Tag Archives: broadway

Broadway loses its holy spirit: Southern-style cocktail joint Witness has closed

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(Image: Witness)

Beginning with a summer sermon on Broadway just shy of ten years ago, Southern spirited cocktail bar Witness served its final Capitol Hill congregation Sunday night. Let us pray.

“We’re honored to have been able to serve the Capitol Hill community for almost 10 years alongside amazing staff who’ve graced Witness with their brilliance and given it its character,” owners Gregg Holcomb and Alison Holcomb said in their goodbye message for the bar on social media. “It’s meant so much to us to be able to raise a child in the light of Witness and stitch a family and small business into the fabric of a neighborhood we’ve loved since first calling it home in 2000, back before Gregg’s first bartending gig.”

Gregg Holcomb tells CHS he will remain in the food and drink business on Broadway. In 2019, Holcomb opened Olmstead chef Jesse Elliott, bringing the old Broadway Grill space back to life. Continue reading →

Make some ‘outdoorsy friends’ — Gearhouse and its Basecamp Cafe are now open on Capitol Hill

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Evan Maynard’s Gearhouse commute just got a lot better

Its Basecamp Cafe is established on Capitol Hill’s E Thomas just off Broadway and Gearhouse is now ready to outfit you with the equipment you need for a Pacific Northwest weekend. It is celebrating with a grand opening Thursday night.

Come join us to celebrate as we launch a summer of adventure with Gearhouse. We’ll be making coffee drinks, pouring beers, and serving apps from our new cafe, Basecamp. Gearhouse and Basecamp Cafe is your third place for finding outdoorsy friends.

CHS reported here on Capitol Hill resident Evan Maynard’s plans to bring his growing outdoor gear rental and community company to his home neighborhood as Gearhouse marks its first expansion from its South Lake Union birthplace.

Now a short walk from the former Blue Origin rocket engineer’s Capitol Hill apartment, Maynard and his team hope to help new members turn “a chore into a social experience” with the 2,800-square-foot Gearhouse’s mix of rental equipment, organized hikes and outings, education, and its overhaul of a shuttered cafe/retail experiment from AT&T into the new Basecamp Cafe and hangout with caffeine and beer and plenty of space to bring your laptop. Badger Coffee is ready to serve members — and anybody else who wants to hang out or get some work done in the new cafe.

Its opening joins another in the neighborhood outdoor gear space. Need some outdoor fashion for your trip? Windthrow is newly opened with outdoor apparel and accessories just off 15th Ave E.

At Gearhouse, membership provides access to the gear library which can be rented piecemeal but can also be curated based on what adventure you have planned. Maynard says Gearhouse is set up to provide personalized recommendations and gear packages — describe an adventure you’re about to take, and they’ll recommend a gear set to suit your needs.

He says the model helps members have a better time exploring the outdoors and the sturdier, higher quality gear keeps people from churning through disposable alternatives that end up in the trash. Continue reading →

OK, OK… one last thing about the new Glo’s: Yes, there will be outside seating and yes, Capitol Hill Station is finally getting bike lockers

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How about one last CHS post about the new Glo’s? Its arrival seems to be the final bump needed to get more daily use of the plaza above Capitol Hill Station.

The new diner’s perch on the edge of the AIDS Memorial Pathway and plaza affords some new opportunities starting with the deck area at Glo’s where the diner’s Julie Reisman tells CHS seating will be going in soon just across from E Barbara Bailey Way and Cal Anderson Park. Continue reading →

Bigger and better, Glo’s Diner reopens Monday in its new Capitol Hill Station home

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Three and a half times bigger and 10,000 times better to work in, the new Glo’s Diner has finally arrived at Capitol Hill Station — only one year behind schedule. It opens for regular business Monday after a weekend serving customers who helped the Capitol Hill classic raise enough cash to build out the new diner with comfy booths and the mid-century style of Denny’s, diners, and roadside motels.

Much can be made of “chef owners” in the Capitol Hill food and drink scene and at Glo’s there are two of them — both Julie Reisman and Steve Frias also proudly work the line. Reisman says the A/C in the new joint is so good that in the kitchen, “It’s almost too cold.”

“We made this a better place to work,” Reisman tells CHS.

CHS reported here way back in August 2021 on the plans for Glo’s to pull up stakes on the much-loved but increasingly challenging E Olive Way original and join the new housing and commercial development above Capitol Hill Station along Broadway. Last year, the neighborhood finally got its H Mart in the form of the company’s M2M grocery. In 2023, Glo’s has arrived.

In between, pandemic delays including eight months waiting for permits from the city, Reisman says, and more have kept the people waiting. They didn’t even have the old Glo’s to tide them over — the original had to close down after  a damaging fire last summer.

But along the way, the people also helped out Glo’s.

Reisman at work

Continue reading →

The Capitol Hill (bus) passes are clear: The Broadway-Mt. Si trail reopens Saturday

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(Image: King County)

Crews worked overnight to clear Broadway (Image: CHS)

Like the mountain passes cleared of snow, a key hiking route connecting Capitol Hill to Mt. Si will reopen this weekend.

This year, there will be more nearby opportunities to gear up.

King County Metro’s Trailhead Direct route is back with weekend and holiday service connecting Capitol Hill Station to an area of the county’s most popular — and most car-overwhelmed — trails.

Now in its sixth season, the Metro service will be solely focused on one main route in 2023 with Broadway as its core trailhead: Continue reading →

‘The famous eclair? That’s not us’ — The French Guys are now home on Capitol Hill

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Thibault Beaugendre

With photography and reporting by Alex Garland

The French Guys are not open on Tuesdays. They’re closed on Mondays, too. But they aren’t resting.

The Seattle “mobile” French bakery has put down roots on Capitol Hill and the baking schedule at its Tukwila kitchen is as busy as ever delivering its “rustic” creations to cafes and restaurants, supplying its popular presence at Seattle farmers markets, and, now keeping the shelves full at its newly opened E Roy cafe. It is a logistical challenge.

“So, that would be the tricky part, you know,” Thibault Beaugendre tells CHS, “having enough but not too much.” Continue reading →

Still rising, Capitol Hill’s Phoenix Comics celebrates its 10th anniversary (and 11th Free Comic Book Day!)

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Nick Nazar

Capitol Hill’s Phoenix Comics and Games is marking 10 years on Capitol Hill this May as a staple of the comics and queer communities, offering a safe and inviting space for people of all backgrounds to enjoy comic books, board games, and collectibles. Saturday’s Free Comic Book Day is only part of the celebration.

“It’s been fantastic. It has been a lifelong dream come true. And the way Capitol Hill has really opened itself to me has been amazing,” Nick Nazar tells CHS. “We started 10 years ago not really sure if this was the right place or the right space. And you know, 10 years later, not only are we still here, but we’ve expanded. We’re continuing to offer our events and services to the Hill, and we get people from all over.”

Nazar attributes the success of the store to its status as a queer-owned and operated business that provides a community space for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“We have a community space that is open to everyone. There’s no charge to use it, just a request at the moment for masking in the space itself. And we do our best to welcome the queer community and to be out there helping people,” Nazar said. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Goodbye from the ‘barista family past and present’ to the Broadway Vivace Sidewalk Bar

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(Image: Tim Durkan)


 

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A lot of people lined up to say goodbye to the Vivace sidewalk coffee bar this weekend. A lot of people did not, preferring to remember the walk-up counter with some final visit from before the closure was announced.

Thanks to Capitol Hill shutterbug Tim Durkan, here is one final view that doesn’t involve a line. Durkan, yes, the mayor’s brother, and the most regular of the Broadway coffee bar’s regulars, was there as “the Vivace barista family past and present” gathered with founders David Schomer and Geneva Sullivan to mark the end of the counter’s day on Broadway. Continue reading →

Company says ‘security incident’ behind temporary closure at Broadway secondhand fashion shop — UPDATE

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(Image: Crossroads Trading)

The 300 block of Broadway E is quieter than usual this Monday. Sunday, iconic Capitol Hill coffee walk-up the Vivace Sidewalk Bar served its final customers.

Meanwhile, another business on the block is suddenly closed though this one is supposed to be temporary.

The Capitol Hill location of the Crossroads Trading vintage and secondhand fashion shops has been shuttered since at least last week. The company posted an update to its social media on Thursday, April 27th saying the temporary closure is due to a “security incident” at the Broadway store but provided no additional information. Continue reading →

As Vivace turns 35, its Broadway sidewalk bar will serve its final shots — UPDATE: ‘We cannot compete with ourselves’

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Employees are informing customers that Broadway’s iconic Espresso Vivace Sidewalk Bar will serve its last pulls Sunday.

Vivace co-founder David Schomer marked the 35th anniversary of Vivace last week with appearances behind the bar at the company’s Capitol Hill and South Lake Union locations. He has not confirmed the plans to close the walk-up counter but customers have reported baristas are spreading the word. Continue reading →