Storiesby jseattle |
View by List | Grid |
We reported over the weekend about the preparations to open the second 'secret' Starbucks on Capitol Hill taking an odd step backward -- a worker painted over a recently completed Roy Street Coffee sign above the new shop. No matter. Starbucks says it's a go for a Wednesday opening. Here's our favorite line from the media announcement, below:
Like other new stores we’ve opened recently – 1st and Pike and University Village in Seattle, Paris Disney and Conduit Street in London, this coffeehouse is a celebration of the community’s personality and values.
Capitol Hill is just like Paris Disney. Here's the announcement:
On Wednesday, Starbucks will open our new Roy Street Coffee & Tea, inspired by Starbucks, in Seattle, WA. In the same spirit as 15th Ave. Coffee & Tea, Roy Street Coffee & Tea is a new concept coffeehouse that reflects the local neighborhood’s values and personality and celebrates the Pacific Northwest’s coffee heritage, materials and artists.
Like other new stores we’ve opened recently – 1st and Pike and University Village in Seattle, Paris Disney and Conduit Street in London, this coffeehouse is a celebration of the community’s personality and values. Like all new Starbucks stores, whether they are Starbucks branded or the new concept stores, Roy Street Coffee & Tea uses regional materials, features the work of local artists and is designed for sustainability. We look forward to being a part of the vibrant and resurgent Broadway neighborhood when Roy Street Coffee & Tea opens on Wednesday.
We invite you to a media preview event tomorrow with Major Cohen and Liz Muller from Starbucks Global Development team as they discuss the design and construction strategies behind the new concept. As the second store in Starbucks LEED® Volume Certification pilot program (announced just last week), Tony Gail with Starbucks Environmental Impact team, will also be onsite to discuss Starbucks goal is to significantly reduce its environmental footprint through green construction, energy and water conservation, and recycling. Additionally, store manager, Jacob Webber, will be available to discuss the Roy Street Coffee & Tea’s connection to the surrounding neighborhood.
You might recall that the opening of the company's first stealth 'indie'-styled cafe on 15th Ave inspired a few shenanigans. We'll see what happens at Roy and Broadway on Wednesday morning.
Previous
For the next month, a very large percentage of your daily Seattle news intake will be produced within a three-block radius on Capitol Hill.
CHS has new officemates today as the staff of Publicola are making their temporary home here at Office Nomads for a month before they move back to Belltown and into new office digs.
For 'Cola's Josh Feit and Erica Barnett, it's a return to their Capitol Hill stomping grounds from their days at the Stranger. With the Slog's nerve center still operating across from Bobby Morris playfield and Cal Anderson Park, Pine is suddenly the city's new, new media corridor. For a month, at least. But that's like three years in Internet time.
A few hundred Capitol Hill residents spent this morning in the dark. According to Seattle City Light, 328 customers were without service starting around 5:24 AM this morning when a tree branch damaged lines. Traffic lights were out on 10th Ave north between Mercer and Roanoke according to a text we received from a reader this morning. That power is now restored. Overnight winds reached 25 miles per hour at the NOAA station down on Lake Washington and more than 30 miles per hour in West Seattle. Meteorologist Cliff Mass says there is a chance that Seattle is about to get pounded by an even larger windstorm this week.
Monday is the deadline for community suggestions to name the two new parks being built on Capitol Hill. An e-mail from Capitol Hill Community Council president Jennifer Power spells out the parks department rules:
The Park Naming Committee is comprised of one representative designated by the Board of Park Commissioners, one by the Chair of the City Council Parks and Seattle Center Committee, and one by the Parks Superintendent. Criteria the committee considers in naming parks include: geographical location, historical or cultural significance, and natural or geological features. A park may be named for a person no longer living (deceased a minimum of three years) who made a significant contribution to parks and/or recreation. The Park Naming Committee will consider all suggestions and make a recommendation to the Superintendent, who makes the final decision.
Suggestions should be sent to paula.hoff@seattle.gov
We've written about the naming process several times -- here are most of the suggestions we've seen on CHS. The only one we can endorse is the idea to name the 16th at Howell greenspace after Gray Lambert, the activist nearby Lambert House is named for. Some other ideas from CHS comments:
|
Summit at John
|
Howell at 16th A level turf area in the middle of the site, bordered by a collective garden to the north and a crushed rock plaza and allee to the south |
Suggestions:
|
Suggestions:
|
Maybe we're not as tuned into the Hill's history as we should be but there aren't any ideas that seem like obvious choices. Honoring Cal Anderson at the time the Hill's park was being built, wrote community organizer Kay Rood, just seemed right:
State Senator Cal Anderson died of AIDS in August 1995, just as Groundswell was mobilizing on our first big grant project. One of our steering committee members suggested that we name the new park for him, and the idea seemed just right from the very beginning. I never knew Cal, but I know from all I have read and heard that he was an exceptional person. Widely praised for his work ethic and personal integrity, he worked tirelessly on behalf of the disenfranchised. A park in the heart of the 43rd District named for him would bring a pride of place to our community, a new name for a new future. We tucked the idea away. I figured we would know when the time was right to propose it, which was not until we had assurances that there would be a park worthy of Cal’s name.
Other Capitol Hill parks followed a more random path to naming. Tashkent Park, for example, is named for Seattle's sister city in Uzbekistan. There's a Jimi Hendrix Park (not on Cap Hill) -- why not a Kurt Cobain Park?
Some other notables with Capitol Hill ties who died in recent years:
- AIDS activist Bill Lake
- playwright August Wilson
- philanthropist James Ray
- politician and pharmacist George Benson and his wife Evelyn Benson
- peace activist Richard Carbray
We won't have stats from East Precinct for months but, trust us, we're seeing a lot of car break-ins in the police reports for Capitol Hill. What we do have are anecdotes like this from neighbor Phobia in the CHS Classifieds:
I am trying to help my friend who was a victim of auto crime. Her car got broken into last night, Nov. 13, at the corner of Union and 11th. She lost her Coach tote bag with some important documents and a hard drive inside. All she wants are the things that have very little value to anyone. If you are out there, please take the cash and the bag but please send all other things back to her. I know it's really rare that a criminal would read a neighborhood blog, but I don't have other ideas. Thank you
The chances are very slim that Phobia's friend will get her stuff back but the incident can do some good. You can take a lesson from this and make sure you remove anything and everything of value -- and, really, everything -- from your car.
While we don't have the stats, we do have a powerful new tool we're continuing to build on at our partner site SeattleCrime.com.
Here's a map of the last 30-days of reported car prowls in the Capitol Hill area.
Locations are approximate -- we only get block locations from SPD -- but you can see the Hill hot spots. And, of course, for every prowl reported, there are probably three that somebody didn't bother to call in.
So, time to clean up your car. Here's a comment from neighbor Lolalaptop to inspire:
Rash of car break ins in my neighborhood
I am sorry to hear that your friend lost her valuables.
My car was broken into a few weeks ago, 13th and Mercer, and thankfully nothing of value was taken, but the interior had been thoroughly torn apart in what was probably a quick, expert manner. I posted a note about it in my building, and learned that the same had happened up and down the block to many, many cars.
Yes, there were visible bags (of paper to recycle, nothing of value!) in my car that may have led them to bother breaking into my car.
Lesson learned: my car is now fastidiously empty and will remain so. People are desperate and while you can't stop them from breaking into your car, you can lessen the probability that they'll bother with your car by keeping it visibly empty.
Fore! Smash Putt, "a temporary mini golf course/art installation on Capitol Hill," is open for play:
Assembled inside a dingy 12th Avenue building by Rusty Oliver and a group of industrial artists who call themselves the Hazard Factory, it's 10 holes featuring crazy contraptions involving catapults, air compressors, power tools and 33-1/3 rpm turntables.
At hole No. 2, which is called "Driving Range," you can launch a ball through an air-powered machine gun toward the upturned innards of a piano: "Clang — ng-ng-ng."
At hole No. 5, "Roulette Francaise," a motorized scooter turns a platform that shoots your ball off in one of four directions — one containing a hole. (And feel free to toot the scooter's horn whenever, just for fun.)
There's also beer and snacks in the Miniature Golf Apocalypse clubhouse. You can buy tickets and get more info at http://www.smashputt.com/ The playing season is a short one -- Smash Putt will only be open for play these final three weekends of November.
The Hazard Factory is also responsible for Seattle Power Tool Races event. Here's a video of some of the, um, technology behind their putt-putt course:
UPDATE: Added this slideshow from Hank! in comments:
An unexpected scene for a new business gearing up for their opening -- the freshly painted sign for Roy Street Coffee is being painted back over this afternoon by the same man we saw creating the large white letters earlier this week. Not sure what was behind the paint over. The marketing folks were excited by the sign. Perhaps the coffee giant is changing its mind about opening its second Stealthbucks on the Hill. More likely, somebody in corporate didn't like the look. We'll probably have to wait for a leaked memo to find out.
Just received a copy of this from the good folks at Seattle Gay News . You can join the celebration by attending the rally in Westlake starting at noon.
Autumn Cupcake,
originally uploaded by sea turtle.
There are enough loose ends and followups to warrant a news round-up. And a picture of a cupcake. Happy Friday the 13th.
- Sound Transit says light rail airport service to start December 19th
- Ben Hills memorial party tonight at Vermillion, 6-10 PM
- Approve 71 victory rally Saturday at Westlake
- Also Saturday: Out for Sustainability conference
- Person of interest in Greenwood arsons arrested
- Accused cop killer Christopher Monfort: paralyzed
Curtis Bigelow talks with a worker putting the finishing touches on the Lobby Bar
CHS was lucky enough to join co-owner Curtis Bigelow for a quick tour of the transformed space that was once King Cobra and will soon be the new Lobby Bar . But this picture was the only shot I could take -- the new project is still under construction and under wraps. The transformation is impressive. Bigelow says he and Paul Villa hope to create a space for members of the LGBT community who are interested in getting a good, reasonably priced drink in an comfortable, inviting environment -- and the people that love them.
An elegant seating area with black glass chandeliers greets you on entry to the new space. A massive, marble-topped bar dominates the center of the Lobby. Behind the bar is a mix of finished, glossy cabinetry and the rough exposed brick of the building's walls. Staircases to the left and and right invite you to the upper level where the railing will invite you to spy on the activities below.
Bigelow told CHS he and Villa hoped to open in early December but -- like most new businesses -- Lobby is facing delays in permitting. As for the newly announced next-door business The Money Tree, CHS had heard rumors that the location would house a sandwich shop, but Bigelow said the money lenders have been mostly good neighbors so far.
