Tag Archives: nightlife

The Rhino Room ‘temporarily closed’ at 11th and Pine

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(Image: The Rhino Room)

When a Capitol Hill nightlife spot is “temporarily closed” for over a month, the website goes dead, and the ownership go quiet, it might be time for a new adverb.

A year after its 10-year anniversary in Pike/Pine, The Rhino Room hasn’t opened for its typical weekend party schedule and it isn’t clear when the disco ball at 11th and Pine might start spinning again.

Last year, CHS celebrated the tough skin of the club as the venture marked a decade of nightlife having endured the explosive redevelopment of Pike/Pine, the pandemic, and the weeks of CHOP and SPD turmoil in the streets outside the venue in 2020.

Patric Gabre-Kidan, one of the few Black business owners in Capitol Hill’s nightlife scene, kicked off the project in 2013, when a group of friends turned business partners collaborated to build the new hotspot. Continue reading →

Woo proposes new after hours nightlife regulation as campaign moves into final week — UPDATE

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As the final week of her campaign to keep her seat on the Seattle City Council plays out, Tanya Woo has released details of legislation her office says would address late-night gun violence in the city by regulating venues that continue to operate after the nightly 2 AM “last call.”

Woo says her proposal would establish a new regulatory license “required for any business that allows gathering for socializing, smoking, or dancing” after last call between the hours of 2 AM and 5 AM.

The new requirements would include restricting venues to 21+ age limits, no service of alcohol between 2 AM and 5 AM, requiring at least two trained security personnel, running
a security checks for weapons upon entry, providing video surveillance of exits, and what Woo says would be “unimpeded police access while operating.”

The goal would be to bring regulation to what the councilmember has said is a proliferation of clubs operating illegally in the city after hours. Continue reading →

20 years of Neumos, the musical center of the Pike/Pine universe

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The future: a mixed-use Neumos, of course (Image: CHS)

Neumos asked for AI visions of its next 20 years so up top is CHS’s take on the corner during Capitol Hill Block Party 2044.

There is no telling what the next 20 or 30 years will bring at the southwest corner of 10th and Pike. CHS can tell you what the past 30 brought: music, drinks and good times.

The first decade of those good times? That was Moe’s Mo’Roc’N Café and an assortment of clubs that lived hard and died young. But those last 20? Those are all thanks to Neumos, the outgrowth of Moe’s that has gone on to be a center of the neighborhood’s entertainment community with a place among Capitol Hill legends like Neighbours, Century Ballroom, The Cuff, Wildrose, and Linda’s.

The live music club celebrates its 2004 birth Wednesday with a free night of music and performance. The free tickets were still available when we started writing this. They might be snapped up before you are done reading.

Asheville’s Wednesday band on the Neumos stage (Image: Neumos)

“We saw all these people walking down the hill for shows … we thought ‘why not have something here,’” Moe’s founder Jerry Everard told CHS about the original inspiration to transform an old Salvation Army on the corner into a new hangout 30 years ago. Continue reading →

A new wave of activity in Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market includes plans for Wild Cherry Nightclub and Harry’s Good Times

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Wild Cherry from the folks at Bellevue’s Forum Social House is in the works beneath the Market (Image: Forum Social House)

Hagood will soon be serving inside Melrose Market (Image: Harry’s Fine Foods)

Five years after its sale to a national shopping center developer and emerging from the pandemic. Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market is hitting a second stride with a mix of new tenants that will include a new restaurant in the old Sitka and Spruce space and a basement level Wild Cherry Nightclub.

A local success story will fill the former Sitka and Spruce. Harry’s Good Times, a project from Julian Hagood and the Harry’s Fine Food folks, is taking shape in the back of Melrose Market’s main level with plans for a new concept from the crew that reshaped a Bellevue Ave cornershop into Harry’s Fine Foods, the 2016-born center of a family of food and drink and hospitality businesses on Capitol Hill and across the city. Continue reading →

Massive — ‘a portal to a futuristic nightlife experience unlike any other’ — transforming former R Place into new Capitol Hill dance club

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An image from the R Place building’s real estate listing in 2022

Kauer (Image @nark_magazine)

A history of queer nightlife at Pine and Boylston will continue with a new future for the corner’s three-story, 106-year-old building where R Place once ruled.

Massive will be 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,” the backers of the new club said in a Seattle Pride week announcement.

Music site Resident Advisor was first to report on the new project with statements from the Massive 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.

“We intend to take advantage of all three floors on a regular basis, and involve many different queer artists, musicians and performers over time,” the Massive statement reported by Resident Advisor reads. “It’s most important to know that we are here for everyone, and we will be a platform for queer performers to thrive and grow, without taking any ownership or control over their art form.” Continue reading →

Cultura: Family behind 15th Ave E’s Smith ready to revive Capitol Lounge with Latin nights and international DJs

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(Image: Capitol Lounge)

A venue in the heart of E Pike’s nightlife core is getting a new investment of energy and enthusiasm for Latin nights and international DJs.

The ownership that took over 15th Ave’s Smith pub earlier this year tells CHS it is preparing the former Capitol Lounge to reopen as a new club dedicated to Pike/Pine’s “industry nightclub scene.”

According to state business permits, a venue called Cultura under the Smith ownership company is now registered at the address. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Comedy/Bar: bright lights in a dark room and the feeling of going big time on Broadway

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Work started last week to bring laughs and a new entertainment venue to Capitol Hill’s Broadway. As the lease was signed and building access granted, construction began on Capitol Hill Comedy/Bar. Comedy is a dark undertaking.

“Sunlight is the enemy of stand-up comedy,” owner Dane Hesseldahl told CHS during a visit to check out the work in progress.

CHS reported here in February on the plans in the old Highline space above Broadway just north of E John for Capitol Hill Comedy/Bar, part of a long-running stand-up comedy presence at Capitol Hill’s now-shuttered Jai Thai.

As CHS visited last week, a team was working on the kitchen and prepping the concrete floors to be ground down and sealed to create an industrial vibe. Once complete, tables, and chairs will be brought in, aiming for a dark and intimate, speakeasy feel in the dramatically dark space.

Hesseldahl is hoping to create a small venue that feels like performers have made the big time. Continue reading →

Mint Lounge closes amid wider nightlife gun violence issues on Capitol Hill

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(Image: CHS)

Capitol Hill’s Mint Lounge has closed.

The state announced the discontinuance of the club’s liquor license this week and Google lists the venue as “temporarily closed.”

The property company that manages the Pine at Melrose building the dance club has called home tells CHS the business’s lease ended January 31st and the tenant has moved out.

Mint ownership has not responded to inquiries from CHS about the status of the lounge that revived the former Baltic Room as a dance and DJ club.

The closure follows ongoing pressure from some businesses and city and Seattle Police officials over a spate of nightlife gun violence in the area. In one example in July, Seattle Police flooded the area around Pine and Melrose and a gunshot wound victim was dropped at nearby Harborview Medical Center after a bout of gunfire outside the club. SPD said a second person was shot on the night and that more than 50 shots were fired in the incident. Continue reading →

Comet owner criticizes ‘apathy’ from City Hall and SPD after latest Pike/Pine nightlife shooting

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This bullet has been waiting waiting for SPD to pick it up (Image courtesy the Comet)

Capitol Hill business owners have called for more help from the mayor and the Seattle Police Department before in response to nightlife gun violence — but last weekend’s drive-by shooting at 10th and Pike that sent three people to the hospital has one owner asking for SPD to simply investigate the incident.

Jason Lajeunesse says he is grateful nobody else was injured and fortunately nobody was hit inside despite two bullets smashing into the Comet Tavern in the early morning Saturday shooting.

“First off, we are so relieved to report that no one inside the business or staff was injured. That being said, two bullets entered the building, one of which was stopped by our pinball machine and one which ricocheted off a metal sign,” Lajeunesse said. Continue reading →

Three Capitol Hill clubs, three futures: Neighbours ‘under new ownership,’ former R Place shaped as restaurant project, Q marks 10 years of dancing on Broadway

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The 10th anniversary party at Q (Image: Q Nightclub)

Meanwhile, new ownership at Neighbours (Image: CHS)

Three centers of Capitol Hill nightlife face very different futures as a new owner has closed a $2.7 million deal to purchase iconic Capitol Hill gay dance bar Neighbours. Meanwhile, the next life for the former R Place is taking shape while Broadway club Q is marking 10 years in the neighborhood with plans for changes behind the scenes.

“It’s been a long road, but we finally took over,” new Neighbours owner TJ Bruce tells CHS.

CHS broke the news on the Neighbours deal in April as Bruce, an investor and backer of gay clubs stretching from Fresno to San Jose to San Francisco to Portland, was shaping a deal for the Seattle club and the 1911-built, 14,000-square-foot Broadway building it has called home for 40 years. The property hit the market for $6.9 million in 2019 only to be relisted at $5.75 million in late 2020. Bruce arrived at a deal at a much lower price as the Elassiouti family that has owned the property, local managers, and promoters who have kept Neighbours open and busy prepared to hand over the reins.

The market for well-loved and a little rough around the edges Capitol Hill gay dance clubs apparently tops out around $3 million. King County property records show the former E Pine home of R Place also finally sold this year for $2.5 million. Continue reading →