Last beer on earth: Outer Planet Brewing marks last days in Capitol Hill’s shrinking craft beer universe

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Outer Planet’s final creation: the Golden Record DIPA with Peach (Image: Outer Planet)

The days of craft brewing Seattle beer in the core of the city on Capitol Hill are probably done. This week, tiny Outer Planet Brewing is marking its final rotations on 12th Ave.

“It’s hardly viable to run a craft brewery when the costs are what they are on the Hill,” co-owner Gabriel Villenave tells CHS. ”

Smaller breweries closing, consolidation of larger breweries taking over,” Villenave says is the general trend in the industry anyhow.

Outer Planet is set to close for good Saturday after giving neighbors and patrons a few weeks to say goodbye. Continue reading →

Seattle ready to relax ‘substantial alteration’ requirements to make it easier to revive long-empty storefronts

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(Image: CHS)

The Seattle City Council is set to approve legislation Tuesday afternoon hoped to help revive empty storefronts across the city by making it easier to open a new business without expensive building changes.

Under the legislation, the city would relax rules for “substantial alterations” to commercial spaces in small buildings and commercial spaces typically required when the official use is going to be changed. The proposal would exempt buildings and spaces with gross areas of 7,000 square feet or less from the change requirements that can make it prohibitively expensive to open a new business while also upgrading the structure and safety systems.

The legislation from Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office also would change the way the city triggers a “substantial alteration” by dropping the current two-year threshold. Currently, any space vacant for two years or more triggers an automatic “substantial alteration” to be put back into use. Continue reading →

From Judkins Park Station to Mercer Island and back ‘several times’ — Sound Transit touts first ‘live wire’ tests on I-90 bridge

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(Image: Sound Transit)

Originally planned for a 2023 opening, there is good news above the waters of Lake Washington as Sound Transit is celebrating a key milestone this week: the first electric light rail train has successfully passed across the I-90 bridge connecting Seattle to the Eastside.

The opening of the line — and the Central District’s ready and waiting Judkins Park Station — is on track for 2026: Continue reading →

‘Take a Rat, Leave a Rat’ — Capitol Hill’s neighborhood rat gallery may need a new home

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Destruction! Thanks to Jonah for the pictures and report

The traffic circle at 11th and Denny is not the most secure place. Neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group were commiserating Monday over the sad destruction of the neighborhood rat gallery that had taken shape in the circle inspired by the nearby Saint Rat Mosaic in Cal Anderson Park.

The tiny gallery, the sculptures, and the “Take a Rat, Leave a Rat Exchange” might need another work party — and a new home.

CHS reported here on the “Hot Rat Summer” work party in July to restore the much-loved mosaic after the city painted over it during work on the historic Cal Anderson Gatehouse. Continue reading →

‘Supporting safety, not discipline’ — Seattle School Board considers returning campus cop to Garfield High School

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(Image: Garfield High School)

After a summer of community discussions, the families and students of Garfield High School are hoping to make their voices heard this week as the Seattle School Board considers a proposal to post a uniformed and armed Seattle Police Department officer every school day at the 23rd Ave campus.

Officials are hoping revisions made to the proposed School Engagement Officer pilot program based on community feedback will help make sure the program addresses concerns over school-specific training for the officers and better guidance that ensures the officers are placed “supporting safety, not discipline.”

The board is set to vote on the pilot program after public testimony Wednesday night.

“In the potential pilot program, a School Engagement Officer (SEO) is a Seattle Police Department officer assigned to schools. The role is focused on safety, not discipline,” Principal Tarance Hart wrote in a message to families, saying that the potential Garfield officer would “maintain a visible presence on campus, build positive relationships with students, staff, and families, assist with emergency preparedness and school safety procedures,” and “serve as a liaison with local law enforcement when outside issues affect the school.” Continue reading →

Another issue to listen to the Garfield kids about: ‘one lunch’

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(Image: @ezells_chicken/@

Students at Garfield High School have more on their minds than the potential restoration of a campus cop program.

They’re thinking about lunch and the daily midday rush of gathering with your besties for 30 minutes of downtime and brain fuel.

Monday, Garfield kids will be part of a district-wide protest of a decision this school year that has ripped some of that friend time apart. It’s about more than running across the street to the infamously busy lunch line at Ezell’s.

“Seattle Public Schools sent an e-mail to families about the new two lunch schedule,” an update from the @onelunchsps social media account about the planned Monday lunchtime protest reads. “It ignores everything students have been saying.” Continue reading →

911 | SFD handles smoky Richmark Label dumpster fire

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Thanks to a CHS reader for the picture of the fire scene

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • Dumpster fire: Seattle Fire responded to a smoky dumpster fire near Cal Anderson Park Sunday morning before the flames could spread to the adjacent Richmark Label factory at 12th and Pine. Firefighters arrived at the fire in the dumpster in the Richmark parking lot off 11th Ave around 8:20 AM and quickly knocked down the flames but not before smoke filled the area. There were no reported injuries and damage was limited. We’re checking with SFD for what caused the fire. Continue reading →

Pikes/Pines | The gall of it all — These strange, beautifully weird growths make benign houses for Capitol Hill gallformers

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A previous year’s gall on a Thimbleberry cane. The holes are where the occupants left when the gall matured. (Image: Brendan McGarry)

Do you ever go outside to get something from your vegetable garden and stand up a half an hour later in a haze of naturalistic wonder? My partner calls it distracto-boy, and suggests I have ADD — which may be a good moniker and a not impossible diagnosis. Mostly I just think I have (a largely) undivided attention for nature.

My most recent spiral was initiated by several large bumps on the stems of the Thimbleberries, Rubus parviflorus, I planted in our yard a few years ago.

Despite trying to train myself to not lose my mind whenever I see a blemish on anything I’m growing (because mostly this is just a good sign that a plant is being used by other species around it), I couldn’t help but feel an initial bit of horror. I knew these bumps were galls, but I didn’t know if this was a death knell for the Thimbleberries I’d been lovingly watching grow over the past three years. Continue reading →

This week in CHS history | Capitol Hill golf club arrest, RapidRide G arrives, vax cards in 2021

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Wingate marches in a 2015 rally (Image: CHS)

Here are the top stories from this week in CHS history:

2024

 

SODA and SOAP — Seattle City Council approves return of exclusion zones including new Capitol Hill ‘Stay out of Drug Area’


Continue reading →

Mintish Coffee House brings Palestinian heritage and community connection to Capitol Hill

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Brothers Nano and Mahmoud Farajallah and friend Abdullah Alabed

Capitol Hill has a new gathering spot. Mintish, a Levantine-inspired coffee shop on Harvard Ave E, represents both a business venture and a cultural bridge for brothers Mahmoud and Nano Farajallah and friend and business partner Abdullah Alabed.

The cafe is now open at 515 Harvard Ave E in a space that the owners transformed themselves from what was once the last vestige of legendary Capitol Hill hangout Bauhaus.

Mahmoud Farjallah, who was born in Seattle but raised in the Middle East, returned to Washington 12 years ago to study accounting at the University of Washington. His friend Alabed grew up in Jordan. Both are Palestinian-American, and their family story reflects the displacement many Palestinian families have experienced over generations. Nano was in Dubai during the interview with CHS.

“My dad was born in Gaza,” Mahmoud Farajallah explained during the shop’s soft opening week. “Unfortunately, I never went to Palestine, but it always grew up with me.” Continue reading →