Leschi Community Council and Central Area Neighborhood District Council holding candidates forum focused on District 3

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A District 3 candidates forum will be held Tuesday night in a co-sponsored event from the Leschi Community Council and the Central Area Neighborhood District Council.

The forum starts at 6:30 PM at the Grace United Methodist Church, 722 30th Ave S. It is expected to last two hours.

The forum will also be livestreamed here.

We’ve invited all the candidates for the two City Council citywide seats (D8 and D9) as well as all the Mayoral candidates. We’ll have two sections – first all the City Council candidates, then a quick break, and then all the Mayoral candidates.

Tuesday, the 43rd District Democrats are also holding a meeting including State Attorney General Nick Brown and a live recording of the Seattle Nice podcast at Harvard Ave’s Erickson Theatre. CHS reported earlier on the group’s endorsements for the upcoming August primary.

Ballots will be arriving this week for the August 5th vote.

You can find all CHS Elections coverage here.

 

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‘Plan of abatement’ — Judge orders city to address reported criminal activity he says makes nudity in Denny Blaine Park ‘a public nuisance’

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(Image: Seattle Parks)

A King County judge won’t close Denny Blaine Park but he does want the city to come up with a “plan of abatement” to address complaints of drug use, masturbation, and sex at the popular nude beach on the shores of Lake Washington east of Capitol Hill.

Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung issued the order Monday in a hearing over a bid from the Denny Blaine for All neighbor group to immediately close the park to the public. The group has mounted an ongoing legal fight over the park that is being defended as an important gathering space by queer and nudist communities. Continue reading →

Council hears details of $1M District Fund for ‘neighborhood-scale traffic safety improvements’

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The Seattle City Council’s transportation committee is hearing a presentation Tuesday morning on the Council District Fund, an apportionment that could provide each area of the city a small pool of funding for street and sidewalk projects.

There is $7 million — $1 million for each of Seattle’s Council Districts including District 3 covering Capitol Hill and the Central Area — in the pot for both 2025 and 2026. Continue reading →

Around 10,000 without power across Northern Capitol Hill — UPDATE

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View latest outage updates

Nearly 10,000 customers across North Capitol Hill, North Broadway, and along the Hill’s eastern 23rd Ave edge were without power Monday afternoon. Seattle City Light was investigating the outage but reports of wires down along leafy Lakeview Blvd E appear to have been the culprit.

The outage was first reported just before 3 PM. City Light said it was working to restore the outage with an estimated restoration time of 6 PM

911 callers reported an exploded transformer and wires down and sparking in the 1300 block of Lakeview Blvd E. Seattle Fire was called to the scene to take care of any immediate danger before City Light crews could begin work on repairs.

UPDATE 4:35 PM: The outage totals have been knocked in half with a core area still without power between I-5 and Broadway.

UPDATE x2: City Light reported the outage repairs completed just after 10 PM.

The cause of the wire damage was attributed to a “large downed tree.”

Many North Broadway businesses announced they were closed for the night Monday afternoon.

 

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Goodbye to Gold Bar — and Afterlife — on E Olive Way

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(Image: Gold Bar)

(Image: Afterlife)

A South Lake Union hangout and party place’s expansion to Capitol Hill has come to an end. Somewhere along the way, E Olive Way lounge Gold Bar and its conjoined nightclub sibling Afterlife shuttered for good.

“This space was never just a bar or a dance club, it was a portal. For artists, for ‘weirdos’,” the Afterlife goodby message reads. “For people who believe in community, lights, cocktails, great fucking music and the power of the night. We built a scene. A sandbox. A safe space. And we’re proud of what we made.”

Ownership says they lost their lease as the result of a recent “real estate deal.” County records show the 1920s era building the lounge and club called home has not changed hands. Continue reading →

Central Cinema celebrates 20+ years: How a sculpture studio became Central District’s quirkiest neighborhood theater

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When Kevin Spitzer first rented a former auto repair shop just off E Union in the late ’90s, it was his studio, a raw, industrial space in a then-neglected stretch of Seattle’s Central District.

“This was actually my sculpture studio in here before the theater,” Spitzer says. “It was Jean’s first tenant when she and Jack bought the building out of an auction.”

The building at 1411 21st Ave has lived many lives since it was constructed in 1929. “It was originally built in ’29 as a car dealership. “Pretty sure it was Ford,” Spitzer explains. “Then what I heard is it became a dairy for, like decades, it was a bottling plant.” By the time the Spitzers arrived, the area was far from the bustling hub it is today.

This summer, Central Cinema is celebrating its 20th year in the neighborhood — though it has been on the block a little longer.

“There was no 20/20 Bike Shop, or Katie’s coffee or anything like that,” Kate Spitzer remembered. “It was like storefronts with plywood on them. The gas station was just Jimmy and Al fixing cars.” Continue reading →

With August 5th primary election looming, 43rd Dems go ‘hybrid’ for July meeting

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The 43rd District Democrats will mark a first this month that should make it easier to take part in its sessions connecting area Democratic leaders and political candidates to the neighborhoods they serve. The group’s July meeting will be its first ever hybrid event allowing both in-person and virtual participation:

Join us on July 15th from 7-9pm for our HYBRID July General meeting! That’s right, you can join us in person at the Erickson Theater (1524 Harvard Ave) or join us on Zoom. Hear from State Attorney General Nick Brown, get the latest on the upcoming primary with Erica Barnett, Sandeep Kaushik and David Hyde as they record an episode of the Seattle Nice Podcast, ask questions and connect with your 43rd electeds, and meet many of our endorsed candidates and hear about ways to get involved in their campaigns.

The visit to the neighborhood with a meeting at Harvard Ave’s Erickson Theater will also include a chance to sit in — or tune in — on a live recording of the Seattle Nice podcast from Erica Barnett, Sandeep Kaushik and David Hyde.

You can learn more and register for Tuesday night’s meeting here.

CHS reported earlier on the group’s endorsements for the upcoming August primary. Ballots will be arriving soon for the August 5th vote.

 

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This week in CHS history | CHOP 2.0, Starbucks closes on E Olive Way, the summer deer of Volunteer Park

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These deer appeared in Volunteer Park in July 2023 (Image: Volunteer Park Trust)

Here are the top stories from this week in CHS history:

2024

 

Design review next week for ‘U-shape’ development that will add 120+ new homes to Broadway’s Bait Shop block


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Capitol Hill’s Break Away vintage and thrift now on Pike — and Pine

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(Image: Break Away)

The Break Away team on the move

You are not seeing double. The crew at Capitol Hill thrift and vintage market Break Away have expanded with a second showroom in the neighborhood. You can now find the original shop on E Pike and a new second store of racks and piles of thrift and vintage clothing at Pine and Boylston.

How it all fits together, you’ll have to ask Break Away about, but the grand opening of the E Pine space brought a line around the block for “Break Away Steals” and shoppers digging through racks and piles for bargains and sick cuts.

CHS reported this spring on Break Away and owners including Nevin Poyneer and Tanner Callies growing from street vintage sales to a brick and mortar shop next to E Pike’s Late Night Vintage. “It’s like a maze,” co-owner Eddie Duran told CHS, “We have so many different rooms. We’ve got cool music, video games, foosball. You can just come hang out, get lost in here.” Continue reading →

Neighborhood rallying for restoration after accidental King of the Hill mural cover-up

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A post to the CHS Facebook Group started the search for restoring the King of the Hill mural

The original mural

An unfortunate graffiti clean-up accident temporarily removed a Capitol Hill landmark but neighbors were working this week to making things right again on E Olive Way.

A graffiti removal vendor reportedly accidentally covered up the mural of Aklilu “Abe” Abraham outside E Olive Way’s King of the Hill Market. UPDATE: People familiar with the situation have clarified that the graffiti removal was working with the building’s management, not a city clean-up contract.

CHS checked in with Abraham earlier this year about his recovery from emergency brain surgery — and his deep connection to the neighborhood who supported him and his market.

The graffiti removal crew mistake left the mural of Abraham covered in a layer of brown paint but the neighborhood has moved to quickly have the art restored. A post to the CHS Facebook Group to begin the search for a new artist to replace the work helped connect to what could end up an even better outcome — original artist Ethan Jack Harrington is now in contact to help sort out next steps.

Options could include paint remover that could take off the new layer and allow the original to be restored — or a new King of the Hill work on this curve of 1705 E Olive Way.

The good news is, like Abraham, the mural isn’t going away anytime soon.

 

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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.

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