Author Archives: Sebastian Garrett-Singh

About Sebastian Garrett-Singh

Sebastian Garrett-Singh is a Seattle Central alum seen about the Hill cracking cases and sometimes tracking coyotes for CHS. Tweets @newsgumshoe and emails at [email protected]

Metrix Create:Space celebrates five years of DIY tech on the Hill

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"Soldering is easy" (Image: Metrix)

“Soldering is easy” (Image: Metrix)

(Image: Metrix)

(Image: Metrix)

Most of the year you can walk the north end of Broadway barely hearing a peep from Metrix Create:Space — a DIY haven for robotic tinkering — outside of the occasional churning of machines and project chatter but last Friday  the business celebrated its fifth anniversary of being with a rambunctious crowd of makers, geeks and the people who love them filling the subterranean space.

Illuminated with green laser tubes — and free booze — the crowd included Boeing and Google employees, the DIY techs, students and a couple of noobs.

“I’ve met a lot of really great people… seeing them through a portion of their life, being a part of that is the most rewarding thing,” owner Matt Westervelt said. Over the past five years he’s seen a shift from clientele simply exploring, to those utilizing the space as a work station while at the same time promoting exploration and learning. Continue reading →

Where to watch World Cup 2014 on Capitol Hill

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Autobattery as Brazil kicked off its play as host of the 2014 World Cup. More pictures here (Image: CHS)

Auto Battery as Brazil kicked off its play as host of the 2014 World Cup. More pictures here (Image: CHS)

World-Cup-2014-GREEN-webUnlike 2010 when games in South Africa dragged Seattle soccer fans from their beds and turned the matches into affairs of breakfast and mimosas, World Cup 2014 will feature a more beer-friendly schedule. Good luck getting any work done.

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the Capitol Hill area highlights from bars and restaurants making plans to show the matches and cater to soccer crowds. If you know of something we missed, add a note in the comments.

Matches begin Thursday, June 12th with host Brazil taking on Croatia at 1P 12th Ave Standard Time. Team USA gets its start on Monday, June 16th against Ghana at 3 PM. The full schedule is here. And, remember, please don’t fix matches.

Join the CHS World Cup 2014 Bracket Challenge
No prizes but we’ll tell everybody how smart you are about global football!
Add your picks for free here — password: crow

Capitol Hill World Cup 2014 Highlights

  • CafĂ© Presse: The business is ready, and has a full calendar of games to run through the entire cup. Drink specials are on for every match with Vin Expresse Pricing during French matches and after hours happy hour pricing during USA games. The first of which will have its own event:

Fete de Coupe de Monde:  Join us for a Special Kick off Party during the first Team USA  match of the 2014 World Cup. Continue reading →

Student-powered KSUB aims to be first 24/7 station serving Hill, Hollow Earth making progress in the CD

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In-Studio performance at KSUB (Image: KSUB with permission to CHS)

534702_108968455931745_679882417_nNestled under the concrete of the Seattle University campus, the student-run radio station KSUB is about to expand its presence to a radio wavelength covering most of Capitol Hill

A low powered FM license issued recently by the Federal Communications Commission will allow KSUB volunteers to turn their focus towards adding new equipment, raising funds, as well as grabbing permits to get the operation running.

“We don’t know when the station will become operational. Probably a year,” said KSUB advisor and mathematics instructor John Carter. KSUB will look to add new in-studio equipment to buoy the frequency created by a radio tower and transmitter slated for the SU campus. Continue reading →

East Precinct commander takes on community concerns — Central District violence, area auto theft

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SPD assists a man who had fallen and passed out along Broadway during a CHS "ride along" with an East Precinct officer Saturday night, May 24. CHS will use the experience to -- hopefully -- bring you even more accurate coverage of policing in the neighborhood

SPD assists a man who had fallen and passed out along Broadway during a CHS “ride along” with an East Precinct officer Saturday night, May 24. CHS will use the experience to — hopefully — bring you even more accurate coverage of policing in the neighborhood.

Last week at the May meeting of the East Precinct Advisory Council, newly nominated Chief of Police Kathleen O’Toole wasn’t commander Capt. Pierre Davis’s main topic of conversation. Nor were the latest series of shakeups in SPD brass. Instead, the community focused meeting took aim at car theft while explaining the background of 911 call centers and airing feedback from community members about recent criticism of the precinct’s investigations of recent Central District violence.

“I know our homicide detectives are doing a diligent job,” said Capt. Davis said about criticism that police aren’t doing enough to find the perpetrators of recent gun violence in the Central District. Davis also refuted the contention that the detective did not conduct extensive door to door interviews following a recent shooting. Continue reading →

All Pilgrims plans mystical labyrinth, improved connection to Broadway

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Today, All Pilgrims is fenced-off from Broadway (Images: CHS)

Today, All Pilgrims is fenced-off from Broadway (Images: CHS)

IMG_4778What years ago was shrouded in a thicket of blackberry brambles may soon again yield fruit for Broadway’s All Pilgrims in the form of a labyrinth as well as a landscaped, more accessible front lawn and plans to fill the moat-like embankment that separates the 1906-built house of worship from the bustling street it calls home. Still in a conceptual phase, the church’s plan needs designs and funding.

“It’s one of the only green spaces on Broadway… we see that as an asset to the community and we’d like to present it as such to be a welcoming space,” said Pastor Greg Turk. Around back, All Pilgrims intends to better utilize an empty to plot to create a a labyrinth. “Right now it’s a pile of dirt,” Turk said. “We know we can do a better job with that landscape.” Visit First Hill’s First Baptist if you’re in need of a wander through the maze in the meantime.

The church already has a city permit lined up and plans to complete the entirety of the work in one phase. A preliminary $100,000 budget has been attached to the project but Turk said the scope of transformation for the church’s land is still being worked out.

Continue reading →

Capitol Hill gelato shop unveils Seattle-Italian library

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1511412_679396415453828_183891982803946539_nFranco Tesorieri, the Honory Consul of Italy to Seattle, is helping to craft a narrative promoting his home country’s culture with a story that takes place on Capitol Hill. A library of Italian texts has been unveiled on the shelves of D’Ambrosio Gelato’s 12th Ave location.

Biblioteca Italiana Seattle (BIS) is a collective of volunteers, who brought the books together and formed in early 2014 with the hopes of providing the Italian-American community in Seattle (and anyone interested in learning about it) a place to pick up the most complete selection of Italian literature in the area.

Owner of the gelato chain, Marco D’Ambrosio, gave the group access to his shelves on Capitol Hill which now carry the weight of over 500 books. D’Ambrosio was speaking with his a good friend Tesorieri when the idea took shape.

“He mentioned that it would have been nice to start an Italian cultural center in the city,” D’Ambrosio told CHS. He immediately after bestowed part of his Capitol Hill location, for free, to BIS. Continue reading →

Broadcast Coffee expands north from CD, Capitol Hill roots

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72164_313259285465826_904570578_nWith Starbucks adding its heft to the roast your own coffee culture of Capitol Hill, a smaller player has quietly begun roasting beans off the Hill in Interbay and is opening a new northern outpost this weekend in the far flung and exotic Roosevelt neighborhood.

Broadcast Coffee owner Barry Faught inaugurated his new roasting operation a few months ago. The roasting plant facet of the expanding Broadcast operation was located in the more industrial Interbay area to save time on permits that would have been applied to a Capitol Hill location, Faught said.  “I just wanted to have more control over the coffee I serve,” he said. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill fabric store Stitches celebrates ten years on E Pike

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IMG_2009IMG_1994A week knitted together with discounts, prizes and treats hits Capitol Hill thread shop Stitches April, 30 as it celebrates its ten year anniversary on E Pike. Owner Amy Ellsworth is looking forward to adding another decade on the Hill.

“I’m excited to see people… and say hi and thank you,” she said. From April 30 – May 6, the store will serve up snacks from local businesses and conclude each day with a raffle for classes and gift certificates – when you buy something you’re entered – as well as 20% off anything for the week.

Ellsworth has been selling fabrics and related crafting tools since 2004 on Capitol Hill, and like many Seattle start-ups, her story started at a local tech giant. Continue reading →

Inside the lines of Capitol Hill’s monthly coloring book

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(Images: The Bomb Promise)

Coloring Book Valentine's Day Edition (Image: The Bomb Collective)

Valentine’s Day edition coloring book (Image: The Bomb Promise)

A Capitol Hill arts collective came together during the summer of 2012 with the intention of many a local creative: Get exposure. The group of graphic scribblers known as The Bomb Promise has pulled together the work of local artists in a rather unconventional way through the monthly release of coloring books sprinkled through some of Capitol Hill’s hotspots for adults and kids alike. Please, color inside the lines.

“We are all artists/illustrators either by profession or hobby and found it difficult to market ourselves in the competitive art scene,” said collective member, Alysia Mojica. “Our solution was to put out a coloring book featuring our illustrations.”

The Bomb Promise has unveiled 20 editions monthly since July, 2012 (missing only one month due to extenuating circumstances) with Mojica putting in work outside of her art to get the issues pressed. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill artist paints an apocalyptic background for new Lola comic book series

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An excerpt from Lola (Images: Siya Oum with permission to CHS)

An excerpt from Lola (Images: Siya Oum with permission to CHS)

A post-apocalyptic narrative created by Siya Oum hit the racks of Phoenix Comics Wednesday as part of the Capitol Hill-based artist’s first national comic book release. Oum painstakingly forged the tale dubbed Lola out of her Capitol Hill abode through a mostly solo coloring, designing, and writing process.

LOLA-01a-Reg-Siya-OUM“I’ve already written 18 issues,” said Oum. The Wednesday unveiling of Lola, Volume I — that includes six issues — follows the heroine as she navigates the United States after a nuclear disaster and investigates what started it all. The comic was colored in a traditional manner that takes twice as long, she said. The artist plans to release more volumes on a monthly basis, and is getting support for national distribution.

Lola’s release comes courtesy of California-based Aspen Comics. The apocalyptic storyline paints a bleak future for the planet’s environment while creating the legend of Lola and fleshing out the heroine. “It’s a more personal story,” Oum said.

Already with a deep catalog of comics to her name – she’s lost track of just how many – Oum tells CHS that all of her sequential arts have been created on the Hill – and inspired “big time” by the community. “All of it [started here].” Before launching her career on the Hill, Oum had to relocate from some warmer surroundings before digging into her new profession. Continue reading →