We're not the only site covering Capitol Hill:

• Seattle Times reports that Seattle police have arrested Quincy Quinn. Quinn, prosecutors says, is part of a duo responsible for a strong of bank robberies including this September 3rd hold-up at 15th Ave E.'s Group Health Credit Union:
  

  Quinn was arrested Friday night on a misdemeanor warrant for bank robbery after he was identified by an acquaintance, prosecutors say. That person contacted police, according to a probable cause affidavit written by the King County Sheriff's Office. The affidavit says the handgun used by Quinn during many of the robberies was an unloaded BB gun.

  
  
• Another tenant of Liz Dunn's Melrose Building project has been revealed. The Stranger reports that Terra Plata will join Sitka & Spruce when the redevelopment of the building is complete later this year.
• Shiny bright and brand new, The SunBreak has details on 'the coolest theater fest you don't know is going on:
  

  Last weekend, Infinity Live Productions kicked off The Suitcase Festival at Annex...

      The new Pho Lotus Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant opened  where the old El Tijin  Mexican restaurant used to be down by the old Jade Pagoda Chinese Restaurant and next to the old Siam Thai Restaurant.

After six years on 15th Ave E, Sonic Boom Records is moving its Capitol Hill location to Melrose between Pike and Pine. While it's a blow to the diversity of retail in the 15th Ave shopping district, the move makes way for an expansion of Olympia Pizza which is planning to stretch into the Sonic Boom space by the start of 2010.

Olympia Pizza and Spaghetti House III owner Harry Nicoloudakis said the new space will be the same old Olympia -- only bigger and better. "I've thought about a new name but I don't know," Nicoloudakis said. "We're going to have a great new restaurant space."

On the other side of the wall, love and location appear to be behind the Sonic Boom move. According to Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, the move will allow SB's owner to operate his Capitol Hill shop next door to his girlfriend's boutique, Velouria, when it also opens in a new Melrose location. The alignment mirrors the set-up the two created in Ballard where Sonic Boom and Velouria's first shop are also neighbors. Here's recent CHS...

With Siam on Broadway closing shop after more then 20 years in business, the row of Broadway storefronts between Poppy and The Brix is all but abandoned. Harem, retailer of 'alluring accents', now stands alone.

What comes next for the strip is not yet clear -- it's too early in the business process for the developers who own the various parcels to show their hands. CHS talked to Allan Jones this afternoon, owner of the building that Siam called home. He would not comment on his plans for the building. "I'm not at liberty to discuss details on the property at this time," Jones said. A call to the property management company for Fortuna Sequitir, the group listed in tax records as owning the parcels to the north and to the south of Jones', was not returned.

UPDATE: After this posted, I talked to Craig Swanson who manages the Jade Pagoda property and other buildings in the area including the recently rehabbed Lewis Building across the street. He said there are plans afoot to put the property to better use but details...

In our prognostications about a new home for Sitka & Spruce on the Hill, neighbor Zeebleoop shared this PI post about a redevelopment effort on Melrose:

Two local developers plan to renovate two adjacent historic automotive buildings in the Pike-Pine neighborhood of Capitol Hill to be used for restaurant and retail.

Liz Dunn of Dunn & Hobbes and Scott Shapiro of Eagle Rock Ventures announced on Monday that they had acquired the two buildings, at 1515 and 1531 Melrose Ave., and plan to renovate them once the current tenant, Metro Auto Rebuild, leaves at the end of January.

Seattle CitySearch's Whitney Ricketts says a source told her that Sitka & Spruce is, indeed, destined for Melrose. Whitney also added some more juicy tidbits about the Sitka move:

• She says tentative plans also include an oyster bar and a butcher shop.
• Sitka & Spruce's Matt Dillon won't leave Eastlake behind completely. He's apparently planning a sandwich shop for the 'hood.

Thanks Whitney for the tips.

You can learn more about the Melrose buildings in this PDF from the developers.

After seeing the success of Rancho Bravo in our part of the city, the gastronomic explorers that power restaurant Sitka and Spruce must have taken note. Seattle Magazine says S and S is (probably!) moving from Eastlake to Capitol Hill. The glossy mag doesn't know where, yet. Thoughts? (We're also testing our new polling code. So belly up to the bar and vote already.)

UPDATE: Thanks for your votes. You were WRONG -- unless you voted Other. Zeebleoop, on the other hand, was on the mark. Sitka (and more) destined for Melrose.

UPDATE:
Interesting "Other" from Zeebleoop in comments below. From a PI real estate post:

Two local developers plan to renovate two adjacent historic automotive buildings in the Pike-Pine neighborhood of Capitol Hill to be used for restaurant and retail.

Liz Dunn of Dunn & Hobbes and Scott Shapiro of Eagle Rock Ventures announced on Monday that they had acquired the two buildings, at 1515 and 1531 Melrose Ave., and plan to renovate them once the current tenant, Metro Auto Rebuild, leaves at the end of January.

Looks like a good possibility. The PDF available from the developers says space will be available for 'tennant build-out' in mid-May.

YUMMY taco truck tacos minus the truck
Originally uploaded by ERIK98122

Here are a few non-CHS observations of this weekend on the Hill. What did you see?

• Tacos
• A magnificent but sick old tree
• Protesting kids
  
• "Leaving a dog locked in a car is always a bad idea, but doing it in a high crime area like Capitol Hill is just begging for trouble." -- comment on West Seattle Blog coverage of Payton the stolen Schnoodle.
• Bizarre anti-cop sidewalk chalkings
• Sunshine

Looks like another new restaurant grand opening on Capitol Hill this weekend -- The Tin Table makes its big entrance this Saturday, 2/28. The venture is backed by Century Ballroom owner Hallie Kuperman and located on the 2nd floor of the Oddfellows building not far from the dancefloor. Check out the TT's menus or scroll through a few screen-grabbed highlights uploaded on this post. Last image is the dessert page, of course.

FELL ON BLACK DAYS
Originally uploaded by photocoyote

Quite a few cross-city news items in this mix. Doing our duty to make you better Seattle citizens in these hard-knock times.

• The Washington State PTSA is making its presence felt in Olympia with today's "Focus Day." Check out their report on state funding for education here.
• No state cash for Seattle's transit projects.
• Mayor might be in for race. Tim Burgess camp forming exploratory committee.
• Notice more burned out streetlights than usual? City-wide issue, turns out.
• City council limits your tree chopping ways.
• But these Miller Park trees gotta go.
• Cafe Stellina for sale is now old news. I wrote to former Crave head Robin Leventhal to see if she was thinking about jumping back in with the Stellina space. No response -- yet.
• Mercurial cap to the hill says Anchovies & Olives is douchebag-y.
• Winter beer fest at Elysian this weekend.
• For those of you looking to stimulate the economy, custom clothes on Capitol Hill.
• SU Battle of the Bands<...

photo: JeanineAnderson

Given size of this list, maybe I better clean out my RSS feed reader more frequently. Or maybe you like having a billion Capitol Hill links to click on a Sunday.

• Brunch yet? Crave gone, cheese blintz recipe not.
• A few Hill Oscar parties to choose from if you don't mind mixing Hollywood glam with your newfound financial sobriety.
• Metro may cut bus service due to drop in sales tax revenue.
• Hill homeless shelters report rise in numbers, need as economy worsens.
• Can somebody please explain this site? Seems to be mashing together several kinda invasive databases to report on people buying expensive homes. Here's another report for a new purchase on Broadway.
• Capitol Hill a defensible ridge above economic battery? Kid clothing retailer Flora & Henri will make their last stand in their Capitol Hill location in the Loveless Building and online.
• Puget Sound Biz Journal cites a few Cap Hill purveyors of 'comfort' for bucking the downturn trend.
• Get snooty about your suds. Smith hosting beer dinner ...

Special weekend bonus edition. Best enjoyed with 50% off Valentine's chocolate.

• Don't forget, I5 through downtown is going to be a mess for a long time. You can keep track of WSDOT's project updates here. Returning to the Hill from the north is a terrible crawl so avoid or take the express lanes if you can when heading southbound. The surface exits aren't handling the extra pressure very well but it's better than sitting in the I5 parking lot. This accident didn't help today's traffic, either.
• What would happen if there was a toll on 520 starting next January and I90 remained toll-less?
• Do you Twitter yet? You should. I, um, tweet here.
• Galactic Boutique is going out of business. The indie retailer is hosting a goodbye party on Feb. 21 just short of its third birthday.
• Depression-proof. Oddfellows + baking = economic stimulus. They're hiring a baker. You'll be rich.
• Seadevi at Capitol Hill Triangle keeps a good one for her own blog -- good call! Anchovies & Olives opening delayed until April.
• Benefits on the...

Are you going to the art walk tonight? Are you coming to the CHS CD Swap? Fine, be noncommittal. But at least click on a few links, k?

• Seattle Gay News covers latest hate crime investigation of a late-night Feb. 2 incident near IHOP.
• SGN also has latest installment in the investigation of Baby Barack Obama's time on our Capitol Hill, this time featuring Obama's babysitter.
• Been condofied? Playwright is looking for your story to help in development of a monologue inspired by Seattle real estate and Pike/Pine redevelopment.
• A lull in condofication of Capitol Hill? Only one project slated for completion in 09.
• City Council discusses regulating Seattle's rental housing market.
• Laid off? Office Nomads offering free month of flexible workspace to give you head-start on launching your next step.
• BTW, Office Nomads hosted a little digital marketing workshop I put together for small and local businesses. Here are the slides if you are interested in that kind of thing.
• Twilight Exit had some delays, now planning...

We cover all the angles here on CHS. Sometimes it's hard to keep up. Given the current challenging economic environment, we want there to be no confusion about these three recently covered Capitol Hill businesses.

• Monsoon -- They're not moving any time soon after the redevelopment plan for their building fell through. Instead, Monsoon will celebrate its 10th anniversary in its 19th Ave location with a 10 for $10 on Sunday the 22nd. More details on that later.
• Foxmaid -- Foxmaid checked into our comments with details on what they're up to next on Cap Hill:
  Thanks so much for mentioning us! We will re-open very soon as foxmaid studio and our other location, Square Room, is transitioning into pretty much what foxmaid used to be. So watch out for the new and enhanced Square Room. As far as the 1316 location (next to the vacuum repair shop) goes, our 5 year lease is up and we need to change with the times. Look for us to be open at foxmaid very soon. Please stop by and say Hello.
  thanks so much,
  Brian McGuffey
  Leif...

Despite the fact that it is but one of a handful of Hill restaurants that serve the dish, 12th Ave's Lark is the target of an ongoing animal rights protest against foie gras. The Northwest Animal Rights Network has pledged to picket Lark every Friday night until fatty goose liver has been removed from its fancy pants menu. This has been going on for weeks but things have were stirred up considerably this weekend by a series of Slog posts about the protests. The Slog's position: NARN should focus on larger abuses in the agribusiness industry and that the geese, relative to other animals like factory processed pigs and cows, aren't suffering to produce the expensive delicacy. The comments, predictably, are a mix of seemingly robot-produced comment SPAM in support of NARN with a good representation of the 'boy are Seatte liberals stupid' crowd mixed in.

Lark is reportedly digging in and holding its foie gras ground -- and, Slog says, foie gras sales on Friday nights are actually up. Olivar's Philippe Thomelin must...

Notice that stressed tone in my typing? I'm on the way to the airport headed back to my NorCal homeland for a few days in Baghdad by the Bay. I'll be three-dotting it around the city -- and trying to run a neighborhood blog remotely. Wish me luck. Don't tag my fence or smash my car window to steal my scratched up CDs.

• Reportedly, you can see Rainier from Cal Anderson park on these cool, crisp February days. Or, at least, Yancy can.
• Anybody a Broadstripe internet access customer? They went bankrupt, turns out. Still operating. We only had about 200 visits from Broadstripe customers in January. About 0.625% of our userbase.
• We got Slogged. Voting got all wacky in the Who should be on the Capitol Hil $1? vote but can't complain that many are celebrating Boe Oddisey. The whole thing is, um, advisory so hopefully the council will consider some fo the, um, feedback if the project goes forward. Probably not going to do a runoff (unless I need an easy item. Item, item, who's got an item?)
• We'd be happy for this...

Notice the relative quiet of this Monday morning? The kidless might feel like something is off -- the kidded, your hands are too full to read this. It's a no-school day across Seattle for some sort of in-service activity. Parents, you can read these links tomorrow. The rest of you, enjoy your clicking. Me? I'm chasing some kind of car-pedestrian incident from Sunday night, wrapping up the Joey Ray apartment incident and trying to catch the frick up with a week that is already seriously threatening to spin out of control. Happy Monday.

• The kiddies at SU suffer separation anxiety over apparent fragility of hill's eating/drinking establishments.
• Interlaken park work party -- full coverage
• Hillku explains vegetarian love for the meaty Smith
• Bartender recommended: Sun Liquor
• Weekly calls The Buck 'recession friendly'
• PI calls Barrio 'indoor' taco truck.
• Record store of, um, last week: Sonic Boom
• Slog was all over the 'suspicious', um, package found last week at The Cuff. Turned out not suspicious and, thank the lord, ricin free.
• Speaking of suspicious, couple of schemers are holding two 'digital marketing workshops' (whatever that means) in February at Office Nomads.
• More info on how to fix the Cal Anderson and Bobby Morris labels on Google Maps.
• The baby Barack saga continues -- maybe
• CHS is rolling out its redesign this coming weekend. Stay tuned. Check out TheSouthLake.com for a preview.

Before you jump into our pile of hill-related links, a quick note about a nifty little upgrade to the site. While I'm still working on the total overhaul of the CHS design (working, working, working on the Internets. You can't see work on the Internet until it's ready! But it will look something like this), Neighborlogs has added a nice feature at the top of every post that allows you to easily page back and forth in the post stream. Enjoy!

And, oh yeah, I do plan on having a beer tonight with the gals from cap to the hill -- stop by Moe Bar around 5p and say hey.

• The MSFT axe has fallen. Or will fall. 5k over the next year. 1,400 today. Hope you aren't in the mix. Judging by the steamy windows of the Connectors -- and a lot of my neighbors -- there are a lot of 'Softies on the hill.
• Chop Suey suspects plead not guilty. Only one of the alleged conspirators charged with murder -- the guy allegedly at the heart of the feud that left one dead and two wounded charged with drug possession.
• CHS sponsor The Capitol Hill Handyman gets Daily Candy Love. I get a kick out of seeing the Handyman's trucks zipping around the hill to tackle a 'handy' project.
• Olivar adds brunch. I'm such a cynic. Whenever I see brunch announcements, my mind automatically turns to thoughts of struggles and a business trying to increase its revenue stream. I have not idea if that is the case for Olivar. Can somebody who knows the restaurant biz brush my cynicism away?
• Seattlest visits the one man band that is Thomas St. Bistro -- and, Seattlest says, at those prices, it can't complain.
• Can't help but think of Tackleberry and Hightower. SPD seeks citizen candidates for Community Police Academy. I wanna be Bobcat Goldthwait.
• Speaking of wholesome entertainment, it's time to sign up your boys and girls for Seattle Central Little League. Mom, Dad, you have until Feb. 28 but if you wait that long, you are a bad parent. Every child deserve the opportunity to strike out in front of a crowd, be terrified beneath a pop fly and, yes, occasionally hit the game winning triple.

She disappeared into the night before I could get a name but this woman drew applause at Wednesday night's design review meeting for the project that will raze 1650 Olive Way E, the current home of B&O Espresso.

"Don't mess with the B&O!" she yelled for her contribution to the public comment portion of the night's meeting. "Why not just leave it alone?"

The bad news for this woman and others who voiced their support for B&O during the night is it's not just the B&O making way -- the entire block including the apartment building behind it will all be demolished to make room for a 75-unit apartment complex, a restaurant/cafe space and about 70 underground parking stalls. Tonight's meeting was to determine the requirements for the design of the building that will replace it.

UPDATE 2: The design plan was sitting out there under our noses all along. Finally tracked it down on the DPD site. Here's the PDF and a few select images. Option 3, on the left is the design the developers are positioning as 'preferred.' Option 2, middle, was positioned as the back-up while Option 4, right, was, as I note elsewhere in the report, shown only to let us know how bad it *could* be.

UPDATE 1: Vlad's request in comments reminds me of something I meant to note -- NK hasn't made the designs available online so I'll need to get something from them tomorrow. Design review post without design is lacking, no?

Slog's report from today on issues around the project has this image of the preferred option. There are two other similar designs under consideration -- one is much more modern, the other is a huge stucco monstrosity surely included to make you appreciate the other two.

We marked the September passing of Pike's Bar & Grill because, well, somebody had to. It was only 3 months old. Not to continue kicking the poor little guy around but to illustrate what is left in the, um, wake when these things go belly up, we note this public post taped to the shuttered grill's front door. If you can't read the number, check out the second image. That's $30k in rent the law firm says the people behind Pike's owe.

View Larger Map

Saw similar notes when Rainbow Grocery went under on 15th Ave E.

Last week, we broke the news that the development of the Bank of America building might expand to include nearby buildings  -- including the current home of Cafe Septieme. If you want to know more about the plans for the space or have something to say about it, the developers will be available for Q&A as part of Thursday night's Capitol Hill Community Council meeting starting at 7p at Cal Anderson shelter house.

Background:

• Rumor: Noah's, pho, Septieme to make way for dev
• Design Review: 224 Broadway, current home of farmers' market

UPDATE 1/20/09 11:57 AM
Just got a note from SRM Developers -- they are postponing their appearance at the council given the significant changes their plans are undergoing with the property acquisitions. So, to be clear, SRM will not be attending the meeting Thursday night.

Interesting stuff turns up in our comments. This from neighbor Calhoun regarding the coming development project at the old Broadway Bank of America location:

Also, I have heard "via the grapevine" that the 2 properties south of the BOA (including the bagel shop, pho restaurant, and Septieme) will be a part of the development, so those businesses will be gone. Hopefully, they will have a chance to relocate in the retail part of the new building. I, for one, will really miss Septieme...it's a good restaurant with interesting, affordable food.

I've got calls out to the developers and restaurant owners to see what I can confirm. Calhoun also notes that the project map includes the two homes at the corner of 10th and Thomas.

 Reps from the companies behind the development projects, Runberg Architecture Group and SRM Development, will be at next thursday's Capitol Hill Community Council meeting for a public presentation, btw.

View Larger Map

UPDATE #1
Linder confirms sale of Septieme's location at 212 Broadway...

With all the rain and flooding, the most direct route to Portland is circumnavigating the globe. Here is a selection of Capitol Hill links to enjoy on the way.

• Charges have been filed against the suspects in the Chop Suey shootings that killed one man and injured two others. Slog has story but forgot to mention one important detail -- the murder charge against suspect Carlos Bernardez is first degree. 18 years old and facing murder in the first degree? Ugly. Meanwhile, Roger LaBranche, the man whose feud with one of the surviving victims allegedly was at the core of the violence, was hit with drug possesion charges. Charging papers say police found 45 grams of cocaine, nearly 300 ecstasy pills, 81 grams of marijuana, a handgun and $7,000 cash in LaBranche's car.
• Looking through the King County Jail web site to check out a rumor that LaBranche had been released from custody (he had not at the time of writing this, btw), I found that the 25-year-old Everett man was recently jailed for more than 30 days on drug...

Starting January 1, chain restaurants with more than 15 locations nationwide are required to post calories and nutrional info. I took photos of 8 of them on the hill, including Subway, Tully's, Peet's, Pagliacci Pizza, Starbuck's, Taco del Mar, Noah's Bagels, and Domino's.

The only one in non-compliance was Domino's pizza on Broadway. After waiting for 10 minutes for the clerk to get off the phone, he said he didn't know about the rule, and didn't even have nutritional pamphlets.

The friendly guys at Peet's Coffee said people were doing this: "I'll have a Caramel... wait, is that the calories?!?!?! Okay, make it non-fat, sugar-free, and hold the whip." At Pagliacci Pizza, a cheerful clerk said that half the people don't even want to look at the calories.

My Awards:

Most legible: Subway
Least legible: Taco del Mar (they put light blue numbers on a dark blue background)
Most friendly staff: Pagliacci Pizza and Peet's Coffee
Least friendly staff: Subway on Broadway (the photo was from the Pine location)
Highest...

Stew from Olivar. Savory tarts from Poppy. Treats from B&O Espresso. Cherry pie from High 5 Pies and Fuel Coffee. No, not my lunch menu. The Capitol Hill Community Council is holding its (rescheduled!) public holiday party Thursday, 7p at the Cal Anderson park shelter house (just north of Bobby Morris playfield). It's free. It's community. It's potluck if you wanna bring a side to add.

Haven't had a CHS meet-up in awhile. Consider coming out and saying hi. I'll have crow pins, too, if you don't have yours yet.

The new year brings a few new regulations:

1. Electronics recycling is now free. But please don't dump everything off this week. Give them time to ramp up.

2. Chain restaurants must post nutritional info, and all restaurants cannot use trans fats.

3. Minimum wage bumps to $8.55

4. Grocery bags are now 20 cents and styrofoam is banned for takeout food. Remember to bring your own bags. And take video of other people having temper tantrums about it. (The ban is on hold until the referendum is voted on.)