Yearly Archives: 2014

On the List | Seattle Lit Crawl, Hilloween carnival, 15th Ave E costume crawl, Weavers’ Guild sale

Posted on by
(Image: CHS)

(Image: CHS)

A week of Capitol Hilloween celebrations begins this weekend with a furry flurry of costumed good times for trick or treaters of all types.

Before you put that costume on, however, plan to make a stop or three at the third annual Seattle Lit Crawl. The Lit Crawl will bring some 64 writers and artists out for 21 readings at venues across First Hill and Capitol Hill, along with a over a dozen more folks acting as hosts. The full schedule is here.

Also Thursday, you can do your civic duty by attending the monthly EastPAC community crime meeting at Seattle U.

The centerpiece on an only kinda drizzly Saturday will be the return of the annual Hilloween carnival in Cal Anderson:

Hilloween, Capitol Hill’s favorite kid-friendly Halloween event returns Saturday, October 25thand it’s sure to delight kids of all ages. From 12:00pm to 3:30pm mini-firefighters, tiny princesses, and itty-bitty zombies alike will be tricked and treated to music, candy, prizes and plenty of fun age-appropriate activities. The carnival begins at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill (1635 11th Ave) and include musical performances by The Not-its! and Eli Rosenblatt. Families will enjoy carnival games, a magic show, jugglers, balloon twisters, face painters, stiltwalkers, a couple bouncy houses and Fonzie the Performing Dog all underneath a big top tent. At 3:30 the Chaotic Noise Marching Band will once again lead a costume parade around the park and onto Broadway for trick-or-treating with participating merchants. And to top the day off, kids in costume can get a free slice of pizza at Pagliacci’s. For more information and event schedule visit www.caphilloween.com.

BottleNeck-Teeny-Tiny-Pumpkin-Fest-2104-394x550

During Hilloween, make sure to stop by Umpqua Broadway for a “haunted bank laboratory.” And trick or treating.

More grown-up Halloween fun follows Saturday night with a costume pub crawl on 15th Ave E.

Also Saturday, E Madison’s Bottleneck Lounge celebrates its annual Teeny Tiny Pumpkin Brew Festival when all of its taps are dedicated to to pumpkin brew — and, this year, even a pumpkin cider.

More Halloween fun? 19th Ave E’s Cone & Steiner hosts a Sunday pumpkin carving party.

Continue reading →

Tougo Coffee owner ready to open charcuterie and wine spot Bannister next door at 18th and Union

Posted on by

10614401_830753826945957_8340438683110826654_n

(Image: Bannister)

(Image: Bannister)

The Central District’s one-block commercial stretch along 18th Ave at E Union is one of the quaintest and most neighborhood-y around. Since 2007, Tougo Coffee has anchored the stretch as a neighborhood hangout. Now owner Brian Wells says he’s hoping to cultivate the same sense of community one door down at Bannister, his new charcuterie-wine venture.

Wells tells CHS he’ll hold a reservation-only soft open starting October 24th and a grand opening on November 1st. UPDATE: After a short delay, Bannister celebrates its grand opening Tuesday, November 4th.

On the menu, Wells said to expect fine cheese, cured meats, olives, made-in-house,  pickles, and a full wine bar.

The restaurant is named after Edward Mitchell Bannister, a 19th century artist Wells said he has long admired.

Wells started his coffee career in Boston in 1991. He moved to Seattle in 1996 and spent most of his time in the service industry. In 2010 CHS reported on financial and tax troubles at Tougo. The 18th Ave cafe closed temporarily while Wells fundraised to pay back business taxes in order to renew his license. Since, Wells shuttered his Westlake Ave location. Wells said these days everything is going swell at Tougo and he’s ready for the expanded business venture. Continue reading →

‘Scrunched’ on Capitol Hill

Posted on by

Screen Shot 2014-10-22 at 11.11.05 AMMaybe it’s a sign of fatigue in people’s interest level after years of debate — CHS’s first major examination of aPodment-related development came way back in the summer of 2012 — but this epic Politico examination of Seattle’s microhousing is worthy of more attention on Capitol Hill.

For one, you’ll learn more about the people behind the debate…

Like Jim Potter:

The roots of micro-housing in Seattle can be traced to a single developer named Jim Potter. At 6 foot 6, he was the movement’s Johnny Appleseed, an imposing presence with a booming voice, an aggressive businessman who owned properties up and down the state of Washington. But his true claim to fame, at least in the Seattle real estate world, was his compulsive study of the city’s zoning code.

Continue reading →

Day of anti-police protests planned with marches on Capitol Hill’s East Precinct — UPDATE

Posted on by

IMG_0631

UPDATE 4:18 PM by Sumedha Majumdar: A group of about 30 protesters marched from Garfield with chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “Being black is not a crime” before assembling in front of the East Precinct around 4 PM. “We the community will police the police,” one speaker said, addressing the crowd and the group of police officers assigned to the protest. Streets in the area were partially closed but the rally has been peaceful and there have been no arrests.

"We belong together. We wanna be the the best we can be for you but when you start breaching the law and breaking the law, we have to do something. We can't just turn a blind eye and I hate to tell you this but this is what I tell my kids. Just because you're Black doesn't give you the right to do something wrong and then jump up and say they did this because I'm Black. We need more people who understand what is going on in the Black community." -- East Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis, addressing the crowd

“We wanna be the the best we can be for you but when you start breaching the law and breaking the law, we have to do something. We can’t just turn a blind eye and I hate to tell you this but this is what I tell my kids. Just because you’re Black doesn’t give you the right to do something wrong and then jump up and say they did this because I’m Black. We need more people who understand what is going on in the Black community.” — East Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis, addressing the crowd

IMG_1088

Original report: The heartiest of activist souls will take to the drenched streets of Seattle’s Central District and Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon and into the evening as part of protests against “police brutality and harassment of youth of color in Seattle.” The Garfield High School Black Student Union’s March for Ferguson begins at the 23rd Ave school at 3:30 PM. Organizers tell CHS the plan is to march to SPD’s East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine. Meanwhile, the annual October 22nd anti-police rally and march will again gather at Seattle Central starting at 5 PM and also is planned to include a march on the East Precinct. Continue reading →

Seattle’s bus funding ballot measure *could* resurrect the 47 with sales tax hike and car tab fee

Posted on by
15371675562_581b7c5aa5_z

The 47 taking its final run. (Photo: CHS)

After months of warning, Metro’s funding woes finally came to Capitol Hill’s doorstep in September when the the 47 bus was discontinued along with 28 other routes around the regional bus system.

Seattle Transportation Benefit District Proposition 1 asks Seattle voters if they want to buy back some of those services in Seattle and improve existing routes with a $60 annual vehicle license fee and .1% sales tax hike. If enacted, the measure is expected generate around $45 million annually for the hamstrung bus system.

Some of those funds could be used to restore Rt. 47 and others that were among the lower performing routes in the system, though the plan does not spell out which routes would get funding. Those decisions would likely be left up to the City Council. The group Yes For Seattle Transit has identified several existing Capitol Hill-area routes that would likely be improved or expanded, including routes 2, 8, 9x, 10, 25, 43, 48, 49, and 60. Continue reading →

City has failed to enforce paid sick leave, says auditor report

Posted on by
Mike McGinn signs paid sick leave into law in 2011 at Plum Bistro (Photo: CHS)

Mike McGinn signs paid sick leave into law in 2011 at Plum Bistro (Photo: CHS)

In 2011 when Mayor Mike McGinn signed mandatory paid sick leave into law on Capitol Hill, it was hailed as a major progressive victory and a crowning achievement of his administration. Then there was that small bit about actually putting it to work.

From when the law went into effect in September 2012 to December 2013, workers made 143 valid complaints about paid sick leave enforcement, but a recent report found none of those resulted in fines on employers or anything more harsh than an advisory letter. Continue reading →

CHS Community Post | Capitol Hill writer Litsa Dremousis’ upcoming book ‘Altitude Sickness’

Posted on by

downloadThe physical and emotional consequences of climbing are explored in a very personal way in a powerful new eBook essay by Seattle writer Litsa Dremousis. Altitude Sickness. It’s the first book in Portland indie press Future Tense Books new Instant Future eBook series, and with climbing deaths in both the Northwest and internationally making the news, it’s an important addition to the conversation about the social responsibilities and emotional consequences of climbing-related tragedies.

When a some-time lover and full-time friend dies in a climbing accident, Dremousis is left to deal with the aftermath—the loss of a soul-mate, the apartment filled with little ambushes in the form of objects from the relationship, and the difficult task of understanding what it was that made this person she loved repeatedly risk his life. And she’s also left to wonder how to feel.

“One of the things I love is that Litsa is such a personable writer. The story is funny because she’s funny. It’s heartbreaking because she is heartbroken. And it has this angry core, because she’s angry,” says series editor Matthew Simmons. “The anger is passion. The passion comes out of the fact that she misses someone, and that’s where readers can connect. We all miss someone, and we’re all, even if it’s somewhere deep down inside, pissed off about it.”

Altitude Sickness will be available through Amazon’s Kindle store, Future Tense Books at Instant Future’s dedicated site,instantfuturebooks.com, and from the author’s site litsadremousis.com. Biographical information and author photos will also be available from litsadremousis.com.

About Litsa Dremousis: Litsa Dremousis’ essay “After the Fire” was selected as one of the “Most Notable Essays of 2011” by Best American Essays 2012. She’s a Contributing Editor at the literary site The Weeklings, which partners with Salon. Her work appears in The Believer, Esquire, Jezebel, McSweeney’s, Men’s Health Monkeybicycle, MSN, New York Magazine, Nerve, Paste, Poets & Writers, Salon, Slate, The Weeklings, on NPR, KUOW, and additional venues. She has interviewed Sherman Alexie, The Black Keys, Death Cab for Cutie, Ron Jeremy, Janelle Monae, Alanis Morissette, Kelly Rowland, Wanda Sykes, Rufus Wainwright, and several dozen others. Twitter @LitsaDremousis.

About Future Tense Books: Future Tense Books is a micropress started by Kevin Sampsell in Spokane, Washington in 1990 and has been based in Portland, Oregon since 1992. They’ve published many acclaimed chapbooks and paperbacks by authors such as Richard Meltzer, Mike Topp, Zoe Trope, Elizabeth Ellen, Susannah Breslin, Chloe Caldwell, Gary Lutz, Sarah Grace McCandless, Jamie Iredell, Aaron Gilbreath, Myriam Gurba, Shane Allison, Chelsea Martin, Jemiah Jefferson, Jay Ponteri, May-Lan Tan, Chelsea Hodson, and Wendy C. Ortiz.

Metrix Create:Space celebrates five years of DIY tech on the Hill

Posted on by
"Soldering is easy" (Image: Metrix)

“Soldering is easy” (Image: Metrix)

(Image: Metrix)

(Image: Metrix)

Most of the year you can walk the north end of Broadway barely hearing a peep from Metrix Create:Space — a DIY haven for robotic tinkering — outside of the occasional churning of machines and project chatter but last Friday  the business celebrated its fifth anniversary of being with a rambunctious crowd of makers, geeks and the people who love them filling the subterranean space.

Illuminated with green laser tubes — and free booze — the crowd included Boeing and Google employees, the DIY techs, students and a couple of noobs.

“I’ve met a lot of really great people… seeing them through a portion of their life, being a part of that is the most rewarding thing,” owner Matt Westervelt said. Over the past five years he’s seen a shift from clientele simply exploring, to those utilizing the space as a work station while at the same time promoting exploration and learning. Continue reading →

‘Too Capitol Hill to Schmapitol Hill’

Posted on by

We don’t know what this means! But tonight’s edition from (soon to be resident in 12th Ave Arts) Washington Ensemble Theatre’s “exciting new literary event series” (as of 2012) sounds fun! (probably!) Also, we don’t know how you get an un-free ticket but, reportedly, you can get a “free ticket” by posting a picture “of you in your favorite Cap Hill place” here:

(Image: WET)

We don’t know who these people are (Image: WET)

The super cool kids from Washington Ensemble Theatre are back with a brand new stupid smart Six Pack Series! This time we’re holding a mirror up to nature, letting ALL the world be a stage, and poking some much needed fun a the hipster haunt we call home

<<< SIX PACK SERIES: TOO CAPITOL HILL TO SCHMAPITOL HILL >>>

And because you can’t appreciate “the hill” from one place alone we will be taking you on a tour of Capitol Hill. That’s right: hold on to your norm core Nikes, your kimonos, and your air plant necklaces, and jump on a tour of the magical land of street dogs, Manny’s, and the future home of the Bellevue douche bags you dated in high school.

You want a free ticket? Post a picture of you in your favorite Cap Hill place on this invite and we’ll save you spot on the tour/party bus.

Meet at St. John’s at 8:30 pm on Oct 21, 2014 and come on tour with the super fabulous and fine Hillebrities:
Sarah Galvin
Kim Selling
Yussef El Guindi
Wayne Rawley
Lillian Ruth Nickerson
Noah Benezra

If nothing else, it will be good practice for Thursday night’s LitCrawl.

Capitol Hill food+drink | What’s it mean to be home to the 6th best bar in the world? 12th Ave whiskey and bitters emporium Canon will show you

Posted on by

IMG_0278Ask two people on Capitol Hill for the best bar in the Seattle Inner City and you’ll get three different opinions. But somehow, the industry journal Drinks International is able to rank the 50 best bars in the entire world. This year 12th Ave’s Canon came in at number 6.

What does that mean for you, dear Capitol Hill drinker?

Since it opened in 2011 with a 12-page menu, Canon has steadily grown and tweaked its dizzying selection of spirits, bitters, and ornate cocktails. It now boasts one of the largest spirit menus in the country — a 130-page tome (PDF) that represents around $1 million worth of inventory.

Owner Jamie Boudreau said the recently released top ranking took him by surprise. Even though Seattle’s high-end food+drink culture has grown by leaps and bounds, Boudreau said the city is still considered quite provincial in the craft cocktail world.

“To crack the top ten when I know the judges are always in New York, always in London, always in Chicago, it’s impressive,” he said. “To have a recognition of Seattle’s cocktail culture is really great. It’s nice that the city is starting to get noticed.”

IMG_0351

Continue reading →