Pikes/Pines | Ferns aren’t just Capitol Hill cottagecore

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The very fern-y Interlaken Park on Capitol Hill (Image: City of Seattle)

When my partner and I moved to our home, we stood on our back deck, exhilarated to have a space for our creative endeavors and also completely overwhelmed by all the work we’d signed up for. Below us was a sprawling tangle of blackberries, Vinca, and St. John’s Wort – none of which we wanted to keep. When I asked Caitlin what she wanted to replace this chaos with, she immediately had an answer: “Just ferns. A hillside of ferns.”

This isn’t just a home cottagecore decorating trend using the plant to make a lush, textured, and fashionable connection to nature. And it isn’t such a bizarre request because if you have spent any time in the Pacific Northwest, you know ferns are a common native plant. The most well known species, the Sword Fern, Polystitchum munitum, can be found all around the Salish Sea, and is happy on the Hill both growing wild and rampant in untended spaces and as ornamental plants that are primped and trimmed to look their best each season. They are so commonplace, low fuss, and hardy, that they are easy to take for granted. Continue reading →

This week in CHS history | Queen Sheba fire, D’Vonne Pickett, Jr. murder, Black Hawk helicopters over Capitol Hill

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

2024

 

Fire damages former Queen Sheba restaurant tabbed for overhaul — UPDATE


Continue reading →

CHS Fiction | Cascade 1: Going Downhill, A Failed Homosexual, Crypto Karen, New Neighbors

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Story by J.J. Krause

Cascade is a serialized satire about four Seattleites –– a failed homosexual, a crypto-obsessed mom, a party-girl-turned-caretaker, and an unorthodox professor, all trying to hold it together in a world coming apart. Catch updates every few weeks on the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. In this installment, we meet Dave, Karen, and Tamara on a weekend day as an unexpected heatwave hits Seattle. Want to skip ahead? Get the book.

Going Downhill
It’s hard to pinpoint the precise beginning of the story of how things came apart. Certainly, we all saw it coming. Everyone predicted it. But life goes on: wheels keep turning, the sun keeps rising, and so does the NASDAQ, up and to the right. We get distracted and lose the plot. And for good reason—on the road to our final destination, there are many thrills, such as the first warm day after a long, wet winter.

Maybe that’s a place to start: the first day of spring, when an unexpected heatwave hit Seattle. As the clouds burned off, the pallid denizens of the little isthmus suddenly realized what was coming: a blast of air from Palm Springs—and on a weekend, no less! A euphoric panic set in: Get moving! Get blooming! Chug a mimosa! Music and laughter rang out in the streets, and phones lit up with messages. The Big Dark is has ended! Spring has arrived!  Continue reading →

Seoul Mates: Sam Park tried sushi but now he’s going with his heart on Capitol Hill

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(Image: Google Maps)

The experienced food and drink owner of a Capitol Hill sushi bar says he was ready to give up on a neighborhood location before deciding to jump back in with a menu closer to his heart.

Sam Park was part of the ownership behind Gokan Sushi when the restaurant opened at 10th and Union as part of the Musashi’s food and drink family in 2015.’

In the decade since, the backside of Pike/Pine along Union still hasn’t fully taken off and Park and his partners including Musashi’s owner Jun Park were looking for an exit. When no buyer for the space emerged, Sam Park says he decided to give 10th and Union another try — but this time with a recipe reflecting his Korean heritage.

Seoul Mates has now been open for a couple weeks in the old Gokan spot — inspired by the idea of finding a “soul mate” and connecting through food and drink, Park says. Continue reading →

911 | Seattle Fire makes hazardous material response after illegal dumping in Interlaken Park

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(Image: CHS)

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (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.

  • Interlaken hazmat: Seattle Fire mounted a major hazardous material response Thursday night in the Interlaken Park greenbelt. The just after 8 PM callout began with a report of an “approximately two-gallon container of an unknown substance”  found along the street near the Seattle Hebrew Academy. SFD’s hazmat resources were dispatched and set up a staging area at 19th and Galer where the area was taped-off and crews prepared to inspect the container. SFD says firefighters “confirmed none of the contents inside the container spilled out” and safely retrieved the container for proper disposal. SFD did not specify the nature of the container or its contents. The area like many neighborhood greenbelts has sometimes been plagued by illegal dumping.
 

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Tax the rich? 43rd District’s Rep. Scott at the center of debate over a Washington wealth tax

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Saturday’s town hall (Image: CHS)

By Kali Herbst Minino, UW News Lab

“Tax the rich” might seem like something you see scrawled in Cal Anderson graffiti or on a Pike/Pine hipster’s ironic t-shirt. Against a backdrop of now fully uncertain federal support, the slogan a part of core 2025-era political debate in Washington and its largest city. This past weekend, it was the center of the discussion on First Hill.

People gathered at 43rd District Rep. Shaun Scott’s town hall Saturday at Seattle First Baptist Church to hear panelists from Working Washington and Seattle Democratic Socialists of America talk about turning the “tax the rich” slogan into real world legislation.

Advocacy group Balance Our Tax Code took videos of personal testimonies about the benefits of progressive policies and someone handed out “Tax the Rich” buttons. Continue reading →

Misdemeanor charges — and Capitol Hill SODA zone ban — for suspect in ‘war on graffiti’ helicopter chase

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No felony charges have been filed in the gunpoint arrest of a wanted tagger who was chased through the streets of Capitol Hill by a Seattle Police K9 unit and the King County Sheriff’s Guardian One helicopter late last month.

CHS reported here on the Tuesday night manhunt pursuing Montrell Shawn Clifton that stretched along Harvard Ave E with officers swarming the area as the law enforcement helicopter tracked the suspect from above.

SPD later said witnesses had reported Clifton pointed a gun in a confrontation near the building home to the Broadway Market QFC leading to the heavy-handed pursuit. Police were unable to locate a firearm. After his arrest, police say Clifton claimed the gun was a lighter. Continue reading →

Seattle U president stepping down to lead Georgetown

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(Image: Seattle University)

Seattle University president Eduardo M. Peñalver has been named the next leader of Georgetown University.

The Seattle 7,000-student private Jesuit university along 12th Ave south of Capitol Hill announced Peñalver’s planned departure this week. He will step down at the end of March ending his five years at the school.

“This was not an easy decision but one I make with gratitude for all that we have accomplished together and confidence in the university’s continued momentum,” Peñalver said in Seattle U’s announcement. “While I am excited about the opportunity to continue my work in Jesuit higher education at such a pivotal moment, I am also sad to be leaving Seattle University and the Pacific Northwest, which will always be my home.” Continue reading →

One year later: How Bonito Café y Mercadito became Capitol Hill’s newest cultural hub

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What began as a simple pop-up market to celebrate their photography has transformed into something much larger for Ismael Calderon and his husband Daniel on Capitol Hill.

One year after opening Bonito Café y Mercadito at Melrose and E Olive Way, the Bakersfield transplants have filled a distinct gap in Capitol Hill’s coffee landscape, creating a community hub that weaves together Latino and queer culture while reimagining traditional flavors through an innovative lens. From the Calderon’s first space in the old Rainier Brewery, where Aqui photography studio first sparked this unexpected journey, Ismael reflects on how a modest celebration evolved into one of the neighborhood’s most distinctive gathering places.

Bonito’s origin story begins with that impromptu celebration two years ago at the opening of Aqui. What started as a one-off event featuring about 10 vendors quickly grew into something more significant when attendees kept asking when the next market would be.

“There was such a vibe, and there was such a warm feeling that people felt when they came,” Ismael Calderon recalls. “Everyone was like, okay, cool. When are you gonna have another one?”

That market, focused on POC and queer vendors, has grown. This summer, they hosted over 15,000 people at the waterfront in what Calderon called the biggest event of its kind. The success of these markets inspired the couple as they leapt into brick-and-mortar cafe culture and retail.

“We wanted a market that felt something close to us, being queer and Latino,” Calderon explains. “We wanted something that represented us.” Continue reading →