Author Archives: Nick Turner, CHS Summer Intern

Tech junkies and robot tinkerers lose Capitol Hill haven as Metrix Create:Space closes doors

Posted on by

(Image: Metrix)

Once a center for Capitol Hill’s makers, Metrix Create:Space is closing its doors to the public. Though owner Matt Westervelt will be available for custom work and consulting, there will no longer be public and affordable access to digital fabrication tools like lasers, 3D printers and more on Broadway just down the stairs from the DeLuxe.

“Keeping a large footprint for a niche business on Capitol Hill is hard,” Westervelt said. “There is a lot of competition for people’s attention, and it’s never been an easy thing to do financially. Producing one-off items for people on demand is pretty demanding, especially when you don’t have a big budget.” Continue reading →

New artwork in Chophouse Row builds on old foundations — the ‘ghost’ of a Capitol Hill farmhouse

Posted on by

The living and dead gathered together in Chophouse Row on Saturday for the unveiling of the “Ghost Cabin,” a new art installation that pays tribute to a house that once stood on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, the unveiling also commemorated the opening of the new headquarters for City Arts Magazine in the Cloud Room, a workspace and lounge above the 11th Ave development.

When Chophouse Row was being built, contractors had to excavate the foundations of the old buildings to create a footing for the new development. When they were doing that, according to Liz Dunn, the developer and owner of Chophouse Row, they struck the remains of house deep beneath the surface of the ground.

“They hit the foundations of the old farmhouse 25 feet down that we knew were there,” Dunn said. “The contractors were completely freaked out. They were like ‘oh my god, we hit grandma’s house. The ghost is going to haunt us for the rest of the project’ and, in fact, she did because it was a challenging project.”

Continue reading →

Saint John’s Bar makes statement as Capitol Hill ‘queer, dinosaur eatery’

Posted on by

Michael Lee, co-owner of Saint John’s Bar and Eatery near the corner of E Pike and Harvard, was having a drink with a coworker named Lila when the two had an absurd idea: what if we painted a giant, dinosaur mural onto the bar’s interior wall? It would have vicious raptors with razor sharp claws, dinosaurs eating other, erupting volcanoes…the whole bit. After all, a collection of dinosaur figures and toys Lee collected over the last six years had been growing in a garden next to the back patio.

“I think we should fully commit to being this queer, dinosaur eatery,” Lee told Lila. “It’s absurd. That’s the point.” Continue reading →

CHS Pics | 11th Avenue Street Fair

Posted on by


An effort to highlight Capitol Hill’s creative spaces got started Sunday with the first-ever 11th Avenue Street Fair where painters, clothing designers, and all other types of artists came to display and sell their work.

Sponsored by the Capitol Hill Community Council, and street representative’s Vermillion, Blue Cone Studios, Imminent Mode, and John Criscitello Studios, the festival closed the street to traffic and let the artists mostly do their thing. Continue reading →

Confederate memorial in Capitol Hill cemetery vandalized once again

Posted on by

A monument to Confederate soldiers of the Civil War in the middle of Capitol Hill’s Lake View Cemetery has again been damaged.

The memorial was defaced on July 5 according to an employee at the cemetery who declined to comment any further. The monument has been defaced before. This time. several parts of the 10-ton piece of granite have been smashed, including a portion of the monument’s inscription, an insignia, and a relief of General Robert E. Lee atop a pair of crossed muskets. Continue reading →

11th Avenue Street Fair part of celebration of Capitol Hill’s creative spaces (and the creative people making them)

Posted on by

(Image: Sellen Construction)

Following the Capitol Hill Block Party by a week, it’s easy to draw comparisons with this weekend’s first ever 11th Avenue Street Fair but the focus should be on the diverse artistic community the street fosters, organizers say.

“[Capitol Hill] has its unique parts of being free and open, being able to create whatever type of art you want to create,” said Natalie Curtis, president of the Capitol Hill Community Council, one of the sponsor’s of the event. “We’re just hoping that people living in the area, working in the area, will come on a Sunday and hang out.”

https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/event/11th-ave-street-fair/

The fair will take place on 11th Ave between Pike and Pine from 1 to 9 PM Sunday, July 29. Curtis said you can expect a “nice, artsy flow of creatives” and “beautiful spaces with beautiful people.” Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Volunteer Park Picnic and a look at the design for new lily pond fencing

Posted on by

(Images: CHS)

Volunteer Park was an exceedingly pleasant scene Thursday night as family, friends, and lovers gathered for a picnic on the main lawn to enjoy live music and free ice cream under the summer sun. Seattle musician Lydia Ramsey sang with her band as children danced and wrestled on the grass with their parents watching from a distance.

The annual Volunteer Park Picnic included a special appearance this year. Partway through the picnic, a member of the Volunteer Park Trust went onstage to make a few announcements about upcoming projects that build upon a larger effort to renovate and reinvigorate the park alongside major reconstruction and expansion of the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

One of these projects includes replacing the fence surrounding ponds near the front entrance of the museum, which have been taken over by a small flock of local ducks that have adopted them as a home and resting area to escape the summer heat. Continue reading →

Cascades bring American Ultimate Disc League battle — and Portland rivalry — to Capitol Hill

Posted on by

Shane Worthington, 24, joined the Seattle Cascades last year having played ultimate frisbee since he was 11. He and the Cascades will bring their game to Bobby Morris Saturday. (Image: CHS)

Lots of interesting things happen at Cal Anderson but Capitol Hill’s central park may have found a new symbol of its eccentric charm by means of a professional frisbee team—the city’s very first—called the Seattle Cascades.

“The Cascades are trying to do something more than just be a team,” Xtehn Titcomb tells CHS. “We have a fan base. We have a social media following. If we play our cards right, we can continue to grow and have what I think is a really big impact on sports culture beyond just ultimate frisbee.” Continue reading →

From Sun to Sol: New owner lined up for Capitol Hill’s Sun Liquor Lounge

Posted on by

(Image: Sun Liquor)

Sun Liquor Lounge, the Capitol Hill bar that went on sale for just under $200,000 earlier this year, might have found a new owner in Andre Sayre, a 30-year-old tech worker taking a break to find a new avenue in life.

“I enjoy the community aspect of a little place that everyone knows and loves,” he tells CHS about the planned purchase of the bar. “I wanted to do what I can to keep it around.”

There aren’t a lot of changes planned for the Summit Ave watering hole, the last vestige of Sun Liquor’s presence on Capitol Hill. Not everything from the bar was included in the deal. When the sales goes through, the old space will have a new name — Sol Liquor. Continue reading →

‘Pay by plate’ will mean no more parking stickers in Seattle (and you probably still won’t be able to find a spot to park at night on Capitol Hill)

Posted on by

The end of the stickies

Parking on Capitol Hill should be more convenient under a new “pay by plate” system coming to Seattle that will allow people to enter their license plate number to pay for parking rather than print out a sticker and put it on their window.

“People just won’t have to walk back to their cars,” said Margo Polley, strategic advisor to the Seattle Department of Transportation’s Parking Projects/Transit & Mobility Division.

“What we’re doing is changing the pay stations on the street to mirror our pay-by-phone system.” Continue reading →