I’ve written it before and will use it again. You have to look back to move forward. Here is the first of our 4-part retrospective on 2008 on Capitol Hill. This series will focus on the newsier side of things but don’t despair — I also plan to put together another post or two highlighting some of our best and ??? posts and also a few lists and posts to commemorate some of the other parts of life on the Hill. Hopefully able to work up a few collaborations, too, — captothehill, call me. Hillku? What do you mean, you two work alone? That’s confusing!

Barack Obama and his many Hill tributes notwithstanding, 2008 was a big year of change for CHS. Midyear, we went from essays and notes on a part of Capitol Hill written by one person (um, me) to a site with multiple contributors, an open community format and a focus on all parts of Capitol Hill. To get us started, here’s how it all ended — two months of parties in the streets, not a bad way to end a year, no?

DECEMBER 2008

Snow defeats buses

 

• The biggest snowstorm in a decade blanketed, then smothered the Hill.
• Two charter buses made national news with a bad decision on an icy Thomas Street.
• Small businesses struggled and died.
• Oddfellows, Bus Stop (2.0) and Barrio opened.
• Sound Transit got ready to knock the buildings down to make way for eight years of Capitol Hill light rail station construction.
• Hill schools were threatened to be cut in budget process.
• There was unexpectedly beautiful music.
• There was more/less/or the same jet noise depending on who you asked.

NOVEMBER 2008

Proud to be an American

 

• Il Forno left to make room for Knee High. El Tajin and Pike’s Grill just left.
• Bizarre bomb scare at BMW dealer shut down Pike/Pine.
• Streetcar extension to Hill plans laid.
• Art projects removed from Broadway’s Sound Transit-cleared buildings.
• SPD hypes up Hill tagger arrest (haven’t been notified of charges brought against suspect as of this writing, however)
• Victrola brought its sandwiches back in-house.
• Anti Prop 8 rally filled Volunteer Park with gays, straights, everybody else for march to downtown.
• Day in the life of CHS
• Big fire draws a crowd on Republican. Nobody hurt.
• The CHS crow was born.
• The Hill did the Obama boogie in the streets of Pike/Pine.

OCTOBER 2008

A more bird-like jet

 

• Halloween on the Hill was, again, awesome.
• Ed Jackson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after setting fire to the apartment building he had lived in for 35 years.
• The Phases of Capitol Hill Residency were discussed.
• Controversial light rail station art design got a makeover.
• Capitol Hill Times made cuts. Economy also hit Hill’s redevelopment.
• Dilettante opened in its new home. Starbucks 15th Ave E. was saved. Hipsters switched from PBR to Oly.
• Seattle Police Department started blogging.
• Plans begun to ‘save’ Pike/Pine’s ‘character.’ Also, try to fix P/P parking.
• The whole Barbarella-Obama mural thing got started.
• CHS did Poppy for first time. Also said ‘lo to ‘Zaw.
• Hill’s anti-development activist Dennis Saxman got tapped to work on plans for city development.

We’ll work our way back through 2008 and have a few more year in review posts over the course of the next week. If you have an idea for a 2008 review, jump in and add a post.