(Image: Cultura Seattle)
Two new venues hoping to add new dimensions to Capitol Hill’s nightlife scene have welcomed their first patrons.
On E Pike, Cultura Seattle has a full club calendar already after a September grand opening.
Down E Pine, things are still getting squared away but Massive is also starting to fill up its dance club card with a small wave of November events as the new club in the overhauled former home of R Place ramps up.
In one of the truest rites of passage, both clubs already have their first Capitol Hill Halloween celebrations under their belts.
CHS reported here in June on the plans for the new Cultura club as the ownership behind 15th Ave E neighborhood pub Smith shifted gears to create the new Latin and international-focused dance venue in the E Pike space formerly home to the Capitol Lounge.
Two days later, news broke about Massive, an “avant-garde club catering to the queer, allied and music-focused community” embracing “an electrifying fusion of underground dance music, captivating performances, and visionary shows” in the transformed former home of R Place from the team of music and event promoter Kevin Kauer, designer Emi Vega, and the building’s owner and restaurant entrepreneur Tam Nguyen of the Tamarind Tree Restaurant Group.
Plans called for the new Massive venue to spread across three floors of the auto row-era building with “improvements and substantial alterations to all floor levels of existing bar/restaurant” and “lounge and bar occupancy” upstairs. The backers said they were building “a three floor club located in the iconic and historic monolith that was once R Place, sitting in the center of Capitol Hill in Seattle.” The overhaul plan also included installation of “a gorgeous” Danley sound system.
Unlike Cultura’s full schedule, Massive is still easing into motion with only two late November events on its calendar after a few select nights in October as the club’s finishing touches are continuing to be put into place.
Massive’s backers have said their goal was to fully open the club before the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, the Capitol Hill club scene lost a member when lower Pike/Pine club Mint Lounge closed last winter and has not reopened. Iconic Capitol Hill gay dance bar Neighbours, meanwhile, has new ownership on Broadway.
Massive is located at 619 E Pine. Learn more at massive.club. Cultura Seattle can be found at 916 E Pike. Learn more at culturaseattle.com.
HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
I wonder if the old R Place had a seismic retrofit or not yet.
The old r place was taken from the bi/poc lgbtqia+ community. That was the only bar with a primarily all black drag Queen cast and the only bar that played top 40 hip hop cuts from artist of color all night. It’s sad that it’s the massive now. And as a person who went to rplace for close to 20 years I’m saddened and upset at the games that were played to prevent Floyd from re-opening in that location.