CHS: Away from the desk

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CHS is away from the news desk this week. It is our first extended period without regular news updates since our sabbatical in 2017!

Three years ago this week, CHS began one of its most intense periods of coverage as the 2020 George Floyd protests begin in Seattle. As the Black Lives Matter demonstrations grew, CHOP formed. After CHOP came months of anti-police protests centered around the neighborhood’s East Precinct. And, then, a pandemic. We have been proud of our work to cover the challenging times around Capitol Hill and value that CHS has continued to grow and evolve as a community news site.

This week doesn’t really bring any other kind of milestone other than the site will be quiet for a few days before snapping back into action later this week. But I am happy that CHS has been here to tell so many amazing stories and now can make time for a short rest.

CHS will still be watching to keep track of new stories and happenings. Please continue to help keep us on top of things —  Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959 with tips and story ideas. You can also check out Twitter reports from @jseattle (who should be enjoying the break but loves to tweet too much) or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

Thanks to all of our voluntary paid subscribers and CHS readers everywhere. We’ll see you away from the desk. Back to work, soon.

Justin

 

CHS SPRING SUBSCRIBER DRIVE
This is about as intrusive as we’ll get. No pledge breaks. No tote bags. Just a call for readers to please consider subscribing to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. Become a subscriber at $1/$5/$10 a month.

 

Over a decade in the making, $4.3M Melrose Promenade’s final pieces include new bike lane, better Capitol Hill connections to Seattle’s growing network of safer streets

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By Kali Herbst Minino

Construction on the $4.3 million Melrose Promenade project, aiming to make walking and biking safer, accessible, and attractive along Melrose Ave on Capitol Hill, is planned to be completed in June.

Seattle Department of Transportation crews have been working on the final pieces of the project: a new protected bike lane between E Pine and Denny, reconfiguring street parking on the west side of Melrose, new crosswalks on Pike and Pine, new curb ramps, and sidewalk repairs. Melrose at Pike and Pine’s decorated community crosswalks will be re-constructed later in the summer.

The project is one piece of a community vision of a “Melrose Promenade.” Central Seattle Greenways, an organization comprised of community members who advocate for safer streets, helped work on that vision alongside the Melrose Promenade Advisory Committee (MPAC) 10 years ago. Creating a series of events titled “Muffins on Melrose,” CSG advocates talked with passersby about the street’s potential over free muffins and coffee.

MPAC’s website has been lost due to age, but a 2013 document lists their ultimate goals: improving pedestrian safety, new bicycle connections, additional connections to other forms of transit, and creating pedestrian green and gathering spaces. Continue reading →

Man reported shot in chest in more gun violence near Garfield

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A man was reported shot multiple times in the chest and a handgun was recovered at the scene after a shooting Friday night at 25th and Jefferson in a string of gun violence that has continued in the area around Garfield High School.

According to East Precinct and Seattle Fire radio updates, the shooting took place just before 10 PM. Arriving officers reported finding the 29-year-old victim with gunshot wounds to his chest. Police also found a firearm on the pavement at the shooting scene. Continue reading →

Next for the old Glo’s space: Imo Pocha bringing Korean comfort food to E Olive Way

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(Image: CHS)

For more than 30 years, Glo’s brought diner lines to E Olive Way. With the Capitol Hill legend in a much larger new space off Broadway, here is the next restaurant that will make the old E Olive Way diner its home.

Imo Pocha is preparing for a June opening in the space, marking an expansion of Hun “John” Lee’s food and drink holdings in the area. Lee and chef/owner Sotokawa Yu opened Noren Sushi and Lounge at E Pike and Bellevue in 2018 after converting the old Benson’s Grocery into a new restaurant space.

There has also been a lot of work to do in the old Glo’s where CHS is told a new kitchen was part of the lease already in place when the building was part of the summer 2022 real estate transaction that put the property home to Glo’s, The Doctor’s Office, Stumbling Monk and Captain Black’s into the hands of the set of E Olive Way businesses that had grown there. Continue reading →

Playground overhaul work begins at Cal Anderson Park

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(Image: @aronjaay)

Sorry, kids. The Cal Anderson Park playground is closed for construction.

It might seem cruel that, just as the weather has turned warm and summery, the play area at the busy park is fenced off but Seattle Parks says the schedule for the project is necessary as part of the cost savings from bundling the work with a contract covering other parks work in the city. Continue reading →

Volunteer Park Summer Series at the Amphitheater 2023 lineup announced

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The Summer Series at the Amphitheater has announced its 2023 lineup — first show is July 13th

The good folks at the Volunteer Park Trust have announced the lineup for the 2023 Summer Series at the Amphitheater, a second season of the free series of shows set up to celebrate the park’s $2.7 million amphitheater replacement that opened last July.

The full 2023 lineup is below. But, first things first, you should enjoy this Memorial Day weekend around the Hill. Here are a few ideas from the CHS Calendar. Missing something? Add your event here.

Memorial Day Weekend On the List

  • Northwest Terror Fest 2023: Neumos and Barboza are hosting this year’s “extreme” metal music festival with the black-clad terror running through Saturday night. Learn more at northwestterrorfest.com. Continue reading →

‘Dark and red and chandelier-y’ — The Rose Temple folks are opening a new bar with a fancy new kitchen on E Olive Way

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The entrance back in the Living Room days (Image: CHS)

Capitol Hill food and drink business partners Austin Polley and Benjamin Smith have been stressing out over a name for their coming soon E Olive Way bar.

The look and feel they want are set — “dark and red and chandelier-y” — and even though they are searching for just the right chef to really make the new joint sing, they know they want the menu to serve up “bar pasta” — healthy platters of saucy noodles, Polley says. But they can’t settle on a name.

“It’s going to be a cool, dark, red place to be in at night,” Polley said. Dark, red? Dark red?

The colors matter. Continue reading →

Teen arrives at hospital after another shooting near Garfield High School — UPDATE

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For the second time in a week, a shooting around Garfield High School left a teen injured and the school on an after-the-bell lockdown.

According to East Precinct radio updates, gunfire was reported just before 5:30 PM near 26th and Jefferson behind the school. Arriving officers found shell casings and were looking for suspects reported fleeing on foot and a vehicle with bullet damage reported leaving the area. Continue reading →

Indian grocery store Spice SPC now open on the edge of Capitol Hill

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Indian grocery store Spice SPC has reopened after its move from its original home just off Rainier Ave to just off E Madison.

“We are a social purpose Indian grocery store which I believe is the only SPC Indian store in the area,” Aditya Bajaj tells CHS. “SPC is recognized as a corporation to pursue profits and social good in WA state. We care about our customers, communities, and suppliers.”

And, for those of you wondering where the border falls, Bajaj considers the north of Madison location as Capitol Hill.

Continue reading →