A woman was struck by a driver on 15th Ave E near Volunteer Park late Monday afternoon.
Seattle Fire was called to the collision at 15th and Galer around 4:45 PM and reported the woman suffered a head injury but was conscious at the scene. Continue reading
Inside a Haraz Coffee House (Image: Haraz Coffee House)
It isn’t at the scale of the now-empty Capitol Hill Starbucks Roastery but 2026 brings new plans for a shuttered Pike/Pine corner to leap back to life as the neighborhood’s newest cafe.
Haraz Coffee House, a rapidly growing Yemeni coffee chain born in Michigan and recently focused on expansion around the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, is making plans to fill the long-empty southwest corner of Boylston and Pike with a new $200,000 cafe buildout.
Founded in Dearborn, Michigan in 2021, Haraz has been public about its expansion plans including efforts to add new cafes across Northern California. Its growth to “31 locations across metro Detroit and other cities with 185 in the pipeline” has included new cafe spaces and sometimes taking over shuttered spaces left behind by the likes of Starbucks.
Haraz is noted for its rich, flavorful coffee offerings and “organic, sun-dried beans from Yemen.” Continue reading
Wilson at Friday’s swearing-in ceremony
Katie Wilson is now serving the city as the 58th mayor of Seattle.
In her speech at Friday’s swearing-in ceremony, Wilson said her goal is to build a city where people can “live a dignified life.”
“This is your city — that means that you belong here, you have a right to be here and to live a dignified life, whatever your background and whatever your income,” Wilson said.
Friday’s ceremony at Seattle City Hall echoed with Wilson’s background as a community organizer and transit advocate and took a small scale approach to inaugural festivities. Wilson’s husband Scott Myers, and their daughter Josephine, 2, were at the new mayor’s side.
Wilson, 43, is the youngest Seattle mayor since Wes Uhlman was elected in 1969. The Capitol Hill renter and co-founder of the Transit Riders Union narrowly defeated incumbent Bruce Harrell in a race that fell across familiar political lines in the city dividing the wealthiest voters in Seattle from its most densely-populated and diverse neighborhoods.
In her speech Friday, Wilson said the city is ready for change “that calls for vision and ambition” but in efforts that also emphasize trust and inclusiveness.
“Can I be the mayor of the waterfront and the World Cup and the stadiums? Yes, yes I can,” Wilson said. Continue reading
An area Washington State Department of Social and Health Services center providing access to programs including food, cash, and medical benefits that suffered a 2024 closure from damage in a bizarre shooting incident was the site of a hazardous material response Friday afternoon.
Officials say a suspicious letter delivered to the state’s Capitol Hill Community Services Office in the 1700 block of E Cherry was determined to be harmless. Earlier that afternoon, an employee called 911 to report the suspicious envelope and possible toxic material.
Seattle Fire responded and evacuated the building before determining it was safe to reoccupy. Continue reading
A look back at the year that was on Capitol Hill is a look ahead at what comes next. 20-year plans. A new mayor. A city struggling with the intractable challenges of gun violence, homelessness, and protest. Before the details are wiped away by what comes next, here is a look at the stories. The Capitol Hill renter who will now lead the city. The stories of those shot and killed. The big spaces looking for new corporate strategies. The small spaces looking for new dreams.
Thanks for reading CHS in 2025. We look forward to bringing you more Capitol Hill stories in 2026.
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2025’S MOST IMPORTANT STORIES
WILSON WINS: A Capitol Hill renter will be the next mayor of Seattle as Katie Wilson led a progressive resurgence in the November election and narrowly defeating the incumbent. Harrell was the city’s second African American mayor and its first Asian-American mayor. The last time an incumbent mayor was reelected in Seattle was in 2005. Wilson, a Capitol Hill resident and progressive organizer, socialist, and leader at the Transit Riders Union who campaigned on her leadership around minimum wage and renters rights campaigns across the region faced a strident attack from Harrell as the incumbent pushed back following a terrible showing in the primary, criticizing Wilson as a child of privilege without adequate experience for City Hall, and claiming his opponent was a leader in the defund the police movement. Wilson painted Harrell as out of touch and focused on her messages around affordability and underserved communities including leading the city with plans to create $1 billion in union-built affordable housing, build 4,000 units of shelter, and expand police alternatives like the Community Assisted Response & Engagement Department’s crisis responders while also fielding smaller initiatives like championing creation of more public restrooms in the city.
PARKS PROBLEMS: “Bouts of negative park activity” brought chain-link fences to one Capitol Hill park and pushed the city’s parks department to come up with a community plan for addressing crime and disorder in three other Capitol Hill and Central District parks. In November, parks officials heard from neighbors and park goers on ideas for addressing the issues while keeping Seven Hill Park, Broadway Hill Park, and Tashkent Park open. Others spoke out in a different way, Meanwhile, the fight to keep Denny Blaine nude continued.ALSO IN 2025…
CHS 2025 MOST COMMENTED
A BRIEF HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM CHS
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Colibri Mexican Kitchen is an an excellent representative of the year that was for the area’s food and drink projects
Colibri Mexican Kitchen
There is definitely some double counting here. There is also some undercounting. CHS tallied the Bar Tango, Double O’ Burgers, Cantina del Sol, and Uncle Dom’s Italian Kitchen complex as one.
Another year of change, new energy, and sad goodbyes in Capitol Hill food and drink has passed. Below, we count it all up.
Start with a visit to an excellent representative of the year that was for the area’s food and drink projects. 12th Ave’s Colibri Mexican Kitchen is a “happy hello.” But it was also a “sad goodbye.” The restaurant took over the space formerly home to the much-loved Plum after 20 years of business for the vegan bistro. Now Colibri is becoming much-loved.
Colibri Mexican Kitchen
The project from first-time restaurateur Celeste Bakr is growing as a family venture inspired by their restaurant veteran uncle on the edge of Pike/Pine with with large portions and full plates that echo traditions of plenty.
“We are going to pour our love into it,” Bakr told CHS when we talked with her after Colibri’s 2025 opening.
You can know that much of that same energy runs through the 2025 rosters below — the new restaurants, bars, and cafes, the new owners and changes, and, yes, the closures. Somebody loved even the giants like the Starbucks Roastery where many people found joy and employment every day. Here’s hoping for new things for spaces like that in 2026.
But, first, a look back at 2025.
HAPPY HELLOS
TRANSITIONS
SAD GOODBYES
A BRIEF HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM CHS
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A woman was reported shot in the leg early Sunday morning at a 12th Ave apartment building. Continue reading
Firefighters could be seen battling the blaze in an image from a city traffic camera
Seattle Fire crews battled a Christmas morning building fire that started as a reported rubbish fire at Broadway and Pike.
The reported address for the blaze at 816 E Pike is the location of the two-story, 1912-era masonry commercial building near the corner of Pike and Broadway home to a location of the Cinnaholic cinnamon roll chain and the A/stir restaurant. Continue reading
For this year’s holiday card, CHS turns to 19th and Aloha and an installation of joy at St. Joe’s.
The St. Joseph Parish added the display this year on its lawn near another relatively recent addition — the “community fridge” the church’s Faith Justice Commission and the community keep stocked and open for those in need.
You can maybe think about the wooden reindeer and trees and lights the same way — stocked and open for those in need. Stop by and pick up a little bit of community joy.
CHS, by the way, is also taking some time this week to pick up a bit of joy where we can find it. If there is something we should know about, call or text (206) 399-5959 or say hey @jseattle here or here. You can also check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group. Thanks for reading.
Look! Joy on E Union, too
CHS Happy Holidays Cards Past
A BRIEF HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM CHS
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 🎁
(Image: Raygun Lounge)
There is hope of a replay at Capitol Hill all-ages arcade bar and tabletop gaming hangout Raygun Lounge where an employee is getting help from the neighborhood to restart the business.
“Raygun Lounge in Capitol Hill has been a nexus for gamers, geeks, and anyone seeking a place to belong. Raygun isn’t just a pinball barcade — it’s a community,” River Flanary says in the plea asking fans to pitch in to keep Raygun Lounge open.
“It’s where pinball wizards meet board game strategists; where LGBTQ+ folks feel safe and at home; where tabletop RPG campaigns unfold, and Magic: The Gathering games rage on. Raygun is a place where our community gathers and becomes friends, with food and drink and engaging games,” Flanary writes. Continue reading
