Who can save the HoneyHole? A familiar name in Capitol Hill bars and restaurants prepares to dive in

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REMEMBERING KLU: The HoneyHole logo was created by artist Rick Klu — Klu died earlier this year and was remembered here as “a prolific painter and muralist who became a fixture in Seattle in the 1990s”

A legendary E Pike sandwich joint entangled in a mess of inexperienced management is lined up for recovery with the help of some of the one of the most experienced names in Capitol Hill food and drink.

New filings show that Travis and Carrie Rosenthal, who have grown a family of popular Capitol Hill and Seattle food and drink venues including E Pike rum bar Rumba and its post-Tiki sibling Inside Passage, are preparing to take over — and right the ship — at troubled Capitol Hill sandwich bar the HoneyHole. Continue reading →

With First Hill’s Museum of Museums shuttered, new owner sought for its signature neon light sculpture

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(Image: Museum of Museums)

A sad Seattle arts loss this year could be brightened with a new home for a creation that has lit up First Hill nights outside the Museum of Museums.

Artist Dylan Neuwirth’s ALL MY FRIENDS neon sculpture that has stood in front of the now-shuttered arts venue is currently up for auction on eBay. Starting bid? $30,000.

CHS reported here this summer as founder Greg Lundgren said heavy infrastructure costs to maintain and improve the former mid-century styled medical building were too much to continue the 2021-opened museum.

As part of the shutdown, Lundgren is now trying to find a new home for Neuwirth’s creation. Continue reading →

Another hazardous material response after suspicious letter reported at Temple De Hirsch Sinai

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(Image: Temple De Hirsch Sinai)

Seattle Fire and Seattle Police were called to Capitol Hill’s Temple De Hirsch Sinai to investigate a suspicious white powder reported in a parcel at the E Pike synagogue Thursday.

SFD’s hazardous materials team was called to the temple’s courtyard just after noon where a caller from the synagogue said the letter could be found. The hazmat crew was able to quickly determine the item did not contain any hazardous substances. The Seattle Police Department was investigating.

The hazmat responses have become near routine for Seattle Fire with multiple similar incidents reported around the region. Continue reading →

Police investigate after reported armed robbery near Garfield High School

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Seattle Police were tracking down teenage suspects and Garfield High School went into a brief “shelter in place” lockdown Thursday after a reported armed robbery near the Central District campus involving juvenile victims.

According to East Precinct radio updates, police were called to 22nd and Jefferson around 12:30 PM to a reported robbery involving a group of young suspects including at least one who appeared to have a firearm in his waistband.

Police were in the process of contacting possible suspects around the busy campus and students on the move for lunch. At least one juvenile suspect was identified during a traffic stop. Police were looking for phones possible stolen by the group. Continue reading →

A Capitol Hill Station cafe years in the making, Seasmith really will arrive in 2024

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Seasmith will have a lot in common with its Beacon Ave sibling Fable (Image: Fable)

Capitol Hill Station’s crowds of light rail passengers are back to pre-pandemic levels — and then some. The mix of apartments and new residents above the stations has created a busy new Broadway neighborhood. Now the hopes of new businesses above the nearly eight-year-old Seattle subway stop are also returning to pre-pandemic levels.

“I don’t think I could have imagined that a project could take us that long but back then,” Mathew Wendland, owner of Seasmith said. “But I also couldn’t have imagined any of the things we were all going to go through within COVID.”

Seasmith is the happily anticipated, long awaited coffee shop and casual hangout from the Burien Press family of businesses. It will have been in the works to join Capitol Hill Station’s new development at the corner of Broadway and E. Barbara Bailey Way for five years when it finally opens in 2024 joining the expanded Glo’s Diner (May 2023), and H Mart’s M2M grocery market (April 2022) as the development’s commercial tenants finally reach critical mass.

Seasmith will be “all day cafe, really looking at how do we create something that is activating every part of the day — coffee, fresh food in morning, full kitchen, lunch, dinner, beer, natural wine,” Wendland said about the project when we first spoke to him about it in 2021.

When it finally opens next year, Seasmith’s story will be one of pandemic challenges, transit oriented development bureaucracy, and creative perseverance. Continue reading →

With 2024 budget wrapped, City Council turns attention to Seattle’s looming 2025 deficit

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With work on the 2024 budget just completed, the Seattle City Council’s budget committee still has more work to do over the coming year to do its part to help City Hall overcome a looming deficit. The committee meets Thursday with an agenda of legislation (PDF) to streamline the annual fiscal effort with possible new schedules and requirements. Work will also be coming to identify options to address the looming deficit including possible new “alternative revenue” sources for the city.

According to the council, its final 2024 budget package deliberations and amendments “reduced the projected deficit in 2025 from $247 million to $218 million” — “but there is still a substantial amount of work to be done,” a council briefing says.

Part of that work could be legislation to tap into new sources of revenue in Seattle. Continue reading →

Gage Academy hosts its final Drawing Jam before move off Capitol Hill

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(Image: Gage Academy)

By next summer, the Gage Academy of Art will have left Capitol Hill. CHS reported here on the planned move for the school after decades on the St. Mark’s campus as the church prepares for planned housing development on its 10th Ave E property.

This weekend might be a fitting time to stop in to say goodbye as Gage hosts its final Drawing Jame on Capitol Hill:

The annual event is a celebration of the school and brings “artists and art-lovers of all ages together to enjoy the simple act of putting hand to paper, using different locales, subjects and events to engage the public in observational drawing.”

The arts academy has its future lined out with an agreement to move next year into a South Lake Amazon office building where the 35-year-old school will become the ground-floor presence below floors of Amazon workers above.

 

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911 | Gunfire melee breaks out in Pike/Pine and Thanksgiving arsonist sets 14th Ave dumpster fires

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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 join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • Pike/Pine gunfire melee: Add a bout of early Thanksgiving morning gunfire in the middle of Pike/Pine nightlife crowds to the outburst of recent area gun violence. Video of the incident has been widely shared on social media. According to police, the gunfire broke out as officer were arriving at 10th and Pike to clear a large disturbance involving around 100 people and a possible firearm. As police arrived, shots rangs out and people scattered. Police were able to identify the shooter and take the armed suspect into custody. Two suspect involved the dispute were arrested for malicious harassment. “Due to the volatile nature of the crowd, officers from the West Precinct arrived on scene to assist with scene with security,” SPD’s brief on the incident reads. Multiple gun violence incidents have been reported across the area in the past week including a man shot in the foot on Capitol Hill later Thanksgiving morning, a woman shot in the back inside an E Denny apartment building late Friday, a Monday night shootout at 21st and Union, and a rolling gunfight that left a vehicle flipped on its side at 23rd and Spruce Tuesday night.
  • Thanksgiving arson fires: Police say a suspect was caught on camera setting fires to multiple dumpsters in the area around 14th Ave and Pine on Thanksgiving. According to SPD, Seattle Fire was called to a blaze set in a dumpster outside the State Farm office on 14th Ave and found fires had also been set in multiple dumpsters in the area including one that SPD says “caused felony level damage to a nearby residential building.” The fires were quickly put out and there were no reported injuries. Police say surveillance cameras captured the suspect setting the fires but a search of the area for the arsonist was not successful. There were no reported arrests.
  • Central District apartment fire: Seattle Fire responded to a fire in a second story apartment at 23rd and Union’s Midtown Center development Wednesday afternoon. Crews were called to the building just before 2:30 PM. Seattle Fire said the fire was contained to the apartment unit and was brought under control by the sprinkler system. No injuries were reported.
 

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Makin’ Rent on Capitol Hill? Cafe Racer reopens with benefit show

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(Image: Cafe Racer)

Capitol Hill’s Cafe Racer will reopen this week with a benefit show new partner Jody Ramsammy says is indicative of the renewed spirit behind the restart of the all-ages music venue.

“We invite the Cafe Racer family, the village family, and Individuals that would like to be part of change in arts and entertainment in the city,” Ramsammy says of Friday’s “Makin’ Rent” benefit show.

And, to make it clear he’s talking about thriving and surviving in this suddenly big city, Ramsammy adds a special invitation to “our neighbors in Capitol Hill and the corporate world who are willing to partner with us.”

Ramsammy says for the mission of growing a dedicated all-ages venue in the midst of Pike/Pine’s high-rent nightlife district to work, the mechanics of Cafe Racer’s business need to change to include new non-profit arts support and financial backing from the city’s business community. All options are on the table including corporate sponsorships from companies “that share our values.” Continue reading →

Seattle considers plan for its 4,000+ largest buildings to be ‘net-zero’ by 2050

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(Image: City of Seattle)

Estimates show Seattle’s buildings are responsible for about 37% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the city. A new proposal would raise the standards on the city’s largest buildings to speed up efforts to address climate pollution.

Wednesday, the Seattle City Council’s Committee on Climate Action will consider legislation that would “dramatically lower the carbon footprint of existing large buildings in Seattle,” according to a briefing on the bill.

The bill aims to achieve net-zero building emissions by 2050 by establishing emissions reduction targets for buildings greater than 20,000 square feet, measuring and verifying greenhouse gas emissions, helping building owners create decarbonization plans, and establishing fees.

The plan would impact around 4,100 existing buildings larger than 20,000 square feet around the city including a handful of school, health, and residential buildings around Capitol Hill and the Central District. The standards would be phased in over five-year intervals with the city’s largest structures first on the list. Continue reading →