Tag Archives: 23rd and jackson

Black Coffee Northwest: How Seattle City Hall, Vulcan Real Estate, and the goodwill of creating ‘a vibrant core for Black businesses’ in the Central District could not open a coffee shop at 23rd and Jackson

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A design rendering of signage for Black Coffee Northwest at 23rd and Jackson

Depending on who you ask — and if they are willing to speak on the record — there are lots of failures to blame at 23rd and Jackson. But the bottom line is this: Despite years of work from the city’s Office of Economic Development and one of its leading developers in Vulcan Real Estate, Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office, District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth, and the goodwill of rebuilding Black ownership in this key core of the Central District, it seems unlikely Black Coffee Northwest will ever open at the corner.

“We have a staff trained and ready to go. My grand opening was planned,” owner DarNesha Bowman told CHS earlier this month.

Bowman went public this year with what she says has been a lack of support from Vulcan and the city falling short on promises to help the small business entrepreneur usher in what many hoped would be the start of a new era at 23rd and Jackson with her Black Coffee Northwest taking over a space being left behind by global coffee giant Starbucks over public safety concerns in the area. Continue reading →

Closure in the Central District: Jackson’s Catfish Corner

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(Image: Jackson’s Catfish Corner)

40 years of the family business came to an end in the Central District last week with a final 50 pounds of catfish as Terrell Jackson and Jackson’s Catfish Corner called it quits.

“My grandparents started this business in January 1985. This is now 40 years of business. 40 years of business and I just cannot do it anymore,” Jackson said in a heartfelt video posted to the 23rd and Jackson restaurant owner’s social media last Friday. “I don’t have the team, the structure, I don’t have nothing right now. Just doing shit on my own is very hard and I don’t, I think I just think I did all I can do in Seattle, you know what I’m saying?”

In the announcement, Jackson invited regulars by for a last po boy or two at the joint he opened at the corner in 2021 after years of pop-ups and smaller projects carrying on his family’s Catfish Corner legacy, saying he had about 50 pounds of catfish left, 20 or so burgers, and some oysters and calamari.

The final ingredients really were about all Jackson had left to give.

“I don’t want this to be a sad time or heartbreak time or ‘what are you gonna do next’ time. It’s that I did all I can time. I did all I can,” Jackson said, saying he was “maxed out” and ready to look for new opportunities.

The walls of Jackson’s Catfish Corner were a testament to its popularity, covered up and down in signatures of customers.

In an interview with Converge Media, Jackson said the Central District’s changes and the costs of doing business in Seattle caught up with him, citing the jump in the minimum wage and lower than expected foot traffic due to the neighborhood’s changing demographics. Continue reading →

Amid continued rise in East Precinct burglaries, somebody broke into Seattle Fish Guys and stole all the salmon

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As burglaries have continued to climb in the East Precinct, one local business is vowing to recover after a break-in emptied the Central District shop of cash and took something even more valuable — its stock of smoked salmon.

“It’s truly disheartening to report that cash, checks, equipment, and our beloved smoked salmon were taken,” Seattle Fish Guys reported about the overnight burglary this weekend of its 23rd and Jackson shop. “Fortunately, our team is safe, and we’ve acted swiftly by contacting the authorities and cooperating closely with them to gather any leads. We urge anyone who noticed anything unusual nearby to please come forward. Your assistance could be crucial.” Continue reading →

On day of gun violence in the Central District, woman shot and killed near 23rd and Jackson

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A woman was shot and killed Wednesday night on S Main just blocks from a shooting earlier in the day outside Garfield High School and around the corner from where an October 2023 driveby damaged a child care center and brought citywide attention to ongoing gun violence around 23rd and Jackson.

The Seattle Police Department says the woman was found down on the sidewalk along S Main near 24th Ave after gunfire was heard by police in the area just after 8 PM. The gunshots could be heard clearly during an officer’s radio call with dispatch.

Police were called to 23rd and Jackson earlier in the night to a reported assault related to the shooting.

Arriving officers attempted life-saving measures until Seattle Fire Department arrived. “Despite all life-saving efforts, the woman died at the scene,” SPD reports. Continue reading →

Black Coffee Northwest, already a presence in the neighborhood, making plans for opening at 23rd and Jackson

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A rendering of the new signage at Black Coffee Northwest

Things are rounding into form and improvements like a pour of new concrete are taking shape as Black Coffee Northwest prepares to put this important Central District corner back into full motion.

Black Coffee Northwest’s Central District location at 23rd and Jackson is planned to open at the end of February, but ongoing construction may push the opening towards early March. A primary challenge of getting this location up-and-running has been building a small business out-of-pocket. Darnesha Weary said the community enthusiasm for the new cafe is strong but meeting capital needs has been a slow climb.

“We’re feeling that. We’re feeling all of the data on how Black businesses get less access to capital,” Weary said. “The city has been really helpful. The Office of Economic Development, they have funded the majority of our project, which is really great.” Continue reading →

Communities call for more support making 23rd and Jackson safer in wake of driveby shooting that damaged learning center

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Business owners, residents, and officials gathered to call for city leaders and property developers to address public safety worries Thursday night in the parking lot at 23rd and Jackson following a Monday drive-by shooting that sent one man to the hospital and shattered glass at the kid-filled A 4 Apple Learning Center building across the street.

A King County Council member called for the community to hold its leaders accountable, while some childcare providers pleaded for the installation of bulletproof windows.

Apollonia Washington co-owns the learning center. She said she has spent this past week speaking with families to reassure them that the intersection of 23rd and Jackson is a safe space for children. Washington said the center and parents have reached out to city council members and Mayor Bruce Harrell to do more to activate the area so that community members can feel safer.

“It shouldn’t have to take my childcare to get a bullet through the window—where it could have been any one of my 24 students, myself, or three of my teachers who could have possibly gotten shot. I pray that this never happens to any of my other local childcares,” Washington said.

Vulcan Real Estate, the developer of the intersection’s Jackson Apartments and the Amazon Grocery project, has also been criticized for not doing more to address disorder and crime on the rest of the property it owns at the intersection including the massive parking lot on the northeast corner that has been the scene of multiple gun violence incidents including the June 2021 shooting that killed 21-year-old Sultan Ujaama. Continue reading →

Man shot, learning center hit but kids safe in 23rd and Jackson driveby — UPDATE

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(Image: @Omarisal with permission to CHS)

One person was shot multiple times and bullets hit a childcare center in a driveby shooting reported Monday afternoon at 23rd and Jackson.

The A 4 Apple Learning Center was hit by bullets in the gunfire but arriving police reported no injuries in the building. Continue reading →

Too dangerous for Starbucks, Black Coffee Northwest will make 23rd and Jackson its Central District home — UPDATE

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(Image: Black Coffee Northwest)

Starbucks said the corner was too dangerous. Black-owned Black Coffee Northwest is happy to call it home.

The 23rd and Jackson cafe left emptied last summer after the labor-embattled coffee giant slammed the door on a handful of Seattle locations citing safety and crime concerns will jump back to life this fall as a new expansion of the Shoreline-born coffee joint.

The announcement by owners Darnesha and Erwin Weary will bring an end to the year of papered up windows of the 23rd and Jackson cafe as the second location of the 2020-born Black Coffee Northwest is readied. The Wearys had been eyeing the location from the moments Starbucks decided to leave this key corner of the Central District. Continue reading →

Simply Soulful celebrates Black ownership in the CD with reopening party at 23rd and Jackson

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(Image: Simply Soulful)

(Image: Simply Soulful)

Lillian Rambus and her mom Barbara Collins finally have time to celebrate the move of their Seattle soul food favorite Soulful Cafe to a new corner of the Central District.

Friday, Soulful is holding a Black History Month celebration at 23rd and Jackson where it reopened last summer amid a wave of redevelopment and new opportunities for Black ownership.

“It’s important to be here, especially at this location,” Rambus said in the announcement of the planned Friday of ribbon cutting and raffles. “This grand reopening recognizes Black history locally. That’s why we chose this month to celebrate being here.”

Simply Soulful opened in Madison Valley in 2014, adding soul food favorites to the menu like biscuits and gravy, shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, sandwiches, and more. The expanded menu and continued success meant Simply Soulful was quickly outgrowing their space. Continue reading →

Police respond to restaurant following 23rd and Jackson gunfire

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Gunfire in a disturbance outside an area restaurant brought police swarming to 23rd and Jackson in the Central District Wednesday afternoon.

According to East Precinct radio updates, police were called to Catfish Corner on the northwest corner of the intersection just before 3:15 PM after multiple 911 callers reported five to six gunshots in the area. Continue reading →