(Image: Barca)
The COVID-19 crisi has claimed Capitol Hill’s Barca, a bar that managed to survive multiple editions of Pike/Pine’s rapid mutations. That stubborn sense of righteousness did the bar in, longtime manager Dan Carlisle tells CHS.
“We didn’t want to open in a pandemic,” Carlisle said.
With state and local officials warning that the spread of the virus has again reached levels that will soon overwhelm the area’s health systems, and people being asked to mark the Thanksgiving holiday alone, does it make sense to keep Capitol Hill’s bars and restaurants open?
Carlisle said the management at the 11th Ave bar considered “50 different ways” to reopen but none made financial or moral sense.
$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 🖤
While Barca’s closure is of the dreaded “permanent” variety, others are making similar but so far temporary decisions. 12th Ave’s Canon announced last night it is ending its takeout and delivery efforts and will put the world renowned cocktail bar into a sort of stasis until it can fully reopen.
For Barca, the closure comes after two decades of Capitol Hill nightlife. Imagine an 11th Ave circa the year 2000 when Belltown was more Pike/Pine than Pike or Pine and large spaces were still available at affordable prices for nightlife entrepreneurs whose concepts were basically “dark lounge, “cool music,” and “owner a lead singer of a seminal punk band.” Barca — short for Barcelona — was created in the Euro-vision of John Bigley, lead singer of the U-Men.
The Barca you’ll probably remember — dark and lounge-y (Image: Barca)
(Image: Barca)
If you called it the Barca — hard c — Lounge to be funny, you were not alone, Carlisle said. They had their own joke about the name centered around a photo of a Spanish dog they named “Barka.”
Carlisle said the Barca archipelago of Belltown nightlife on Capitol Hill took its on path over the years on 11th Ave. He worked there for the last 14. The weekends, Carlisle said, were what you would expect with the bar making the money it needed to survive “getting college kids drunk” on Fridays and Saturdays so it could do things like sustain one of the longest running jazz nights around on Thursdays.
In its later years, the difference between a weeknight and the weekend was becoming more stark as the college crowds continued but slower nights came during the week as the neighborhood’s demographics changed and housing in the area steadily increased in cost. The changes were also felt in how the bar was staffed.
“I had kids driving up from Kent to work at Barca,” Carlisle said.
With the arrival of COVID-19, Barca closed when the restrictions were put in place and never reopened. It’s a large space dedicated purely to hanging out and drinking — Bigley never got around to adding a kitchen. Carlisle said the government’s assistance for small businesses and the country’s inability to stave off the spread of the virus left Barca in a spot where it couldn’t open its doors again, even to say goodbye to regulars.
He would, however, like Barca to be remembered.
“Remember. When Barca got built, Barca, the Elysian the Comet, and the Wildrose.” Carlisle said. “That was it. Now the Rose is the real last bastion.”
Capitol Hill and Central District COVID-19 Crisis Closures: CHS has tried to confirm all reported statuses. Please let us know if any information needs to be updated [email protected] -- LAST UPDATED: 3/23/21
Food and drink
- Little Neon Taco, reported 3/1/2021
- By Tae, reported 3/1/2021
- R Place, reported 2/2/2021
- The Wandering Goose, reported 12/29/2020
- Barca, announced 11/11/2020
- Suika, lease issues, announced 9/27/2020
- Juicebox Cafe, announced 9/28/20
- Heritage Distilling Capitol Hill, announced 9/25/20
- Amandine, closing 9/30/20 announced 9/25/20
- Bar Sue, announced 9/25/20
- Marination Station, announced 9/14/20
- Ha Na, announced 8/27/20
- Intrigue Coffeehouse, announced 8/21/20
- Nates Wings & Waffles, Happy Grillmore and the Central District Ice Cream Company, announced 8/6/20
Americana, Broadway, announced 7/23/20- The Lounge by AT&T and Ada’s Discovery Cafe, E Thomas, announced 7/7/20
- Bill's Off Broadway, E Pine, announced 6/24/20
- Stumptown, 12th Ave, announced 5/26/20
- Adana, 15th and Pine, announced 5/21/20
- Tougo, 18th and Union, announced early April, Yesler location remains open
- My Thai, 10th Ave E, closed but we're not sure when it shuttered
Retail and more
- Rocket Fizz, reported 3/23/2021
- Drizzle and Shine, BurnCycle, and Blue Sky Cleaners, reported 3/1/2021
- Everyday Music, 10th Ave, June 2021
- QFC, 15th Ave E, 4/24/21
- Sameday Testing, 15th Ave E, February
- GameStop, Broadway, 2020
- Velocity Dance Center, 12th Ave, will continue as organization but leaving Capitol Hill space, announced 12/4/20.
- Stock and Pantry, E Pine, announced 10/14/20
- Take 2, 15th Ave E, announced 9/30/20
- No Parking, E Pike, announced 9/5/20
- Ritual House, 19th Ave E, reported 7/15/20
- Totokaelo, 10th Ave, reported 7/13/20
- Mode of Fitness, E Pine
- Urban Outfitters, Broadway, youth fashion chain's exit began last summer as Broadway Market began search for new tenant
- Le Frock, E Pike, consignment shop announced permanent closure in April
$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 🖤
I love Barca but that list of bars was definitely NOT it.
Neighbors, R Place, Manray, Linda’s, Cha Cha, Satellite Lounge, Baltic Room, just to name the other Pike/Pine places I went to regularly in 2000. Cha Cha in particular was so packed you couldn’t get in a lot of the time and I believe also qualified under the ‘dark lounge owned by musicians’ clause.
Sorry to see Barca go! Went there often, back in the day.
A lot of the mythology around Linda’s is the same – I’ve seen articles where Derschang says there was NOTHING on the hill before she opened her iconic bar, and that’s just….not true. Maybe they weren’t bars that she went to, but there was a nightlife that existed pre-Linda’s.
I can give Carlisle the benefit of the doubt because the places he mentions are all within a very limited strip of Pike that is now way developed with bars every 10 feet. I truly can’t recall other bars on those blocks in 2000 – although Pistil Books may have given way to the short-lived Clarissa’s by then (poor Clarissa. She was about 5 years too early for her wine bar on Pike concept!)
I drank out of the Stanley cup there. This was before cell phone cameras unfortunately.
Definitely have some great memories from Barca. Wish the owners and staff well in their future endeavors.
Sad to see such an awesome neighborhood struggling and wonder what it will be when it comes through the other side.
Look at Cal Anderson if you want to see the future of capitol hill.
This makes me sad. John Bigley, to me, is quintessential Capitol Hill. I will miss seeing him as I walk by.
I lived in the Winston from 2006-2009. It was such a great neighborhood <3 My neighbor in the building's first restaurant gig was at Barca.
i always thought it was a pun on barcalounger
I drank. I danced. I sat on the cushions and talked about things that didn’t matter, but seemed very, very important at the time. You were there when I needed you, Barca, and a critical part of the community. You’ll be dearly missed.
Used to go from Barca jazz nights on Thursdays to the Butterfly Room above Grimm’s. It’s so strange, these vibes definitely don’t exist on the Hill much anymore. Chill, swanky, low key, relaxed. I appreciate the newer bars a lot, but none of them have the sort of energy of the places that welcomed me to Seattle when I was still deciding to move here back in 2007 after I graduated. The lounge under the stairs at Purr was part of my hopping map too. I’ve lived in Capitol Hill the majority of that time and it’s heartbreaking to have watched the struggle in real time. Hope some of the classic spots can find their way back somehow.
Anyone remember the original Moe’s Mo Rockin’ Cafe or Bad Juju before it moved to belltown? The old CC Attles on top of the hill was fun too….gay or straight.
Are we going to mention the rotting floors?