This week's selections of top CHS comments illustrates what community news is all about -- a few good ideas, some helpful history, an argument or two and, especially, help identifying a type of tree.

Our write-up on the eviction of the Satellite Lounge inspired a few of the old timers to share recent history and what they loved most about the bar.

...hardly that old ...

It is in the up the Hill site of Spags which was bought out by the bus tunnel project. Spags was on Pine below the freeway. Very old gay bar, back to the 1950is. It was suit and tie downtown crowd at happy hour and party central on weekends, friendly, cheap beer, no hard liquor, a tavern....

Spags moved to the hill with a bag of buy out cash and remodeled the building, now site of the Satellite.

When, maybe 15 years ago.... historians speak.

Comment by Mike with curls

Jukebox

One of the things I loved about The Satellite was the jukebox. Once when I was there a Journey song came on ("Don't Stop Believing", I want to say) and the whole place started singing along. Yeah, their food wasn't that great, but it's places like this that help give the neighborhood character (in a good way). Even though I didn't go to the Satellite that often, I will still miss it.

Comment by SS

Meanwhile, CHS super sleuth linder seattle dug up this picture of happier times for the tragic Cadillac that burned on Madison:

looks kinda like this one
I'm not a car expert but here is a (quite similar looking) Cadillac El Dorado at last year's Kirkland Classic Car Festival. Photo by rikrose.

Comment by linder seattle

 

Like the Satellite's closure, the exit of Broadway Grocery from the corner of Harrison and B-way inspired historical analysis and some fond memories:

What kind of grocery store doesn't have milk?

I went in there on a take-out/grocery run, and even though they had wall to wall fridges full of beer and soda, they had no milk. To the back aisle of QFC for me.

I'm not going to miss it. I suppose if you wanted a wide selection of malt liquors it'll be a loss, but I was much sadder to see The Glade (Princess Market) go.

Comment by mattw

let we forget the lamb

Seattle's own sandwich nazi occupied the front of that store for a couple years. He was generally known to make the best lamb in pita sandwich possible. Everything homemade; unbelievably good, but you weren't allowed to take your sandwich off premises. He wanted them eaten immediately, because he was a perfectionist. I believe Rachel Kessler reviewed it for the Stranger. The owner was from Turkey, via Germany and he went bye bye right after 9/11, supposedly deported. The owners of the store said he was in a detention facility for awhile. His food was incomparable -- and I've done a lot of comparing.

Comment by juan

TJ, btw, wins points for funniest comment, 50 characters or less division.

Hmmmm....

So much for 'location, location, location'.

Comment by TJ

The Po Dog Hot Dogs mural controversy thing, if nothing else, is marketing genius. Zeebleoop found a reasonable approach to the 'controversy':

po dog's mural

i see nothing wrong with the mural and it's better than having a bunch of tagger crap scrawled there.

the parking lot owner won't let you use the spaces? then rappel from the roof and paint it anyway. or just paint it in the middle of the night when the parking lot's owner is probably safely tucked in bed.

Comment by zeebleoop

The mysterious YouTube video of a bunny rabbit groove guitaring on Broadway brought out a few eyewitness accounts of a bestial jam session. But which was it? A chicken or a crow?

jammin
i saw him and a guy with a chicken mask were jammin out with some experimental metal stuff for a few hours right next to bank of america.

Comment by madeline

Rabbit and Crow
I saw the rabbit last week, also next to Bank of America on B'way, but accompanied by a crow on drums.

Comment by MK

We liked this happy note regarding the inspirational street style blog, It's My Darlin'

LOVE

Dana, you're awesome! It's people like you who keep me inspired and motivated to dress well.

Comment by Clayton

Coincidence, we're sure. Furries and half of hillku caught on tape?

furry wedding day memories

One of the grooms featured around 3:59 is none other than hillku's very own City Limits!

Comment by final answer

And, finally, some CHS comments are just plain helpful. When CHS wondered what kind of trees had been broken on Pike, DevoDaddy answered.

Type of trees......

Crape Myrtles

Comment by DevoDaddy

Much of the most interesting neighborhood news and information on this neighborhood news and information site comes from you in the comments on CHS posts. To highlight some of the best points, ideas, questions, etc. from the site, we're going to start this weekly round-up of the best CHS comments. Here is what we found this week.

The 11th/Pine development project inspired a lot of feedback and good questions to consider at this Wednesday's design review meeting. This question raised by CapHillMax is an important one -- is there anything to do from a design standpoint to reduce the tension between the area's existing nightlife and future residents of the building?Meanwhile, we also learned something about sidewalk design and construction and heard from neighborhood activist Dennis Saxman:

Hmmm... by CapHillMax
So while we are talking about preservation, does anyone not see the folly of plopping a residential building right on a street that is full of bars, late-night restaurants and clubs?

I'm not NIMBY, it's just one of the things that makes Pike/Pine a great neighborhood is the nightlife. And infilling with really dense residential developments such as this, plus the one that is being built right above the Cuff's outdoor patio, plus the new condo across from the Satellite Lounge, the new building abutting the Elysian's outdoor patio, etc. etc. to me does not make much sense. It would be better to have a 1/2 block buffer or so, before putting in a ton of residential. Residents will inevitably complain about the noise, the city will simply take it out on the bars.

Maybe I worry to much. Who knows. This just bothers me.

This would only be considered preservation in George Orwell's 1984 by Dennis Saxman
You notice that in one place they talk about preserving the character structure, and then in another place (the drawings), they describe it as "existing character facade shown in foreground to remain."

 The ordinance, on its face, allows development "to a scale that is compatible with the established development pattern." That language is not found in either the Neighborhood Plan or the Design Guidelines.

One of the goals of Phase Two of neighborhood planning for the Pike/Pine was to "preserve, to the extent possible, the neighborhood's built environment of auto-row architecture." One of the Visions of the Plan for 2014 was " "The historic 'auto-row' architecture and other historic buildings ... that give the neighborhood character and preserve important parts of Seattle's twentieth century history." One of the key strategies was " To sustain the character of the Pike/Pine neighborhood by development of Design Guidelines and Design Review process to preserve 'character' buildings ...." As part of this strategy, one item listed was to establish a Community Heritage District that would provide preservation incentives and design review for the rehabilitation and remodeling of existing structures." It also proposed to establish an inclusive Community Heritage Design Review Board.

The Design Guidelines listed, as a high priority, "[preservation] of the physical and social character of the corridor." While they expressed a preference for adaptive re-use of existing buildings, they also encouraged new structures that reflect the architectural heritage of the neighborhood. Throughout the guidelines is an emphasis on buildings that are compatible and consistent with the existing architectural character.

Unfortunately, these goals have come to naught. Chiefly because a handful of powerful individuals in the neighborhood who prefer the individualistic, vain buildings built according to the futuristic fantasies of Le Corbusier and his imitators - fantasies that have been discredited for decades.

The National Historic Preservation Act defines preservation as including: "identification, evaluation, recordation,documentation, curation,acquisition,protection,management,rehabilitation,restoration, stabilization, maintenance, research, interpretation, conservation, and education and training regarding the foregoing activities, or any combination of the foregoing activities. At least one definition of conservation in most dictionaries is "the act of preserving, guarding, or protecting; the keeping (of a thing) in a safe or entire state."

As I have stated before, I do not believe the new ordinance will accomplish any of these things.

For anyone who wants to amend the design guidelines or a neighborhood plan, there are established procedures for doing so. I don't see that any of them were followed. This is just plain wrong.

RE: How about the sidewalks? by Brian
I did concrete, mostly sidewalks and curb & gutter, for five years or so. It's possible to do some kind of independent sidewalk design but especially when the construction is in an established area, it requires a TON of cooperation from whatever body is governing the area.

A couple years ago the city of Olympia made a big PR event out of one of our projects, it was really cool. They hired us to put in a new compact permeable concrete, it retains most of the natural drainage by allowing rain water to pass through rather than direct it to a storm drain, and hired an artist to work with us while we placed the concrete. She was charged with directing all the aesthetic aspects while we did the actual work. It worked out really well for us because we were relieved of all responsibility if anyone complained about the art.

I think Seattle is a different story. Their standards are constantly changing and if you don't meet whatever that standard happens to be at the time, your company has to pay to remove and redo the work. Why do you think the city has it's own concrete crew... companies charge the city more because they're so nutty. The company I worked for started the sidewalks in Fremont and just cut our losses and gave the concrete work to the general contractor rather than messing with the city trying to do art.

A little long, I know

Our check-in with 15th Ave's Victrola Coffee (now owned by Whidbey Coffee Co.) prompted this response from user --. 

Whidbey Island Is Not Local by --
Local is an overused term that is really meaningless. My definition only allows for something being one county away.

Based on all of the arguments on this blog against 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea, Whidbey Island does not qualify as local. 

But if it has to be within two counties, Starbucks qualifies as local.

We learned a random -- but useful -- macaroni and cheese tip from Uncle Vinny:

Random food comment...  by Uncle Vinny
Has anyone had the mac 'n' cheese at the Rosebud? I've had it a couple of times lately, and I'm thinking about going back tonight. They use gouda for the cheese, I think. Only $4 during happy hour... YUMTASTIC, give it a try.

And we're in no position to argue with normajean about a potential nickname for this part of Capitol Hill:

thumpers by normajean
I live at the corner of 15th and Pine and will always refer to this areas as Thumpers.

.

In early march, CHS covered an awful motorcycle accident at the intersection of Belmont and Bellevue Place. A 27-year-old woman riding her motorcycle up the hill was severely injured after a car turned into her path and struck the bike. We knew at the time from eyewitnesses that the rider's leg was badly hurt. Tonight, in a comment left on the crash coverage post that she found while searching the Web for information on the accident, CHS heard from Jess, the woman who survived that crash.

I am the survivor of the motorcycle accident. I have little else to do in my hospital bed than browse the internet so tonight I decided to browse and see if I could find anything about the accident and this is what came up. Thank you all for your concern and for photos of the scene. I'm still in shock when I think about the injuries I have sustained.

I am still here in the hospital. Surgeons were able to save my leg and I have undergone 8 surgeries to fix bones and for grafting. My condition improves daily but I'm still in a great amount of pain. I don't know how much longer I'll be here. I have yet to get out of bed.

My bike was brand new. I had bought it on Tuesday the 3rd but because of weather conditions thought it would be safer to bring it home on Wednesday the 4th when it wasn't raining. Friday the 6th was the first day I actually got a chance to ride it. It was chilly but sunny. The irony kills me. As a correction, my bike was a 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500.

My many thanks go out to everyone who was there to help and the poor lady who held my hand while I screamed. I didn't know any other way to cope with the pain and knowledge that I had lost my leg (when I first looked down my leg I didn't see anything past my knee). Thank you all again. I'll bookmark and try to check back again.

I've contacted Jess to see if there is anything the CHS community can do for her. Just knowing more information about what happened and how she is doing is enough -- but I'm sure there are lots of you out there who wouldn't mind helping out.

Out of a thread discussing a likely terrible incident, a CHS neighbor defined the purpose of this site in one perfect comment:

This blog is just another way to talk with people around you. The news and the paper just talk at you with their info. The blog gives a chance for real communication and debate. Be thankful people care enough to be respectful. Be thoughtful of other's perspective. Keep it in perspective. It was not all that long ago we had that rash of problems. The Stabbing on 15th. The night club problems and the gay bashing. We must all come together in an effort to look out for each other. Be good neighbors! (in real life & on the web, its more important than ever!)

Open minds are why I give a damn about CHS -- though I often forget that open minds might disagree with me. Thanks for the comment, neighbor.

jseattle shared a great tip with me the other day, and I thought I'd share it with the rest of you.

The following link will let you see all comments on all stories, with the most recent ones first:

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/comments

This is great if you've written a story, or you're following a story of special interest. You can see all the comments at a glance.

You can also find this link on the site if you scroll down until you see the big orange RSS button on the right side. Then below that is Most Recent Comments, and below that is the buried treasure: View All Comments.

Earlier this month, we wrote about the closing of a quiet little jewelry store on 15th Ave E. It was called DSR -- stood for Diamond, Saphires and Rubies, Inc. or Donna S. Richey or both. Store was a bit of a mystery to most of us. But not neighbor AliceE:

The jewelry store was originally owned by Michael Farrell - for over 12 years that I personally know of. He also has a store on Sand Point. He sold the 15th Ave. E store to Donna a couple of years ago or so. When it was Farrell's Jewelers, it was staffed by a very knowledgeable woman who kept regular 9-5 hours. Donna is more eclectic. The shop's hours were not consistent, Donna opened in the afternoon whenever she arrived and she stayed late into the night (often past midnight) after the store was closed, repairing jewelry. Some people loved her Scotties, others not so much. She previously worked out of an office in a high-rise downtown, and was very successful. Her style didn't work so well for a store-front in a neighborhood. I hope she prospers with the next...

With the restoration of comments to our CHS archives, it's also a good time to appreciate the lifetime achievements of some of our most prolific commenters past and present.

Here is a small selection of some of our most active/long-participating/most provocative participants with an example of some of their legendary input.

• pffft
  > why would someone steal a flag? if i remember we'll make a few. Little Big Noise loves to wave them.
• femurface
• The Gay Curmudgeon
  > Let me encourage everyone to find out who maintains your closest traffic circle and offer what you can to help them. They donate their time, their money, their plants, and their care to making our neighborhood look and feel beautiful. Why not ask them what they need for fall or spring planting? If you can’t donate your own time, money or plants, a heartfelt “thank you” while they are out working in the traffic circle would be welcome too

• linder_seattle

• Anonymous
  >Arrogant yuppies from Belltown/Queen Anne move to the Stevens neighborhood, and start a blog called...

Did you feel that last night? The circle was completed. Chocolate and peanut butter were united. Capitol Hill Seattle's archives got their comments back. Here's a look at our all-time most-commented stories.

When we moved over to the Neighborlogs platform, we brought along all of the old CHS posts so you could enjoy things like reading our very first ever post. But there was one problem -- we had to leave the best stuff behind in Google's Blogger archives. Our old posts had no comments. And that was sad.

We finally put together the magic to reunite old posts and old comments -- suddenly, the CHS archives are 64% less crappy. And you can enjoy comment streams like these timeless classics:

• Powerless on Capitol Hill -- 10/18/07
• Everything you wanted to know about traffic circles but were afraid to ask -- 6/6/06
• What you would open on 15th is old school -- 2/18/07
• Naming a Capitol Hill baby -- 9/14/07

To enjoy the past on CHS, you can either:

• Browse archives by date
• Browse by tag
• Or search -- here's everything we've ever written...