As part of our sponsorship of the ByDesign10 Series at Northwest Film Forum, we're looking back at some of the roots of CHS's design -- the formulation of the CHS crow banner. The ByDesign10 Series kicks off Friday night with a free party at NWFF's 12th/Pike theater and will feature a week of film and discussion exploring 'the intersection of graphic design and moving image.'

Much of the design of CHS falls into the function end of the spectrum with form waddling far behind. The crow isn't much different. Born of constricted space and utility, the little bird sprang to life in November of 2008 thanks to the generous work of Capitol Hill designer EmilyP. The secret shoes came along then, too. Here's a look at some of the back and forth between CHS and EmilyP as the idea for a new CHS masthead was shaped -- including some of the early ideas that were (thankfully!) rejected. The ideas below played out over a two-week period and involved around 26 e-mails:

EmilyP: These are pretty self-explanatory. I wanted to pick some iconicHill-associated imagery, hence the Chuck Taylor shoes and electricbuslines. The dots represent the seven hills of Seattle with the onehighlighted. And the graffiti one obviously borrows from the city's"Capitol Hill Welcomes You" signs. I've kept the need for tiling inmind, too; even the photographic banners should be able to tile to theright with some further production work.

>>jseattle: Birds: I like this. I've seen the bird on wire imagery a lot, though, so kind of think if we go this way, we need it to be more unique Capitol Hill (shoes on wire too?) or more clearly ravens??? Dunno. But it looks cool.Bus wires: This is right on if you can get look and feel to be a little more gritty but I really like the cable idea. Probably my favorite concept.Shoes: Good idea but I feel it's too individual -- as if those are the blogger's shoes perhaps when really the site is about everybody.7 hills: I've been told the 7 hills thing was marketing BS made up back in the old days and there weren't really 7 hills :)Graffiti: This if fun but given the ambiguities around tagging (and some of the non ambiguous stuff like anybody who tags a mural is a dipshit), I'd rather not.

EmilyP: These directions are developed from the "bus lines" and "crow on wire"directions I sent you in the first round. First, a couple of points:

I've mentally gone over this challenge multiple times, but I can'tthink of a good, clear symbol for Capitol Hill that differentiates itfrom other places in the city. One way would be to use a landmark,like the Noguchi sculpture at Volunteer Park, but I want to steer awayfrom obvious solutions that lack originality. Therefore, I hope we canagree that the last solution may be generic to a certain degree. Thatleads me to the "crows" directions:

With crows and shoes hanging on wires, neither are specific to CapitolHill. I think, though, that the original design will be enough to setthe banner apart from other city blogs, and it does speak to the mixof urban and wild that Capitol Hill has over other neighborhoods. :D Ialso included a plane in one design for our beloved flight paths. ;)

I wasn't entirely sure how you wanted the "bus lines" direction tolook more gritty, so I took a stab at it. If you'd prefer that direction, I'd like to discuss further what look  you're interested in.

>>jseattle: 2-b is very cool. I'd like to lose the plane and move the red shoes into this design. And make everything black (so no teal power pole) but the red shoes. And I think we're pretty much there.

EmilyP: Including the shoes in the b version is a little tricky: they have tohave something to hang off, and the only line in b was too low in theimage to show them. I'm giving you a couple of options to remedy this.

I also wasn't sure if you wanted the power pole out completely, so Ileft it in (and black).

>>jseattle: It's wonderful. I like it best w/o power pole. The area will be busy enough when we add banner ads.

>>jseattle:  I'd like to have three wires running across page so please restore middle cable

 

You need a drink. Swing by The Lobby Bar tonight for our monthly CHS happy hour. Agenda is light. We'll be shooting the breeze, talking about things Capitol Hill and you'll have the chance to meet some of the people who write for the site and bend an ear or two. Maybe we can figure out what *is* going in next door now that Moneytree *is not.*

To further entice, The Lobby is extending its happy hour an extra hour just for CHS. That means $2.50 drafts, $3.00 wells, $4.00 wines and a special $4 CHS martini to help keep things lively.

When: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Where: The Lobby Bar, 916 East Pike Street
What: Time for a CHS social. Stop by to meet your neighbors. We'll have a special extended happy hour and who knows what else!

There's some very important CHS business to attend to next Wednesday night. It's time for our monthly happy hour huddle. February's fun takes place at E. Pike's The Lobby from 6 to 8 PM. To help us make all those important meeting decisions, owners Paul and Curtis are extending their normal happy hour (3 to 7 PM) an extra hour just for CHS. That means $2.50 drafts, $3.00 wells and $4.00 wines. Plus, they'll have a special $4 CHS martini on the board for you classy types.

Hope to see you there.

When: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Where: The Lobby Bar 916 East Pike Street
What: Time for a CHS social. Stop by to meet your neighbors. We'll have a special extended happy hour and who knows what else!

Susan Lund of Team Oddfellows (Photo: CLIFF DESPEAUX / THE SEATTLE TIMES by permission)

Team CapitolHillSeattle.com combined stellar defense with timely line drives -- and a little technology -- to earn the championship in the first annual Beard and Mustache Fest Wifflebowl with a 2-0 victory over Oddfellows. Or it might have been 1-0. But we won. One key play in the victory of the Oddfellows crew came down to instant replay when a close play at first was reviewed via Seattle Times photographer Cliff Despeaux's viewfinder. Earlier in the day, Team CHS defeated Cherry Street Coffee 4-zip. We next go on to play the New Orleans Saints in the Who Can Be Lazier for the Rest of February Bowl. We're a lock.

For more Beard and 'Stache fun, check out the Lover's Quarrel Cardboard Tube Fight on Valentine's Day -- also in Cal Anderson Park.

Team CHS Blog = Winners of the 2010 Wifflebowl Originally uploaded by theworldisfun

There is a shift happening in the way local, community news is delivered and managed as a business. CHS is part of that change. You've seen we are a scrappy fighter. But, really, this is about reporting news and creating a community to gather information, share and collaborate. This is about journalism. We are excited about this new opportunity to work with the next generation of Seattle journalists:

The Seattle University Spectator and CapitolHillSeattle.com are proud to announce the start of a unique collaboration bringing together the talents of a leading student-run news organization and a national leader in the hyperlocal news movement. It's a simple start -- we will each provide space on our Web sites to share news and information with our respective communities. Our goal is to solidify the connection between Seattle University and its neighborhood while learning how to shape a model for independent, community news to collaborate with the next generations of student journalism.

CHS will feature Capitol Hill coverage from the Spectator's student staff and contribute some of our work to the student-run newspaper and site. We will also collaborate in news gathering and reporting efforts around the Hill. CHS is extremely nimble when it comes to breaking news -- we're going to experiment with ways to include student journalists in these experiences. It will add to our coverage of the Hill and help give Spectator staff a taste of what this part of the business is about. Here is what the talented young people at the Spectator have to say about the relationship:

The Spectator hopes to enhance the education of the editors, writers and photographers it employs through the partnership by providing them with a firsthand glimpse of what they may find themselves doing one day—producing community-oriented journalism for a hyperlocal publication.

We are proud to create a partnership that will benefit our neighbors, readers, students and community while shaping a model for the future of community journalism.

It's an exciting step for CHS and The Spectator. CHS is proud to be building a community news site, a business to sustain it and, with this and our news partnership with the Seattle Times, a role in shaping some of what comes next for journalism and the people who make it their trade.

Well, that was fun. Thanks to Po Dog for hosting and Emerson Salon, again, for wetting our whistles. Here are some of the things we learned.

1. Uncle Vinny is a smart man. He suggested an article series on the history behind the Hill's public art. Where did the man sleeping on the bench -- next to the liquor store -- on Broadway come from anyhow? He also suggested a CHS meetup idea where we do more than eat, drink and gossip. A CHS lecture, Uncle Vinny? Will think about that.
2. Zeebleoop is pronounced ZAY-bull-oop.
3. CHS has a new intern. I knew that but everybody else learned it tonight. Welcome Seattle U. student EW.webster.
4. Heard the very exciting details of a new CHS feature from an old friend starting up this Friday (hopefully!).
5. The Yelp Seattle people travel in posse formation.
6. Cheesecake might get an office in the thick of things in Pike/Pine.
7. Po Dog secretly has or is getting or can make but won't make for me or something else I missed deep-fried pickles.
8. @gregoryhaller only experiences CHS via Twitter....

As we noted earlier, today is our 4th birthday. To celebrate, we're giving away 10 passes for you and a friend to go see the best in global independent cinema at the Northwest Film Forum. All you need to do to get a pass is give us a new site slogan for our birthday -- we might drop the 'A neighborhood blog for all the Hill' thing for our fifth year. We'll randomly select winners from the submissions. Make sure we have an accurate e-mail address so we can make arrangements to give you your 'admit two' pass to NWFF.

Thanks for being part of CHS!

Four more years!

Tomorrow is CHS's 4th birthday. Here is our first post from January 12th, 2006. As you could say about most of us at birth, we were different then. As we begin this fifth year of writing about the Hill and third year of covering the news up here on a daily basis, we're old enough to have a history. Here's a look at Januarys past on CHS. Happy birthday.

2009

• Oddfellows first CHS thoughts
• Snow extended winter break
• One man died in a shooting at Chop Suey
• 'Drink with me I'm ricin free' shirts were in style
• Rumors of Septieme's impending doom
• We celebrated the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States
• There was an earthquake

Olden Days

• 2007: Volunteer Park Cafe was born
• 2007: It snowed
• 2008: It dropped ice balls
• 2008: The WingDome made way for... well, we didn't know what. (eventually, The Saint)
• 2008: Police arrested James Anthony Williams for the murder of Shannon Harps
• 2008: The Community Council was re-born

We told you last week about our plans for this month's happy hour -- Join us on Tuesday, January 19th from 5-7p at Po Dog Hot Dogs for a gathering of CHS friends and neighbors. We also have a fun announcement -- Emerson Salon (btw, check out their fancy new Web site) is buying a round of beer for everybody. So, it will be the CHS January Happy Hour at Po Dog Sponsored by Emerson Salon. We're like the Super Bowl or something.

CHS How To Workshop
Meanwhile, Capitol Hill businesses and community organizations that would like to learn more about how to be part of CHS and use the site to engage with the community and spread the word about your efforts should consider attending the first of our planned monthly CHS How To sessions on Wednesday, January 27th at 10a at Office Nomads.

I'll walk through everything from how to create a free event listing, to advertising on the site, to how to interact with us via Twitter. Workshop is free but limited to the first 25 to RSVP so please sign up today. We'll be doing these workshops...

Just a quick note to let you know we're planning our first CHS get-together of 2010. Join us on Tuesday, January 19th from 5-7p at Po Dog Hot Dogs. We'll be smack dab in the middle of Po's daily happy hour -- 4:30 - 6:30 M-F with Mini Dog Sliders ($4.97) and Homemade Chips & Fries ($1.75) plus PBR Draft ($2), Manny's Draft ($3), Domestic Bottles ($2.5) and Import ($3). -- and we'll also get a 30 minute hh bonus. Po Dog is a sponsor of the site so we like to return some of the love but we're up for getting together anywhere on the Hill. For equal time, let's start planning a CHS hot dog street vendor event for August.

Here is how the CHS voting went for the top Capitol Hill news stories of 2009. Thanks for your votes and thanks again for being part of the site and supporting our effort to bring truly local community news and information to Capitol Hill.

1. Elliott Bay Book Co. moves to Pike/Pine (December)
   The rumors began in October. In December, owner Peter Aaron confirmed it. By spring 2010, Capitol Hill would be home to the city's largest independent book retailer and Pike/Pine could put yet another notch in its belt of cultural assets.
2. Capitol Hill light rail station construction begins (April)
   Construction of the massive project -- Capitol Hill's own Big Dig -- began not with creation but destruction. Blocks of Broadway were razed to make way for empty lots which are just now making way for the implements of construction. No tunneling will happen until 2011. No trains will run 400 feet below the Hill's surface until 2016. But 2009 is when it all began.
3. Officer Brenton shooting (October)
   It was the first time a Seattle Police Officer had been shot to death on duty since 1994. The murder of East Precinct officer Timothy Brenton was the start of what has been an extraordinarily violent end to 2009 for Washington law enforcement.

It's interesting to see how things sorted out -- especially some of the items toward the bottom of the table. We'd wager that the approval of the streetcar plan, for one, will likely grow in historical importance with time.

Any predictions for the top Capitol Hill story of 2010?

First hand-held 7D Stitch, originally uploaded by coreygo.

Here is a statistical review of 2009 on CHS: our most-commented, most-approved and most-viewed posts from the year. I was happy to see just how many of these came from contributors other than myself. Community journalism means incorporating many voices and you'll see that in our posts and on other sites like CHS featuring reader tips and comments. Looking through these 'most' posts of 2009, it's cool to see how strong these voices are on the site. Thanks for a great -- and interesting -- year. Also, don't forget to vote in our CHS Top News Stories of 2009 poll .

Most Commented

1. Bailey Coy Books to close shop at end of month - UPDATE: Interview with owner (46)
2. Internal memo details Starbucks Broadway plans, Joe Bar responds (44)
3. Rumor on aisle 9: New grocery store 'dominator' coming to Capitol Hill? (42)
4. Candidates on Capitol Hill: Mallahan changes mind on streetcar, takes battle to McGinn (39)
5. SBUX is to Victrola as the Seattle Times is to CHS? (34)
6. CHS 2009 Election Endorsement Polls - RESULTS (33)
7. Crap, it's snowing (& sticking) again on the Hill (33)
8. Madison Market's 10 Cent Bag Fee needs to go (31)
9. Let ten thousand Seattle food carts bloom: City proposes street food reform (30)
10. Nighttime paid parking on Broadway? Increased fines? Just the start of fixing Capitol Hill parking (30)

Most Approved

1. On CHS comments (+9)
2. Best Spot in the City: 14th and Mercer to Volunteer Park? (+8)
3. Capitol Hill Snapshot (#1) - Cal Anderson Park (+6)
4. Development: Proposal for B&O space (+5)
5. The ghosts of Hill's indie bookstores past (+5)
6. What Broadway mixed-use was like 100 years ago (+5)
7. CHS Apartment Reviews: Recruit, discourage, critique (+5)
8. Wandering Wieners in Cal Anderson Park (+5)
9. Capitol Hill Logo (+4)
10. Capitol Hill parking etiquette. Print. Post. Restore order to your neighborhood. (+4)

Most Viewed

1. Where -- and more importantly, when -- you *might* see the Perseid meteor shower on Capitol Hill (20,189)
2. Internal memo details Starbucks Broadway plans, Joe Bar responds (7,919)
3. Bailey Coy Books to close shop at end of month - UPDATE: Interview with owner (7,047)

1. Lightning and hailstorm raise a ruckus on Hill (6,540)
2. 2013: 'Expedited' streetcar schedule approved (5,673)
3. Cookie Monster on Capitol Hill: 'Why lie? ME NEED A COOKIE!!!' (4,403)
4. Streetcar route maps released with community meeting a day away (3,825)
5. Comet bouncer and Shy Ones drummer Ben Hills killed in 11th Avenue fire - UPDATE (3,437)
   
6. New Hot Dog Shop Po Dog Will Open on Hill (3,411)
7. City Council approves First Hill-Capitol Hill streetcar plan (3,318)

Want to see what was 'most' in 2008? Here's last year's round-up .

We have some CHS crow shirts left over from the big Capitol Hill Holiday Hoopla event on sale for a (very!) limited time at Broadway's Speck Printing. The shirts are high-quality, made by American Apparel and available only through Friday night. $15 to cover costs and time. Also, will happily swap for a new knit cap for anybody handy with the needles!

Speck Printing is located in the Alley Mall on Broadway up the stairs from Hana Sushi. 219 Broadway East. Open 11 AM to 7 PM.

You can also order shirts at any time via http://capitolhillseattle.spreadshirt.com/. They'll handle shipping for you and you can also get a wide variety of sizes, colors and styles with the crow -- including onesies for your little community news readers.

Other ideas for last-minute shopping on Capitol Hill?

I'd like to take a moment to let you all know that we are extremely protective of our community at CHS and will go to great lengths to protect it. Our terms of service clearly spell out that anybody disrupting the flow of communication on the site is violating the agreement and will not be allowed to participate in the site.

On this list of disruptions that are disruptive to the community of CHS is falsely describing your relationship to the area. If you live in another city, welcome to Capitol Hill Seattle. If you come here to play a game, goodbye.

One step might be to remove user accounts that violate this agreement. Another might be to ban specific IP addresses. Another might be to take legal action to stop the abuse. As CHS grows, the opportunities and impact of abusing its community grow. But our resources deepen, too. It is built to foster and sustain community. Please respect -- and enjoy -- CHS.

Justin (jseattle)
(206) 659-1919

Hope you'll have time to swing by tonight between 5-7pm to have a drink and say hello. It's a chance to meet some of the people behind the site and let me know what you like and what you don't about CHS. The BottleNeck will also be featuring extra happy hour time.

And, of course, you can get an official CHS crow button. See you there?

Here's a little something to keep you entertained on a rainy Sunday. What will you do for the next 32?

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We haven't posted one of these -- as somebody, in classic fashion once described 'About CHS' posts -- self-important blog posts in awhile. So let's get it out of our system:

• Green thumbs: You may have noticed that we've replaced the old thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating tool on articles and comments with only a 'Recommend this' thumbs-up. Why? It was too easy for one person to make a drive-by negative impact by clicking the thumbs-down just because they disagreed. There was an increase in these acts of shallow commentary recently convincing us that it was time for a change. As for making it too easy to show approval, well, can't say this appears to be a problem in the cool, cruel world. Anything we can do to tip the scales of positivity seems healthy, no?
• Twitter Ads: Now we're just showing off. We've introduced a cool new ad format here on CHS that we think makes a lot of sense. Our new Twitter Ad template showcases a local business's social media message making an ad that's dynamic and, hopefully, interesting...

crow Originally uploaded by bitmask

Next Tuesday night, we'll be hosting the (mostly!) monthly CHS happy hour at the Bottleneck Lounge along with our pals from Central District News.

To add some balance, we thought it might be nice to try a CHS social that did not include alcohol. Novel!

Join CHS at a special edition of HEALEO and Phyzz Yoga's morning stretch sessions. For $9, you'll get a yoga class, a smoothie and CHS will be there to guarantee you aren't the least limber person in the room. Fun starts at 9 AM.

Congratulations to fellow neighborhood news site MyBallard. Tonight, MyB helped validate small-media local news by winning the Online News Association's Community Collaboration award. The other nominees? The Los Angeles Times and the Miami Herald. Of course, flickr, Urbanspoon, Twitter and Yelp were not nominated. Nor CHS. Maybe next year. Now, enjoy your paper.

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CHS is built by you. Anybody can be part of the site to comment, publish articles, post pictures, create calendar events and more. You can participate with or without a CHS account -- you can leave a comment without joining the site, for example -- but being part of CHS gives you a lasting presence in your community news site and makes it easier for us to create an extremely open environment for everybody to be part of.

With all that as prelude, it's exciting to announced that we just zoomed through a fun milestone. Please meet CHS member #1000:

View Profile

Washington Ensemble Theater might not be the first type of neighbor you think of on Capitol Hill but the little theater (and Little Theater!) company is fitting from CHS's POV. Our ideal community is a mix of the people who live, work and play on the Hill. Some of us -- ahem, @jseattle -- identify deeply with the organizations they help drive. So, on CHS, your neighbor just might be a fringe theater group.

For a look at the other 999 members of CHS -- oops,...

We're still on the hunt for a printing partner to help cover the cost of taking the weekly CHS Paper edition up a level by printing and distributing a few copies. Spread the word. Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

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You may have noticed a new addition to the CHS crow banner:

Ragen and Associates, a Capitol Hill business located at 517 E. Pike St., is our first official CHS site sponsor. Thanks so much to the folks at R&A for supporting truly local journalism and community on Capitol Hill. You can learn more about Ragen and Associates' garden construction and garden maintenance services at http://www.ragenassociates.com/

Enjoy your weekend. Looking for something to do? Here are a few activities from the CHS events calendar:

• Miller Playfield Community Celebration
• Single Ladies Amateur Dance off at Century
• Friends of the Conservatory Fall Plant Sale

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A reminder that many of the cast of characters from CHS will be gathering Tuesday night at Poco Wine Bar for some happy hour fun. Happy hour prices are $2 off each glass and $8 off each bottle. CHS will be smuggling in a bottle of Arbor Mist to share.

We don't do the happy hours enough -- usually a lot of fun talking about everybody's life on the Hill and some of the fun connections that happen through the site. It's also a nice opportunity to thank a sponsor -- Poco has been a long-time supporter of the site.

CHS Happy Hour
Tuesday, 9/15 5-7p
Poco Wine Bar, 1408 E Pine St.

A sunny September day on Capitol Hill is not the best time to be in front of a laptop. But it's a fine, fine time to enjoy a printout of the latest CHS print edition. Have a good weekend.

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