Tag Archives: nightlife

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 →

Capitol Hill’s Baltic Room is now the Mint Lounge

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Despite challenging times for nightlife balancing business opportunity with pandemic risk, Capitol Hill is now home to “Seattle’s newest premiere club” — kind of.

The Mint Lounge debuted earlier this year on Pine below Melrose in the connective zone between downtown and Capitol HIll. This week’s events will include a Trophouse Thursdays night of Afrobeat and Dance Hall and a glamorous Friday “All Black Party” where the dress code will be “strictly enforced.”

The new life for the old Baltic Room follows the 2019 acquisition of the club by new owners. That same ownership is in place with the change in branding as the club sets out to make a new name for itself in the Capitol Hill nightlife scene. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | The return of live music on Capitol Hill

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A fan enjoys Spirit Award as Neumos reopened last Thursday night

It’s been a big week for music on Capitol Hill. Wednesday, the organizers behind the annual Capitol Hill Block Party announced the launch of Day In Day Out, a new annual music festival at Seattle Center.

While the group’s original Block Party festival has been postponed another year with plans to return in 2022, the clubs behind CHBP are also sparking back to life despite uncertain times for the industry and ongoing concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic amid the state’s economic reopening.

Neumos celebrated reopening with its first live show in over a year last Thursday with locals Spirit Award rocking the club. Continue reading →

Clubs Neumos and Chop Suey warn COVID-19 crisis could wipe out live music on Capitol Hill

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Venue owners say Capitol Hill’s live music scene will be a casualty of the COVID-19 crisis if more isn’t done to buttress the clubs that keep it going.

They’re seeking help from somewhere — from the King County Council or beyond — to help prop up what they say is a one of a kind type of business that needs special financial assistance to survive.

“If people want there to be a music scene in Seattle, we need help from our government. If we don’t get help, there are no more small venues,” Steven Severin, part of the ownership of Neumos and a veteran of the Pike/Pine nightlife scene tells CHS.

Severin is part of an effort for the few clubs like Neumos across the region to come together to call for financial assistance specific to the live music industry. The Washington Nightlife & Music Association is hoped to be a voice for the rare remaining venues. This week, the hope is pinned to the King County Council: Continue reading →

‘Shots fired at the Baltic Room’ — Two hit in Capitol Hill shootout

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Two people were shot including one who was taken into custody and Seattle Police had to hold back a hostile crowd in closing time gunfire at Pike/Pine club The Baltic Room early Saturday.

SPD confirmed the shootings and said one person was in custody following the 2 AM melee outside the lower Pine club.

According to East Precinct radio reports, two victims suffered gunshot injuries to their legs and one of the victims at the hospital was to be arrested. It was not clear if there were other victims not found at the scene or if police were looking for additional shooters. Continue reading →

From cannabis to clubs, Capitol Hill’s The Baltic Room has a new owner

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Proud owners Rachel Keith and Rahsaan Henry (Image: The Baltic Room)

From The Ganja Mom to Capitol Hill’s new queen of clubs? Rachel Keith is a long way from creating anything like Linda Derschang’s empire just yet but with her summer takeover of The Baltic Room, she’s proud to at least be following in a few of Derschang’s earliest dance steps.

Keith purchased the Baltic, the Pine dance club Derschang first opened as a piano bar in 1997, this summer and celebrated a grand reopening last month.

“What’s the Baltic Room?,” Keith asked earlier this year as she was searching through listings for an available club. “My husband and I have always been in the nightlife scene. I decided to go check it out.” Continue reading →