Capitol Hill’s next generation of clubs is here as Cultura Seattle and Massive arrive

(Image: Cultura Seattle)

Two new venues hoping to add new dimensions to Capitol Hill’s nightlife scene have welcomed their first patrons.

On E Pike, Cultura Seattle has a full club calendar already after a September grand opening.

Down E Pine, things are still getting squared away but Massive is also starting to fill up its dance club card with a small wave of November events as the new club in the overhauled former home of R Place ramps up.

In one of the truest rites of passage, both clubs already have their first Capitol Hill Halloween celebrations under their belts. Continue reading

Save the Mercury! Save Neighbours! Donations and volunteers helping dance clubs reopen on Capitol Hill

(Image: The Mercury at Machineworks)

The Neighbours disco ball survived break-ins and squatters (Image: Neighbours)

While Capitol Hill watches a new future unfold for a building that formerly housed one of the neighborhood’s iconic clubs, organizers around two other centers of dance and community in the neighborhood are asking for help to reopen the venues.

The efforts include fundraising, selling merchandise, and work parties to help reopen the Mercury and Broadway’s Neighbours.

Here’s one message from the people working to save E Union’s Mercury at Machinewerks private gothic dance club: Continue reading

The Baltic Room, Capitol Hill nightclub legend, ready for new owner

(Image: The Baltic Room)

Capitol Hill nightclub The Baltic Room is changing hands but before its owner said goodbye after a decade fostering a longtime piece of the neighborhood’s nightlife culture, he wanted to get things right at the club.

“How do I properly get this set up for somebody to take over in a responsible way?” Jason Brotman said he asked himself about the work in the past year to prepare the Pine club bridging the gap between downtown and Capitol Hill ready for a new era. Brotman spoke with CHS a few weeks back as he waited to finalize the deal to take over the club. Continue reading

The Electric Tea Garden wasn’t really dead and it’s still not but it does need a new Hill home

(Image: ETG)

(Image: ETG)

Though CHS reported its closure at 14th and Madison in October of 2013, the Electric Tea Garden wasn’t really gone. But it wasn’t really there, either. We’ll let founder and flipper of the ETG switch Bruce Mason explain.

“We were working on something different,” Mason tells CHS.

295943_291193720906938_687513709_nSome of that different emerged at one point when we noticed a new liquor license application for the eclectic dance club that made its home above the Artificial Limb Co. But, in the end, Mason says, reopening a dance club wasn’t really the direction of things, either, despite a few underground shows in the club here and there over the years since its “closure.”

In January, the venue got slapped with a land use violation and Mason with the building’s ownership started the process of looking into officially changing the use of the building and putting it in compliance for operating a club. But Mason said what followed was a growing realization that ETG wasn’t going to be able to stay in its longtime home.

“Despite some excitement from the new owner, the fire department came through and decided we needed a fire suppression system and that was really it,” Mason said.

Now Mason and his wife Suzanne are moving out of the old space — contact them for some deals on furniture, etc. — and beginning the search for something new, hopefully on Capitol Hill. “We’re trying to get away from the nightclub and get back to our gallery and internet radio roots,” Mason said. If you know of a space, drop ETG a line.

After 18 years on the Hill, Electric Tea Garden is in search of a new home. Our hope is to stay on our beloved Capitol Hill. But other up-and-coming areas of this great city are on our short list — SoDo, Pioneer Square, International District?!

To get all the lastest on ETG Events, plans, and launch date, make sure you update your email on our list at Contact Us.

In the meantime, come to the corner of East Pike Street and 14th Avenue from today until Tuesday, June 30th, to rummage through our well-loved furniture and curiosities. While our doors will not be open, feel free to drop off love letters and farewells in our mail box at the front entry at 1402 E. Pike Street.

WE LOVE YOU, MISS YOU and are SO PROUD OF YOU! HOPE TO SEE YOU VERY SOON!!!