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Part of the neighborhood for 24 years, the original Victrola Coffee cafe is rolling out the upgrades as it also makes changes to its food menu.
The new setup and seating in the old favorite comes in changing times for Capitol Hill’s daytime hangouts emerging from the pandemic. Some of Capitol Hill’s best spaces changed forever in that time. Most recently, E Pike’s former Kaladi Brothers cafe has begun a new life as a home for the Capitol Hill expansion of beer hall and bottle shop the Last Drop.
The new layout at Victrola keeps the 15th Ave E space dedicated to its place as a neighborhood cafe with room for small groups to sit together and a big change from the old tables and chairs to new benches and smaller, individual tables. The new benches make for more clearly defined areas for the counter line and for moving through busy cafe. But the real news might be that there is seating at all or that part of the cafe was not partitioned off to open a mercantile or host pop-ups. The back room that provides a quiet area for those who prefer Zoom calls not to disturb their writing is still there with a touch-up.
Also news is the seeming permanence of Victrola on a changing street. One mixed-used building is about to be completed a few blocks north while another is making room for the Punk Rock Flea Market before it digs in and rises six stories across the street. 15th’s longtime restaurant anchor also is boarded up and for sale.
Born on 15th Ave E in 2000, Victrola was acquired by Dan Ollis and his Whidbey Coffee company in 2008 from founders Chris Sharp and Jen Strongin. In 2018, the company moved its roasting operations off E Pike and expanded production in Lynnwood. Craft batches are still part of the E Pike scene. Victrola has also expanded downtown and with a cafe on Beacon Hill. Now grown into Ollis’s Vibe Coffee Group, Victrola is part of a larger Pacific Northwest family of coffee and cafes.
That family remains dedicated to keeping Victrola a comfortable, open community space for the neighborhood.
Victrola Coffee is located at 411 15th Ave E. Learn more at victrolacoffee.com.
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Victrola on 15th was open well before 2000. I went there often with my partner at the time in the late 1990s. We lived a few blocks away on Republican Street And we broke up in 1999, so… it was definitely open sometime in 1998 or early 1999.
Ok.
As the founder, I can confirm Victrola was opened in 2000💓
Their website says 2000…
Maybe there was another cafe in that spot before Victrola? I’ve had the experience of thinking something was older than it really was, and that was the reason.
The new set up is great! love the small group seating, definitely ASL friendly!
Love me some Victrola’s!
I even remember when people went there to socialize before laptops took over.
Too bad the pandemic panic killed the nighttime cafe scene in Seattle. Is the place still closing at 7 pm? tsk tsk
Don’t like the new set up. Makes the room seem smaller and the furniture is all ugly, industrial and chunky.