two more Hill happy hours happening Thursday night to help you warm up for next week:

• Out & Equal Seattle's LGBT professionals meet at Purr starting at 5:30p for their quarterly mixer.
• Or you can party with start-up types at the weekly Hops & Chops huddle at Linda's at 6:30p.

Get out there. Network. Practice your small talk. We have high expectations for your performance next Tuesday night.

Did you know it took Genghis Khan two tries to defeat the Khwarezmid Empire? It's true. Babe Ruth? Did not hit a homerun in his first trip to the plate. And John Lennon wanted to sleep with his mother. All of these are true. And go to show you one thing.

Some people never give up.

So, here I am again, saddling up the bucking bronco that is neighborhood blogging for another ride. We're building a neighborhood blogging service called Neighborlogs -- taking the magic that creates the content, the community and the advertising at the heart of this site and Centraldistrictnews.com and putting it in a bottle. And giving it away for free. We make our cash off of advertising on sites that use our service. We're practically a charity!

Why tell you about this today? For one, my longstanding rivalry with Seattlest's MvB requires me to attempt to one-up him on his day of glory. For two, I'm looking for a few more 'some people' types to join the Neighborlogs beta. We're looking for a few good bloggers who either are already...

bummer, i'd heard a rumor at one point that molly moon's was looking for a location on capitol hill, but i guess we lost out to wallingford. maybe their 2nd location can be on the hill.

• Fuel + North Hill Bakery: We're cool with Fuel's current selection of baked deliciousness (especially the big-as-your-head scones) but would love, love, love to be able to get a slice of North Hill's Budapest coffeecake when we're, sigh, too busy to make it up to 15th Ave.
• Sonic Boom + Olympia Pizza: We know there's history here but we'd like to see these two brothers of 15th Ave get together and do a join in-store music and pizza thing.
• Walgreens + Liberty: Shoplifting would be even more enjoyable with a Rusty Nail in your hand.
  
• Victrola + Hillside Quickie: Vic, you've got the seats and the after-meal cup of joe. Hillside, you have crazy field roast sandwiches. Let's get it together.
• Tilden + Red Balloon Co.: This wouldn't really serve a purpose. We just want to see what happens when the kids start...

1. Remedy Teas
2. Fuel Coffee
3. Monsoon
4. Victrola
5. Vios
6. Coastal Kitchen
7. Kingfish
8. Sonic Boom
9. 22 Doors
10. Hopvine
    View the complete Popularity Contest list