Next Saturday, June 9th, there are going to be a lot of garage sales on Capitol Hill. Consider this your last call to hold your own sale and add it to our roster -- or register for the remaining few spaces at the Broadway Hill Park community space. Registration closes Tuesday night, June 5th at midnight. Our registration form is below.... (more)

The first in a summer of musical Fridays at Pillars Park starts this afternoon, organizer Patrick Jones just reminded CHS. Tunes start at 4p. You can also stop by the Villa Apartments building to see the progress Derek Wu has made on his collaboration with art faculty and students from the nearby Northwest School. Northwest's "Public Art class" has been working with Wu -- also known as ERAS -- to create the new mural on a face of Capitol Hill Housing's Villa building overlooking the off leash dog area of the park. You might remember the "Abraham Obama" work CHS wrote about at the same location way back in 2009. Looking for more creative acts? You can also visit the demolition of the office building on Minor to make way for a new, brightly-hued mixed-use project below the Melrose Market. More information on the music series is below. For more ideas on how to spend your Capitol Hill weekend, check out our latest On the List.... (more)

Tara Hoedown (Image: Danny Ngan Photography provided by TTRB)

Here on the Hill, you can’t look left or right without seeing the iconic black-eyed mascot of The Rat City Roller Girls. However, the wildly popular “flat track” league isn’t the only flavor of Roller Derby now available to local fans. You may be surprised to learn that the banked track -- which people who remember the ‘70s may remember from the ‘70s -- is making a bold comeback.

In 2009, the Tilted Thunder Rail Birds (TTRB) launched a new Derby league in Seattle, with little more than pure gumption and a passion for skating around an oval with a 35%-45% incline from the interior to the edge. That, and a penchant for bruises, blood, and fishnet stockings.

On the eve of the National Championship Banked Track Tournament taking place in Everett on June 1-3,  CHS sat down with Capitol Hill resident Nicole Stotts, 30, a.k.a. Tara Hoedown of the Sugar Skulls, one of the four teams that make up the TTRB.

We have bad news for you Barbie Beatdown -- you'd better stay off 15th Ave E.... (more)

With a crash scene reminiscent of a December 2008 accident that left a charter bus hanging over I-5 below Capitol Hill, a parked moving truck began rolling down the steep slope of E Roy Thursday afternoon, smashing into parked cars and busting through the safety railing before coming to a rest above the freeway.

SPD says nobody was injured in the incident but the truck did "extensive" damage.

The SPD report on the 1:35p incident is below.... (more)

hello seattle: Downtown Target. Coming very soon. 

We've already shown you how excited Capitol Hill is to shop at a downtown Target. The next few days will be a chance for some on the Hill to get a job become part of the team there. The retailer is holding a job fair starting Friday at Capitol Hill's Miller Community Center. The new Seattle CityTarget at 2nd and Pine is slated to open in July.

Target to Hire 400 Team Members for Seattle CityTarget  

Job fair to run June 1 to 3 ... (more)

It was a bold prediction. The guys behind the Unicorn's downstairs little brother the Narwhal had planned to debut the new ring of their psychedelic circus Friday night.

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Seattle Police have provided new details on Wednesday's shooting that left 52-year-old Gloria Koch Leonidas dead in a First Hill parking lot as part of a string of killings that left six dead in Seattle.

According to police, witnesses said Leonidas fought back when killer Ian Stawicki approached her as she paid to park in the Town Hall lot after she dropped of a friend at the First Hill facility.... (more)

Flowers and candles left Thursday night at Cafe Racer (Image: Marlow Harris)

Marlow Harris is a Capitol Hill resident, a frequent CHS contributor and a curator of exceptionally unusual art. Her OBAMA -- Official Bad Art Museum of Art -- has called Cafe Racer home. Her 14-year-old son Sam graduates from St. Joe's today -- congrats, Sam. With his family's connection to the cafe, Sam was moved to talk about his take on Wednesday's tragedies with a post to Reddit that many in the city are adding to as a kind of online shrine. It's one of many ways to mark what happened and deal with it. We asked Marlow for permission to share his post publicly on CHS. Sam's essay written the night of the shootings and a local vigil planned for Friday on Capitol Hill are below.... (more)

Starting Friday, the new world of privatized liquor will sprinkle private spirits retailers across Capitol Hill. But not every new shelf is stocked and change is in the air. Be ready for sticker shock, at least in the beginning, most say. But also be ready for some cool new opportunities like another local distillery's start of over the counter sales. We've cobbled together a (mostly?) complete roster of the new players, new hours and new etc. of the post-1183 Capitol Hill, below.... (more)

Happy Weekend, Capitol Hill. Now that the daylight sticks around until past nine, it's time to make the hours count. That's life in a northern town. Have an event we don't know about? Add it to the the CHS Calendar. 

Thursday 5/31

• 'Rhythm on My Heels': A Tribute to Josef Skvorecky 6:30P Downstairs at Town Hall  
• Tacocat Presents: AMERICAN SPRING BREAKDOWN TROPICAL 90'S VANEFIT 8P Chop Suey
• Mr & Ms Gothic Seattle Pageant 9P Mercury @ Machinewerks
• Definition of the Small Wineshop Lineup at Vino Verite
• Lowell Elementary School Spring Art Fest, 6-7:30p

Join the Lowell Elementary School community for our Spring Art Fest. Enjoy food, live music and a chance to buy one-of-a-kind artworks by students and local artists!

More than 200 pieces of art by our talented children will be exhibited. Each student was given a 6-inch-by-6-inch wooden plaque and invited to turn it into a work of art using whatever media, materials and techniques came to mind. Each piece will be on sale for $10.... (more)

Broadway Performance Hall was packed full of the greenest folk on Capitol Hill Tuesday night to discuss the neighborhood's future as an EcoDistrict. Capitol Hill Housing’s 7th Annual Community Forum brought together a panel that included Mayor Mike McGinn, president of the Bullitt Foundation -- and founder of Earth Day -- Denis Hayes, and King County Executive Ron Sims, who moderated the event.

An "EcoDistrict" refers to a neighborhood committed to sustainability through reinvigorated infrastructure and a focus on various environmental areas like energy, water and transportation. The result could be a zone around Capitol Hill's light rail station created with incentives for developers to build green, sustainable buildings -- similar in ways to the Pike/Pine Conservation District's incentives for encouraging preservation. What that would actually mean, how it work, and, to some extent, how it would be paid for, were all on the table Tuesday night.... (more)

The suspect in Wednesday morning's shooting at the University District's Cafe Racer was confronted by officers and shot himself just before 4p, SPD said in updates this afternoon. Police are now "confident" the Cafe Racer shootings and the First Hill shooting death are connected.

According to SPD, the suspect has died while the Seattle PI reports that the suspect was alive as of 5:15p at Harborview. UPDATE: SPD confirms that the suspect is alive and receiving treatment as of early Wednesday evening. UPDATE x2: -- 9:05PM: A Harborview spokesperson says the suspect has died.

"Officers spotted man matching descrip of n. sea shooting susp @ 37/Raymond and tried to contact him. He knelt down and shot himself," reported the department's Twitter account.

The Seattle Times is identifying the suspect as Ian Lee Stawicki. His family says the 40-year-old is mentally ill. Washington records show no significant criminal convictions on his record despite a few brushes with the law and two domestic violence incidents.

SPD says detectives are still investigating the connection between the University District shootings and the 8th and Seneca shooting that left a woman dead in a First Hill parking lot. The First Hill shooting was originally reported as a carjacking less than an hour after the Cafe Racer shootings. UPDATE: SPD's report on the day's events is here.

Leonidas (Image from her Twitter account)

The victim in the First Hill shooting has been identified in a notice sent home to parents of a Capitol Hill-area school her daughters attend as 52-year-old Gloria Koch Leonidas. Her listed address is a Bellevue location.

SPD is calling Stawicki the "lone suspect in 4 murders in 2 locations." A fifth and sixth victim have since died. Detectives are piecing together what lead to the start of the violence in Cafe Racer, how the suspect traveled from the University District to 8th and Seneca, what transpired in the Town Hall Seattle parking lot and where the suspect hid out and evaded police for hours in West Seattle.

In the meantime, SPD says expect "a heightened police presence for the time being" on the streets of Seattle.

The Seattle Times reports that the survivor from the cafe shooting, Leonard Meuse, attended Seattle Central's pastry program before becoming chef at Cafe Racer. The Times also has more about Meuse, the victims at Cafe Racer and Leonidas here.

Details on the incidents and live coverage from the day are below.

Earlier: Seattle Police say it is too early to rule out that this morning's murder of a woman in a First Hill parking lot could be related to the shooting earlier today at Cafe Racer in the University District.

Police at the scene confirmed that the female victim in the First Hill shooting in the parking lot behind Town Hall has died. Police say witnesses told them the "man and woman were in an argument" before he pulled out his handgun and shot her in the head.... (more)

cometdogsP_Crop, originally uploaded by duckylick.

Despite arguments from city officials that the change would make Seattle a safer place and pleas from Capitol Hill nightlife entrepreneurs to have more freedom to set their own course, the Washington Liquor Control board voted 2 to 1 Wednesday morning to deny the City of Seattle petition to grant local municipalities the power to set their own liquor service hours.

In March, the board members came to Seattle for a hearing on the petition that included a heavily Capitol Hill-flavored period of public comment on the proposed changes. Proponents argued that allowing bars that met certain standards to serve later into the wee hours would eliminate last call binging and the rush of bar patrons into and onto the streets at 2a. Opponents said the initiative was driven by business interests and would spread the maladies of closing time into all hours of the day. The Seattle Times reports that police chiefs in Spokane and Vancouver spoke against the proposal and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs voted last week to oppose it.

The denial is a blow to Mayor Mike McGinn's Seattle Nightlife Initiative, an effort to embrace the city's food and drink economy.

Police were diverting traffic around Eastlake Ave near the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Wednesday morning after a person leapt to their death from the Lakeview Blvd E overpass, a busy connection between Capitol Hill and the Eastlake, Cascade and South Lake Union neighborhoods, below.... (more)

Opening day at 12th Ave's The Local Vine back in 2010 (Image: CHS)

Memorial Day bumped our regularly scheduled programming but our food+drink notes bucket is overflowing. Enjoy this special Wednesday edition. Got a tip? Lay it on us here.

• 12th Ave "neighborhood wine bar" The Local Vine has shut down a year and a half after moving to Capitol Hill as its original Belltown home started crumbling away.

Neighbor @mattgoyer posted the first sign that things might be amiss Tuesday night via Twitter.

CHS has learned that the 2,500 square-foot space in the Trace Lofts North development is indeed "available immediately" and being actively marketed.... (more)

Inslee enjoying an Inslee-decorated cupcake (Images: CHS)

Candidate Jay Inslee was on Capitol Hill this morning to accept an endorsement of his run for governor from the Human Rights Campaign. 

"Cupcakes are sweet and so is equality and we intend to have both in the state of Washington," Inslee said in a short speech inside the E Pike Cupcake Royale store.  ... (more)

It's kind of hard to be light on your feet when you're wearing a full leg cast. Via Facebook, Century Ballroom owner Hallie Kuperman reports that she won't be doing the jitterbug for a little while thanks to a Saturday night scooter crash.

We've asked for more details on the crash and will update when we hear more. In the meantime, you might consider dropping by the Ballroom in coming weeks to cheer Kuperman on in her recovery.... (more)

Block Party Panoramic, uploaded by roofsupdotcom.

As Capitol Hill Block Party has grown from a street festival into a three-day musical extravaganza that will draw more than 30,000 to Pike/Pine this July, the two main men behind the annual production are stepping aside. In a statement released by CHBP organizers, Marcus Charles and David Meinert said the end has arrived for their rule of the Block Party and that a new, local business owner is taking over production of the festival -- and bringing along some new fun including a family-friendly morning of rock, a new arts program and a slew of social media-friendly additions.

"For 11 years Marcus and I worked to make Capitol Hill Block Party one of the most credible small festivals in the US, with Jason booking the talent that helped elevate it to a nationally recognized event," Meinert said in the statement.... (more)

Seattle Police remain on the scene as investigators complete their investigation into what lead to a van striking a bicyclist at the intersection of Pike and Boren Tuesday morning.

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Welcome back. It's nearly June. Here are the things you may have missed over the weekend and a few items of note to look forward to this week.

• UPDATE -- Car vs. bike at Pike/Boren: Tuesday morning brings a report of a car vs. bicyclist incident and its subsequent investigation shutting down the intersection at Pike and Boren. We don't have details of the incident yet but Metro says routes 10, 11, 14, 43 and 49 are temporarily re-routed in the area of the 6:21a collision. UPDATE x2: SFD has limited details but said the 20-year-old rider was "losing consciousness" and was taken to Harborview with serious injuries. 

• Seattle gun violence: It was a violent weekend around Seattle. The investigation into the shooting that left 42-year-old Justin Ferrari dead at MLK and Cherry continues. The Seattle PI calls the weekend the "most violent" 4-day span since 2008. SPD tells the Seattle Times it has put SWAT and Anti-Crime teams on the ground in Seattle's "high-crime" areas.
• Quiet Hill: Capitol Hill proper registered only a single report of violent crime over the weekend, according to police records. We have no details yet on the weapons threat incident that went down in the 1700 block of Summit on Friday afternoon....

(Images: David Lichterman for CHS)

Lake View is home to the Nisei War Memorial, an obelisk honoring American soldiers of Japanese ancestry who died while serving in the armed services.

Congressman Jim McDermott was among dignitaries in attendance.

The annual event includes prayers and remembrances of the fallen soldiers as well as a local ROTC honor guard.... (more)

Artist Trust has been resident in the nifty condo building at 12th and Denny since it was completed in 2004. On Tuesday, the organization that provides programs and grants for Washington artists in literary, visual, craft and performance disciplines will celebrate its 25th year of empowering artists in Seattle. You should stop by and join in the cheer, the wine, and the cupcakes.... (more)

Happy Memorial Day. Hope your holiday is a good one -- even if you have to work. If you'd like to be part of remembering on this day, the annual Nisei Veterans Committee Memorial Day Service takes place at 15th Ave E's Lake View Cemetery starting at 10a.

And, if you'd like to have a free hamburger, stop by 1211 Pine's Li'l Woody's between 2 and 5p. Earn it.... (more)

Thanks for all the pictures and notes about the gaping hole in the earth that has developed in the middle of E Olive Way at Bellevue Sunday night.

For those wondering, the hole in the pavement is far from the light rail tunneling route but in an area that could probably use a re-paving. We have no confirmed details yet on the cause.

Seattle Police are on scene to direct traffic around the shopping-cart-sized divot until a longer term solution comes to play. In the meantime, nearby City Market still stands.... (more)

(Images: John Feit)

I have been riding my bicycle past the Harrison Modern for almost a decade now, always appreciative of its  design and one that I have been yearning to share for some time. Unfortunately, its predominant exposure faces north, making its photography less than ideal for a majority of the year and thus potentially depriving the building the adoration it so deserves. Imagine my great joy when, a couple of weeks back, I was walking past in the late afternoon — camera in hand — with the lighting just perfect for portraying the Harrison’s many charms.... (more)