SPD seek help identifying suspects after hate crime harassment and water pellet drive-by at Capitol Hill’s Pony gay bar — UPDATE

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Police are looking for the public’s help in an hate crime investigation as detectives work to track down a group and their “distinctively modified dark blue Lexus sedan” who were reported yelling slurs and shooting water pellets at patrons outside Capitol Hill’s Pony Bar starting late Wednesday Tuesday night.

SPD says the incidents began around 11:30 PM Wednesday Tuesday as the suspects reported as “two or three young white men” were circling the 1200-block E Madison bar, yelling anti-gay slurs including “faggot” and “die faggots,” and firing gel or water pellets from a “Water Bead” air gun.

UPDATE: SPD’s bulletin to media included the incorrect day for the incident. Thanks to a CHS commenter for alerting us to the error. The incident began late Tuesday night and continued into early Wednesday, according to the commenter and CHS’s review of East Precinct radio updates. A review of radio traffic from the night also reveals that police were not called about the incident until around 12:45 AM Wednesday.

“The passengers of the car approached the bar on foot before returning to their vehicle to circle the block again,” SPD said in its bulletin. “One of the witnesses estimated the car returned about 10 times over the course of about an hour.” Continue reading →

San Francisco men’s fashion retailer Taylor Stitch coming to Capitol Hill

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Pike/Pine’s Excelsior development was named for the Excelsior Motorcycle and Bicycle Company that at one time called its corner home (Image: Excelsior Apartments)

The Valencia Street shop (Image: Taylor Stitch)

Taylor Stitch is preparing to open its first store outside the Bay Area on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

City permits show plans for the new shop in the massive Excelsior mixed-use development on E Pine just above downtown where it will join a mix of retailers including the likes of Warby Parker, fellow fashion retailer Marine Layer, Aesop skincare, and a Seattle outlet of California’s The Pressed Juicery.

The block of retailers and businesses that call the 300 block of E Pine home in 2020 would likely amaze and confound any Capitol Hill resident of 1999. Continue reading →

Another smash and grab burglary crash leaves Capitol Hill’s The Reef pot shop storefront crumbled

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(Image: CHS)

Capitol Hill pot shop The Reef was targeted again overnight in an early Friday morning smash and grab burglary as a team of thieves tried to use a car to crash open the shop’s front door, leaving behind a wrecked and heavily damaged storefront.

The attempted heist is the latest in an ongoing wave of similar ripoffs targeting Seattle’s cannabis industry and businesses with ATMs across the city and one of multiple break-ins in recent years targeting the E Olive Way at Denny store. Friday’s collision to the Capitol Hill store was the most damaging yet. Continue reading →

Not every executive order is terrible — Mayor issues order hoped to speed construction of light rail to West Seattle, Ballard

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Not every executive order these days is terrible. Mayor Bruce Harrell has issued an executive order “Supporting and Expediting Sound Transit 3 Investments in the City of Seattle” hoped to help speed construction of new light rail connections to Ballard and West Seattle.

Harrell, fresh off the annual “state of the city” address in which he put forward a raft of urbanist and growth initiatives to join his continued messages around addressing public safety and downtown business concerns as he seeks reelection, said his office “will lead the development of and transmit to the City Council legislation to streamline the permit process for this major project,” saying the city will consider “land use code changes, formal adoption of ST3 projects, and supportive property transactions” to “speed up light rail delivery” of the highly anticipated new connections.

Let’s check in with the locals. Continue reading →

Theater kids push back on Seattle U’s big plans for new art museum to replace Lee Center

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(Image: Lee Center for the Arts)

(Image: Lee Center for the Arts)

Big plans for Seattle University to create a new art museum along 12th Ave are exciting for the school but some of those closest to the school’s art scenes are rallying to save the much-loved and heavily used building it would replace — the Lee Center for the Arts.

It has been a busy 12 months for Seattle U, the 134-year-old private Jesuit school on Capitol Hill’s southern edge serving approximately 7,200 students.

In December, the school announced it would take over Cornish College of the Arts, the much smaller, 111-year-old private art school in the Denny Triangle neighborhood downtown. Last summer, property developer Dick Hedreen announced he would donate to Seattle University his family’s $300-million collection of more than 200 pieces of art (from Andy Warhol to Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg to Willem de Kooning, and more), in addition to $25 million in seed funding to create a new Seattle University Museum of Art (SUMA).

“We’re still working out logistics of the museum’s location, but it will likely be on a plot abutting 12th Avenue next to the Lee Center for the Arts,” a Seattle University spokesperson told CHS last year when Hedreen’s sizable donation was announced.

Those logistics are a little clearer now, as planning is underway for SUMA’s construction to begin in the summer of 2026, Seattle University told CHS this week. The new museum will replace the Lee Center. Continue reading →

Cornelly ready to expand from Capitol Hill with new Queen Anne pizza and pasta joint

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Part of Capitol Hill’s pandemic-challenged food and drink class of 2020, Cornelly craft pizza and pasta is adding a second, larger location in Queen Anne.

Sam Carroll talked with the Seattle Times about his plans. Cornelly’s expansion with a second location in the former Queen Anne Cafe space will be three times the size of the Summit Ave original and, adding some neighborhood envy to the news, the new spot will also have a bar. Continue reading →

‘Save our Science’ rallies — with some of the best protest signs so far — bring fight against Trump cuts to Montlake Blvd E

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Montlake Blvd E above 520 isn’t where you might typically see a protest in Seattle but a “Save our Science” demonstration there Wednesday morning caught the city’s attention.

Workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are raising alarms over looming job cuts they say threaten critical scientific research, fisheries sustainability, and the livelihoods of coastal communities. Speaking anonymously out of fear for their jobs, employees at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Alaska Fisheries Science Center are calling attention to the far-reaching consequences of federal funding and staffing reductions.

“Many of us work at NOAA, right here, and a lot of our co-workers are being threatened with their jobs,” one worker said. These employees emphasize their role as public servants, working not just in Washington, D.C., but in communities across the country.

A stock assessment scientist explained the importance of their work: “We set annual catch limits for fisheries on the West Coast and in Alaska to make sure that we can keep catching fish sustainably.” This focus on sustainability is critical to maintaining healthy fish populations and supporting the commercial fishing industry.

Nick Tolimieri, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 8A, represents workers at NOAA’s Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Science Centers. He warns that funding and staffing cuts jeopardize their ability to deliver essential research required by laws like the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the Endangered Species Act. Continue reading →

Harrell’s State of the City 2025 address: ‘Seattle on the Rise’

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(Image: City of Seattle)

Tuesday, Bruce Harrell made the Seattle’s Mayor’s annual “State of the City” address, his first edition of the yearly tradition as he see reelection to the office.

“Day by day, we have worked together to get our city back on the right track – restoring parks, reducing the crime rate, and getting Downtown bustling again,” the mayor said. “I think there’s a different mood in this city – a renewed spark, belief, and optimism that we are on the right trajectory.”

In the speech, Harrell highlighted progress he said showed the city’s efforts to address crime fears and hire more police are working. He also highlighted issues beyond public safety he hopes to pursue through 2025 including clearing the way for faster construction of new light rail routes to Ballard and West Seattle and barring cars from Pike Place Market.

Harrell’s push for housing will be the trickiest political path to maneuver. Continue reading →

Guilty verdict in Elijah Lewis murder trial

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A jury has found Patrick Cooney guilty of second degree murder and assault in the deadly shooting of Elijah Lewis on Capitol Hill.

Prosecutors said security video from Seattle Central and the Walgreens at the corner of Broadway and Pine showed Cooney opening fire on the car driven by Lewis as he picked up his young nephew even as it was turning to leave onto Broadway.

Police say Cooney was riding a rental electric scooter on E Pine just after 5 PM on April 1, 2023 when he became embroiled in the altercation and opened fire into the vehicle Lewis was driving, striking him with a fatal shot and hitting the child in the calf. The child was treated for his injuries and released from the hospital. Lewis was shot and died at Harborview later that night.

CHS reported here on court battles over evidence in the case including the 37-year-old Cooney’s previous incidents involving firearms with Capitol Hill drivers.

The jury’s decision brings the justice process nearer a close. Cooney is slated to be sentenced in March.

Lewis, 23 years old at the time of the killing, is remembered as a dedicated community builder and entrepreneur in the Central District and Africatown communities. He was proud of his efforts as a self-described “serial entrepreneur” in addition to his work with Sankofa Theater and doing outreach for the Africatown Community Land Trust and events like this Black Wall Street festival. A USA Today columnist wrote that Lewis “could have been the next MLK.”

“Today, a King County jury returned a guilty verdict for Mr. Cooney’s role in the tragic murder of Elijah Lewis and shooting his young nephew,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion. “I am grateful to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office team for their work on this case. My sympathies continue to be with Mr. Lewis’s family and those who loved him.”

 The prosecutor’s office said the total statewide standard sentencing range for second-degree murder and first-degree assault convictions, each with firearm enhancements is 336 to 463 months.

 The sentencing date is scheduled for March 14 in the King County Courthouse, though there’s a possibility that could be continued by the court, the prosecutor’s office said.

OOLA says goodbye to Capitol Hill — again — as 14th and Union restaurant shutters

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Kirby Kallas-Lewis and KT Niehoff’s “all time favorite spot in their all time favorite neighborhood” will be available again.

The OOLA Capitol Hill restaurant has shuttered while its Georgetown craft spirits distillery will carry on.

The 14th and Union restaurant had been shuttered for a prolonged “temporary closure” that is now permanent. CHS checked in with Kallas-Lewis a few weeks back but the owners weren’t certain about their plans. Over the weekend, they posted the sad decision:

Kirby and I want to share with you that we will be closing our OOLA Capitol Hill Restaurant, effective immediately.
It has been a true pleasure sharing our little oasis on Capitol Hill with you all. Thank you for the magical moments and energy you’ve brought into the space, and for being so present for this great experiment.

But the couple reports the OOLA Distillery “lives on.” Continue reading →