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CHS Pics | 2016’s 20 ‘most interesting’ pictures from the CHS Flickr Pool

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Bird on a bench

The CHS Flickr Pool contains more than 33,000 photographs — most of Capitol Hill images, many glorious, some technically amazing. Here, you’ll find the 20 photographs the Flickr algorithm has deemed as the “most interesting” images taken by the neighborhood shutterbugs who contributed to the group. The magical recipe combining the ideas of “most viewed” and more did an alright job sorting out some of the more compelling images taken this year. But you can also spin back through our “this week in pictures” archive to see the many amazing images the algorithm missed. Meanwhile, you can also check out 2016 in pictures from CHS’s photographers and reporters.
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CHS Year in Review 2016 | The year in Capitol Hill pictures

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Caucus Day 2016
Chelsea Clinton at Town Hall
Corvus and Co.
The Skipping Jestress
What the end of Seattle’s ‘wettest meteorological winter season’ looked like
RBG the CD

We have again selected a collection of images that helped tell the story of the past year on the streets and in the neighborhoods around Capitol Hill. In 2016, there were 88 that demanded further attention. The work includes images from the many reporters and writers and community of photography contributors who have shared their work with CHS. In 2016, we said goodbye to reporter Bryan Cohen — though you will see plenty of his work, below — and wished him the best of luck in his new pursuits. You will find a few shots from new addition Kaylee Osowski and we were lucky in 2016 to continue to frequently feature the work of photographer Alex Garland and neighborhood shutterbug Tim Durkan along with his views of Broadway and Pike/Pine by night. Thanks to all the contributors who shared their work with CHS in 2016. More of the great, terrible, and what?? images of 2016, below.

YIR 2016
+ CHS Year in Review 2016 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories
+ Plans to build our way out of it, the year in Capitol Hill development
+ Pizza, no palaces, and the real world — the year in food+drink
Previous Year in Pictures Posts: 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010

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CHS Year in Review 2016 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories

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Naked Trump
Lyne murder investigation
Census Day
Seattle Asian Art Museum expansion
Anti-Trump rally at Cal Anderson
Capitol Hill Station opens

In 2015, CHS readers voted the unveiling of the soon to open Capitol Hill Station as the most important story of the year. We would wager it is likely to top the list again in 2016. The opening of the $110 million or so light rail station was one of the big stories CHS covered in 2016. There were others including a busy year for our neighbors in the Central District as one of the classic storylines from Capitol Hill — shockingly large land development deals — migrated to the south away from Pike/Pine. Meanwhile, Capitol Hill struggled with gun violence. The topsy turvy year also included stories of terrible evil and sad tragedies mixed with just enough intrigue and hope to keep you reading and us writing to find out what happens next.

YIR 2016
+ CHS Year in Review 2016 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories / Top 10 Most Read / Top 10 Most Commented
+ The year in Capitol Hill pictures
+ Plans to build our way out of it, the year in Capitol Hill development
+ Pizza, no palaces, and the real world — the year in food+drink
CHS YIR: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016

 

Now Open: Capitol Hill Station
On March 19th, 2016 things changed forever on Capitol Hill — again — as dignitaries cut the ribbon at Capitol Hill Station’s Broadway and John entrance and ushered in the start of service on the the $1.9 billion, 3.1-mile U-Link extension. The opening marked the end of seven years of demolition and construction on the busy street in a process that ripped a hole — really, two twin tunnels — in the block and connected Capitol Hill to downtown and UW with four-minute rides.
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CHS Year in Review 2016 | Pizza, no palaces, and the real world — the year in food+drink

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Brandon Pettit — Dino’s
Kari Brunson — Frankie and Jo’s
Manu Alfau — Manu’s Bodegita
Liz Pachaud of Honor Society Coffee
Corvus and Co.
Bar Vacilando
Sizzle Pie

CHS’s yearly tallies are probably missing a name here or there, include some stretch-y borders, might include a double-count or three, and… well, you get the idea. (Source: CHS)

If things work out with final permits and logistics, Katsu Burger could become the 36th new restaurant, cafe, or bar to open across and around Capitol Hill in 2016. But here is the thing about CHS’s ongoing tally of new food and drink ventures opening on Capitol Hill over the years. There are all sorts of things in the mix.

Of the 36 new places we are semi-officially logging for 2016, six aren’t actually on Capitol Hill, and the list includes everything from a new life for the Broadway coffee shack as Let it Bean to the ambitious I-5 Shores buildout of the charming Harry’s Fine Foods. That 2016 spectrum topped by the Harry’s project bootstrapped by creative first time restaurateurs, by the way, marked a departure from recent years when the neighborhood saw a handful of huge investments in surprisingly massive restaurant palaces. In 2015, that kind of ambition created Renee Erickson’s amazing Pike/Pine trio of Melusine+Bateau+General Porpoise — in 2016, that ambition clearly paid off as Bateau was picked by many as the restaurant of the year. There were no new palaces created in 2016 Capitol Hill food and drink but lots of smaller, maybe warmer spaces like Harry’s or the restoration of the old way in the historic Loveless Building at Cook Weaver.

Like Cook Weaver, the story of 2016 wasn’t only the new. The ongoing transition to a $15 minimum wage brought new ways of doing business and changes to the crucial underpinnings of the food and drink economy like tipping. It was also a revealing year for the realities of food and drink’s inherent risk as we sifted through the financial wreckage of Bauhaus and the founder of Tavern Law. And a few old timers celebrated important milestones and new beginnings.

YIR 2016
+ CHS Year in Review 2016 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories
+ The year in Capitol Hill pictures
+ Plans to build our way out of it, the year in Capitol Hill development
+ Pizza, no palaces, and the real world — the year in food+drink
Food+drink: 2015 / 2014 / 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010

Busts
Let’s start with the bad news. While critics have been waiting for a Capitol Hill restaurant and bar bubble to pop, we’re not sure those critics will ever get such a clear conclusion to the year after year cliffhangers. But we did see a few small “pops” along the way in 2016. There were two financial implosions within the Capitol Hill food and drink family that revealed just how tenuous growth can be in the business. Continue reading →

CHS Year in Review 2016 | Plans to build our way out of it, the year in Capitol Hill development

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The future Broadway around Capitol Hill Station
Catherine Hillenbrand, community activist, in 2016 saw a decade of her work to help shape public priorities for the Capitol Hill Station development finally come to fruition
Demolition to make way for the Broadway Whole Foods
The future Hugo House
In 2016, the Excelsior was born
Tim Burgess and friends celebrate early Prop 1 housing levy returns in August

There it is. Just as 2016 staggers to a close, market analysts — with a heavy stake in the outcome — say, looky, Seattle rents may have finally reached a “turning point” after years of mostly unabated increase. Will 2017 be the year Capitol Hill rents finally break? If so, 2016 will be marked as the final thrust of the old way of Seattle boom development as the new HALA-throttled marketplace is finally whipped into shape. For the pessimists — or, perhaps, optimistic landlords — if rents haven’t really turned that climb upside down and Seattle’s affordability crisis continues, then, well, 2016 will represent more of the same even as our intentions grew. Here is a look at how the year in development played out on Capitol Hill.

YIR 2016
+ CHS Year in Review 2016 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories
+ The year in Capitol Hill pictures
+ Plans to build our way out of it, the year in Capitol Hill development
+ Pizza, no palaces, and the real world — the year in food+drink

CHS YIR 2015 — Our first look at the new Capitol Hill
CHS YIR 2014 — More than supply and demand
CHS YIR 2013 — Capitol Hill development and the quest for affordability
CHS YIR 2012 — The re-development of Capitol Hill

Bellwether's Cambridge building got a $10M upgrade

Bellwether’s Cambridge building got a $10M upgrade

AFFORDABILITY
Years of concern about the cost of living in the densest neighborhood in one of the densest cities in the nation continued in 2016. Along the way, it seemed like those concerns were growing — not shrinking away. But there were real actions in 2016 to address Seattle’s — and Capitol Hill’s — “affordability crisis.” More projects were completed with at least a component of affordable units and nonprofits like Bellwether, which now operates six affordable buildings across Capitol Hill, further emerged to help lead.


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CHS Year in Review 2015 | The ‘most’ posts — most read, most commented, most viral

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Don’t worry. CHS will move fully into 2016 soon. We have to keep pace with 2015 when we published 1,530 stories. First, we still have a few more things to take account of in the year that was. Below, we’ve tallied CHS’s 2015 ‘most’ posts including the stories that were most-read and most-commented on during the year. All of our Year in Review 2015 coverage is here.

IMG_0315-600x397Most-Read CHS Posts

  1. Mayor Murray set to unveil ‘Rainbow Crosswalks on Capitol Hill’ — UPDATE: Unveiled!
  2. Seattle prepares for May Day 2015 with protests — again — planned for Capitol Hill
  3. Broadway says goodbye to Charlie’s — UPDATE: Confirmed :(
  4. Five injured in shooting at Broadway and Pike
  5. Capitol Hill Value Village to close after one last Halloween

IMG_20150831_191624-400x400Most-Viral CHS Posts
(did not appear on the CHS homepage during the year but were widely shared and read)

  1. Spoiler Alert: Mystery of the Capitol Hill Mystery Coke Machine’s mysteries REVEALED
  2. CHS Community Post | Now trending in Hill male fashion
  3. Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room opens at the base of Capitol Hill
  4. Whole Foods coming to Capitol Hill in new development at Broadway and Madison
  5. Two years of being an aPodment building neighbor

2015-10-15-The-Bluff-Building-600x400Most-Pondered CHS Posts
(articles with longest time on page, read by at least 1,000 readers)

  1. 5 final questions for District 3: model city, transit choices, ‘newcomers,’ design review, home owners
  2. 20 things CHS heard during Monday’s *hot and heated* Seattle rent control smackdown
  3. Capitol Retrospective | The Bluff Building: A lesson in escapism at 10th and Pike
  4. Here’s what Bernie Sanders said at the Comet
  5. Dr. Jen closing Capitol Hill shop, moving drag-inspired cosmetics company

IMG_6866-367x550Most-Commented CHS Posts

And, last, but not least, thanks to our roster of 2015 most-active CHS commenters:

Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 11.36.55 AM

CHS Year in Review 2015 | The year in Capitol Hill pictures

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May Day protection for the Starbucks roastery

Below, we’ve selected some of the images that helped tell the story of the past year on the streets and in the neighborhoods around Capitol Hill. The work includes images from our many reporters and writers and our community of photography contributors. We’re also fortunate to be able to again thank reporter Bryan Cohen and photographer Alex Garland for their ongoing work to make CHS great. This year, we can also thank neighborhood shutterbug Tim Durkan for his views of Broadway and Pike/Pine by night. Thanks to all the photographers who shared their work with CHS in 2015. Continue reading →

CHS Year in Review 2015 | Capitol Hill’s most important stories

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For those who believe Capitol Hill died in 1993, you can stop reading. For the rest of you, below is some of the biggest news CHS covered on and around the Hill in 2015. There were stories of triumph and exciting new things. There were stories of tragedy and troubles. There was a rogue garbage truck. For a neighborhood that has been dead for more than twenty years, it sure was busy up here.

YIR 2015
+ Our first look at the new Capitol Hill — the year in development
+ Capitol Hill’s food and drink booms again
+ CHS Pics | This YEAR in Capitol Hill pictures
+ A Capitol Hill bookseller’s list: best books of 2015
CHS YIR: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015

Survey – Mobile Version

IMG_8159Capitol Hill Station unveiled: One of the most-viewed news posts of the year was CHS’s report with the first photos from inside the completed Capitol Hill Station. While the light rail extension isn’t slated to begin service until 2016, enthusiasm for the new subway connection ran high in 2015. “Tens of thousands of people will use this as a way to commute to work, to enjoy life when they’re not working. It’s going to make a difference,” Mayor Ed Murray said before his first visit inside the station at Broadway and John. Meanwhile, the ongoing delays for the surface-level First Hill Streetcar became an ongoing joke.

Screen-Shot-2015-11-23-at-7.59.47-AMGun violence: Seattle and, especially, Central Seattle suffered from a wave of shootings and gunfire incidents. A dramatic drive-by shooting in November that injured five at Broadway and Pike got the most headlines while East Precinct shooting deaths included an August slaying in lower Pike/Pine and a deadly July shooting at 24th and Spring. Each of the three incidents mentioned here, by the way, remain unsolved. In all, there were four shooting deaths across the East Precinct in 2015 but across Seattle as a whole, gunfire incidents were trending 27% higher in 2015 vs. 2014. With help from the feds, city officials vowed to address the violence and do more to enable East Precinct officers to focus on serious crimes in 2016. Continue reading →

CHS Year in Review 2015 | Capitol Hill’s food and drink booms again

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Optimism Brewing was a big opening for Capitol Hill in 2015 -- and a small victory for small beer in a year when global brewing aspirations reigned (Image: CHS)

Optimism Brewing was a big opening for Capitol Hill in 2015 — and a small victory for small beer in a year when global brewing aspirations reigned (Image: CHS)

Chris Cvetkovich at Nue
Ernest Loves Agnes
Herb & Bitter
Roshita Shrestha at Yeti Bar
The gang at Peloton
CHS’s yearly tallies are probably missing a name here or there, include some stretch-y borders, might include a double-count or three, and… well, you get the idea. (Source: CHS)

CHS’s yearly tallies are probably missing a name here or there, include some stretch-y borders, might include a double-count or three, and… well, you get the idea. (Source: CHS)


When it opened on 14th Ave in January, global modernist Nue — by our count — was the 100th new food and drink joint debut we’d covered going back through the Capitol Hill restaurant and bar boom to 2012. Using the same not-exactly-scientific methods and including a small handful of joints in the Central District, we’d venture a guess of 38 new bars, restaurants, and cafes opening around Capitol Hill in 2015. Only slightly offsetting that continued growth were a dozen or so closures — with most of those spaces either already returned to service or with new tenants lined up. And we didn’t even include rebirths and overhauls in the tally. In short, the Capitol Hill food+drink boom continued in 2015. But that’s what we said last year. With dozens of new ventures in motion, there is no other way to put it. Below are the stories, people, and places that made it happen.

YIR 2015
+ Our first look at the new Capitol Hill — the year in development
+ CHS Pics | This YEAR in Capitol Hill pictures
+ A Capitol Hill bookseller’s list: best books of 2015
Food+drink: 2014 / 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010

Big beer: 2015 started with a double-edged indicator that it would be a big year for brew as global beer giant Anheuser-Busch announced its takeover of E Pike-born Elysian Brewing. Co-founder Dick Cantwell told CHS of his “mixed feelings” over the estimated $60 million deal. Three months after the takeover, he resigned. Meanwhile, the year ended with news of another big beer player settings its sights on Capitol Hill as Redhook announced plans for an E Pike small batch brewery and pub. The punchline? Redhook is owned by the Craft Beer Alliance, a company partly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Optimism

Optimism

Small big beer: With all that big beer money being thrown around, the biggest beer investment in the neighborhood was actually made by a Capitol Hill husband and wife team with a start-up mentality when it comes to brew. Optimism Brewing — a 16,000 square-foot brewery designed by Olson Kundig Architects — opened in November in an overhauled auto row-era showroom at Broadway in Union. Meanwhile, tiny Outer Planet opened on 12th Ave.

RIP Bauhaus: For many, Bauhaus died when it left its birthplace cafe at the corner of Melrose and Pine. The departure was completed for the rest of us in early December when the Bauhaus businesses imploded and its cafes shuttered across the city. The closure ended what many had been hoped would be a story of a neighborhood favorite overcoming the area’s relentless pace of development.

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A Capitol Hill bookseller’s list: best books of 2015

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By Hilary Lawlor / Special to CHS

As a bookseller at one of the most famous bookstores in the country, the Elliott Bay Book Company, I see a lot of books come and go. It gets to the point where it seems overwhelming. How could anyone ever read all of these? What’s the point of writing anything, if the market is flooded with so many great choices? Well, the point of writing, and encouraging authors to continue to write, is that once in a while, a book appears that is so fantastic, so memorable, so great that it eclipses all the others, if only for a moment. This is my list of the books that came out in 2015 that I think accomplished that difficult feat.51npiQtVa-L._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_

  • 15) Too High and Too Steep by David B. Williams

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the entire topography of downtown Seattle was reshaped. As hilly as Seattle-ites may think the city is now, the landscape was once much more varied, particularly in the downtown area. In Too High and Too Steep, WIlliams describes the processes that leveled Denny Hill and erased cliffs and tide flats from Seattle’s waterfront. He evokes the setting the way it used to be, and you won’t believe it now, but you might wish you could have seen a hillier Seattle.

  • 14) Stories in the Stars by Susanna Hislop

In this beautiful volume, Hislop combines beautifully designed illustrations of constellations with page-long histories concerning the legends behind them. Or sometimes, when they’re not interesting enough, she makes up new ones, and her prose is warm, funny, and engaging. After laying out Hercules’s to-do list (including items like “Snatch Hippolyte’s snazzily-decorated girdle” and “Go to Crete and deal with a white bull”), for instance, she includes a note-to-self at the bottom: “Urgent: Buy Life Insurance.”

  • 13) Seattle City of Literature: Reflections from a Community of Writers

In this awesome book from local publisher Sasquatch Books, several of Seattle’s best-known writers combined their powers to create Captain Planet a work that embodies the history of literature and growth in this great city. Advertised as a “bookish history of Seattle,” the little red paper-over-board volume boasts essays and stories from the likes of Tom Robbins, Sonora Jha, Garth Stein, Frances McCue, and Karen Finneyfrock, among many others. Pick this one up if you want to feel a little bit more connected to the ground beneath your feet, or at least to the history behind it. Continue reading →