Bateau, one of the biggest 2015 ideas in Capitol Hill food and drink, is closing for a 2025 restart — UPDATE

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(Image: CHS)

The massive Infinity building

One of Capitol Hill’s biggest 2015-era food and drink ideas is coming to a close. A decade after opening on the backside of Pike/Pine, the Renee Erickson-helmed complex of new era steakhouse Bateau, Boat Bar, and General Porpoise filled doughnuts will be shuttered, ownership announced Thursday. Plans call for the spaces to reopen later this year with a new, refreshed approach more in line with 2025-era Capitol Hill food and drink economics.

“After these many years, we will be taking this time to reflect and refresh our concepts,” the announcement reads. “We look forward to welcoming guests and staff back to a reimagined Bateau and Boat Bar later this year.”

The final day of business for the current incarnation of the corner is June 19th.

The closures comes as parent restaurant family Sea Creatures has been tightening its belt and streamlining its businesses. The planned temporary closure on E Union will bring the end of the Capitol Hill General Porpoise, Erickson’s first in what had grown into a small chain. By this summer, only two will remain. The Capitol Hill shop neighboring Bateau and the bar will become a private dining room.

(Image: CHS)

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On the List | Capitol Hill Pride begins with Volunteer Park celebration, Cal Anderson clean-up, and the return of On The Block Second Saturdays in Pike/Pine

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Pride and Seattle summer fun on Capitol Hill will begin with a burst of activity Saturday across the neighborhood. CHS reported earlier this week on the traditional Pride kick-off celebration in Volunteer Park as Pride in the Park returns Saturday for another year of music and good times. Continue reading →

Haunted Burrow Books will make temporary home on Capitol Hill block destined for demolition and development

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(Image: Haunted Burrow Books)

(Image: Haunted Burrow Books)

The shapeshifting mix of short-term pop-ups, flea markets, and retail experiments that are keeping the old QFC block of 15th Ave E active in anticipation of coming mixed-use redevelopment will include a spooky temporary guest.

Haunted Burrow Books and its offerings of “horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and other moody genres” is getting ready to haunt the street for an ephemeral stay in the mix.

Owner and editor Roxanne Guiney has announced a June 20th grand opening for the temporary Capitol Hill horror and dark fantasy book shop: Continue reading →

‘New Proposed Center Boundaries’ — Seattle re-starts process of pounding out new 20-year growth plan with compromises in Montlake, Madison Park, and Madrona

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The Seattle City Council’s comprehensive code update committee led by District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth can get back to the core of Seattle’s growth debate starting Thursday morning as it digs in on setting the boundaries for Neighborhood Centers, new zoning areas of the city meant to more consistently and equitably distribute growth into more areas of the city.

Thursday morning’s meeting of the committee will mark the first session since the council passed an interim bill designed to meet the state’s minimum requirements under its new “Middle Housing” laws setting the framework for expanded zoning to allow a greater range of housing types in more parts of the city as Seattle finalizes its next 20-year growth plan.

On the table will be compromises shaped after massive pushback from some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city. According to a presentation for Thursday’s session, city planners have revised and shrunken the borders of 9 out of 30 proposed Neighborhood Centers. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill is dead — The Rhino Room is selling couches

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(Image: CHS)

Six months after going dark and quietly ending its 11-year run of Capitol Hill nightlife, the former Rhino Room space at 11th and Pine is suddenly filled with furniture as custom retailer Couch has moved to Capitol Hill from Ballard.

“Pick one of our thoughtfully designed styles or work with us to come up with a new variation. We are custom builders in the truest sense of the word,” the store’s pitch goes. “Custom elsewhere can mean you get to choose blue instead of gray. At Couch it means you design a sofa in your exact size, style and comfort specifications.” Continue reading →

Garfield High marks one-year anniversary of fatal shooting with walkout, debate over cops on campus

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Flowers left last June after Amarr Murphy-Paine was shot and killed during a lunchtime altercation in the Garfield parking lot (Image: Converge Media with permission to CHS)

Results from a survey of students about campus safety conducted last fall

Many at Garfield High School won’t be wearing purple and white this Friday as they put on orange shirts for National Gun Violence Awareness Day and hold a remembrance of a fallen friend.

Wednesday night, some will call on the Seattle School Board to support a plan to opening the way for Seattle Police officers to again be assigned to the 23rd Ave campus where gun violence has taken a terrible toll.

Friday’s planned student walkout at the largest public high school serving Capitol Hill and the Central District will include a celebration of life for Amarr Murphy-Paine, the 17-year-old shot and killed while trying to break up a fight in the school’s parking lot a year ago to the day of the planned remembrance. The victim’s father Arron Murphy-Paine is scheduled to speak during Friday’s event. The 17-year-old’s family has sued the district alleging officials were negligent in their security practices at Garfield.

There have been no arrests in the June 2024 case.

The anniversary of Murphy-Paine’s killing comes as Seattle’s public school system is considering rolling back a five-year-old reform that removed uniformed police officers assigned to the city’s campuses. Continue reading →

Seattle City Hall 2026 budget guidance — 2% cuts for public safety, homelessness, 8% for everything else

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If you are worried about Seattle defunding the police, a few data points from Wednesday’s session (PDF) of the Seattle City Council’s budget committee should set your mind at ease.

As the city grapples with a “pessimistic” revenue forecast, Mayor Bruce Harrell’s administration is holding the line at two separate thresholds for cutbacks to city departments.

When it comes to the 2026 budget, City Hall is preparing for planned 8% cuts to departments supported by the city’s General Fund and payroll tax on its largest employers. The Seattle Police Department and all “public safety related” departments number? 2%. Same for the city’s spending on homelessness. Continue reading →

Seattle approves ‘Smart City’ digital kiosks — but none, for now, on Capitol Hill sidewalks

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IKE Smart City’s rendering of what a kiosk would look like on E Pike (Image: IKE/DSA)

Pike/Pine, for now, won’t be part of the deployment of 80 digital wayfinding kiosks across Seattle.

Tuesday, the Seattle City Council approved a program to add the kiosks with news and information, wi-fi access, directions, and advertisements to the city’s streets. A first phase will focus on 30 new kiosks downtown. A possible second phase would add 50 more in areas including West Seattle, Ballard, the University District, and SoDo. Continue reading →

911 | Gunpoint mugging on 18th Ave

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

  • 18th Ave armed robbery: Two people returning home from a restaurant were beaten and robbed at gunpoint in an incident near 18th and Denny late Thursday night. The Seattle Police Department reports the victims were walking around 11:20 PM when two men jumped them, punching one victim in the face and grabbing the other’s bag after pulling her to the ground. The victims said the second suspect pulled a black handgun on them as they were robbed. Police say one victim suffered a laceration to the face during the mugging. No detailed descriptions of the suspects were provided in the SPD report.

  • Monday stabbing: Police say a stabbing reported Monday afternoon in a Madison area apartment was a domestic violence incident. SPD reports a woman was taken into custody after cutting a family member on the hand in the dispute. The victim suffered minor injuries. The suspect was booked into jail for investigation of assault.
  • Overnight gunfire: Police investigated reports of gunfire early Monday morning. Officers were dispatched to the report of a series of gunshots near E Highland Drive around 12:45 AM but no injuries or property damage was reported located.
  • Additional May 24th arrest: SPD says there was an additional arrest in the East Precinct during the day of counter-protests against an anti-trans Christian rally at Cal Anderson Park on Saturday, May 24th. CHS reported here on the updates on the arrests as no charges had been filed against the eight protesters SPD said it took into custody that day. In the additional arrest, SPD says officers noted “a suspicious male standing next to their marked Seattle Police vehicle” just after noon Saturday. “After concluding their initial call, he approached one of the officers and asked how many officers it would take to arrest him,” the SPD report on the arrest reads. “The individual then stated that he was on his way to ‘blow up’ the police headquarters because he hated the police.” Police say they took the man into custody as he was headed toward Capitol Hill Station. He was booked into King County Jail.
 

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CHS Pics | The Korean Food Promotion Institute held a cooking contest at Capitol Hill’s Seattle Culinary Academy

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Moore on her way to victory

Anybody wondering about the wave of Korean-flavored food and drink that continues to wash over Capitol Hill can probably find a few answers in the spicy sweetness and umami of gochujang chilli paste. It also helps that the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Seattle is really into food and drink.

Last month, CHS stopped through a Korean cooking competition sponsored by the consulate and the Korean Food Promotion Institute held at the Seattle Culinary Academy at Seattle Central College as a battle over bulgogi and bibimbap played out. At stake in the 2025 “Culinary Class Wars” competition? An all-expenses-paid trip to Korea to compete in the International Namdo Food Festival in October where the winner will “represent Seattle & U.S in the final global round, with flights, accommodation, meals, local transportation, and interpretation fully provided.” Continue reading →