Don’t forget to bring your camera tonight and add your pictures from the neighborhood festivities to the CHS flickr pool. Make sure to tag your work chsHalloweenHill. We’ll give $50 (plus whatever you add to the pot) to the winner’s favorite non-profit. More details here.

In the meantime, here’s a 360-degree preview of Halloween on Capitol Hill. You can pretend to be a parent sipping warm cider in the haunted house’s front yard while you wait for your little goblins to get their goods.

Thanks for the tip, Dan L.

While we’re bitching and moaning about Red Balloon Co., we should be celebrating places that do survive like charming little Casita at 423 15th Ave E. The tiny shop is full of random art and Kahlo-esque jewelry and trinkets. Its purpose is limited — this is a charming place to buy little pretty charms and that is pretty much it. But put a Casita trinket in your pocket and we bet you won’t even notice Red Balloon the next time you walk down 15th.

Brace yourselves, folks. Halloween is here and this morning’s PI is all over Capitol Hill as Seattle’s premier trick-or-treat destination.

Our guide to neighborhood trick or treating mentioned in the article has extremely sound science behind it but if you are planning to visit the neighborhood, here’s some additional intelligence to consider when planning your candy acquisition mission.

1) Don’t drive up here because it will be a massive pain to park. Catch the #10 downtown or on its way up the Hill, get off anywhere around 15th Ave and head east. Kids, east is the direction from which you smell the Butterfingers.

2) Don’t miss 17th and 18th Ave. The whole neighborhood is part of the fun but these two streets put on the best show. Be careful crossing Aloha as you wander from haunted house to haunted house. Have fun!

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There are times in the life of a neighborhood blogger that lack purpose. What to write! And there are times when you receive a mail from Gilby.

Hi,
My name is Gilby. I found your email from CHS Seattle.
Not sure if you are able to answer my question? But, here it is.

Will there be trick or treating on 17th, 18th & 19th on streets, on Capital Hill, this year, as there was last Halloween?

I was reading through the message board, and became a bit confused with some of the posts.

If you could please let me know, asap, as Halloween is in a few hours, that would be great. I took my son trick or treating there last year, and he loved it.
We live a few blocks away, so it’s convenient.

Thank you for your time.
Hope to hear back soon.

Cheers,
Gilby

Yes, Gilby, there will be trick or treating on 17th, 18th and 19th tonight. We expect there to be tricks and treating and more including mind-blowing yard displays and crowds of people wandering to and fro. Why do they do it? Nobody really knows. But it’s fun, no? And it’s kind of crazy. And you’ll remember it next year for sure. We’ll be out there for some fun too so watch for us. If you score any Baby Ruth or Butterfingers, say hi. If anybody tells you there is no such thing as J or K, well, we hate to disagree with them, but not only IS there such persons, but here we are to prove it. Happy Halloween!

You know what all you Victrola complainers need? A beer!

Fortunately, as tipster Andrew reports and we’ve verified with our own 4 eyes, Victrola will soon be able to hook you up:

You guys might want to know that Victrola is applying for a liquor license – there’s a little sign in their front window – apparently they will be serving beer and wine in the evenings.

This brings the locations that do not sell alcohol on 15th Ave to three — we expect Tilden to apply for a liquor license any day now. Thanks Andrew.

Oh, and as for your note about QFC, Andrew, we were already all over the arrival of the self-checkout robots. We didn’t know they’d tear the place up and turn the front of the store into a crowded maze, however. Yet another reason to check out Madison Market or brave the packaged hippie food extravaganza at Trader Joe’s.

Before he died in October 2005, playwright August Wilson (wikipedia) was a 15th Ave regular. This week’s Seattle Times interview with his widow Constanza Romero reveals that she continues to make the neighborhood her home.

Over lunch at Capitol Hill’s Coastal Kitchen, near the home she shared with Wilson and still lives in with their daughter, Azula, 10, Romero spoke readily about her marriage to one of the finest modern American playwrights, his ties to Seattle and her new role as guardian of his literary canon

Not too much more Capitol Hill in the article but it’s interesting to know what stories are walking next to you as you make your way down 15th.

runner – halloween
Originally uploaded by gaijinrunner.

This year, we’re going low key, digging out last minute devil’s horns or angel’s wings from the Halloween junk box in the basement.

CHS neighbors, what are you being for Halloween this year? Comments, please.

When we posted about neighborhood mushrooms earlier this week, we didn’t realize we were covering already documented ground. Seattlest also noticed Aloha’s myco-feature — turns out, there are a few mushroom experts in the Seattlest crowd. From the comments:

that shroom is Aminita muscaria. It is Poisonous, including vivid hallucinations. Aminta muscaria has been implicated by some folks to be the source of “soma.” It has most certainly been used by Shamans. Our region most often has the variety Aminta pantherina, this sends many (generally teenagers) to the hospital each year, with extreme gastrointestinal problems. Yes you can die from it. Encourage people to not experiment.

Take pictures, yes. Blog about it, maybe. Experiment? Do not.

IMGP1671
Originally uploaded by jseattle.

Don’t forget about our CHS Halloween Hill award for the “most interesting” photo snapped in the neighborhood this All Hallow’s Eve.

We’re putting up $50 for the favorite non-profit of the winner — and CHS readers have sweetened the pot by a whopping $4 thus far. Come on. It’s easy to throw a buck in the pot. We’re going to give everything (minus Amazon’s fee for collecting the cash) away to what is sure to be a good cause so take a minute and join the fun.

Dan Savage reports on one anonymous parent’s plan to shut down the newest business on 15th Ave. The strategy? Red Balloon is hiring… Infiltrate Red Balloon and put ‘em out of business. Dan’s opinion on all of this? Who knows? He doesn’t share. The sloggers? Even split between Red Balloon sucks and Capitol Hill parents suck. Us? We’ve moved on. Here is how we learned to stop worrying and love Red Balloon. But if you are hellbent on getting RBC off of 15th, we doubt its in-store retail business is critical to the company’s success. To see what RBC is really about, take a look at their web business — we’re pretty sure that sales of Cher dolls and marshmallow guns aren’t the most critical component of their strategy. Red Balloon has its haters cornered by its online strategy. Dan’s parent friends better bone up on their computer hacking skills.