After Bondi Beach tragedy, menorah ceremony lights up Volunteer Park for Chanukah

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(Image: Chabad of Capitol Hill)

It has been tradition for people to gather in Volunteer Park to celebrate Chanukah. This year’s Seattle gatherings and celebrations came just hours after the deadly Sydney attack at Bondi Beach.

Sunday, the first night of the Jewish holiday was celebrated in a menorah lighting ceremony overlooking the Volunteer Park reservoir organized by Chabad of Capitol Hill.

In a statement to CHS, Rabbi Levi Levitin addressed the tragedy and thanked the Seattle Police Department for helping to keep the night safe and secure:

The mass shooting targeting a Chanukah celebration in Sydney was felt deeply by Jewish communities around the world. Chanukah is about bringing light into the public square. Guided by that message, we continued with the Menorah lighting in Volunteer Park as planned, publicly celebrating our Judaism. Continue reading →

Heavy rain and winds on Capitol Hill as storm brings flooding outside Seattle

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So far, the Green River levee breaks haven’t reached Led Zeppelin scale but Western Washington is set for a stormy few days of wind and heavy rain.

On Capitol Hill, the issues so far have been minor urban flooding and possible power outages as the area remains under wind advisory until 10 PM Monday and then is forecasted for another windstorm starting Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service’s Seattle office says:

A period of very active weather will dominate the week
ahead as a series of strong frontal systems produce cascading impacts across Western Washington. In addition to ongoing river flood concerns, periods of windy conditions are expected today and again Tuesday night into Wednesday. Snow levels will tumble to the passes Tuesday night and Wednesday with heavy snowfall expected in the mountains. Cool, unsettled conditions will remain in place
through the remainder of the week with substantial additional snowfall in the mountains.

The area will remain under a flood watch through Thursday. Outside the city, areas around Tukwila and Renton were the latest to be threatened by rising waters as the Green River levee was reported breached Monday afternoon prompting an evacuation of the heavily populated, and densely developed commercial areas that includes a hospital and two schools.

In addition to gutters overflowing and wind, Capitol Hill-area trees are also in for a rough few days with soaked soil and heavy limbs.

 

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SUV smashes into E Pike self-serve kombucha taproom in chase reportedly involving human trafficking and gunfire — UPDATE

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(Image: SOMA Kombucha with permission to CHS)

Reports of a car chase and gunfire culminated in a crash caught on security video as a SUV smashed through the front of a self-serve kombucha taproom on E Pike early Monday.

Capitol Hill’s SOMA Kombucha will remain closed after extensive damage to its storefront. The neighboring HoneyHole sandwich joint sustained some damage to its shared wall but is expected to open as usual.

A Seattle Police Department spokesperson said a report on the incident was not yet complete but CHS has learned the crash involved at least one vehicle in pursuit of the SUV before the crash and reports of gunfire.

UPDATE: SPD says the driver of the crashed car was “with his girlfriend, fleeing from her pimp.”

“The pimp threatened them at the scene of the crash and forced the woman into his vehicle,” SPD’s brief on the incident says. “Officers quickly found this vehicle and the woman a few blocks away. The suspect exited the car before officers arrived and fled on foot.”

SPD says there was reported gunfire but officers did not find evidence of a shooting.

No arrests have been made at this time.

Continue reading →

Need a quick holiday gift or everyday item? Add Seattle U’s overhauled bookstore to your Capitol Hill shopping list — UPDATE

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(Image: Seattle U)

By Domenic Strazzabosco

With the closures and struggles of big chain grocery stores and drugstores, finding some everyday things for sale around Capitol Hill can be a challenge. A resource you might think is there just for the college kids might help.

With a redesign and an expanded retail mission, Seattle University’s Campus Store on the corner of 12th and Madison is eager to welcome students as well as anyone from the Capitol Hill neighborhood through its doors. With small selections of household goods and toiletries, snacks and plenty of Seattle U merchandise, the hope is that the store will be used for more than a quick stop by for students to pick up supplies.

The changing realities about the way students buy textbooks made way for the changes.

“The space was really designed to meander and relax,” said Michelle Conklin, Director of Campus Retail Services, during a tour of the new space with CHS. “Come in, enjoy the scenery, and take in what we have to offer.”

Savvy Capitol Hill shoppers already know about the value of quick stop by one of the neighborhood’s student shops. The Seattle Central Bookstore on Broadway is another “secret”.place to check when you need a new pen or a Seattle Central hoodie. UPDATE: Sorry for the error — the Seattle Central Bookstore is closed as its system has moved online.

Continue reading →

This week in CHS history | 2020 Cal Anderson sweep, Post Pike Bar & Cafe opens, Mt. Bagel rises

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(Image: CHS)

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

2024

 

The Broadway Theater and the shuttered Pike/Pine Amazon Fresh — Sorting out what is next for the two biggest holes in Capitol Hill commercial real estate


Continue reading →

CHS Fiction | Cascade 3: Bootcamp, Zoom and Slack, Cal Anderson Park

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Story by J.J. Krause

Bootcamp
The rain had returned, but Karen was too busy to care. She tore through the streets of South Lake Union in her white Tesla, searching for a spot. She saw a car leaving ahead and stomped on the accelerator.

Perfect! Right in front.

She parallel parked haphazardly—someday the software would do this for her, but currently it was just too slow—and she dashed out of the car toward a building with the ground floor encased in glass. The glass was emblazoned with white lettering: “JOIN THE HUSTLE. THE BEST WORKOUT IN THE WORLD.”

She pushed through the door, under text in the same font that read, “BARRY’S.”

It was empty inside except for two women behind the front desk. Karen power-walked toward them to check in. Luckily, she was already in her workout clothes—matching purple Lulu tights and tank top. Her bellybutton peeked out provocatively between.

“Go right in! They’re about to start,” said one, flashing searingly white teeth. Continue reading →

Hollingsworth bids political farewell to Mayor Harrell, looks ahead to 2026

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Hollingsworth flanked by outgoing council president Nelson and D4 representative Rivera (Image: City of Seattle)

Harrell was at Hollingsworth’s side as she won the D3 seat in 2023

District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth will face a new landscape at Seattle City Hall in 2026 as she bids a political farewell to mentor and ally Mayor Bruce Harrell.

“His mother, Rose, and my grandmother worked together at Model Cities, a federal initiative dedicated to affordable housing, health and family services, youth programs, job training, and community-led planning,” Hollingsworth said in a recent message to constituents in the wake of Harrell’s election loss to Katie Wilson.

“From this work grew organizations like CAMP (now Byrd Barr), El Centro De La Raza, Head Start, Minority Health Clinics, and education reforms that helped shape generations of civic leaders, organizers, and public servants of color,” Hollingsworth wrote. Continue reading →

Report still underway but review of SPD crackdown on May 24th demonstrators in Cal Anderson ends early over leaks

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The review of the Seattle Police Department’s crackdown on demonstrators against an anti-trans Christian group’s rally in Cal Anderson Park in May will be incomplete.

The Seattle Office of Inspector General announced last month it suspended the “Sentinel Event Review” process around the May 24th arrests over leaked information from the confidential meetings. Continue reading →

E Madison’s Cayton Corner is open — Muralist wanted to add the tiny park’s final touch

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Construction on neighborhood pocket park Cayton Corner is complete and the public space needs a paint job. The search for an artist to create a new mural in the park at 19th and Madison is underway.

The Friends of Cayton Corner and neighboring Hearing Speech and Deaf Center are working with the Seattle Parks Foundation to hire a local artist or artist team to create a mural at the newly completed park.

“This project will celebrate the park’s namesakes, Horace Cayton Sr. and Susie Revels Cayton—early Black leaders, publishers, and community builders—and honor the neighborhood’s history of resilience, diversity, and creativity,” the groups say. Continue reading →

Effort grows to keep Cal Anderson Park busy and safer with event and gathering spaces — and not a fence in sight

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The shelterhouse (Image: CAPA)

With reporting by Hannah Saunders

As the city is gathering feedback on activation strategies it hopes could help address public safety concerns around three Capitol Hill parks including one the parks department said it needed to fence off to reset after bouts of “negative park activity,” a resource at the center of the neighborhood’s most important park should become a bigger part of the mix of activities at Cal Anderson in the year ahead.

A year ago, the Cal Anderson Park Alliance reactivated the park’s shelterhouse as a means of providing a free space for neighborhood residents to utilize for game nights, meetings, activities, and more. Since this launch, the group says the shelterhouse has been used almost daily, there will be places to sit and hang out in the nearby Capitol Hill Station plaza, and funding coming down the pipeline will allow for additional staffing hours for the shelterhouse and the nearby Cathy Hillenbrand community room, stretching opportunities for the public.

“There are so few spaces that you can reserve that don’t cost a lot of money, that aren’t a pain to get to, and we have tried to make this as accessible as possible,” Brie Gyncild of CAPA told CHS. “Out of both spaces now, we’re seeing more community feed opportunities…it’s just about anything you can think of; there are support groups that meet regularly, there are a lot of community meetings.” Continue reading →