Somewhere along the way, Capitol Hill became part of the Seattle tour bus route

Somehow, sometime, Capitol Hill became part of the tour of visitors from around the country and around the world checking out Seattle from aboard a hop on, hop off, open-top, double-decker bus. With the buses plying the tight turns of Pike and Pine daily, CHS got on board and checked in on what it’s like to be a tourist in the neighborhood.

“You are now entering the Capitol Hill neighborhood,” the recorded tour message informs riders as they make their way up the Hill. “This area is the unofficial center of Seattle’s LGBTQ community and features some of the city’s hippest restaurants, bars, and boutique shopping.”

“Stop #13,” the voice says. “Capitol Hill and Jimi Hendrix statue.”

Boasting its historic LGBTQ+ support and ample nightlife, Capitol Hill is highlighted as one of many must-see spots in Seattle by City Sightseeing and other city tours. Since 1999, the UK-based City Sightseeing has been busing tourists and locals around more than 100 cities across the world, Seattle included. Continue reading

Capitol Hill’s D’ La Santa and its grande margaritas set for 10th Ave E expansion

Growing up in Guadalajara, Angelica Villasenor was the only one of her seven siblings who hated to cook. When Villasenor’s father opened a Mexican restaurant in Kent and asked her and her siblings to help out, she secured a bartending position and let her siblings take care of the cooking roles. Now, her Capitol Hill restaurant D’ La Santa is getting ready to begin its third year of business with an expansion plan that will put that bartending experience to good use.

D’ La Santa is getting ready to add a new catty-cornered bar and six-table patio to its 10th Ave E location. Along with the bar comes an addition of authentic Mexican cocktails and new food items including handmade traditional and green tortillas made with Poblano peppers.

“Finally we have a restaurant that tastes like Mexico,” Villasenor said.

During the decade Villasenor’s father’s restaurant grew, so did Villasenor’s love for cooking. Eventually in 2016 Villasenor considered opening a restaurant of her own in the city, but she didn’t have the money, a location or professional training as a chef. Now, after opening two years ago next month, Villasenor’s authentic Mexican restaurant D’ La Santa in Capitol Hill is expanding. Continue reading

Students set to skip school and head to Capitol Hill as youth activists demand change through Seattle Climate Strike

Students also rallied in the park in March (Image: CHS)

For the past four years, Zoe has looked out into crowds of hundreds of people and spoke about a future she dreams about—a future where she doesn’t have to wear a mask while playing outside, where smoke isn’t filling her loved ones’ lungs during Seattle summers, where she feels confident that her children will have a future on this planet.

Seattle Climate Strike

Since she was 9 years old, this 13-year-old has been fueled by the urgency that is driving the climate crisis in Seattle. Every Friday she strikes from school at City Hall. Her weekends are filled with activism for the Green New Deal. And in two weeks, she is one of the many students across the nation and the state spearheading another Youth Climate Strike as organizers push to grow the events into an ongoing strike movement and align this next round in the effort to align with strikes planned around the world in September.

“I work on a lot of different issues, but it’s all intersectional,” Zoe said. “Climate change affects all things and all things affect the climate crisis.” Continue reading