Yup, within a five-minute bike ride of my Capitol Hill apartment, barred owls are in residence.

Barred owl mesmerized by a potential meal in Interlaken Park

Territorial, vocal crows helped me locate both mother and father in Interlaken Park last week. Barred owls are of a mammal-like bulk (21" tall) and relatively unfazed by human presence--they will stretch, emit wisdom, yawn, gambol, sleep, be serene, faire la toilette, hunt, etc. within 10-15 feet of a person (in this case, me.)  

There is consternation and controversy regarding this species. According to the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society:

I always thought that you needed an ice cream maker to make ice cream. Not so! I’m not saying this recipe is a completely casual undertaking, given the daredevil feat of making a dark amber caramel. But once that's done, all you need are a pan and a fork and a bit of freezer space to produce a perfectly creamy scoop of Molly Moon's salted caramel ice cream at home.

(Images: Em)

Luckily, just in time for summer, the new Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream cookbook makes this salted caramel recipe, and many others, available to home cooks on Capitol Hill and beyond. The book has all the classic and quirky flavors you've come to expect of Molly Moon’s. Scout mint? Check. Baby beet sorbet? Indeed.  Honey lavender?  Oh, yes.

But salted caramel is the shop's iconic flavor, far and away the most popular. And after making a batch of it this week, I was reminded of why it’s such an enduring favorite. (Not YOUR favorite yet? A perk of making it at home is that you can control the darkness of the caramel and the amount of salt. I highly recommend following the recipe as written, but nobody will know if you want to dial it down a bit in the privacy of your own home.) So whether you have a fancy ice cream maker or just a fork, this recipe is for you. Salted caramel ice cream for the masses.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Adapted from Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream (makes 1 to 1 ½ qts.)

1/8 tsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 ½ c. sugar
1 Tb. butter
3 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk
1 Tb. kosher salt

Have your ingredients measured and beside the stove before you start making your caramel (except for the salt, which you add later). Put the lemon juice in a light-colored, heavy-bottomed pot and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the sugar ¼ c. at a time, stirring each addition with a wooden spoon until it dissolves completely into liquid. (Some of the sugar may crystalize on the side of your pot, just ignore it.) When all the sugar is added and dissolved, continue to cook, watching like a hawk and stirring occasionally for about 4-6 minutes. During this time, the sugar will caramelize and the color will change from a light golden to a dark amber hue (it may also begin to smoke a bit). Use your eyes, nose, and good sense to decide when you have achieved a dark-but-not-burnt caramel, and immediately lower the heat to medium-low as you trade your wooden spoon for a whisk and whisk in the butter.

When the butter has melted, begin to add the cream and milk verrrry sloooowly. Seriously, slowly. The caramel will steam and bubble and some hard little caramel lumps may form. No worries, keep whisking, be patient, let them dissolve. When the mixture is smooth, remove it from the heat. Pour it into a shallow pan and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least an hour.

Remove the cold creamy pan of deliciousness from the refrigerator and whisk in 1 Tb. (yes, 1 Tb.) kosher salt. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (I churned mine longer than a usual batch, about 35 minutes, because the salt makes this ice cream so soft). Or if you don’t have an ice cream maker (or if it’s busy churning another flavor already), leave the mixture in the pan and transfer the pan to the freezer. If you’re going the no-ice-cream maker route, stir the mixture thoroughly with a fork every half hour or so until the entire pan of ice cream is a uniform texture (at first it will freeze around the edges, then you will stir it up, then it will freeze around the edges again, etc.).

When your ice cream is ready (it will still be quite soft), transfer it to a sealed freezer container and freeze at least four hours before serving. This ice cream never freezes very hard because of the salt content, so plan to serve and eat it quickly!

Note 1: I thought that the saltiness of this ice cream was perfect. If you find the finished product too salty-tasting, however, serve it over a rich brownie or under a blanket of hot fudge. Now it’s perfect, right?

Note 2: This magic no-ice-cream-maker method works better with this recipe than with others I’ve tried it with. Just a heads up in case you plan to use this method with other recipes: it always works, but usually the texture of ice cream made with the fork-and-pan system is icier/grainer than ice cream made with an ice cream maker. With this recipe, however, the results were indistinguishable.

Capitol Hill Cooks is a home cooking recipe series featuring ingredients, ideas, and recipes from the neighborhood. Have a recipe you think we should share? Drop us a line at chs@capitolhillseattle.com. Em also writes about home cooking at emmycooks.com

Previous Capitol Hill Cooks Posts

• Arugula pesto, inspired by the Broadway Farmers Market
• Phad Pak, inspired by 15th and Madison
• Not-Guinness beer bread, inspired by 13th and Pike
• More... 

Shawn- Broadway & Denny

Shawn had just returned from a backpacking trip through Turkey and Greece when I passed him on Broadway.  You might see him on your next train ride down to Portland.  He serves the drinks in bar car on the Seattle-Eugene route for Amtrak.

More street style photos at www.itsmydarlin.com

Here are the top posts from this week in 2011:

• Harvard Exit theater cleared during SIFF screening of Earth Liberation Front movie
• WSDOT's *other* battle: Hill neighborhood group ready to fight against 520 plan
• Jury will hear Broadway Steps copyright lawsuit
• Another break-in reported as man arrested near Capitol Hill burglary hotspot awaits charges
• Spinasse expands, Artusi at side, Skillet's crazy start, 'G' for Grubwich
• The Confectional and its mini-cheesecakes go big on north Broadway
• With a splash of champagne, tunneling to Capitol Hill begins

Here are details of a few issues the Seattle Fire Department and police tackled around Capitol Hill on Saturday. If you see an incident others should know about, send email to chs@capitolhillseattle.com, or call/txt CHS HQ at (206) 399-5959.

• Car vs. bike on Belmont: A bicyclist suffered injuries Saturday morning on Belmont Ave E after a reported collision with a car. No details on what caused the crash just before 11a but the cyclist's injuries were not life-threatening and the driver was not cited.
• Car vs. Puch in Central District: The rider of a Puch suffered serious injuries when the moped was struck by a car at the intersection of 25th and Spring early Saturday morning. SPD says the motorized cycle's rider showed signs of alcohol impairment when he was evaluated following the 1:30a crash. Our partners at CDNews have more details on the incident.
• Small fire at E Pike apartment building: The usual large contingent of Seattle Fire units that respond to fire alarms at multi-family structures arrived at an apartment building at 617 E Pike Saturday afternoon to find a small fire burning in a planter on the building. SFD was able to use a "deck gun" from a fire engine to quickly knock down the flames. The department says discarded smoking material was to blame. The fire did $500 worth of damage.

IMG_4253, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

After a few false starts, Capitol Hill's first new dance club to open in years debuted Friday night to an enthusiastic crowd and with only a few reported hiccups. Is it hot in here or is it just me!?!

It's me.

Picture of the first Friday night at The Social and its little friend EVO Tapas Kitchen, below.

The Social project is one of this year -- the Laura Olson-Chris Pardo-Alex Garcia-backed the Social and Broadway's Q Capitol Hill. This is how the Social's social media-savvy backers described their venture:

We are excited to announce our latest venture: The Social - a three level 12,000 sqft ultra lounge/ restaurant and nightclub. The Social is located on East Olive and will feature three distinct rooms, including four bars and a 3000 sqft restaurant. The entertainment venue is being designed by award winning Capitol Hill firm Pb Elemental (recently named one of the Decades Best by Seattle Magazine). Our focus is to provide a well designed, fun, and high quality venue for the LGBTQ community. The Social is a joint venture of three Capitol Hill small business owners Alex Garcia (Emerson Salon, Banyan Branch), Shanon Thorson and Laura Olson (Po Dog, Auto Battery, Grim's) . Drawing on their specific talents we will be featuring a gourmet food menu, holding daily events and drawing from national and international DJ talent. The Social is scheduled to open this summer, watch for updates onhttp://www.facebook.com/TheSocialSeattle. We are excited to join the expanding scene on East Olive with Tommy Guns, CC Attles and Fred Wildlife Refuge.

Early on, the Social gained some buzz for its plan to incorporate technology and social media into its experience. We don't know about the iPads but we noticed the club issuing drink coupons via its Facebook page. Kinda beats Groupon, no? The club has also walked a fine line around its positioning as a gay dance club. "Everyone is welcome at The Social!" Garcia told Seattle Gay Scene. "All people, gay or straight, will feel comfortable. We want it to be a place where everyone can come in with their friends and have a good time."

We visited Todd Nordahl to talk about his food+drink component of the project here. 

IMG_4298, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4262, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4666, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

EVO Bar, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4695, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4315, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4690, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4593, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4539, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

IMG_4482, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

Thanks to CHS contributor Douglas McLaughlin for all of the pictures. His slideshow below will take you from an early evening at EVO into the night at the Social.

This week, the crow learns that the "young" in "young republican" stands for "cupcake." What did you learn?

What are you up to this evening?
I just got off work -- I work over at Cupcake Royale -- and I’m waiting for my friend to pick me up.

Do you have time to answer a few questions for CHS?
Sure, but my friend will be here soon, so there’s a possibility that we’ll be rudely interrupted. If that happens…well, just make something up!

Seriously?! I can just make something up?
Sure, that’ll be fun! I’ll look forward to reading it.

Okay, then … so where are you headed to this evening?
I’m going to a Toby Keith concert.

Country singer Toby Keith? You mean, like, ironically?
Why would that be ironic?

Dunno… Somehow, I wouldn’t have pegged you as a Toby Keith fan.
Actually, he’s playing at a fundraiser for the Bellevue chapter of the Young Republican Club. I’m the Vice-Chair, so it would be rude if I didn’t attend. But yes, I am a huge Toby Keith fan.

Wow. You don’t find a lot of Young Republicans working at cupcake shops on Capitol Hill.
Or do you? You also thought I wasn’t a Toby Keith fan. Maybe you shouldn’t make so many assumptions about people.

Good point. What are some of your favorite hangouts on The Hill?
As a rule, I never, ever go out in this area. I wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those “independent restaurants” with their weirdo elitist foods. When the Hill finally gets an Appleby’s, or a Chili’s, or a T.G.I. Friday’s, then, we’ll talk.

Okay, you don’t like the food. What about local bars, or cafes, or music venues?
Awful, awful places. All the music sounds like someone’s hitting an electric bongo drum with a live cat. Thump-thump-thump. They call that music? And I only drink Budweiser, which is really hard to find around here.

What do you like least about Capitol Hill?
There aren’t enough new condos, for one. I think we should tear down buildings like the one where Bauhaus is, and put in a high-rise with a T.G.I. Friday’s on the ground level. Along with a bank. Or maybe The Gap. Is there anything worse than “independent retailers”?

You have some strong opinions.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the pedestrians and bicyclists. They make me sick. Don’t they know that walking and biking hurts the oil industry? Think about that, hippies.

What do you like best about working on the Hill?
It’s near the freeway.

Are you sure you won’t mind me making up an entire conversation if your ride gets here early?
I won’t mind at all. Just don’t go dissing on Toby Keith. Or supply-side economics.

What are you up to tonight?
I’m coming from a yoga class at Samhadi Yoga, down the street. I’m probably going to just go home and make dinner, but it’s so nice out -- I kind of don’t want to be indoors.

I hear that! Do you live on the Hill?
Yes, I’ve lived here for about a year and a half. Before that, I lived on the Eastside, with my parents—I moved back in with them after college, until I got a place of my own.

Why did you pick this neighborhood?
Even when I was a kid, I always knew I wanted to live on Capitol Hill someday. Growing up I danced at Cornish, so this was always my ‘hood. I fantasized about growing up and moving to the Hill. As a kid, my favorite parade was the Pride Parade—it gave me a very romantic view of this neighborhood.

Has it lived up to your expectations?
It has. I love being able to walk to everything. On the Eastside, that’s not so easy.

Do you have a favorite restaurant in your ‘hood?
That’s a tough one! It’s probably a tie between Smith and Spinasse. I go to Smith all the time for drinks and food. For a nice dinner, I love Spinasse, but it’s a lot more expensive, so… I guess “favorite” depends on the price range.

What do you think is the sexiest place on the Hill?
Cal Anderson park on a hot, sunny day. It’s full of gorgeous, sexy people wearing very scanty clothing!

What do you do for a living?
I’m training to be a birth doula. You know, people who support mothers in labor?

How did you get into the baby-birthing business?
I’ve always been interested in women’s health, but I studied International Relations and biology in college. But the first time I saw a baby being born, it hit me like a frying pan—this is what I need to do. Every time I see a baby fly out of a vagina, I realize I’m in the right line of work. It’s just awe-inspiring.

On an unrelated note -- not that I don’t love vaginas and/or things flying out of them -- but I noticed you’re wearing those foot-glove shoes. How do you like those?
I love them. They look funny, but they’re incredibly comfortable. My boyfriend and I both have a pair. Yes, we’re “that Capitol Hill couple in the foot-glove shoes.”

That’s adorable.
I don’t know about that, but at least we’re comfortable!

Do you live on Capitol Hill?
Not exactly. I have a place in the Central District, but when I’m working, I stay with my girlfriend, who lives a few blocks from here [Melrose & Pine]. Also, I volunteer with the Capitol Hill Art Walk, so I spent a lot of time in this area.

Are you an artist yourself?
Not in the traditional sense. But I make Anti-Claus hats and other goth/Steampunk gear.

Wait… Anti-Claus, or Anti-Clause? Do you hate short grammatical units?
It’s Anti-Claus—they’re like Santa hats, only black, instead of red, with the white faux-fur trim. You know, like an Evil Santa? You can see an example on Etsy at PressureFootConcepts. The hats are mostly a seasonal thing, though.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you go to Burning Man.
Yes, I have in years past, but I’m not sure if I’m going this year. I hear it’s already sold out.

Are you a Seattle native?
No, I’m originally from Northern California, in the Valley. But I’ve lived here for 17 years.

What brought you here?
I was hitchhiking across the country, and I ended up in Seattle at the end of the trip, and I never left.

What do you do for a living?
For the past seven weeks, I’ve worked here [at the Pine Box], in security. Over the past 17 years, I’ve worked in security at bars and clubs all over town.

This place is known for its beer selection. Are you a big connoisseur of the hops?
Not until seven weeks ago -- I didn’t even know what a “sour beer” was. Working here has opened my eyes to the world of good beer. I’m getting an education.

Continuing Education in Beer is not a bad job perk. So I have to ask -- and I promise CHS readers this is the last time I’ll ever use this question -- Beers: Marry, Boff, Kill. Go!
Well, a few weeks ago we tapped this amazing keg of Belgian Biscotti Stout here at the bar. There were only 11 kegs ever produced. Best beer I ever had -- it actually tasted like a biscotti. But they’re not making any more of it…

The hard-to-get aspect isn’t good for a marriage.
Yeah, and it’s unavailable, so it’s the perfect beer mistress. Yeah, I’ll boff the Belgian Biscotti.

Marry?
PBR. It never gets old.

A good quality in a beer-wife. Kill?
Guiness. I hate Guiness.

When you’re not working, do you have any favorite haunts on the hill?
Bauhaus, for one. I’ve been going there for years -- I first met several of my good friends there, ages ago.

What do you like best about working on Capitol Hill?
I love how you feel like you’re part of a community. It’s like being in a small town, but in a big city. I’m very happy here.

Thanks to Suzi Pratt for the picture of Joseph!

Previously from CHS Crow:

• Anil, Sheri & Linnea -- 'I like to keep a bit of mystery in the game'
• Marcus, Jaye & Danielle -- "My pronoun is 'she' "
• Jeremiah, Bridget & Marc -- 'Your foam has to be just the right consistency'

Artist Jeff "Weirdo" Jacobson will be creating a mural today (inspired by the upcoming June 1st SAMRemix) from 11:30am - 7pm outside of The Stumbling Monk on Capitol Hill. Swing by and watch the mural creation in process! 

(Image: CHS)

The Seattle barstool urban environment theory of Liz Dunn and her Melrose Market as catalyst for development and reshaping Capitol Hill might have something to it. Or maybe Dunn just went first. The early work to create a new 115-unit apartment building with 1,100 square feet of retail behind Melrose Market got started Friday at the base of Capitol Hill. 

With construction underway at Bellevue and Pine, and the process starting on the plan to develop Melrose and Pine, the 2010-born Melrose Market will be at the center of a rapidly changing lower Pike/Pine.

Add to that mix the mixed-use 1519 Minor project the demolition is creating space for. The developers behind the seven-story mixed-use building planned to tower above PIllars dog park started filing paperwork on the project way back in 2005. With the economic ups and downs, a plan to "revitalize" the existing office building was scrapped and developer Gerding Elden moved forward with the project designed by Perkins Will architects. The project will have parking for 30 vehicles, a "green" roof and is targeting LEED Gold certification.

Following demolition, expect construction of the new project to begin in about a month with at least a year of construction time to complete the dramatically colored building.

This Sunday, Capitol Hill-based contemporary jazz dance company 3rd Shift Dance presents Whacked! A Night of Killer Dance at Velocity Dance Center.  An evening of brand spanking new dances featuring choreography by Alyza DelPan-Monley, April Torneby and Xaviera Vandermay including the world premier of Whacking Walt.

7pm Featuring 3SD, Fusion, and Electriq Dance. This all ages version is suitable for viewing for ages 10 and up. 

9pm Featuring 3SD, DASS Dance, and Xclusive.  For this ages 21 and up showing we will be launching our Cans for Cans program. Bring a can of food for Northwest Harvest and trade it for a can of PBR to sip on during the show!

Tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets. $5 advanced, $10 DOS exact change only

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/218116

• 18th Ave purse snatcher gets away: A witness called 911 Thursday afternoon after seeing a woman robbed of her purse on 18th Ave. Police arrived but couldn't find the perpetrator, the witness -- or the victim. Police received another call some 90 minutes later from the victim in the crime. She told police she had been walking in the 1700 block of 18th Ave when someone ran up behind her, grabbed her bag and dashed off. The report on the incident does not include information from the victim on why she decided to wait to call police.
• Man beaten after stepping into Dick's altercation: A man who stepped in when he believed a man was mistreating a woman at the Broadway Dick's Drive-In Thursday night ended up getting beaten up for his concern. According to police, the victim told officers he was at Dick's around 11p when he saw a man slapping a woman at the popular late night food spot. The victim said he confronted the male -- reported to be around 6'1" and 175 pounds -- and called him a "Nazi" because of the man's black combat boots with red laces. The suspect told the victim to mind his own business. The victim told police he walked away from the restaurant and was followed by the suspect to the corner of Broadway and E John where the angry male allegedly slapped the Dick's bag out of the victim's hands. The victim continued to try to walk away but the suspect followed and punched him in the face near 10th and E John. The victim said he fell to the ground where the suspect continued to punch him in the face until a witness called 911 and the suspect fled the scene. An area check for a man matching the suspect description was not successful. The victim was treated by Seattle Fire at the scene for injuries to his face.

(Yes, there are multiple parks projects in the works for our area. However as Capitol Hill, already the densest neighborhood in the NW, continues to get denser, it would be wise to capture all the Green Spaces we can)

For immediate release                                                                                  May 18, 2012

Contact:          Karen O’Connor, 206-684-8020

                        Email: karen.o’connor@seattle.gov

 ... (more)

(Yes, there are new parks in the works, but our area is the most dense in the NW, and getting denser, so we should capture as much open space as we can)

2012/2013 Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund 

For immediate release                                                                                  May 18, 2012

Contact:          Karen O’Connor, 206-684-8020

                        Email: karen.o’connor@seattle.gov

Proposal... (more)

Sherlock Holmes says, "The wheel turns; nothing is ever new." Evidence number one: the First Hill streetcar. Its shiny, new set of wheels will soon turn again on the buried bones of the oldest streetcar on Capitol Hill.

If you're well schooled on Capitol Hill history, you know these origin stories: David Denny began selling and leasing John Nagle's property along Broadway in 1880, and James Moore developed the Capitol Hill area near Volunteer Park after 1900. We're going to talk about the period in between, a piece of early streetcar history that has not been chronicled.

A Ridge Too Far
You may remember our recent article about the Pine Street regrade. Pine Street was part of a "series of radiating regrades [which] carved down and filled in Seattle's topography." We all know that the Jackson and Dearborn regrades cut First Hill away from Beacon Hill, and that the Pike, Pine and Olive regrades made some space between First Hill and Capitol Hill. On the back side, the 12th Avenue regrade smoothed out the connection between First Hill and Second Hill (read the 12th Ave Re:Take). Call it 1901 to 1911.

Before all of that civil engineering madness Seattle was Pioneer Square, surrounded by mudflats to the south, a rise culminating in Denny Hill to the north, and a ridge running from Brooklyn (University Bridge) all the way south to Orilla (I-5/405 interchange). Some smart landowners who had visited San Francisco decided to put a cable car up and over First Hill and Second Hill, and down the back side to Lake Washington -- the Lake Washington cable car on Yesler Way. 1887.

Next over the ridge was the Madison Street cable car, up over the peak of the hill and again all the way to Lake Washington. 1890.

Investors on James Street decided to try something different. They ran a very short cable car from Pioneer Square just up to Broadway. From there, several small streetcars headed to parks to the north (Broadway) and south (Beacon Hill) on the ridge, as well as out to beaches on Lake Washington (Madrona). They called the system the Union Trunk Line. It was paid for by Seattle investors for the growth of Seattle, and everything down to the wheels was built in Seattle. 1891.

First Car on James St. Line [1891] (Courtesy Seattle Public Library, SHP 5131)

The Photograph
Speaking to its provenance, the University of Washington has a copy the photo that is undated. 1890 is the date on the Seattle Public Library's torn but higher quality image. They're only off by a year.

We're looking at the cable car portion of UTL on James Street. Notice how the ground below it is a wide wood road, and not just rails? The cable ran below that, pulling the car up towards the powerhouse at Broadway.

The James cable was built from January to May 1891. A photo of this same car -- #12 Spokane -- just a few feet up the road with all of the same passengers in the same attire was printed in the October, 1891 edition of Street Railway Review. Definitely 1891.

Besides the streetcar, two buildings are visible in this scene at the intersection of James and Broadway.

Up on the right is the old powerhouse, which was destroyed in 1960 to create James Way, the curved connection between Broadway and 12th. You can step on over to Central District News to read an installment of CD Rewind about that. So we can skip that topic.

On the left is Castlemount, one of the few named homes in Seattle's history. It was the first mansion on First Hill, in a peaceful setting that was pretty much ruined by the construction of the junction of Union Trunk Line's branches. Paul Dorpat already covered the house and it's owner, G. O. Haller in Now & Then Vol. 2, and has posted it to HistoryLink. So we can skip that topic, too.

James Street Powerhouse in 1960 (SMA, 63703)

The Broadway Branch
Let's focus on Broadway.

We care about the north spur of the Union Trunk Line. Called the Broadway branch or Broadway line, it ran to City Park and the Masonic cemetery. You know them as Volunteer Park and Lake View Cemetery (discussed in this Re:Take). The streetcar ended at Lynn Street -- then known as Havens -- at the northern boundary of the City of Seattle.

Capitol Hill was hardly settled at all, and more than a decade away from being called "Capitol Hill." In the 1890 directory, the Masonic cemetery is simply described as "East side Lake Union near north end Broadway." And it was still half-wild, as the Street Railway Review illustrates:

A workman who, on 7th of August 1891, was building a small waiting station half way down the line, was chased by a bear that came out of the woods. (October, 1891 p443)

A 1954 Seattle Times article even related the tale that the conductors carried rifles to protect themselves from cougars.

Union Trunk Line had a vision to change that sylvan image. Today the city is building a separated bikeway on Broadway. UTL wanted something much more dramatic, a streetcar boulevard:

The Trunk Line company will not merely build a street railway along Broadway, but will improve that thoroughfare so as to make a splendid boulevard of it, and cause it to become the favorite drive of the city. [To the northern terminus,] the car tracks will occupy fourteen feet between the outside tracks [in the center of the street]. Beyond these... the company will plant shade trees on each side. Beyond these again will be [roadways] twenty-seven feet wide, with broad sidewalks bounding them on the outer side. (Seattle PI, 8/25/1890)

It's not clear how much of the boulevard was actually built. But the article goes on to describe ornate brackets planned for the electric poles. You can see that they were actually installed: one of them is in the center of our picture, with "UTL" monogrammed on each side.

Although David Denny had been busy leasing and then selling John Nagle's land along Broadway, there is little available evidence of any sort of community on Capitol Hill before the Union Trunk Line opened access.

I'll Have My Name in Lights

James D. Lowman (Wikimedia)

There was a long list of men involved in the financing, construction and operation of the Union Trunk Line. Reviewing the Articles of Incorporation, the city franchise agreement, newspaper articles, and other sources reveals a confusing array which makes you wonder who was really running the show. The Street Railway Review helpfully focuses on the officers: E. F. Wittler, president; James D. Lowman, secretary and manager; Joseph F. McNaught, vp; R. R. Spencer, treasurer.

Lowman was a nephew of Henry Yesler, and managed his affairs after 1886. This included a large property north of Roy Street along Broadway. Lowman and Yesler are also listed along with McNaught and Leigh S. J. Hunt as the four men who wrote loans to the Union Trunk Line to subsidize the creation of the Broadway branch.

McNaught was a successful lawyer who was even more successful in real estate. Outside of his Seattle investments, he created the city of Anacortes and built and sold wheat farms on the Palouse.

Hunt was the owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and later got rich (again) with a literal gold mine in Korea. While living in Germany he decided to get involved in large-scale cotton farming in Egypt. He made headlines by falsely claiming that Booker T. Washington was going to help settle workers with a "back to Africa" campaign.

While we're on the subject of restless men with kooky stories, it would be a shame to not mention Ernest Hussey. Hussey was a consulting engineer in Seattle, who took the job of General Superintendent of the Union Trunk Line in 1892 when Andrew Jackson moved on. Hussey was born in 1865 on his father's merchant sailing ship off the mouth of the Saigon River in French Indochina. At the age of three he was shipwrecked with his father for six months in Brazil after their ship burned at sea. He spent his formative years in Yokohama, Japan and left for Boston a couple of years after the Satsuma Rebellion. In Massachusetts he apprenticed under several civil engineers, learning his trade on the job.

All of these men were Seattle pioneers™. Through their investment and efforts, Broadway steadily developed and grew. In 1893's financial panic, though, many of them lost their Union Trunk Line holdings along with their fortunes. One of the men waiting to profit from their loss was Marcellus Harwood Young.

Young Man, 'Cuz You're In a New Town
M. H. Young visited Seattle in 1889, probably just after the Great Fire. He returned to Massachusetts and formed the New England Northwestern Investment Company. This poorly-understood corporation was formed by a group of Massachusetts men to make money in Seattle during the rebuilding and expansion after the Great Fire. Young moved from Boston in January of 1890 to manage it directly.

His name does not appear in any known document from the creation of the Union Trunk Line. Suddenly, though, in 1893 he became president, taking that spot from Wittler. One clue is a 1907 lawsuit, which described him as the holder of Henry Yesler's loan to the Union Trunk Line, and explained that Lowman had sold much of Yesler's real estate holdings under financial pressure. Possibly Young acquired other control of UTL and stepped in to lead the company during the financial collapse.

In 1899, UTL was one of the first companies to sell out to Seattle Electric Company. Jacob Furth methodically purchased every streetcar in Seattle for the national power and rail conglomerate Stone & Webster. UTL was one of only two SEC acquisitions to never enter bankruptcy, a testament to Young's leadership.

Young stayed as one of the executives at SEC, and oversaw the rebuilding and partial dismantling of UTL. The rails were upgraded, and new cars put into service. SEC took advantage of the municipal regrade of Pike Street to run rails directly from downtown, up Pike and north on Broadway, alleviating the need for a transfer at the top of the James Cable. This discontinued streetcar service from James to Pike, commencing a century-long gap in rail connection between the two hills.

The city bought out SEC in 1919, and streetcars disappeared from Broadway entirely in 1940. But let's save the Pike-Broadway streetcar story for another day.

Fransioli Home, 1102 Harvard E (Image: Rob Ketcherside)

Viking Ship Burial
When he first came to Seattle, Young lived on Second Hill at the corner of 17th and Spruce. In about 1894 he moved to Beacon Hill, at the corner of 13th S and Judkins. That's now just south of PacMed.

His daughter Josephine Young married Thomas Fransioli in 1901. They lived in a couple of apartments and then built a house in the north Broadway neighborhood (now Harvard-Belmont) when their first child was born. The birth of their second, Thomas, Jr., spurred them to hire a nanny and maid. They were living every young mom and dad's dream.

It got even better. In 1909, Grandfather Young gave up on Beacon Hill. Maybe he wanted to spend more time with his grand kids now that he was retired. Maybe his old house was inaccessible after the destruction of the ridge to Beacon Hill during the Dearborn and Jackson regrades. Whatever the cause, he built a mansion a block away from his daughter at Broadway and Prospect. It's condominiums now. It's also on page 146 of Classic Houses of Seattle, written by Seattle Central's Caroline Swope.

Young Home, 954 Broadway E (Image: Rob Ketcherside)

Soon after moving to North Broadway Young crossed paths with Joseph Glasgow, a character from the very first CHS Re:Take, Hidden Stories of Love. In Bagley's History of Seattle, the pinnacle of Glasgow's career is described as the defense of one Peter Miller. Miller had been convicted of burglaries and murder in and around Seattle and Tacoma. Glasgow had all of the convictions overturned, arguing that Miller had confessed under duress.

One of the homes burgled was Young's brand new mansion in June of 1909, during the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. It was the first of Miller's crimes that resulted in conviction.

Sadly, M. H. Young did not live to see Miller convicted of the burglary for the second time. Young died in January, 1913, and Miller was reconvicted in September, 1913.

But Young died in marvelous fashion. Here was a man that led the Union Trunk Line for almost a decade, and himself lived on and commuted on the line for his entire time in Seattle. Even if he wasn't involved in its construction, he was pivotal to its success. So it is poetic the way that Young died.

He spent the evening with his daughter Josephine Fransioli, playing cards at the home of his friend Howard Thomas at Broadway and Columbia. Around midnight they walked to Pike and boarded the streetcar for the ride home. He and Josephine chatted idly. Suddenly Young gasped and leaned back in his seat. He was dead almost immediately of a heart attack.

Addendum: He Did What?
M. H. Young is best remembered for coining the name of Beacon Hill. Supposedly. But, where's the evidence? Here's a typical citation on the Internet, from the city's page for Beacon Hill Park:

M.H. Young, who developed a street car line to Beacon Hill in 1895, suggested the name for the hill--and thus the playground--after Beacon Hill in his native Boston, Massachusetts.

We already know the streetcar was built in 1891, not 1895. The quote comes straight from the usually-reliable Don Sherwood park history file, so I don't blame the city. But did Young really name Beacon Hill?

Here's what HistoryLink has to say:

Union Army veteran and real estate developer M. Harwood Young (1846-1913) named the hill in 1889 for Boston's historic Beacon Hill and built a streetcar line connecting the neighborhood to downtown.

The Don Sherwood document listed is a source for the article. The only other trustworthy source is Clarence Bagley. In 1916's History of Seattle, Bagley erroneously listed M. H. Young as one of the founders of the Union Trunk Line. Bagley said, "On November 10, 1891, the Union Trunk Line was organized by J. D. Lowman, M. H. Young, E. H. Wittler and associates." The date is wrong. Wittler and Lowman along with a host of other important Seattle men funded, built and operated the Trunk Line. But, Young doesn't enter the UTL paper trail until 1893. So we can't trust Bagley. M. H. Young did not build a streetcar line connecting Beacon Hill to downtown. But did he really name Beacon Hill?

The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Beacon Hill Historic Context Statement puts it this way:

M. Harwood Young, a Union Army veteran and representative of New England and Northwest Investment Company of Boston, moved to the Beacon Hill area in 1889. Young came to Seattle as an investor with an interest in building Seattle’s streetcar system. Mr. Young gave Beacon Hill its name.

In his obituary in 1913, his family says he moved to Seattle in 1890. Various histories of Seattle say that he moved here in January, 1890. He didn't move to Beacon Hill until about 1894. The name of the company he represented in Seattle was New England Northwestern Investment Company, not that variant. It's strange that in a citation-heavy document, no source is listed for information about Young. This is extremely suspect. But did he name Beacon Hill?

You Have No Reason to Believe
There's one possibility. NENIC could have owned a chunk of property on Beacon Hill, and subsidized the south extension on Broadway. But where is the evidence? Someone on Beacon Hill needs to stop freakin' and figure out who really named Beacon Hill and why.

There should be an easy paper trail if it was Young. During 1889 or 1890 he would have needed to make a major marketing splash with a large real estate development. Otherwise, why would they put "Beacon Hill" on the front of the Union Trunk Line streetcars in 1891?

Getting Closure
At least up here we have a healthy debate about the origin of Capitol Hill. We know it was Moore, we know he was talking about having the state capitol here, and only wonder if he was sincere about that. Down on Beacon Hill they settle for tacit acceptance of a hole-ridden story.

What is completely clear and certainly not up for debate is that the Union Trunk Line was pivotal in developing Broadway from Volunteer Park to First Hill -- as well as developing north Beacon Hill and Madrona. In 1891 these far-flung pastures and woods were suddenly directly connected to the heart of the city.

It was the birth of the neighborhoods we know and love.

Special thanks to Richard Wilkens for sharing UTL documents. Also to the rest of the nascent Seattle Street Railway Historical Society (email seattlestreetrailwayhistory@gmail.com for meeting info). Thanks to Dotty Decoster for spotting the historic photo. And of course SPL and SMA.

In case you missed them, here are the last few Re:Takes on CHS:

• Why Capitol Hill's Bauhaus block matters
• The Carroll, the girls, and the dirt -- Naming an unnamed Capitol Hill alley
• Undermining the Republican Senator from Melrose

Local history expert Rob Ketcherside shares his vision of the past and present with his Re:Take series of works on CHS and other Seattle sites.

Other things to do at CHBP. From 2011's Day One (Image: CHS)

We've been hearing a lot about changes coming for the Capitol Hill Block Party starting with this July's 2012 edition. One of the new additions apparently will take the form of an arts program at the three-day festival curated by Ghost Gallery's Laurie Kearney.

This week, Kearney began circulating information on a fundraising effort to help provide stipends to artists participating in the Block Party visual art program.

You can learn more about the drive and its $10,000 goal here: indiegogo.com/GhostArtBlockParty

We're told Kearney is hoping to be able to organize sponsorship support, grants and possibly financial support from the festival's backers to augment the artist stipends. And, while the program's components are nearly set, there will also be a need for more artists to help contribute to projects like a planned graffiti wall.

2012 marks the third year of the expanded three-day format for the Block Party. Bigger names performing this year include Neko Case, Major Lazer and Diplo. Organizers have marketed the festival as "the final" Capitol Hill Block Party with allusions to the Mayan 2012 apocalypse and, possibly, the transitioning nature of the event as it matures into a bigger business and more significant component of Pacific Northwest summer culture.

Capitol Hill Block Party 2011, originally uploaded by spratt504.

Here's the full statement on the Block Party art program fundraising effort. Kearney has her work cut out for her. The first -- and only -- contribution made as of this posting far is 25 bucks from yours truly.

Ghost Gallery has been approved to curate the first-ever, innovative visual art program for the 2012 Capitol Hill Block Party! With over 27,000 expected guests, this is a wonderful way to engage our local artistic community and provide a dynamic, interactive environment for visitors of all ages.

 

Since most of the artwork involved will be large format, and/or technological in nature, the cost of materials will be significant for individual artists. Funds raised will be used to provide artist stipends to most, if not all, participating artists. Canvas, Paint, Metal, Projectors, Paper, you name it. It gets expensive. Our goal is to help our artists create what they truly envision for the festival, without being limited by financial constraints.

 

We are creating 3 levels of perks, where donors can receive limited edition tote bags, a bottle of boutiwue wine (for donors 21+), or even your logo on the Art Map!

 

Your contribution will help our artists focus on creating the work, rather than how they are going to pay for it. The impact of integrating a unique, thriving music festival with sophisticated, engaging visual art serves to liven our community as a whole.

 

If you are unable to contribute, you can help us out by spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter, and your own websites! Thank you so much for considering our project~

118/365 - Bike Parking,
uploaded by Meghan A.

Friday is Bike to Work Day, and there will be bike commute stations set up all over the region to give people passing by a little boost or a place to rest. Many commuters will make their way to City Hall for an 8 a.m. rally. For more details on Bike to Work Day festivities, see this post over at Seattle Bike Blog.

Stations around the neighborhood include one on Seattle U's campus, Stevens Elementary, Top Pot at Lakeview and Belmont and Eltana Bagels at Schemata Workshop on 12th Ave. A map from Cascade Bicycle Club is below.

View Bike Month Activities & Bike to Work Day Stations in a larger map

QFC Liquor, originally uploaded by Lookin4TallGuys.

Unlike the plans for the soon-to-be-former state liquor store at 12th and Pine, the Broadway store has faced a more uncertain future -- there might be a more lucrative way to put the property to use than joining the new era of privatized spirits retailing on Capitol Hill.

The Washington Liquor Control Board announced this week that the winning bidder for the rights to the Broadway store has backed out on his bid making the store one of 18 in the state heading for another auction one week before the June 1st rollover to the new way of doing booze business:

On May 24, 2012, the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) will host a new live auction of the rights for 18 state liquor stores. Following the online auction that ended April 20, 2012, top-bidders representing 18 stateliquor stores did not pay their posted bid, sacrificing their deposit. Bidders representing 149 state liquor stores have already paid a total of $25.9 million in bid fees to the state.

“This has been a highly successful auction process,” said WSLCB Business Enterprise Director Pat McLaughlin. “We have already collected nearly $26 million in bids plus about one million more in fees.”

 Bids in the online auction that ended April 20 totaled $30.75 million. Following the live auction, the WSLCB estimates total bids and fees will exceed $31 million.

Live Public Auction Details

• ·         Date:               May 24, 2012
• ·         Time:               Registration at 9:00 a.m. Live bids at 10:00 a.m.
• ·         Location:         WSLCB Distribution Center, 4401 East Marginal Way in Seattle
• ·         Format:            Live public auction led by local auction company
• ·         Bid deposit:     $10,000

Successful bidders will win the exclusive right to apply for a liquor license at the current location within its current footprint. All state liquor stores are below the 10,000 square foot threshold for liquor sales established by Initiative 1183.

Earlier, CHS reported that the rights to the store at 400 Broadway E had been won with a $255,000 bid by a man named James Hasty . CHS has attempted to contact Hasty to find out more about this plans -- and find out if he's the same James Hasty as the NFL great and Bellevue business man -- but we our messages were never returned and the Broadway property's owner say it had been fielding inquiries from "non-liquor store" tenants about the space. The winning bidders in the state auction only acquire the right to sell liquor at the existing store or at a nearby location within a one-mile radius.

While acquiring the state store rights could put the winner in the unique position of being able to operate a smaller-than-10,000 square feet liquor store in the heart of a major city, there is concern the spirits retailing business might not be as lucrative as it has been in the past with QFC across the street and many local bars and restaurants transitioning to the new booze economy. The Broadway store did more than $2.9 million in gross sales in fiscal year 2011, according to the state.

While it's not clear if no deal could be brokered between the landlords and Hasty, CHS was told by the winner in an auction for another Seattle store that the 2nd Ave location's buyer ended up backing out because he couldn't settle on a lease with that location's owners. We've checked in with the 400 Broadway E property owners to see if we can learn more about the situation and will update if we hear back. UPDATE: No leases have been signed for the space, CHS has been told, and landlords are open to working with the winning bidder should one emerge from the upcoming live auction.

Unlike employees at 12th and Pine who will retained, the new owner told CHS, the state liquor store workers on Broadway will, of course, lose their jobs if the space transitions into a new area of business.

In the meanwhile, you can add one more Capitol Hill store to the roster of those planning to deal booze in the post 1183 world. Last week, Central Co-op announced that its board had decided to apply for a spirits retailing license following a community process to gauge the cooperative members' interest in adding hard liquor to the E Madison grocery's offerings.

There's already a lot going on around Capitol Hill this weekend -- but let us know if we're missing your special event. You can always add items to the free CHS Events Calendar here. Don't forget to stop by the Bite on Broadway on Sunday, the first big event for the Broadway Business Owners Association.

Thursday 5/17

• May Capitol Hill Community Council Meeting 6 - 8P at Cal Anderson Shelter House
• Free GLBT Legal Clinic Meets Monthly in Seattle 7 - 9P at QLAW
• VOCALPOINT! SEATTLE PRESENTS "POP QUIZ!" 8P - 10:30P at Broadway Performance Hall
• Spanish Dancers: Unforgettable Wine tasting at Vino Verite
• SIFF 2012 begins

Friday 5/18

• The Social's grand opening Carnaval
• Tae Phoenix performs at first night for Evo Tapas
• "Two on Friday" @ EVS Wines 3P - 6P
• Skin Storm continues at True Love
• HIV Vaccine Awareness Day with the Sisters at Madison Pub
• The Capitol Hill Talent Show Week 3 at The Grill on Broadway
• 4Kmi. Sam Perales film by Mark Kirkland at Alive and Well

Saturday 5/19

• WSDOT 520 design meeting, 9a at Seattle Prep
• Champions League Final and Sounders double-header screened at Golazo HQ with Steve Zakuani
• Weekly indoor Capitol Hill flea market at Century Ballroom, 11a-3p
• First Book Read-a-thon 11AM - 3P at Elliott Bay Books
• Cake Pops and Cupcakes for Teen Feed at the CakeSpy Shop, 2p
• BDX Drum Competition at Garfield High
• GeekGirlCon Benefit Art Auction at Ltd. Art Gallery
• Seattle Works Day 12P - 3:30P
• Quadstock 12P - 10P at Seattle University
• tSBack to the Future Showcase 1P - 4P at EMP Third Floor
• Capitol Hill Trivia Crawl 3P - 6:30P Meets at the corner of Broadway and East Republican
• Elliott Bay Books: Nelson, Savish, Noel, Stallings 7 - 8P at Elliott Bay Books
• Good vs. Evil: An Alumni Spectacular 9P - 11P at The Odd Fellows Building, 2nd Floor
• The Big Dig Record Show at Vermillion

Sunday 5/20

• Bite on Broadway -- 3p-7p

On Broadway between E. Roy St. and E. Pike St.

Sample Seattle’s best Food and Tunes and music by local artists

Up to $3 food sampling and where you can pick up your punchcard at participating Broadway retail stores.

I’ve long said Capitol Hill has Seattle’s best food, best espresso, best chocolate, best desserts and some of the best Chefs in the Northwest. Combine that with local music in the same neighborhood that was the stomping ground for Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain and local art…and well, does it get any better?

Call your friends, grab your partner, pick up a card at a participating merchant on Broadway and start your “Bite”. And don’t forget to pay tribute to the local icon of music at Jimi’s statue on Broadway and Pine.

Participating restaurants and businesses to date (many more to come):

Pagliacci Pizza
Julia’s
Peet’s Coffee
The Confectional
Qdoba
MOD Pizza
Blue Moon
Charlie’s
Americana
Apothecary
Hardware
Panache
LAB 5
Joule
700
Perfect Copy
Golds Gym
Wedgewood
Samurai Noodle
Pinto Bistro
Bako
Kanape
Jai Tai
QFC
5 Fish Bistro
LA Cocina
GNC
Tully's coffee

• Seattle Tomato Plant Sale 11A - 3P at 1802 17th Avenue
• Capitol Hill's Broadway Farmers Market, 11a-3p at Seattle Central
• Hangover Flea Market at the Comet
• Sunday Mimosas with Mama brunch at the Grill on Broadway
• Beat the Bridge run gums up the U District
• PARTNER PRENATAL YOGA 2:30 - 4P at 8 Limbs Capitol Hill
• WHACKED: A Night of Killer Dance 7P -10P at Velocity Dance Center
• Clean your closet and sign up for the June 9th Capitol Hill Garage Sale Day

What follows below was written by a number of students seeking recognition and permission from their high school to form a LGBT club on campus.

I was fortunate to have interacted in and out of the classroom with a number of the kids seeking this recognition. 
If asked, I would be happy to play some minor role in advising them, or mediating with the school officials for recognition. 
I may be much more aware of what they might face as their church has taken a strong stand on their position with the gay community. On the one hand they claim to love all people, as they define gays as "intrinsically disordered." 
Not the kind of love I ever want to receive! 
Can you imagine how that feels to a teenager full of angst about just about everything in their lives!! 
The Archbishop in the Seattle Archdiocese has been appointed by the Pope to bring the nuns back into conformance with their stated positions on a number of subjects. (See article in today’s Seattle paper) They feel the nuns have... (more)

Jill Wenger is ready to unveil the new home of her Totokaelo, a Seattle-founded fashion brand and store that has just completed its move from Western Ave to Capitol Hill's 10th Ave. The store neighboring Elliott Bay Book Co. will open its doors for the first time Thursday at 2p.

Wenger told CHS last month that the new Totokaelo will expand on the fashion and style provider's years of retail experience on Western and online:

The new store will continue to represent the fashion categories and style it's become known for, along with introducing: furniture, lighting, linens, ceramics, vintage textiles, rugs, objects and art.  The brand off-shoot "Totokaelo Art & Object" launches with the opening, and will encapsulate these new non-apparel related products.

Expect the 10th Ave space to also feature a new line of furniture.

In March, Everyday Music completed a move across the street from the space now inhabited by Totokaelo. The retailer joins Elliott Bay and will neighbor Oddfellows Cafe and fellow retailer NuBe Green. Around the corner in the Odd Fellows building, Molly Moon's has put its plans to expand into the former Flora and Henri shop on hold. Meanwhile, 10th Ave lost a tenant in February when sex club Tribe/Basic Plumbing abruptly closed down.

In our recent discussion with Totokaelo's Wenger, the CEO also addressed the store's price point:

(Image: Oddfellows)

What about the CHS commenters who will say pffft to an expensive boutique, I'll never shop there, blah blah bah? Anything to say to sway them? Or just tell them to fuck off?

Totokaelo is a specialty shop. It doesn't proclaim to have something for everybody. If you can't tell the difference between a 20.00 pair of pants and a 200.00 pair, then fuck it, buy the 20.00 ones, right?

But for the person that can tell the difference, the person that wants to discuss Raf Simmons' final collection for Jil Sander, or French seaming, or the Antwerp 6, Totokaelo won't disappoint.  We love what we do.  We are enthusiasts.

In my mind, there's a commonality between enthusiasts of any kind. Whether it be coffee, farm-to-table food, fixed gear bikes, etc. I appreciate it when someone finds something that gets them excited.   Hopefully the feeling is mutual.

You can learn more at totokaelo.com.

UPDATE: CHS stopped by but were told no photos of the space until some larger fish in the global media pond get their turn (rhymes with Blue Cork Limes). Here's a glimpse of the front and a sad little sidewalk shot. Look, shoes!

Campaign signs near McCormick's geographic base of supporters (Image: CHS)

Sitting in his 14th floor downtown Seattle office, Dick McCormick pulls out packet of paper he printed and stapled himself. “Appearing on the Presidential Ballot of Washington State” is splashed across the front page.

“It's not easy running for president,” he says, dropping the packet onto his desk with a thud.

Dick McCormick isn't a wacky billionaire or egotistical blowhard – that would at least make his 2012 run as an independent candidate for president a little less confounding. Despite the odds, this 48-year Capitol Hill resident and financial adviser seems really normal, and really serious.

“Usually the first question I get asked is 'are you serious?' The second is 'do you think you can win?' And the third is 'yeah, but do you really think you can win?” His answer is a definitive and defiant yes on all accounts.

Full disclosure: CHS would not have heard of McCormick's run for the highest office in the land if not for his decision to launch a lavish CHS advertising campaign supporting his candidacy. We won't disclose his expenditure but you can see for yourself that our standard ad positions top out at $300 a month. We will say we were not paid to run this article and, in the spirit of equal time, we'll extend offers of interviews to other competitors in the race at any time.

A still from a McCormick campaign video

On June 23 McCormick is holding his official nominating convention in Volunteer Park. Seattle wedding rockers/crooners The Dudely Manlove Quartet will perform.

Apparently, you really do need a convention. Here's a civics lesson quickie for the day: In Washington state, candidates who want their name on the ballot must hold a  convention to gather verifiable signatures from 1,000 registered voters (Democratic and Republican nominees are automatically placed on the ballot). If he makes the ballot, McCormick would then have to win a majority of the vote in the general election to win the state's 12 electoral college votes.

Of course, that's just Washington state. McCormick has made no formal effort to make the ballot in any other state, meaning he would need to launch one hell of a viral video to garner write-in votes across the country.

McCormick says he's confident he'll get the 1,000 signatures, but if he doesn't he would pursue a write-in strategy in Washington. McCormick's brother, who lives in Tennessee, is running as his vice president.

McCormick, owner of McCormick Capital Management, has never run for public office, never had aspirations to be president. So why would a 65-year-old financial advisor with a secure retirement just around the corner bother with a practically impossible run for the nation's highest office? War is one reason. McCormick says opposing foreign wars have been a defining issue for him since he marched against the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Fighting the gridlock of the two-party system is another. McCormick brands himself as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. In his personable, folksy style he touts simple, a-political solutions and admonishes the “tyranny” of the two major parties.

He supports full marriage equality for gay couples and civil rights protections at the federal level. He wants a universal health care system and cuts in social security to keep it fiscally solvent. He's a states-rights proponent and wants to take a match to the tax system (see his mock explosion video of 14 reams of paper, representing the length of the U.S. tax code).

McCormick says he hasn't voted for president since the 1980s, except his vote for Barack Obama in 2008 because of the president's anti-war position. McCormick says Obama's failure to extract the military from the Middle East was another major reason behind his decision to run. “He did not do what he said he would do. I've been very disappointed by his escalation of the wars.”

McCormick admits he's up against some heavy odds and lots of money. Since registering with the Federal Election Commission last year, his campaign has received around $6,000 in donations. By comparison, President Obama's campaign raised $43.6 million last month alone.

“My wife says if I lose, I have to pay all the money back,” he says.

Aside from some, ahem, small web advertisements, McCormick's PR has consisted mainly of videos of speeches posted to his website and a song written by his neighbor. His geographical base is primarily situated along 18th Ave., where a few neighbors have put up campaign signs.

McCormick has lived on the Hill for 48 years and is a trove of Hill history. Nearly all of those years he's spent in the same house near St. Joesph's Church at 18th and Aloha. His wife runs a winter homeless shelter out of the church basement.

“I originally moved to Capitol Hill when it was the cheapest place to buy. Nobody wanted to live there, the houses were falling down, and the houses were all condemned around us.”

Long before the Bauhaus building squabble, McCormick was fighting to retain historic charm on Capitol Hill. While on the Capitol Hill Community Council in the 70s and 80s, McCormick says one of the biggest fights was to protect the large brick apartment buildings at the southwest corner of Volunteer Park. He was also active when Broadway's electrical wires went underground and the “dancing feet” hit the sidewalks.

He recalled the story of an old man walking into a Capitol Hill Council meeting in the 1970s, asking to name the play field in Cal Anderson Park after Bobby Morris.

“You ask 'well, who the hell is Bobby Morris?' It turns out this guy's best friend at Broadway High School was Bobby Morris … and this is what he wanted to do in honor of his friend … The Parks Department said if the Capitol Hill Community Council doesn't have a problem with it, we don't have a problem with it. We were pretty easy going.”

Sometimes, the local news business is just about being in the right place. Wednesday afternoon, CHS took a few minutes to enjoy a Little Uncle lunch in the triangle park in front of the under-construction and super-green Bullitt Center at 15th and Madison. Then CHS left. Not long after, we're told, "dozens of F.B.I., secret service, and Seattle Police officers" arrived -- and so did the president of Bulgaria.

According to people familiar with the details of the visit, Rosen Plevneliev included a visit to the construction site for the greenest commercial building in the world as part of a "NATO Summit trip to Chicago." We're told he was the former Minister of Construction and is very interested in green building and spoke on the need for human behavior change to meet ambitious and important energy efficiency goals.

The Bullitt project is working toward a late 2012 completion and was most recently approved to include a massive solar array in its green plans. The University of Washington integrated design laboratory and Northwest headquarters of the Green Building Council are slated to join the Bullitt Foundation in the low energy building.

Meanwhile, if like Plevneliev, you have an interest in things "eco," you'll want to mark your calendar for May 29th's Capitol Hill Housing forum on creating a Capitol Hill "EcoDistrict" -- 

Creating an EcoDistrict:
How do we make Capitol Hill a model of sustainable development?

Capitol Hill Housing presents the 7 annual Capitol Hill Community Forum

Date:               May 29, 2012

Location:         Broadway Performance Hall

1625 Broadway

Seattle, WA 98122

Time:               5:00 PM Doors Open

                        5:30 PM Presentation and Panel Discussion

7:00 PM Reception

An  is sustainability applied at the neighborhood scale.  provide a framework for realizing advanced sustainability – increasing efficiencies, reducing pollution, restoring ecosystems, and improving communities – through behavior change, building design, and infrastructure investments.  commit to achieving ambitious sustainability performance goals, guiding  investments and community action, and tracking the results over time.

In March 2011 the Bullitt Foundation awarded Capitol Hill Housing a grant to spearhead the creation of an  on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Working with architecture firm GGLO, Capitol Hill Housing spent six months researching the establishment of an in our neighborhood. On May 29, we welcome the community to our annual Community Forum as an opportunity to present our findings and open a dialogue between local representatives, national  experts, and our friends and neighbors on Capitol Hill.

At the forum, CHH will unveil the  report, an in depth study of starting an  on Capitol Hill. An ambitious plan to create the state’s first neighborhood , the report organizes goals into six areas: Community, Transportation, Energy, Water, Habitat, and Materials. Members of the community will have opportunities to volunteer to work on  projects that match their interests and areas of expertise.

Following a presentation of the  report, there will be a panel discussion led by moderator Ron Sims, former HUD Deputy Secretary and King County Executive

Distinguished panelists:

• Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn

• Denis Hayes, President of the Bullitt Foundation and Founder of Earth Day

• Naomi Cole, EcoDistrict Program Director at Portland Sustainability Institute

• Llewellyn Wells, President of Living City Block

• Rebecca Saldaña, Equitable Transit Oriented Development Program Director at Puget Sound Sage

The event is free and open to the public. Space is limited. Press is encouraged to attend. RSVP required:  http://chhforum2012.eventbrite.com/

The  overview and full report are available online: http://capitolhillhousing.org/inthecommunity/ecodistrict.php

Maggie Thorpe is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory. CHS is proud to feature the work of promising young journalists provided by the lab.

The bright and colorful pop tunes thump away. The sounds are familiar, but have a unique rhythm. They encourage listeners to sway to the music. Eventually something becomes apparent: “Wait, this isn’t English!” For those who are unfamiliar with the increasingly popular music from Asia, it is most likely K-pop -- Korean pop -- or J-pop -- Japanese pop.

JK Pop! Night is a new DJ night moving into Capitol Hill’s just-opened Barboza this Wednesday, May 16 from 9p to 2a This “labor of love” concept of a non-mainstream American music night began when three fans of J-pop and K-pop music met.

“I’d been toying around with the concept of a J-pop/K-pop dance party, primarily because I wanted to see if there was a thriving fan base of people in that particular genre of music,” said Reese Umbaugh, also known as DJ Bishie. “I’ve known Alex Thomas, DJ BabyLoveCrash, for years and knew she really loved Japanese music and culture, and I met Allen Huang, DJ Hojo, and immediately sparked up a conversation about K-pop with him, and it all just kind of came together from there.”

The monthly event was born in the Alibi Room near Pike Place Market, but it outgrew that location, organizers said. With the power of word-of-mouth and the Internet, JK Pop Night has steadily been gaining fans. 

The niche fan base was what attracted the DJs to collaborate, mainly because of their frustrations in trying to share the foreign music. 

“We were tired of bombarding our friends with links to video and dancing in our chairs at work, so we decided to reserve a space for a dance night. And then another one. And then another one. Really, we don’t see a reason to stop,” said Hojo.

“I would dance every day in my car and apartment to K-pop, wishing I could show off these sweet moves in a club,” said BabyLoveCrash. “I resigned to myself that I would have to save up to dance in a club in Korean one day, although they probably wouldn’t play the exact songs I wanted to hear.” 

The DJs guarantee that there will be an even mix of fresh songs and classics with plenty of remixes. While Bishie and BabyLoveCrash focus more on K-pop, Hojo will focus on J-pop. 

“J-pop has been a secret love of mine for forever,” said Hojo. “Right now, the electro-pop and dance music scenes in Japan seem to be really firing on all cylinders, doing stuff that’s really unique compared to the rest of the world.” 

J-pop and K-pop’s influence in the United States is growing. Earlier this year, Girls’ Generation, one of the front-runners for K-pop, performed on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” With little to no promotion in the U.S., K-pop has even been charting on the U.S. Billboard. 

“I see a small, but devoted fan base growing bigger and bigger as K-pop and J-pop gets better and better,” said Hojo. “It’d be amazing to hear stuff like Big Bang right next to Rihanna on Top 40 radio, but I’m not holding my breath for that."

Of course, fans of J-pop and K-pop should definitely come to the event, but for casual listeners and those who have not heard of this genre before, Bishie said, “JK Pop! Nights are really fun, unpretentious, and you’ll see a lot of uncontrollable dancing. We just want people to have a great time, and I think that our efforts show.”

So get your kawaii clothes on and do an aegyo pose and get ready for, as DJ Hojo calls it, “the best night of the month.”

Are you a fan of an outside-the-mainstream DJ night on the Hill that others should know about? Let us know in comments.

For more information, check out JK! Pop’s Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jkpopnight. Tickets are $3.

The Monster at the End of this Book, today, of course has an app. CHS is fairly certain it can produce as many giggles as the original. There's a celebration of stories like that and the people who love them this Saturday at Elliott Bay Book Co. Here are the details on the First Book Seattle Read-a-Thon sent to us by Tamara Bunnell:

First Book Seattle is hosting a Read-a-Thon this Saturday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the downstairs reading room at Elliott Bay. The day will feature local celebrities reading from the first books that really got them excited about reading when they were children. Local author Sherman Alexie will read, for example, as will spoken word artist Daemond Arrindell. Also included will be legislator Jim McDermott, Jody Hall from Cupcake Royale, Paul Constant from The Stranger, and some Rat City Roller Girls to name a few.

There will be a raffle for some amazing gift baskets, a silent auction of more favorite children's books inscribed by local authors, and plenty of snacks.

The event is free and open to the public, and we encourage children and families to attend.

The goal of the event, and the goal of First Book, is to raise money to buy books for low income children and classrooms. I'm including the official press release here that also includes a link to the First Book website if you'd like to learn more about the organization. Interested parties can also friend First Book Seattle on Facebook.

Day-of Reading Schedule:

11:10 AM     Poet Daemond Arrindell reading Where The Wild Things Are
11:20 AM     Elizabeth Kruse reading Wait til the Moon is Full
11:30 AM     Sherman Alexie reading The Snowy Day
11:40 AM     Jennie Richie reading The Monster at the End of This Book
11:50 AM     Rat City Rollergirl Shovey Chase (Jennifer Warnick) reading Click, Clack, Moo
12:10 PM     Poet Martha Silano reading The Little Red Hen
12:20 PM     Librarian Misha Stone reading from Frog & Toad Together
12:30 PM     Congressman Jim McDermott reading from The Black Tanker
12:40 PM     Cupcake maven Jody Hall reading from Where the Sidewalk Ends
12:50 PM     Seattle Police Officer
1:10 PM       Brian McGuigan reading from The Light in the Attic
1:20 PM       Seattle Firefighter reading The Fire Cat
1:30 PM       Overlake High student Jennifer Zhan reading from The Phantom Tollbooth
1:40 PM       Seattle Police Officer
1:50 PM       Seattle Public Schools teacher Erin Dunlap reading Blueberries for Sal
2:10 PM       Seattle Monorail driver Craig Nelson reading The Little Red Hen
2:20 PM       Seattle Police Officer
2:30 PM       Stranger columnist Paul Constant reading The Monster at the End of This Book
2:40 PM       Lacey Jane Henson reading from Gnomes
2:50 PM       US Air Force pilot Brendan Harrison reading Football Fugitive

(Image: CHS)

The investors who swooped in after financial troubles made one prime Pike/Pine development opportunity available earlier this year have decided to double down in the neighborhood. The Arizona-based Wolff Co. announced Wednesday that it has purchased the Sunset Electric building at 11th and Pine for $6.7 million. The developers plan to continue the approved mixed-use project started by seller Pryde Johnson which faced foreclosure on the property. 

“We believe very strongly in the quality of the Capitol Hill neighborhood and are excited to be a part of the effort to bring some of its more historic buildings back into service for the benefit of the entire community,” Tim Wolff said in a statement on the purchase.

Artist renderings of the planned structure (Image: Weber Thompson)

(Image: Weber Thompson)

(Image: Weber Thompson)

The ambitious project will incorporate a facade of the old Sunset Electric factory where the 11th and Pine poster wall stands today. The Sunset Electric project will include 89 residential units above the restored auto row building with two-floor tall commercial spaces at ground level and underground parking for 33 vehicles. The building is currently *partly* empty and boarded but a cultural center in the area thanks to its wild and wide array of posters, street art and random things that get stuck to its old, masonry walls. UPDATE: Thanks to Lola for the question in comments. We're checking whether the structure housing The Crypt and Purr is, indeed, part of the development parcel. We'll follow up with Wolff to ask them about plans to work with any existing tenants. UPDATE: According to county parcel records, Purr and the Crypt are part of the adjacent building not the parcel slated for redevelopment.

(Image: CHS)

Pryde Johnson purchased the building for $2.9 million in 2006. Its development project began the public design review process way back in summer of 2009. With the six-story project's land use permit approved and valid through March 2014, Wolff can pick up where Pryde Johnson left off and carry the Weber Thompson design forward.

(Image: CHS)

The Sunset name refers to a manufacturing company that called the 1916 building home for a time. It is also known as the Spray King  building and was once home to Winton Motor Co., according to neighborhood activist  Dennis Saxman. The project was planned to be part of the city's Priority Green Pilot Program. We published this series of artist renderings of the project here.

Wolff now has two major investments at play within blocks of each other in Pike/Pine. Last month, CHS reported on the $14.9 million purchase of the old BMW facility between Pike and Pine where the developers are planning a mixed-use apartment building that will incorporate the old facility's brick facade.

Both projects are now part of what is being called an "unprecedented wave" of development in the Pike/Pine neighborhood that is putting zoning and preservation laws to the test.

As with the 714 E Pike project, the developers have again created a site intended to provide information on the 11 and Pine development and collect feedback. You can find it at 11andpine.com. (more)