Emergency crews rushed to northbound I-5 below Capitol Hill this morning after a crash involving a speeding BMW that smashed into the back of an ambulance traveling on the freeway. Two men died in the high-speed collision that shut I-5 down for hours before the lanes were re-opened around 7:30 AM. Details from the Seattle Times and this video report from KING 5:...

UPDATE: Reminder that it's also the last day of business for two more Capitol Hill indie businesses. 14th Ave's Tiempo is winding down after 13 years serving the Hill's watch and timepiece needs while Broadway News will transition to focus solely on its online magazine sales business.

As CHS reported earlier this week, the challenge of operating an indie businesses on Capitol Hill has claimed another victim as second-hand shop The Anne Bonny is making Saturday its final day of business.  CHS spoke with store owner Spencer Moody about the challenges of maintaining a small, independent business in the neighborhood....

george the outdoor cat - RIP, originally uploaded by mik.nei.

Earlier this week, after reading the sad news in the Slog, we said goodbye to George, the king cat of Broadway. The picture we ran on that post caught the cat's essence -- rays of sunlight, asleep on the warm hood of a taxi cab parked on Broadway. But for anybody who never saw George in person or never got a real good look at him, we thought it might be nice to share this excellent picture of the urban creature submitted to the CHS flickr pool by mik.nei. Here's what mik.nei writes about George:...

When last we visited the Friends of the Conservatory at Volunteer Park, the group was worried about looming financial pressures that might eventually put the squeeze on the near 100-year-old greenhouse as the Seattle's Parks Department tightens its belt. Those fears never bore fruit and no cutbacks hit the Conservatory directly. This week, the Friends are celebrating with a free night of music, dance and tropical beauty. We're talking ukulele here, ladies and gentlemen....

As much as we value local, independent and small, the Target chain of stores is a consistent entrant in the "what Capitol Hill needs" Olympics. In a study commissioned in 2008 by the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, survey respondents living on the Hill cited Northgate as an area of Seattle they visit most often for off-Hill shopping needs. The presumption is the mall is the big draw -- but don't dismiss the Target effect.

...

The CHS Calendar is overstuffed with things to do. It's like somebody said, "Ack! It's already the end of July. We better do a bunch of stuff!" We'll be at the free movie in Cal Anderson Park and checking out Saturday's session of the Creative Crossroads group to talk Sound Transit light rail development, among other weekend plans. Details on those and 20 other CHS-related things to get out and do, below....

Ballots for the August 2010 primary election have been sent out and, to be honest, it's not the most intriguing piece of mail you'll get. The August slate for Capitol Hill voters is pretty boring. The top two primary process makes most of the selections a mere warm-up for fall -- unless you want to try to be tricky and throw your vote behind a weaker candidate in hopes of an easy trouncing come November. So, there's some strategergy at play here. We'll turn that part over to the crowd. Let us know if there's a ballot choice we should consider outside the conventional wisdom....

Walking through the green space in Cal Anderson on any given day is already a interesting experience given the number of yoga posers, hipster families and sun bathers but come Sunday the park will feature even more displays of cool things to look at. MadArt In the Park, a program sponsored by the Seattle Parks Department, will transform Cal Anderson into an art studio and gallery for six weeks starting this Sunday for six emerging artists who will be creating site specific sculptures....

We reported Wednesday about Sound Transit's new plans to create a public plaza as part of the Nagle Place extension  behind the Capitol Hill light rail station. We have now received a document showing details of the planned layout and can share it with you....

UPDATE: SDOT says the contractor's schedule is changing and that there probably won't be a detour in place this weekend. SDOT says instead of paving as originally planned, the contractor will be working on underground utilities. That will leave one lane open in each direction -- the normal state this month during the project.

Original Report: The most amazing news of the week might be that this guy must have driven through the crazy obstacle course that is 10th Ave E during his mad getaway attempt Tuesday night. Last week, we suggested you give anybody living near 10th Ave E a hug as a month of street repairs became the latest irritant to living in northernmost Capitol Hill. This week, hell, you might as well pucker up, because they'll need a kiss. Turns out, the SDOT construction project in the area has a bonus closure included in the plan this weekend. Details below. Make sure to read the fine print. More closures to come. Kiss, kiss.

It's not the only SDOT construction happening on the Hill right now but it's certainly the largest. Not sure what the crew is up to on the smaller jobs on 19th Ave E. Any other work we should be aware of. The three-year project windows on SDOT's construction map make it a little tricky to figure out what work is happening.

Oh, and, by the way, check out the previous 10th Ave E post's comments for some good tips for bicyclists seeking to avoid the mess. And say hello to our pals in Eastlake if you swing through.

Weekend Construction on 10^th Avenue East

Closed to Northbound Traffic between Boston and Roanoke Streets...

(more)

I have lived on Capitol Hill for 6 years, but it wasn’t until I became an active CHS contributor that I realized how rich, unique and diverse this community really is. Very soon, I’m moving off the Hill to work for Patch.com, a community news platform owned by AOL. They’ve already launched Patch in some states like California and New York, and Patches will start popping up in Washington this fall. I can't say where I'll be working yet but it won't be on Capitol Hill.

Anyone interested in a career in journalism and...

Mya- Pine & Melrose...

Good news! Kyle Clark, owner of the 502 Belmont Ave property (see City going to court to have Belmont Ave 'biohazard' house demolished), did not appeal the abatement order the city filed against him regarding the code violations of the dilapidated house. This means that the Department of Development, the government agency that enforces code violations, can go ahead with demolishing the house! This is scheduled to happen in early September. Below is the email I received from the Department of Development on the matter:

We're getting a lot of notes about the Obama mural on the garage door at 12th and John -- or, really, the lack of it. It's gone. Instead, today, where you used to find this:

It's a busy week for closures on Capitol Hill. Add to the casualties one eatery we knew was moving on finally making it official and another quirky store that surprised us with its tenacity giving up the ghost....

Through the magic of the movies, 11th Ave suffered a rainy Wednesday night as shooting for the film Grassroots continues on Capitol Hill. Note the rain machine sprinkler above and the wet pavement below in this picture from @eincline. Hat tip to @jjtweets for bringing it to our attention....

The irrepressible Amelia Reeber, one of the choreographers presenting new work at Velocity Dance Center's Strictly Seattle this Friday and Saturday. Photo by Tim Summers.

Thursday, July 29th

• Let's Do It Again!: Another Night of Sex Worker Made Media is pretty much what it sounds like @ Northwest Film Forum
• The U.S. Senior Open tees off at the ass-crack of dawn @ Sahalee Country Club
• Quote along with Anchorman @ Central Cinema
• Now that Vitaminwater Social Club has finally vacated the premises, things can get back to normal, with City Arts' Off Hours reading series, in which writers present new works @ Sole Repair
• For one night only, Elvis hasn't left the building, thanks to the screening of some never-before-seen footage from 1972 in Elvis on Tour @ Pacific Place
• Toad the Wet Sprocket (still a band!) transport you back to 1991 via nostalgia; openers Hey Marseilles take you around the world via smile-inducing videos and maximalist orchestral pop @ the Moore
• Check out some short films care of Pacific Northwest filmmakers in Tall Beers, Short Shorts @ Re-bar...
(more)

Anthony Bourdain, former chef and current television personality, famously wrote in Kitchen Confidential, the book that catapulted him to celebrity status back in 2000, "Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter-faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn."  This sentiment echoes resoundingly in the Seattle dining scene.  Even during high summer, when local vegetables are abundant, restaurants such as Crush, Zoe and Spur are loathe to place a single vegetable-centered entree on their menus.

On Capitol Hill, however, new eateries that cater exclusively to vegans have sprouted.  We asked Anikha Lehde, a Seattle vegan who runs Vegan Score (a resource for Seattle vegans), to comment on the vegan dining scene in Capitol Hill:

Although the U-District is lucky enough to have "little vegan" (a vegan pizza joint, grocery store, and home cookin-style café on the same block), Capitol Hill still takes the cake in both quantity of vegan places (five) and novelty.  Newish Plum serves Puerto Rico influenced sweet and spicy cuisine and Highline will serve you a fried fish sandwich or habanero tequila - You can't get that type of vegan fare anywhere else in the city.  Probably not anywhere else, anywhere.

Cat taking a snooze on a cab, broadway cap hill
Originally uploaded by ryanmcminn

Long live the king. Via the Stranger's Slog, sad news today for Broadway. Another icon passes:

This just in from Twice Sold Tales' queen Jamie:

Dear Sir: George, the cat who has been hanging out on Broadway for the last 15 years, died last week. This is the cat who crosses the street in the crosswalk, waiting for the light; the tuxedo cat who was very fat, and begged food off of everybody in the early mornings in front of the Vivace stand and who used to sit on a chair all day in the hair salon next door.

more...

We featured this picture of George last September from @ryanmcminn's Tweet stream.

In a plan already circulated to Capitol Hill community groups, Sound Transit is rethinking how Nagle Place will be transformed into a public plaza -- and utility and maintenance corridor -- as part of the Broadway light rail station construction. In a series of public meetings last year, the...

Add a small string of related attacks to the "regular" street robbery activity on Capitol Hill and you get a noticeable bump in the crime trends. CHS has found details of seven reported street robberies that happened in a 72-hour period starting Saturday night -- that's half the total we've seen around the Hill so far in July. Details of the individual incidents below. The good news, so far, is no further reports of the young kids who snatched purses from two women at gunpoint early Sunday and Monday mornings....

Photo: Curt Milton, EastlakeAve.com

SPD cruisers chased a white Ford Mustang at high speed through the streets of Capitol Hill tonight as the vehicle involved in a missing person case sideswiped cars and sped toward I-5 before turning toward the Eastlake neighborhood and crashing into Rogers Playfield....

CHS got a tip that Ben Affleck is shooting scenes for a movie on Seattle Central's campus all day Wednesday. Which is weird. Because Jason Biggs is shooting scenes for his Grassroots movie on Seattle Central's campus all day Wednesday. We'll go with Biggs and his tale of Grant Cogswell's 2...

The Seattle PI has a report from a briefing at this morning's City Council transportation committee meeting where the locations for the city's newest bike-friendly addition to the roadscape were announced:...

"That store didn't really go out of business, you just need to go to our other stores now."

That's what we were told after calling Cell Towns headquarters in Federal Way about the shuttering of the puny booth of a storefront the Verizon reseller operated at 219 Broadway....