Veta Vitali on the tables (Image: Cafe Racer)

The rebooted Cafe Racer has reached the finish line on 11th Ave. The club and bar will close its Capitol Hill venue later this month with plans to continue on as “a nonprofit community driven arts organization” and continue its online efforts focused on Washington-based music.

“Café Racer has always been a safe home space for a lot of people and marginalized communities,” Racer’s Jeff Ramsey said in the announcement. “Though we won’t have a physical space now we will, for the foreseeable future, remain an important part of Seattle’s arts and culture.”

Cafe Racer announced it will close its 11th Ave space for good on Sunday, June 30th as the street celebrates with neighboring Queer/Bar’s day-long Queer/Pride Festival.

The Cafe Racer closure plans come six months after the venue re-opened with a benefit show as new cafe partner Jody Ramsammy came on to transition the for-profit bar to a non-profit arts venue and a new connection with his Vivid Productions, Ramsammy’s “experiential events company” that, the entrepreneur said, “aligns to communities of experience.” Vivid’s party scene includes the former MV Hiyu, a decommissioned ferry bought from the state for $150,000 and converted into a floating entertainment venue on Lake Union.

Ramsammy joined Cafe Racer’s Ramsey and Cindy Anne after the 11th Ave venue was forced to close earlier in 2023 over financial troubles and unpaid rent issues with the Krause family that has owned the property for decades.

CHS reported here in 2021 as Cafe Racer opened in the 11th Ave space neighboring art bar Vermillion that had previously been home to Barca for 20 years. Cafe Racer’s move to the Hill was a triumph over tragedy. In 2012, a gunman shot and killed four people inside the cafe. A community effort formed to keep the cafe and music spot open in a new home on Capitol Hill.

Now three years later, Ramsey says Cafe Racer was unable to arrive at an agreement on a lease extension after last year’s rent troubles due to “rising fixed expenses and sluggish post pandemic revenue growth.”

Ramsey says the plan now is to continue on the path to shaping Cafe Racer as an arts nonprofit with expanded “programming, youth educational and mentorship opportunities.”

Cafe Racer’s struggles have come amid growth for the neighborhood’s club scene. CHS reported here on the debut of two venues in the next generation of Capitol Hill clubs as Cultura Seattle debuted on E Pike and Massive took over the old R Place building. There is also new ownership at iconic Capitol Hill gay dance bar Neighbours.

11th Ave’s mix of nightlife and businesses, meanwhile, continues to ebb and flow. Across the street, Portland-based CENTRL Office has a deal to take over the former WeWork floors of 11th Ave’s Kelly Springfield development and is reportedly planning to open at some point this summer. Meanwhile, the corner of 11th and Pine will bring a new Seattle location of the Sweetgreen fast-casual salad chain. The new Sweetgreen will neighbor Mt. Joy, the first location in a planned “pasture raised” chicken sandwich chain from prolific Capitol Hill and Seattle restaurateur Ethan Stowell and tech investor Robbie Cape.

Another chain or two are also making plans for the street but here are no announced plans, yet, for what comes next for the 11th Ave bar space.

Cafe Racer is located at 1510 11th Ave. Learn more at  caferacermusic.com.

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