Author Archives: jseattle

About jseattle

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

Spacecraft launching a space for ‘people who don’t necessarily consider themselves artists’ to create art above Broadway

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A recent Spacecraft work party (Image: Spacecraft)

One of Capitol Hill’s oldest homes for creative retail spaces and restaurants is making space for a crafty new addition.

Spacecraft, a community arts and craft space targeting “screen addicted adults” and “people who don’t necessarily consider themselves artists,” is getting its final coats of paint and collecting supplies for a planned October opening in the 101-year-old Broadway Alley building.

“I’ve always been crafty, always kind of a dabbler,” Alison Cantor tells CHS. Describing how challenging it is to find space to do those things with “people living in smaller and smaller spaces,” Cantor says Spacecraft will be a place to spread your project out and work on your art somewhere better than the kitchen table.

“It’s a community where people can come and make art,” she said. Continue reading →

The Baltic Room’s new owners say taking shooting response ‘very seriously’

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(Image: The Baltic Room)

Charges haven’t yet been filed against the shooter but the club’s new owners say they are taking action after last weekend’s early morning shooting outside Capitol Hill nightclub The Baltic Room.

“We are taking this matter very seriously and strive to provide an enjoyable experience while maintaining safety of all patrons, employees, and neighbors,” Rachel Keith told CHS in a statement about last Saturday’s 2 AM shooting that sent two to the hospital. Keith said the club has hired “a few more security guards,” and implemented an earlier last call time.

Keith tells CHS the Baltic was clearing out for the night “when a fight between a few people began in the middle of the street up past Woody’s.” Continue reading →

The government says (Capitol Hill’s) rainbow crosswalks (spreading to Iowa) could be unsafe. Are they really? (No. No they are not.)

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The New York Times got the media buzzing about something that has been making the rounds since last month when the federal government told the good people of Ames, Iowa to remove the city’s “inclusive” multi-colored crosswalks citing safety concerns.

The Ames City Council voted unanimously to ignore the request, the NYT reports. Continue reading →

Lawsuit settlement won’t end effort to save the Showbox

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(Image: The Showbox)

Seattle is conceding on an important legal battle in the campaign to save the city’s Showbox music venue championed by Mayor Jenny Durkan, campaigned for by District 3 rep Kshama Sawant, and fought for by groups like Historic Seattle.

In the deal announced this week by the Seattle City Attorney, the city will pay the Showbox property’s owner Roger Forbes $915,000 to cover attorney fees and both sides agreed to move forward with a King County Superior Court Judge issuing his final ruling after quashing the city council’s temporary expansion of the Pike Place Historic District to protect the building and stop a planned sale.  Continue reading →

Developer says return of City Market in the plans for seven-story E Olive Way development

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Developers working on the project to create a new seven-story, mixed-use building at the site of Capitol Hill’s City Market say the popular corner store is part of the plan.

“I am happy to report that City Market will be coming back into the new building,” Charlie Bauman of developer Barrientos Ryan tells CHS. “We are excited to be working with them to integrate their new store into the development.” Continue reading →

After big time attention, Capitol Hill ‘Hot Guys Serving Hot Coffee’ stand has new name, remains shirtless

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After only one month of business, Broadway’s coffee Dreamboyz are now men.

Dreamguyz Espresso, to be exact.

After making international news with Seattle’s second* ever man-kini coffee shack, the business had to make a quick shift, owners tell CHS, after some ownership issues came up with a company in the United Kingdom over the coffee window’s original Dreamboyz name.

The Dreamguyz folks aren’t naming names but The Dreamboys male strip shows do big business “every Saturday night in 13 UK cities.”

Meanwhile, the show goes on at the Broadway walk-up and drive-thru coffee business under the new Dreamguyz Espresso name.

‘Very early’ but City Market property being lined up for new E Olive Way mixed-use project — UPDATE

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City Market (Image: CHS)
(Image: @officialcitymarket)

They had better include a giant wall for the City Market poster sign maker to continue their impressive body of work.

Early filings with the City of Seattle show plans are in motion for a “Olive + Bellevue” project, a planned seven-story “multi-family building with ground floor commercial space” to rise along E Olive Way above the property currently home to City Market and its laundromat sibling.

Developer Barrientos Ryan and architect Caron have begun the process of planning the new project. Charlie Bauman of Barrientos Ryan tells CHS his firm is “very early in this process.” Continue reading →

Reminder: First of three weekends with no light rail between Capitol Hill and SODO

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Where you can catch the Sound Transit “bus bridge” this weekend

This coming weekend will be the first of three planned this fall with no light rail service between Capitol Hill and SODO as Sound Transit prepares for major construction of its coming new line:

We’re laying the groundwork to open the Blue Line, a new Link line that will begin taking riders from Northgate to Redmond in 2023. As part of that work, we need to reduce Link service for three weekends this fall. On the weekends of October 12-13, October 26-27, and November 9-10, there will be no Link service between SODO-Capitol Hill. Trains will run from Angle Lake-SODO and UW-Capitol Hill, and free buses will connect the six stations in between.

CHS reported on the planned closures in August when October probably seemed like a long time away. But now the first weekend of service disruption is here. To try to help cover the gap, Sound Transit will be offering bus service between Broadway and John, downtown, and SODO Station. Sound Transit says it chose these weekends because there are no Seahawks or Husky football games. Continue reading →

Campaign for District 3 being managed from two different corners of the Central District

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As the race for the District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council plays out, challenger Egan Orion’s campaign has picked an unusual headquarters as the organization tries to map out a course to victory in November.

Orion organizers have created a campaign office in the old gas station at 21st and Union where a big Egan Orion campaign mural has joined the streetscape next to Chucks Hop Shop CD and the new home of machine learning-powered — and roasted corn genius — El Costeño.

In a brief conversation on the sidewalk in front of the campaign office, Orion said the location is in the heart of his campaign territory and his home neighborhood and that he was proud to be part of activating the corner lot. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | The Capitol Hill Friends couch will still be there for you

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No complaining! You deserved that headline! (Image: Ada’s Discovery Cafe)

Hundreds of otherwise likable people lined up on E Thomas last Sunday for a few selfie-filled seconds on the couch from Friends.

Why was this particular orange couch in the middle of a Capitol Hill street so popular when so many others go unloved? CHS reported here on the nostalgia-rich marketing underway for the show’s 25th anniversary at The Lounge by AT&T project that has temporarily converted Ada’s Discover Cafe into the onetime hit sitcom and now top-streamer’s Central Perk.  Continue reading →