Author Archives: jseattle

About jseattle

Justin is publisher of CHS. You can reach him at [email protected] or call/txt (206) 399-5959. Follow @jseattle on Twitter or be best pals on Facebook.

911 | E Union shooting, utility pole set on fire outside Linda’s, Planned Parenthood bomb scare

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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 Twitter reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • E Union shooting: An overnight shootout near 32nd and Union generated multiple 911 calls, left at least one vehicle damaged, and may have sent a male victim to the hospital. SPD says it was called to the Madrona area just after midnight Thursday to the reported gunfire involving a red Toyota Prius and a black sedan. Arriving police found evidence of a shooting including a damaged vehicle parked near the scene but the suspect vehicles fled the area and no victims were immediately located. Around an hour later, police were called to Harborview after a gunshot wound victim was reported to have arrived at the emergency room. It was not clear if the victim was related to the East Precinct shooting and we do not have additional information on his condition.
  • Pine/Boylston fires: Seattle Fire responded after a utility pole near Boylston and Pine was lit on fire by a person suffering an apparent mental or drug crisis Wednesday night. SFD was called to the pole outside Linda’s Tavern just after 6 PM and quickly took care of the burning pole. About 30 minutes later they were called to take care of a dumpster fire up the block on Boylston. According to East Precinct radio updates, the arson suspect was spotted acting erratically and running nearby but there were no immediate arrests reported.
  • Bomb scare: The arson and bomb squad was dispatched to E Madison’s Planned Parenthood Tuesday morning after a suspicious pipe was found outside the facility. Police were called to the area around 10 AM to assess a “metal pipe with two end caps” found outside the building. SPD determined the pipe was benign, according to a department spokesperson, and said no recent threats had been made against the location. The building is near an area busy with construction of the Madison Bus Rapid Transit route.
 

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As the moon waxes full, SugarPill and its neighborhood apothecarist are leaving Capitol Hill

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This will be the final holiday shopping season on Capitol Hill for neighborhood mercantile and apothecary SugarPill.

“I’m still gonna be doing what I do, and I’ll do everything I can to make the transition as easy as possible for you as well as for me. And I’m totally gonna cry every time I see you between now and when we pack these shelves up to move, so prepare yourself to see me be an absolute wreck for the next few months. Love you ~ karyn” (Image: SugarPill)

Owner Karyn Schwartz has announced she is moving and taking the store with her to Whidbey Island in 2023 after more than 11 years on E Pine just off Broadway:

There’s a lot of reasons why I will be leaving this perfect little jewelbox space on Pine Street, and believe me, I am just as heartbroken as I am excited for a new adventure. I’ve been in the gayborhood since 1989 and I have known some of you for just that long, while others of you are new acquaintances, and it’s going to be SO HARD to let go of that familiarity. Continue reading →

No hot pot but lots cooking at Capitol Hill Station with Glo’s Diner and Seasmith coffee shop planning 2023 debuts

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A sign of progress for the new Glo’s above Capitol Hill Station — thanks to the CHS Facebook Group for sharing

Alas, Capitol Hill Station is not getting a Chinese hot pot restaurant — but a much anticipated new diner and a new coffee shop will be opening there in the new year.

The Daily Journal of Commerce reported last week that Ma Lu Bian Bian is planning a new restaurant in the development above the light rail station. But that report was based on city construction permits for 120 Broadway. One of the buildings above Capitol Hill Station is 120 Broadway East leading to the confusion at the DJC.

No worries. The good news is Ma Lu Bian Bian is, indeed, coming to Broadway but it will be part of Vulcan’s first major Yesler Terrace development — Yesler Terrace Block 3. We reported on the plans for the project here in 2016.

The other good news is work continues to kick the food and drink projects above Capitol Hill Station into motion. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council ready to set new rules for street cafes and food trucks

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A Seattle City Council committee will take up debate Tuesday over how best to continue the pandemic success of street cafes while also reshaping the city’s rules around food trucks and sidewalk merchandise displays.

On the table are new sets of proposed rules for the Seattle Department of Transportation’s management of the programs that resulted in a proliferation of street dining tents and sidewalk patios across Capitol Hill during the COVID-19 crisis. Advocates showed that the features were extremely popular with customers despite issues around accessibility and concerns over street access and lost parking spots. Continue reading →

With 999 to go, 11th and Pine part of Ethan Stowell’s long climb to grow super chicken sandwich chain Mt. Joy

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(Image: Mt. Joy)

The start of a 1,000 or so location “pasture raised” chicken sandwich chain from prolific Capitol Hill and Seattle restaurateur Ethan Stowell appears destined to hatch at 11th and Pine.

CHS has learned Stowell’s Mt. Joy venture is planning what could be its first location on 11th Ave with plans to share the corner with another food and drink chain with mega aspirations. CHS reported here more than a year ago on the plans for “fast casual” salad chain Sweetgreen to overhaul the former pub concept at the corner.

Sweetgreen’s path, as predicted, has been slowed by pandemic permitting bottlenecks and behind the scenes corporate maneuverings but the project has continued to move forward with fresh rounds of construction permit activity happening in November. Continue reading →

Here’s what it will cost for you to reopen the Capitol Hill Gaybucks

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Want to see new life in the E Olive Way retail building left empty by the abrupt departure of Starbucks?

It is back on the market and looking for a new tenant.

A notice posted to Craigslist before the Thanksgiving holiday has listed a “Former Coffee Shop/Cafe For Lease” at an undisclosed Capitol Hill location.

“Former coffee shop for lease in Capitol Hill,” it reads. “Standalone building with dedicated parking/parking lot. Turnkey opportunity for new user to come in and open up quickly. Great street presence, exposure, signage and foot traffic.” Continue reading →

First Hill’s Vito’s puts up $1K reward for safe return of Cougar Room mascot after Thanksgiving weekend break-in

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(Image: Vito’s)

First Hill nightclub Vito’s is offering a $1,000 reward for the return of its mountain lion.

Barbara, the big taxidermied puma that has been a centerpiece in the club’s Cougar Room, was ripped off in a break-in at the First Hill joint that has been shuttered since a June fire damaged its E Madison building.

“This weekend thieves broke into Vito’s and among other things, smashed the glass and STOLE our beloved cougar in the COUGAR ROOM,” Vito’s posted about the Thanksgiving weekend heist. “The photos are much too depressing to post, but we suspect these idiots will try and sell, or at least brag about the theft of this antique, large and beautiful mountain lion.” Continue reading →

A ‘refusal-to-bargain case’ — Starbucks loses first round in labor fight with Capitol Hill roastery’s unionized workers

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(Image: CHS)

Starbucks is violating labor law and must negotiate with union workers at its massive 15,000-square-foot Capitol Hill roastery despite the company’s objections to how the unionization vote was conducted, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled.

“We find that the Respondent’s conduct constitutes an unlawful failure and refusal to recognize and bargain with the Union,” the board ruling (PDF) issued this week reads.

The ruling comes as the coffee giant announced it will close its cafe at Broadway and Denny, the last stand-alone store the company has in the Capitol Hill neighborhood besides the huge Starbucks Roastery and the first shop in its home city to unionize.

In April, workers at the popular Melrose Ave roastery voted to join the Starbucks Workers United effort and unionize the store, at the time, the second location in the company’s home city to organize. Continue reading →

The Postman reopens at MLK and Union

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KeAnna Pickett reopened Central District mailing services shop The Postman Wednesday just over a month after her husband was gunned down outside the MLK at Union business.

“We made it!!,” the Postman’s announcement reads. “We are finally back open.”

D’Vonne Pickett, Jr. was gunned down October 19th outside the mailing services shop he opened KeAnna in 2018. The father, business owner, and youth football coach was 31. D’Vonne Pickett told CHS in 2018 his grandfather served as a mail carrier for the USPS in Seattle for nearly 40 years and was an inspiration for the store. Continue reading →

‘Rapid Acquisition’ — Another market-rate development on Capitol Hill will shift to affordable housing with LIHI’s $21M deal for Harvard Ave E building

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The design rendering for the Harvard Lofts building

(Image: LIHI)

It’s a seller’s market for medium-sized, newly constructed Capitol Hill apartment buildings. Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute announced this week it has acquired another building on Capitol Hill with its $21 million purchase of the Harvard Lofts development with plans to offer housing to people at risk of homelessness.

“Thank you to City of Seattle Office of Housing and the State Department of Commerce Rapid Capital Housing Acquisition program for funding,” LIHI said in its announcement. “These public investments enable people living temporarily in tiny houses, shelters and those on the street to secure permanent housing.”

The deal for the newly constructed building just a block or so west from Capitol Hill Station comes amid a flurry of affordable housing activity in the area powered by the Rapid Acquisition program part of the federal American Rescue Plan that allows Seattle and the Washington State Department of Commerce to leverage local, state, and federal funding in grants to organizations like LIHI. Continue reading →