Author Archives: AGPhoto

Ready for the plunge into 2026? Bywater Sauna and cold dips are creating warm community dockside on Lake Washington

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When Nate Garberich started taking solo cold plunges in Lake Washington back in 2020, he was looking for more than a refreshing experience. 2026 is beginning with Garberich helping others warm up to finding community and friendship on the Leschi lake shore.

Bywater, a mobile sauna and cold plunge experience that’s quickly becoming a Seattle social hub, will be part of the lakeside neighborhood into spring.

“I’ve been going in the water since like 2020, and I was going alone for a couple years,” Garberich tells CHS. What changed everything was community. He started the Cold Water Collective, a meetup group that transformed solitary winter dips into group experiences, complete with potlucks and bonfires. Continue reading →

Bar Cantinetta, the only new* restaurant on Capitol Hill in 2025

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The year’s restaurant, cafe, and bar news around Capitol Hill cannot be complete without telling more about the story of Bar Cantinetta, one of the few completely new dining spaces created in Seattle’s core this year.

In uncertain times, it has helped that the ideas behind Cantinetta were time tested and familiar to the area. Bar Cantinetta was a much loved part of a nearby neighborhood for a decade.

“The Madison valley neighborhood served us very well, and we were there for 10 years,” owner Trevor Greenwood explained.

Bar Cantinetta is now reborn on Capitol Hill’s growing 15th Ave E, bringing Tuscan culinary traditions and a commitment to neighborhood dining to the changing street in one of the new buildings that has risen there.

 

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The restaurant represents the latest venture from majority owner Greenwood, who has built a local restaurant empire centered on Italian cuisine and community values. Continue reading →

Eleven : Eleven — Capitol Hill’s new ‘little campus of autonomous art studios and artists’ work’

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On 11th Ave between Pike and Pine, a new chapter of art and creation with a familiar cast of characters has opened. Eleven : Eleven represents the culmination of years of work by Blue Cone Studios and Forever Safe Spaces: a presentation gallery that its creators say gives the community a venue to showcase art without the limits that have blocked and separated artists in the past.

For Carolyn Hitt, founder of Blue Cone Studios, the need for a space like this on Capitol Hill has been clear for a decade.

“I’ve always known that we needed a presentation space. I’ve always known that we needed to make this little campus of autonomous art studios and artists’ work,” Hitt explains. “We’ve had three incubation spaces, and finally, we have a presentation space.”

The timing felt serendipitous. Hitt recalls discussing the possibility of opening a venue with Julie C, a co-founder and organizer for 11th Ave’s On The Block weekend art and market series, just weeks before the space became available. “Julie and I, prior to us realizing that this was available, and then having the audacity to think that we could do it… we were like, you know what? When it’s our turn, it’s gonna be right.”

What makes Eleven : Eleven important isn’t just that it’s a gallery, Seattle has those, it’s that it is designed to be genuinely accessible. The founders chose to create an all-ages venue in the middle of Pike/Pine, not a bar relying on alcohol sales.

“To have a space that is not a bar, to be able to offer the community all ages venue that it so very much deserves,” Hitt says, adding with conviction: “I say, You lack imagination, because I’m pretty sure we were gonna sort this out.” Continue reading →

A new era at Tim and Iain’s as a Capitol Hill barbershop’s third generation takes over

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For 60 years, one Capitol Hill barbershop has been a neighborhood staple, providing its service to everyone from longtime residents to curious walk-ins seeking a quality haircut at a fair price.

Tim and Iain’s Barber Shop has undergone a quiet transition, one that speaks to both the passage of time and the power of family legacy in a constantly changing neighborhood.

Original owner Jim Nicholson started the shop in 1966. It operated across the street before relocating to its current location in the 1980s. When Jim retired, his son Tim Collins took over and has been running the shop for decades, building it into a neighborhood institution through consistency, friendliness, and an old-school approach that has remained largely unchanged. The ” J Tim” signage with the crossed-out “J” is a connection across time.

Now, after working alongside Tim for years, nephew Iain Todd has stepped into the role of owner, a transition that happened just a few weeks ago. For Iain, it’s not just a job change; it’s the continuation of a family tradition spanning three generations. “It’s pretty cool being third generation,” he says. Continue reading →

There was another battle in Seattle this week — This one involved warring robots on Capitol Hill

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Farrow

The clatter of robots bouncing off polycarbonate and the whir of spinning blades echoed through the former 15th Ave QFC space as the clunky, charming, and fiercely friendly world of amateur robot combat made its debut in the neighborhood of a Capitol Hill robot maker.

For the robot crews and dedicated fans, it was an event they have been preparing for since summer. For others like Muhammad Ali and his kids, it was a Saturday morning surprise found on their regular walk.

“Every Saturday is my special day with the kids,” Ali said. “We go stroll around. I get my coffee, she gets her drink. And this is on our normal route. So we saw the door open, popped on in, and lo and behold, we got BattleBots going. What a great thing to find.”

Organized by Western Allied Robotics, Saturday’s event drew dozens of builders and spectators to Quality Flea Center at 420 15th Ave E, transforming the vast, street-art-decorated space destined for eventual demolition and redevelopment into a battleground for three, twelve, and thirty-pound machines.

“So we’re Western Allied Robotics. Local nonprofit, been around since 2000,” said organizer Rob Farrow, a veteran of the scene. “I lived here since ‘94, so I’ve been in the neighborhood for a long time.” Continue reading →

‘A little bit of everything’ — How Standard Goods grew from 10 years of retail on Capitol Hill

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Reaching a ten-year anniversary is a quiet victory for any small shop. It is a milestone that feels especially significant on the ever-changing streets of Capitol Hill. For Standard Goods, what started as a storefront next to the HoneyHole back in 2015 has grown into a local fixture with a few locations. But if you ask owner Jeff Gardner, the journey was anything but a straight line.

“I screwed that up so bad,” Gardner says with a laugh, looking back on opening day. “It was terrible. It was so bad.”

Coming from a life in wholesale that had him living out of a suitcase 30 weeks a year, Gardner launched Standard Goods in December 2015 at the location that previously housed occult bookstore Edge of the Circle with big ideas and what he thought was a handle on the neighborhood vibe. He missed the mark, badly, on one key thing: the prices. His initial focus was on premium, American-made goods, with shirts running around $120, a number that immediately felt out of step with the pocketbooks of most Capitol Hill locals.

“I had never lived in Capitol Hill, and I didn’t understand the clientele,” he admits. “My goal was always to cater to the people that lived and worked here, and we were pricing a lot of people out. So we had to pivot.” Continue reading →

One year later: How Bonito Café y Mercadito became Capitol Hill’s newest cultural hub

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What began as a simple pop-up market to celebrate their photography has transformed into something much larger for Ismael Calderon and his husband Daniel on Capitol Hill.

One year after opening Bonito Café y Mercadito at Melrose and E Olive Way, the Bakersfield transplants have filled a distinct gap in Capitol Hill’s coffee landscape, creating a community hub that weaves together Latino and queer culture while reimagining traditional flavors through an innovative lens. From the Calderon’s first space in the old Rainier Brewery, where Aqui photography studio first sparked this unexpected journey, Ismael reflects on how a modest celebration evolved into one of the neighborhood’s most distinctive gathering places.

Bonito’s origin story begins with that impromptu celebration two years ago at the opening of Aqui. What started as a one-off event featuring about 10 vendors quickly grew into something more significant when attendees kept asking when the next market would be.

“There was such a vibe, and there was such a warm feeling that people felt when they came,” Ismael Calderon recalls. “Everyone was like, okay, cool. When are you gonna have another one?”

That market, focused on POC and queer vendors, has grown. This summer, they hosted over 15,000 people at the waterfront in what Calderon called the biggest event of its kind. The success of these markets inspired the couple as they leapt into brick-and-mortar cafe culture and retail.

“We wanted a market that felt something close to us, being queer and Latino,” Calderon explains. “We wanted something that represented us.” Continue reading →

With Petit Pierre Bakery bike shop pop-up, pastry chef brings a cycle of perfectly layered croissants to Capitol Hill

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Pierre Poulin’s passion for perfectly layered croissants has found a new home on Capitol Hill. The French pastry chef, who operates two Petit Pierre Bakery locations in Magnolia and Phinney Ridge, has opened a six-month pop-up inside Capitol Hill’s Metier, bringing his meticulous approach to French pastries to a new neighborhood.

“We do several bakes a day,” Poulin said . “We have our first bake that comes out around 7 am, then we have a second bake that comes out at 10, and a third bake that comes at 1. At one PM, you’re still getting fresh product coming out of the oven, and the difference is just striking.” Continue reading →

A third generation of owners at Capitol Hill cocktail classic Tavern Law

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Capitol Hill’s pioneering cocktail destination Tavern Law has new ownership, with Brazilian/American restaurateur Saulo Cruz and tech industry veteran Kenneth Jones taking over the 12th Ave establishment they hope to elevate while preserving what makes it special.

The duo represents an interesting blend of experience and fresh perspective. Cruz has operated La Fontana in Belltown for four years with another business partner — Rodrigo Parisi, managing partner of Capitale Pizzeria on Broadway.

Jones, who moved to Seattle just a year and a half ago, brings a hospitality-focused background from the tech industry.

Their partnership has an unexpectedly personal foundation. “His wife, I consider my adopted daughter because she is my daughter’s best friend,” Cruz explains. When both families moved to Seattle years apart, the connection deepened. “Her family is far away, so we took her in. She’s part of the family.” 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 →