Tag Archives: madison

SPD seek help identifying suspects after hate crime harassment and water pellet drive-by at Capitol Hill’s Pony gay bar

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Police are looking for the public’s help in an hate crime investigation as detectives work to track down a group and their “distinctively modified dark blue Lexus sedan” who were reported yelling slurs and shooting water pellets at patrons outside Capitol Hill’s Pony Bar starting late Wednesday night.

SPD says the incidents began around 11:30 PM Wednesday as the suspects reported as “two or three young white men” were circling the 1200-block E Madison bar, yelling anti-gay slurs including “faggot” and “die faggots,” and firing gel or water pellets from a “Water Bead” air gun.

“The passengers of the car approached the bar on foot before returning to their vehicle to circle the block again,” SPD reports. “One of the witnesses estimated the car returned about 10 times over the course of about an hour.” Continue reading →

Yeobo Cafe and Bar now softly open on E Madison

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A peek inside the overhauled space (Image: Yeobo Cafe and Bar)

Yeobo Cafe and Bar is overcoming a later than expected start with intention and good vibes on E Madison.

The new venture in the old Two Doors Down burger space got started with its “soft opening” phase last weekend as chef and first-time owner Mars Minas overcame a slew of challenges in opening the overhauled restaurant including a gas leak and some final rounds with the health department.

With a successful first weekend including selling out on its cold case musubi and generating much needed revenue, Yeobo is ready to continue its ramp-up to full power. This weekend is hoped to bring the introduction of Yeobo’s breakfast sandwiches to the menu. Minas says brunch should follow in a few weeks.

As far as its nighttime hours, the plan is for Yeobo to turn on the bar end of things with cocktails and bites plus late night musubi by the end of March.

In the meantime, Friday through Monday visitors can enjoy Yeobo’s cold case snacks, musubi (“until they sell out”) and all of the cafe’s espresso and tea drinks. Continue reading →

City backs off landmarks nomination for former Phillis Wheatley YWCA site, ā€˜a central hubā€™ in Seattleā€™s Black history

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The building as it looks today

If 21st Ave’s old Phillis Wheatley YWCA is going to become a protected landmark in recognition of its place in the history of Black Seattle, someone else is going to need to speak up for the property set for demolition to make way for a new housing development.

The City of Seattle quietly withdrew its request to nominate the 108-year-old house for landmarks protections earlier this month ending a rare City Hall-backed foray to win protections for a property.

Edward Lee, director of communications for the Department of Neighborhoods, told CHS only that the application had been “formally withdrawn” and did not provide reasons for the reversal. The property most recently used as transitional housing but lined up to be demolished and redeveloped as a new 49-unit apartment building was scheduled for a hearing on the possible protections earlier this month.

The city had said the 21st Ave property just off E Madison was worthy of landmarks status as ā€œa pivotal location in Seattleā€™s African American heritage.ā€ It is unusual for the city to pursue landmarks nominations, a process it typically leaves to community groups, developers, or property owners. Continue reading →

As Voodoo arrives on Capitol Hill, Seattle’s Mighty-O Donuts faces bankruptcy — UPDATE

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(Image: Mighty-O Donuts)

As a doughnut invader from the south prepares its sweet assault on the city with a Capitol Hill beachhead, a veteran of Seattle’s fried dough scene is financially struggling.

Federal court documents show Mighty-O Donuts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July in a case where the filings continue over the more than $1 million in liabilities the small Seattle company carries.

CHS has asked the company for more information about its future and its employees after the filing that came as Might-O founder Ryan Kellner saw profits at his four cafes and production facility dip to near zero this summer.

In its filing, the company blames the pandemic and national economic issues for its troubles saying “a combination of factors, including the adverse effects of the pandemic, increased costs due to inflation, decreased sales, and high fixed lease costs” led to the bankruptcy.

“Mighty-O experienced modest growth for many years until the COVID-19 pandemic in
2020,” one document reads. “The pandemic severely impacted Mighty-Oā€™s ability to operate a financially sound business. The company experienced a significant drop in customer traffic and a decrease in employee availability, preventing it from operating at full capacity. Additionally, Mighty-O faced major disruptions in supply chains, vendor services, and rising costs due to inflation.” Continue reading →

The A) and B) of RapidRide G’s first months of service: ridership, the semi-permanent big orange panels, and the surprise tunnel at 10th and Madison

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The big orange panels are staying — for now (Image: CHS)

Hoped to optimize an area that was already heavily served by a tangle of King County Metro bus routes in neighborhoods unlikely to be connected to Sound Transitā€™s light rail network anytime soon, the RapidRide G bus rapid transit line is currently serving around 4,000 trips a day up and down Madison and across Capitol Hill.

CHS checked in with the new transit line to see how A) ridership is faring and B) get updates on launch growing pains including construction problems that are making big orange steel panels a permanent part of First Hill’s streetscape.

A) RIDERSHIP: The first trip counts for the new 2.5-mile line are encouraging. RapidRide G averaged more than 4,100 trips a day on weekdays in October, doubling the boarding totals reported in the line’s first month of service in September. For comparison, the much longer 12-mile RapidRide C connecting across West Seattle to averages more than 7,500 trips per weekday and the 9-mile RapidRide D between Crown Hill and Downtown, more than 8,800. The RapidRide G’s “trip density” above 1,600 boardings per mile is tops in the city. Continue reading →

Just east of Capitol Hill, Yeobo Cafe and Bar will bring love and Korean-American comfort food to E Madison

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Minas and her sweetie working at Karachi Cowboys (Image: Yeobo)

Powered by community crowdfunding and a wealth of experience working with Capitol Hill food and drink venues including Post Pike Cafe, Fuel Coffee, and the gone but not forgotten Karachi Cowboys, Yeobo Cafe and Bar is bringing Korean-American comfort food to the slopes of Madison Valley in early 2025.

Chef Mars Minas announced the location this month after a crowdfunding campaign earlier this year that saw more than $20,000 raised to support the diner project from the first-time owner.

Finding a space for the project to call home was a major challenge but a restaurant with good bones and the right location finally became available.

Just east of Capitol Hill, Yeobo will be busy transforming the former Two Doors Down burger joint that closed in October after owner Erin Nestor’s ten-year run on the E Madison corner.

“Itā€™s such an honor to be taking over such a beloved space, and weā€™re so grateful to Erin for trusting us with what sheā€™s built, Lex for really doing the most for us as our broker, all our amazing kickstarter supporters for believing in us, and to our greater communities for your constant support,” Minas wrote in the announcement. “We hope to make you all proud, and we canā€™t wait to welcome you through our doors.” Continue reading →

The Phillis Wheatley YWCA — How city’s effort to protect ‘a central hub’ in Seattle’s Black history could block affordable housing project

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The building as it looks today

By Ayla Nye/UW News Lab

With an affordable housing project set to demolish the building, a December landmarks board hearing could determine the future of a 21st Ave property the city calls ā€œa pivotal location in Seattleā€™s African American heritage.”

The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections has taken the unusual step of delaying the development of a 49-unit apartment building just off E Madison to determine if the 108-year-old building should be protected on the grounds that the property holds historical and cultural significance, according to the SDCI.

The Madison Inn Work Release, formerly known as the Phillis Wheatley YWCA building, is up for a landmark nomination, a designation that could protect the building from demolition and many types of construction.

Stephanie Johnson-Toliver, president of the Black Heritage Society of Washington State, voiced her concern about the planned building demolition.

Johnson-Toliver is a fourth generation Seattleite. Her family moved to Seattle in 1913 and she has owned her house in the Central District for nearly 30 years. In 1945, her mother was a member of the Phillis Wheatley YWCA Girls Reserve.

ā€œThe Phillis Wheatley was created to meet the needs of Black women and children,” Johnson-Toliver said. ā€œThey helped shape young women’s opinions and attitudes and we’re socially uplifting them with education and recreation,ā€ she said.

“Established from the ‘Culture Club’ in 1919, this site has been a central hub for black intellectual life, community gathering, black social justice and legal defense groups,” the nomination prepared for the city reads. “It initially functioned as a meeting point and community center, significantly contributing to the social fabric of Seattle’s African American community.”

Ben Maritz is the current owner of the Madison Inn property and the founder of Great Expectations, an affordable housing developer. Maritz has been developing the property since he bought it in July of 2020.

ā€œWe went through a whole process, including design review, and received the master use permit, I think, over a year ago,ā€ Maritz said. Continue reading →

Two Doors Down to shutter after a decade of burgers on E Madison

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(Image: Two Doors Down)

A decade of queer-owned, woman-owned E Madison burgers is wrapping up with a final weekend of business before the planned Halloween closure of Two Doors Down.

“Our story is by no means sad. We have had a remarkable ten-year run on East Madison Street, and the time has simply come to move on,” the burger joint posted about its impending closure: Continue reading →

Police work to tie group of teens busted in robbery and carjacking spree to Capitol Hill-area mini-mart hold-ups

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(Image: Seattle Police Department)

Police are working to tie a flurry of armed robberies at Capitol Hill-area convenience stores to a string of nearly 80 increasingly violent hold-ups across Seattle and King County.

The Seattle Police Department says a task force arrested a group of teens and an adult suspect Thursday after tracking the group to Federal Way and chasing them down in a stolen mercedes:

The targets of the majority of these robberies were gas stations and late-night fast-food restaurants. The group would often consist of 2-3 males wearing facemasks and hooded clothing. The suspects would show up in a stolen vehicle which was either taken in a vehicle theft or a carjacking. They would enter the store, prop the door open, and point guns directly at the employees demanding they open the cash register. In many cases they would destroy computers they believed were tied to surveillance footage.

CHS reported here on Capitol Hill-area robberies possibly related to the group including a Friday night, October 4th hold-upĀ at the Circle K on 12th Ave near Seattle University where the store and multiple customers were robbed at gunpoint. Less than 30 minutes later, the 7-Eleven at 15th and Denny was also help up at gunpoint where police say the suspect stole cash from the register along with a wallet and phone. The primary suspect was described a black male in his 20s, skinny and around 5ā€™10ā€, wearing a black tracksuit and black ski mask, and carrying a black handgun with an extended magazine. Continue reading →

Repairs underway as city screwed up wheelchair access on platforms and every bus shelter on new RapidRide G line — UPDATE

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RapidRide G will continue to operate on Madison through the work but it turns out that more than signal timing and the line’s new “kiss the curb” coaches are in need of fine tuning.

The Seattle Times reported Monday morning that all 25 bus shelters and three station platforms along the newly launched $144 million line need to be repaired because of errors restricting wheelchair access.

Riders and CHS readers noted large orange steel panels placed at platforms at the route when the line began its first service last month. It turns out, the Seattle Department of Transportation placed the segments to raise buses the less than an inch required for the RapidRide wheelchair ramps to properly operate.

King County Metro says it is looking into solutions that could include making adjustments to the buses or lowering the cement platforms at eastbound stop 104 at Terry, eastbound stop 105 at Summit, and westbound 124 at the three-way intersection of Madison, Union, and 12th Ave. Continue reading →