Brick facade crumbles from 122-year-old Capitol Hill building home to new pottery studio

(Image: CHS)

The masonry facade of a 122-year-old Capitol Hill commercial building home to a new self-service pottery studio crumbled Wednesday night following weeks of icy then extremely wet weather.

Seattle Police and Seattle Fire were sent to the scene at 19th Ave E and E Aloha around 7:30 PM Wednesday after a caller inside the building reported the crumbling wall had tumbled its blue-painted bricks onto the sidewalk. Emergency tape was strung up to cordon off the area after Seattle Fire reported the integrity of the 1900-built structure was sound.

There were no reported injuries. Continue reading

Ready whenever inspiration strikes, new 24-hour pottery studio to open on Capitol Hill

Now at 19th and Aloha

By Jadenne Radoc Cabahug, CHS reporting intern

Seatown Pottery is coming to Capitol Hill in November to offer a 24-hour workspace to allow artists the chance to mold things out of clay — whenever inspiration strikes.

“These are run kind of like a gym membership. Members can come and go whenever they’re able to carve time out in their busy life of juggling kids and work in school and everything,” owner Chelsea Sherman said.

The Capitol Hill location is the newest addition to the school of studios with the original established seven years ago in Redmond. Other locations include Bellevue and Green Lake.

“Adults don’t get an opportunity to be creative and get their hands dirty and kind of relax and recharge,” Sherman said. “The fact that they can come in at three in the morning and we have people that use the space at all hours of the night which is really fun to see.” Continue reading

Miller courts a popular center for pickleball’s growth in Seattle

With a much-needed resurfacing and community-funded nets, the pickleball courts at Capitol Hill’s Miller Playfield are now some of the busiest venues of athletic competition in the city.

Seattle Parks says from 30 to 50 players compete for the two hours 10 AM to noon every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when the four pickleball-lined courts are reserved for free, open drop-in play.

Clubs and leagues that book up the courts the rest of the week keep them even busier. Continue reading

Taurus Ox off to busy start in new 19th Ave E home — Plus: New Glo’s, Seattle Restaurant Week 2022, Havana Sweets

(Image: Taurus Ox)

Taurus Ox won’t open for Tuesday service as the Laotian-flavored eatery gears up for greater than expected demand in its new home on Capitol Hill.

Khampaeng “KP” Panyathong and the crew at Taurus Ox served “twice as many guests as anticipated” last week as they debuted in the new space and needed to take a day off to replenish the kitchen and do some training as they settle in on 19th Ave E. Continue reading

As a Capitol Hill restaurant family reshuffles, Taurus Ox lands on 19th Ave E

(Image: CHS)

Location, location, location… A Capitol Hill food and drink family’s reshuffling has its centerpiece restaurant moving into a space on a quieter part of Capitol Hill where its most recently launched concept didn’t work out.

Taurus Ox, just finishing its third year of business on the Hill, is moving to 19th Ave E.

With plans to reopen in October, the chef-centric Laotian eatery from Khampaeng “KP” Panyathong is busy readying the former home of 19th Ave E Greek classic Vios as its new home after a move from the E Madison mixed-use building where it first opened in late 2019.

“The amount of food produced out of our little Lao restaurant this summer was bananas—safe to say we’ve logistically outgrown our space,” the Taurus Ox team posted about the change. “With that said, we gladly announce our very necessary expansion into our new home nearby on 19th Ave.” Continue reading

CHS History | Where Capitol Hill’s capitol would have been

(Image: Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ)

This essay was created by historian and writer Dotty DeCoster. It was first posted to CHS in 2009. We remembered Dotty here on CHS after her passing in 2015.

Did the folks who began the church that is now Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ know that the property they bought was part of the site of the proposed state capitol?

The chapel originally faced E. Prospect on a lot that is now on the southeast corner of E. Prospect and 20th Ave E. The current church building, built in 1924, faces 20th Ave E., although the address remains 1919 E Prospect.

The site of the proposed capitol was a single large block, bounded to the north by E. Prospect, to the south by E. Helen, to the east by 21st Ave E. and to the west by 19th Ave E. Continue reading

911 | Rider taken to hospital in critical condition after Capitol Hill electric scooter crash

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or tune into the CHS Scanner page.

  • Scooter crash: An electric scooter rider suffered “heavy trauma” and was transported to Harborview in critical condition Tuesday after reportedly colliding with a curb at 19th and Madison, according to Seattle Fire and emergency radio reports. Seattle Fire says it was called to the scene just after 4:30 PM to the reported crash where the male rider in his 50s was found down in the roadway, unconscious with head injuries. The intersection was closed to traffic during the response. We do not have an updates on the rider’s condition from Harborview. Seattle Police was investigating the crash. Continue reading

Governor says new solar microgrid for emergency energy at Capitol Hill community center first of ‘hundreds’ across state

Seattle City Light Energy Innovation and Resources Officer Emeka Anywanwu led a tour with the governor Thursday

Capitol Hill’s Miller Community Center is not solar powered but its $3.3 million microgrid installation including storage batteries and 132 solar panels on its rooftop produce enough energy to power the 19th Ave E Seattle Parks facility and gymnasium through a major emergency.

Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Bruce Harrell were on hand for a pre-Earth Day ceremony to celebrate the project installed during the pandemic but not yet fully celebrated by the community.

Calling the project the “beginning of a revolution,” Inslee celebrated “free photons from the sun” and said there will soon be “hundreds” of projects like the Miller microgrid on community centers across the state. Continue reading

Money Frog replaces a Capitol Hill classic with its own version of multicultural, multigenerational appeal

With reporting and photography by Alex Garland

In a shade of “good fortune”-toned red and with the blessings — and permitting help — of the couple that made the space home to a successful Capitol Hill restaurant for nearly 20 years, Money Frog is celebrating its grand opening this week on the still quiet but now just a tad more interesting 19th Ave E.

General manager Jin Lee says that she is trying to keep to a simple philosophy with the opening even as the young restaurant works to overcome paperwork challenges and to settle into its new home neighborhood.

“Things are 10x more expensive, sometimes it feels like things are 10x harder,” Lee said. “But it’s all about having fun.”

“Relax. We want to do this to have fun.”

It also helps to have a little help and guidance from the decades of experience of Thomas and Rebecca Soukakos who decided to downsize their restaurant efforts on the Hill and sold their much-loved Vios late last year to make way for the new Money Frog project. Continue reading

Money Frog — ‘a pan-Asian bar and brunch spot’ — getting ready for smooth start on 19th Ave E — UPDATE: Soft opening

UPDATE — SOFT OPENING: Money Frog has announced a “soft opening” on Wednesday, March 23rd from 4 to 9 PM.

KP Panyathong inside the space under construction earlier this year (Image: @khampaengpanyathong)

 

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By Danielle Marie Holland

CHS ended 2021 by telling you about one of the most fun Capitol Hill food and drink projects to look forward to in 2022. Three months later, Money Frog is taking shape and preparing for its debut on 19th Ave E. The crew behind the new restaurant and hangout is busy ironing a few things out.

“The name of the restaurant is Money Frog. It’s nothing to do with tacos,” Joe Ye tells CHS.

The fresh collaboration between Joe and Lucy Ye of Hangry Panda in Greenwood and Khampaeng “KP” Panyathong of Taurus Ox on E Madison have been unraveling the taco confusion and more since the announcement late last December from Vios announcing that much loved Greek cafe’s last service after 17 years in the neighborhood.

At the time, the announcement described the new project taking over the 19th Ave E at E Aloha space as a two component restaurant and bar concept but the vision has been honed.

Hopefully that will be enough to help iron out another wrinkle: irritated neighbors. Continue reading