For a look at some of the challenges facing Starbucks as it ‘scales down’ to the neighborhood level in its Capitol Hill experiments at the 15th Ave and Roy Street Coffee and Tea shops, meet Hill artist Megan Myers. The artist tells CHS that Starbucks has abruptly canceled her Roy Street exhibit just a week before it was supposed to begin due to conflicts between local staff and corporate management.

Next Saturday night, Myers was supposed to open a show of her work at Roy Street Coffee and Tea. It’s a show she says she has been preparing for and promoting since December.

“I had never been anti-starbucks or anything but I was surprised they would be able to feature local artists,” Myers told CHS.

(detail 2) no fair no fair no fair Originally uploaded by meganmariemyers

Myers said it was shaping up to be a great opportunity for her and that the local Roy Street staff was looking forward to the first exhibit in the space. “They seemed excited to show a local artist and told me it was really meeting their mission.”

What Myers didn’t realize is she was a lab rat in the ‘inspired by Starbucks’ experiment. The Roy Street shop had featured a local artist before — but that had been a sculptor. Myers was the first 2-D artist to be lined up for an exhibit. As the date of Myers’ show approached, word of the opening made its way up the corporate chain.

On Friday, Myers said Roy Street staff and an apologetic but awkward phone call from Starbucks corporate told her the show was off.

“Once the designer found out that my art would be in with the other artist, he said no,” Myers said. “He didn’t think the aesthetics would go together”

Myers said she has been told the Starbucks designer working on Roy Street commissioned a mural for the store. When he found out that other work would be temporarily replacing the mural, and be shown around it, he demanded that the mural stay up, no other work be shown with it, and that if any other work were to be shown, Starbucks would need to commission the same artist to make more pieces.

Roy Street was forced to cancel the show.

We’ll follow up with Roy Street and Starbucks on Monday. In the meantime, Myers says she’s looking for another Hill venue to feature her work and isn’t sure what she’ll be doing next Saturday night when her Roy Street show was supposed to open.

The situation has, she says, made her reconsider her position on Starbucks and its two indie-styled Capitol Hill cafes.  “The company is so large that somebody they didn’t think would have a problem with it, did. Usually, when you go into an independent coffee shop,” Myers said, “you’re dealing with the people who make the decisions.”

UPDATE 2/1/10 11:56 AM:
We have a phone call and e-mail out to Starbucks but haven’t yet heard back on this issue. Will let you know when we do.

UPDATE 2/2/10 12:30 PM:
Still no call or e-mail from Starbucks. We’ll keep trying.

With Still Liquor opening last week, Seattle University’s The Spectator took the opportunity to survey speakeasies on the Hill:

Tavern Law: “If you want to get tanked while studying Tort (sic), Tavern Law is the place for you. But a spot on The Bar is practically a requisite for frequent entry; their beverages don’t mix well with your typical college budget.”

The HIdeout: “Though the patrons don’t conform to any trend, The Hideout is shamelessly a hip locale . . . If Moe Bar were more expensive and less flooded with inebriated hipsters, it would be The Hideout.”

Knee High: “If your wallet ever feels overstuffed, Knee High Stocking Co. is worth checking out at least once. If nothing else, the doorbell shtick is priceless, and a few of their signature drinks will make even “Free Bird” sound like perfect background music for ‘secret’ drinking.”

Chez Gaudy: “Gaudy also has amazing ambience. Everything about it suits its name: chez makes for luxury, gaudy makes for gaudiness.”

A fun set of reviews for the most part though chez is to luxury as . . .

It’s nice to act as the connector between the Hill and a very nice bus driver. Nathan and his “Hold on, here we go!” jumped into the CHS comments to say thanks and let you know he’ll only be on the 43 route a little while longer:

Wow, you guys!I am the driver you mention. All I can say is wow, thanks! You folks are fantastic. I can’t even articulate how (or why) it’s so exciting to drive you guys around saying stuff like “here we go.” I’m on the 43 for one more week…don’t forget to come ride! Think of excuses to go to 15th & John!

Thanks for being in a good mood out there, and for the nice comments, and for not peeing in the back of the bus,Nathan

Metro, by the way, has announced a big round of service changes starting in February. More on this from the Capitol Hill perspective on CHS later this week.

Hey, you! I know you’re excited about your new apartment with the giant dog on the side, but keep it down!

Actually after listening to that, it doesn’t sound so bad, suck it up downstairs people.

From noisy apartment neighbors, to noisy blog neighbors… KOMO tries to stir up some controversy around the Jimi Hendrix statue’s possible move.   (a bit of free camera advice – avoid 350 degree camera spins when you could just turn it 10 degrees in the other direction… @ :20)

The Soft Pack plays “C’Mon” at an in-store appearance at the new Sonic Boom Records.

Seattle Channel profiles three Seattle area chefs that source sustainably, including Carrie Mashaney of Spinasse.

Director Terrence Brown posted an excerpt from his documentary short “Bailey Boushay House: A Living History.”

And lastly, some tourists show us what North Cap Hill looks like from the sky.  

This just in from tipster Andrew. The SuperCuts at Denny and Olive Way — one of the last in Seattle — will be providing its final Capitol Hill styles on Sunday. The sign’s list of where to find your favorite SuperCut stylist after Sunday is charming and kinda sad.

Unlike other recent closures of chains on the Hill, Regis Corp., the company behind SuperCuts, has weathered the financial storm well and says it will expand once conditions improve.

It will be interesting to see what if anything fills the space at the busy intersection. The mix of eclectic — Bus Stop, Holy Smoke and Pretty Parlor with Dinette, The Elite, Crescent Lounge and The Saint just down the street — with happily entrenched corporate — the Gaybucks — with ??? — Amante and the Money Mart — makes for a fun little jumble.

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We first learned of Hill Poems last year, when the collected poets gave a reading at Hugo House.  We were reminded about this compilation of poems by a recent Reading Local Seattle post.  Reviewer Amy Schrader had this to say about Hill Poems: 

I like the physical feel of this collection. It contains black and white photos of the Capitol Hill area (Dick’s Drive-In, Broadway Rite Aid, night-lit streets slick with rain) alongside the poetry. The overall effect is to bring to mind a half-mad guerrilla poet xeroxing pages of poems to hand out on the street at 2 a.m., and this has always secretly been my (perhaps overly-romanticized) impression of Capitol Hill.

Many of the black and white photos seem to have been taken during Snowpocalypse 2008.  The small pamphlet is replete with familiar Hill images: passengers on the bus, skateboarders and cyclists, homeless people and land use permits.  One of my favorite poems in the collection was “4 columns in the flailing light” by Chris Dusterhoff, which is filled with syncopated rhythm:

and it begins like anything begins

a leaky faucet a toothache

a divorce

this feeling that I am wrong

have been doing this too long

 

4 columns and the flailing light

 

good people

I’m failing

 The editors, Steve Barker and Nicole Lowman preface the collection with the following:

The Hill is changing.  Skyscrapers are launching throughout the neighborhood.  The Light Rail is on the way, moving some small business owners and closing others down. The individuality and personality is less evident every day. Sure, these changes will create a whole new personality, but different from the one we fell in love with. We wanted to capture the Hill, as we know it now, before it’s gone forever.

Other  poets featured in  Hill Poems include Erin Foran, Amanda S. Halm, Heidi Heimarck, Brian McGuigan, Michael Ricciardi, Alexandra Rossetter, Mercedes Sanchez and Monica Schley.  To get yourself a copy (per comment below), visit Pilot Books on the Hill or Open Books in Wallingford.

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Originally uploaded by mdwarner

E. Union’s gourmet hot dog shop Po Dog was hit by a night-time burglary this week. Here’s what Po owner Laura Olsen told us about the early Wednesday morning crime:

Police found a guy walking down the street at 4am with our tv (from Po).

Luckily we have security cameras so other than a broken window and a missing tv and broken POS we are fine. No money was taken, just the tv, remote and a few Rainiers and a Coors Light

Today, SPD has released this report describing the capture of the TV thief. Sounds like a local who gets around Pike/Pine — E. Union, 10th Ave, East Pine. We think SPD screwed up the date of the initial contact with the suspect — according to Olsen, this happened on the 27th. But good to see they hauled in the big screen burglar in. No mention of what happened to those Rainiers, by the way.

On January 28th an East Precinct patrol officer saw a male subject walking on 10th Avenue with a large television.  The officer stopped to investigate further.  The subject told the officer that he found the television.  Upon further inquiry, the subject’s story was found to be very vague.  The officer identified and released the subject, completed a Found Property Report and placed the television into evidence.

Later that day officers were dispatched to a burglary in the same area.  Upon examining video evidence at the scene, investigating officers determined that the subject stopped earlier with the TV was the same person in the video.  Officers and detectives attempted to re-contact the suspect to no avail.  Information about the incident was disseminated within the Department, and officers and detectives were told to be on the lookout for the suspect.

On January 29th at approximately 10:19 a.m. a patrol officer was driving in the 800 block of East Pine Street when he recognized the above listed burglary suspect walking on the sidewalk.  The officer stopped the suspect, verified his identity and took him into custody.  Burglary detectives interviewed the 37-year-old male suspect and he was subsequently booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Burglary.