Tag Archives: RIP

With Capitol Hill neighborhood convenience store ShopRite gone, 15th Ave E now significantly less convenient — UPDATE

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(Image: CHS)

Things are a little less convenient around Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E. After three decades serving the neighborhood, the ShopRite cornershop has closed for good and its remaining stock and fixtures have been cleared out.

The closure comes after a long goodbye clearance sale that started this summer. ShopRite’s inventory is now the stuff of Capitol Hill legend with tales of what you could find stocked there bested only by tales of what you could not.

The 1904-era Moore Family building ShopRite has called home and the former QFC grocery store on the block are destined to make way for a planned 6-story, “S” design building with 170 new apartment units above 10,000 square feet of retail space and underground parking for 99 vehicles. Continue reading →

Legacy of a Central District musical giant will live on at Garfield High School’s Quincy Jones Performance Center — UPDATE

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The Quincy Jones mural at Garfield High School

The Quincy Jones Performance Center (Image: Lewis Crutcher Lewis)

A musical giant and embodiment of Garfield High School’s and the Central District’s place in the cultural history of Seattle, composer and producer Quincy Jones has died. Jones was 91.

The Quincy Jones Performance Center opened in 2008 as part of a $107.4 million renovation of the 23rd Ave campus attended by public high school students from across the Central District and Capitol Hill areas and honors the entertainment icon’s legacy — and hard work to rise to the top of the industry.

“I can’t believe it’s been 70 years since I walked these halls as a student…as a young kid who wasn’t sure how life would turn out, or even if I would ever know of a life outside the gangs,” Jones wrote in 2017. “Moving to Seattle forever changed me for the better…and finding music here showed me that I could be more than a statistic. My hope and prayer is that these kids know they can too…the only time success comes before work is in the dictionary, and that’s the TRUTH!…I’ve lived it!” Continue reading →

Broadway’s Boca steakhouse and bakery family mourns passing of Marco Casas Beaux

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(Image: Boca Restobar and Grill)

One of the more colorful characters in Broadway food and drink is gone. Marco Casas Beaux, a creator of dining experiences across Seattle for decades, has died, his family of Capitol Hill businesses announced.

Monday, Broadway’s Boca Restobar and Grill and down-the-street Boca Pizzeria and Bakery remained closed to mark his passing. His Boca steakhouse in the old Queen City Grill was also shuttered in his honor after weekend service in his memory. They will reopen for business Tuesday.

“We will never know anyone like him. He was bigger than life and put everything into his work,” the announcement reads. “We ask that you remember his tenacity and the stories he told of a life well lived.” Continue reading →

An apparent end to Jai Thai’s good times — and laughs — on Broadway

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(Image: Jai Thai)

Speaking of landmarks, it appears Broadway’s affordable food and drink venue Jai Thai is permanently closed.

CHS reported here on the landmarks process underway for the 1903-built building the shuttered Thai joint has called home since the 2000s as a developer prepares the southwest corner of Broadway and Thomas for a new affordable apartment building.

Jai Thai has been shuttered for weeks but attempts to contact ownership to find out more about the status of the longtime Broadway restaurant have not been successful. The company is listed as closed by the state’s department of revenue and the liquor license for the address is reported as “on hold.” The restaurant’s phone number has also been disconnected. Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Last days at Cafe Pettirosso

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The end is coming too quickly. CHS stopped by Cafe Pettirosso this week as the much loved 11th Ave hangout marks its final days of business.

We were lucky enough to find a special visitor as founder Robin Wright was there to help say goodbye with current owners Miki and Yuki Sodos.

Wright founded Pettirosso in 1994. Now, 27 years and change later, the cafe will close on its “own terms” amid the business challenges of the pandemic and a planned redevelopment of the historic Baker Linen building it calls home. Continue reading →

Founded on the belief that every day on Broadway can be brunch, Americana becomes a Capitol Hill COVID-19 closure

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(Image: Americana)

The chef who came out of the kitchen to take over and grow a Capitol Hill weekend brunch favorite into a Capitol Hill every day of the week brunch favorite says he plans to stay far away from the restaurant business.

Chef Jeffrey Wilson — a man who loves cooking so much he signs his email Cheffrey — has announced that Broadway’s Americana has permanently closed.

“The seating capacity was not our limitation,” Wilson said.

The restaurant capacity restrictions part of attempts to slow the spread of COVID-19 didn’t matter in the end for Americana, Wilson said. After taking on Ads Paycheck Protection Program loans to pay his workers as he kept the restaurant closed for weeks, Wilson reopened Americana as restrictions were lifted only to find that much of his dining business had disappeared.

His decision to close was made all the more obvious as he watched the numbers at the Broadway Alley restaurant. “The month leading up to it was a drastic decline in sales,” Wilson said. Continue reading →

Rapper Malcolm Rebel remembered as ‘True King of the Hill’

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A Seattle recording artist “born and raised in the CD,”  Malcolm Rebel has died.

Friends and loved ones are posting messages about the hip hop performer’s life and passing. A fundraiser has been set up to raise money for Rebel’s family and young child.

Rebel was part of a family of Seattle musical talent stretching from Motown to the early days of Pacific Northwest hip hop.

“Seattle lost a legend in Malcolm Rebel. He was a loving father, a caring friend, and an incredible talent,” it reads.

Tug Harris, manager for the Day One Entertainment recording artist said Rebel “taught me how to keep my head up in the hardest times.” Continue reading →

16-year-old killed in Capitol Hill protest zone shooting identified

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UPDATE 1/6/2021: During Wednesday’s insurrection in the Capitol, many readers have come to this CHS story in search of information about the person who died during the Washington D.C. violence. This story is from June 2020 and reports details of a young man killed during the summer’s protest in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

Antonio Mays, Jr. memorial

The protest camp has created a memorial for the 16-year-old on 12th Ave (Image: CHS)

The King County Medical Examiner has identified the 16-year-old shot and killed in a vehicle at the Capitol Hill protest zone early Monday morning as Antonio Mays, Jr..

His family is asking anyone with information to step forward as the family seeks answers to what happened on 12th Ave an in the minutes prior in the early morning shooting that left the 16-year-old dead inside a white Jeep Cherokee and sent a 14-year-old to the hospital in critical condition.

CHS reported on a night of driveby fears and uncertainty as at least one SUV style vehicle sped across Cal Anderson and through the protest camp before the confrontation on 12th Ave that ended in bloodshed. 911 callers reported a person shooting into a vehicle that had crashed along 12th Ave just after 3 AM. Continue reading →

Little Uncle is now closed — Here are five restaurants and bars ‘coming soon’ to Capitol Hill to cheer you up

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There are some big holes in Capitol Hill food+drink real estate to fill — Sitka and Spruce’s centerpiece restaurant in Melrose Market will close on New Year’s Eve, the relatively giant space left behind by Trove on E Pike, and the biggest empty cafe on Capitol Hill where Starbucks pulled up the stakes on Roy Street Coffee in April.

And there is now a small one we knew was coming but still makes us sad to report. Continue reading →

What’s more painful? Running for mayor of Redmond — or closing down your struggling Capitol Hill coffee shop?

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Redmond City Council member Steve Fields should have bigger things to worry about than the closing of a Capitol Hill coffee shop his wife Ronni Fields has run for three years. He’s running for mayor of the Eastside city, the state’s 18th largest.

“I’m the grassroots candidate. My opponent is very well established with lots of support from developers.”

The political match-up, in a way, parallels the August shuttering of Harvard Ave’s tiny Down Pour Coffee.

Fields says the lessons from Down Pour are about making sure you remember you’re going up against a well established system when you’re chasing your dreams of small business ownership. Continue reading →