(Image: Alex Garland/CHS)
Capitol Hill bars with 16 years of business in the neighborhood don’t usually close without loud lamentations but it is probably not surprising that E Olive Way speakeasy joint Knee High Stocking Co. has come to a secretive end.
The online listings show the venue as “permanently closed.” The Seattle Times included the bar in its most recent morbid countdown of recent city food and drink shutdowns.
Knee High’s owners didn’t call the Times back, either.
The bar debuted in 2009 as a pioneer in Seattle’s speakeasy revival with secret doors and buzzer-door locked entry at the street level of the 1914-built Belvedere Apartments. Reservations were highly recommended. At the time, CHS called Knee High’s founder Jack Valko “a retired tech IT guy.”
Jack and his wife Michelle Valko ran the joint as part of the city’s speakeasy scene as other players like Tavern Law joined the mix.
By 2016 as the fad faded, the Valkos worked to reinvent Knee High with renewed investments and a stronger food menu.
In 2021, CHS celebrated Jeepney’s, the Filipino walk-up counter that grew as Knee High’s only street presence under new co-owner Pamela Carpio.
Somewhere along the way, things got off track including a 2023 $32,000 tax case and administrative dissolution of the company behind Knee High this summer.
There have been lots of changes. When contacted this week about the closure, Jack Valko said he hasn’t been part of Knee High in nearly ten years and is “not in touch with the new owners.”
Capitol Hill’s speakeasy spirit, meanwhile, lives on. Earlier this year, CHS reported on a third generation of ownership taking over 12th Ave’s Tavern Law.
As for 1356 E Olive Way, there are no signs, yet, what comes next for the longtime food and drink space.
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