Here are a few Capitol Hill items of note for your clicking pleasure. Click click.

• Seattle Gay News compiles Thanksgiving Day in Gay In Seattle.
• Follow-up on the Sunday car bomb scare — SPD says that, contrary to eyewitness account, there was no manhunt. And, no, they won’t say what car part caused the confusion. Don’t know why the secrecy on this. Maybe nobody knows but doubt that.
• Missed this one but it’s right up Slog’s, um, alley. Babeland was robbed earlier this month and the dude who the police think did it was arrested last week.
• KUOW talked community newspapers this morning following 30-minute preemption for Obama announcements. News flash: Community newspaper operators says business is fine. No worries. Meanwhile, Capitol Hill Times is reduced to bi-weekly. Hang in there CHT.
• Quinn’s has window boo boo and cap to the hill has the exclusive.
• Miller Park blog tries the then and now picture thing. Which is the ‘then’ again?
• African-American Civil War regiment recognized, has connections to Hill’s Grand Army of the Republic cemetary.

According to Capitol Hill Triangle, the Obama Mural on E John St has been restored.  Let’s hope the taggers show a little respect this time around. 

Speaking of tagging, there was some talk a while back about possibly asking neighborhood stores to restrict the same of spray paint.  Another way that may be easier to help control the persistence of tagging is to be aware of what’s going on in the neighborhood.  Keep an eye out, report taggers to the police, install lights near popular tagging places, and keeping our neighborhood clean.  A study, echoing the “broken windows” theory, has shown that the present of graffiti (not art, but plain graffiti) tends to raise the persistence of littering and theft.

After a violent weekend of stabbings, shootings and bomb scares, how about a turn to the artful? Here are two interesting, public and highly accesible projects underway on the Hill.

First, an effort to create art in an unlikely location — above the dog park.

We at Capitol Hill Housing own a building in the neighborhood called the Villa Apartments, at the corner of Pike and Boren (home of Tango, Goods and Seattle Tattoo Emporium.) The northwest side of the building overlooks the Plymouth Pillars dog park. (Some years ago, the Parks Department painted the wall orange when they redeveloped this park.) We’ve long been thinking that this wall would be a great place for a work of public art.

We will be moving ahead this Winter and Spring to raise funds for a permanent installation. In the meantime, a local gallery owner has offered us a great trio of art panels that are, by nature, designed to be installed for the short term. (They’re put up with wheat paste, and will wear over time.) We hope that by the time they’re ready to come down, we’ll have a plan for the permanent work.

In the meantime, we’re hosting a brief meeting this Wednesday evening at Tango to hear your thoughts about the art. We’ll have a few photos of the art there that night.

Please see the attached flyer and come by. We’d love to meet you and hear your thoughts. (And thanks to Travis of Tango for helping us host this meeting in his beautiful restaurant.)

Betsy

Betsy Hunter, Director of Real Estate Development Capitol Hill Housing

Meanwhile, Sound Transit’s START program has removed the Broadway installations in the light rail construction zone but is still active on the Hill with the Capitol Hill Story Project.

We are a group of artists who have been inspired by some of the buildings on Capitol Hill where the new Sound Transit light rail station is being built.

Our intention through this project is to collect the stories, prayers, and hopes of the people who know and love this neighborhood and release those thoughts and prayers in a way that gives them power.

You are invited to make an object or write a story to place inside the lanterns to burn as part of a public honoring ceremony.

You can see one of the lanterns and add your own stories at Vivace Brix or send mail to [email protected] contribute to the project.

A late-night shooting on Madison Saturday night/Sunday morning leaves one dead. 1st Hill Bar and Grill and a joint called Northwest Grill in the immediate vicinity.

On November 23 at approximately 12:06 A.M. officers responded to a call of shots fired inside a nightclub in the 900 block of Madison Street. Officers arrived on scene and found one male victim with a fatal gunshot wound. The victim was apparently shot inside the club. Homicide, Gang, and CSI Detectives all responded to the scene to investigate. The suspect remains at large. Homicide Detectives are actively investigating.

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Streets around the 700 block of Pike were closed this afternoon for an hour while the Seattle Police Department’s arson and bomb squad investigated a possible explosive device in a car. The car’s owner, worried that a suspicious device in his car might be a bomb, brought the vehicle to the BMW dealership on Pike. According to the Seattle Police Department, worried staffed called SPD and a bomb squad was dispatched. The bomb squad working with staff from the dealership determined that the suspicious element was “legitimate mechanical equipment.”

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The new Ethan Stowell joint going into The Pearl complex at 15th and Pine has its liquor license posted. Given the way the restaurant industry seems to work, that’s tantamount to announcing you’re opening tomorrow.

Thanks to CDN Scott for the pic

Of course, given that Stowell is a restauranting veteran with Union, Tavalota and How to Cook a Wolf already under his belt, there probably isn’t the same panicked rush around the opening of Anchovies & Olives. Though the workers I’ve seen over the past week or so do seem to be in a bit of a hurry. Meanwhile, anchoviesandolives.com sports only a parked set of domain advertising but I’m sure the site will be ready when the time comes.

Only about two hours to go!

Last chance this year to walk up to a friendly farmer and buy beef, pork, lamb, turkey, eggs, carrots, celery, apples, peppers, fresh pasta, onions, cheese, garlic, honey, potatoes . . .

I am so hungry after this shopping trip!

Yesterday, we brunched at Table 219 (30 minute wait for a table for 6 at 10:45 – and all the people in your party must be there for them to seat you).  Still a favorite for brunch though we have yet to try out their dinner menu.  Afterwards, we walked over to the Harvard Exit and saw Slumdog Millionaire.  This is one of my favorite movies of the year – an exhilirating, beautiful film.  Roger Ebert says it better than I could:

“This is a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating at the same time, about a Mumbai orphan who rises from rags to riches on the strength of his lively intelligence. The film’s universal appeal will present the real India to millions of moviegoers for the first time.”

Police blotter has this account of a knifing in the 1600 block of 13th Ave early Saturday morning. Looks like there are few apartment buildings in the area including La Villa and The Bristol. Will have to check with SPD to find out where this occurred.

On November 22 at 3:30 A.M. officers initially responded to a disturbance in the hallway of an apartment complex in the 1600 block of 13 Avenue. As officers were arriving they were getting a second call of a stabbing at the same location. Officers arrived on scene and contacted the male victim, who had cuts to his left thigh and lower back. The victim was apparently at a party in one of the apartments and got into a verbal altercation with another man. Both men walked outside in front of the building while arguing and the suspect reached out with a sharp object, slashing the victim in the thigh and back. The suspect then fled the scene. Officers conducted an area check for the suspect but were unable to locate him. The victim was treated by SFD at the scene and transported to an area hospital for further treatment of his non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect remains at large.

Did you notice that the NYT spent 36 hours in Seattle and 4 of the 10 stops on the itinerary were in Capitol Hill (Café Presse, Volunteer Park, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Noguchi’s Black Sun, Quinn’s, Neumos)? Yay for Capitol Hill, and big ups to Pike-Pine, which beat out Fancy Pants.