This is not the line to be first at the reopened Dick’s
A nostalgic Capitol Hill throwback to the flavors of the day when the Space Needle was new and Seattle’s gay bars were still in Pioneer Square, the Broadway Dick’s Drive-In will reopen after a six-month overhaul just in time for the crowds of Pride.
Word spread quickly after the popular chain announced it will reopen its Capitol Hill drive-in next week, Thursday, June 23rd. That weekend will bring Pride events across the city including popular street festival celebrations on Broadway and at the new AIDS Memorial Pathway Plaza above Capitol Hill Station across from Dick’s.
CHS reported here on the Dick’s-less start to 2022 for Capitol Hill as the restaurant closed for construction to add “new plumbing, electrical, built-in coolers, equipment” and new “exterior glazing” to the 68-year-old drive-in. Along the way, the Dick’s construction fence turned into a street art g has been well decorated by taggers leaving their mark at the site of the iconic fast food landmark.
1955 on Broadway (Image: City of Seattle)
The timeline might have been a little longer but the largest component of the plan had to be scrapped. According to city permits, Dick’s decided to back off its plans to add a “covered employee amenity area and refuse enclosure” at the back of the structure that would have expanded the relatively modest drive-in’s footprint for the first time since the 1950s. It also would have knocked out two of Dick’s coveted 37 parking spots.
In the meantime, the company brought in its popular burger and shake truck to Broadway from time to time to help quench Capitol Hill’s hunger during the wait.
Customers kept a socially distanced line at Dick’s during the height of the pandemic (Image: CHS)
The first Dick’s opened in Wallingford on NE 45th in early 1954. The company has been providing burgers, fries, and jobs on Broadway since 1955 when it added the second location.
The Capitol Hill property is owned by the Sandbloom family after a 1995 “estate settlement” transferred ownership from Dick’s. Its stretch of Broadway has been busy with investment and planning as the development plans for the light rail station across the street has taken shape and the parcel home to the Broadway post office spawned a six-story mixed-use development while the land to the west and to the north of Dick’s has also been redeveloped.
This stretch of Broadway will soon add new Dick’s food and drink neighbors. A new location for Seattle area chain Just Poke is planned to replace a coffee shop on the block. And for anyone who might prefer boba to a chocolate shake, a new location of the Don’t Yell At Me bubble tea shop is lined up to fill a former minute clinic space right next to Dick’s. Maybe CHS will be reporting on the overhaul of the bubble tea joint in 67 years.
Dick’s Drive-In is located at 115 Broadway E. Learn more at ddir.com.
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