Word is flying around the Internets of a rally in support of the Approve 71 effort taking place Sunday starting at 1 PM on the corner of Broadway and Pine. Here are details from the Approve 71 - Let's Do This! Facebook event listing:

Ballots are being mailed out in mere weeks! The polls are practically tied and nothing less than our civil rights are at stake! A majority of the state supports the rights of same sex couples, but it won’t matter ONE BIT if enough of those anti-gay voters send in their ballots & our supporters don't bother. Its time for us to get together and kick some ass!

We will have a large table and materials set up on the corner of Broadway & Pine. The more of you come the better! Let's take over the area and show everyone how passionate we are about this issue. Even if you can only come for a short while we'd love to see you.

Our mission is to:

- Sign up volunteers for phone banks, canvassing, etc.

- Register new voters & allow current voters to update their addresses

- Collect donations for APPROVE 71 buttons, stickers, and signs with all funds going back to the campaign.

- Hold up large signs and shout it out – “Protect all families! APPROVE 71!!!”

Between now and Sunday I need to round up several materials, some easier than others. If you have these or know how to get them please let me know as soon as you can:

- Voter registration forms

- Volunteer sign up forms for phone bank shifts, etc.

- Buttons

- Stickers (small round, bumper stickers, etc)

- Signs

- Approve 71 flyers, info, etc.

- Flyers for pro-71 candidates running for office.

I hope you will join us as we fight to Approve Ref 71!!!

A man, who was sipping coffee while waiting to cross the street in front of City Market, was unaware that he inadvertently became the subject of a few laughs on my homeward commute.

UPDATE: 3:00

According to SFD PIO Dana Vander Houwen, the fire was extinguished quickly, resulting in no injuries and a small amount of exterior structural damage. The cause of the fire was unknown.

Brandon Ivers, a future renter of the home, was told of the fire by a neighbor and was outside watching fire fighters finish up. Ivers is one of four renters who recently put down a deposit for the home, and was looking to move in in the coming weeks. Ivers said he wasn't sure if the fire would affect the move-in process.

Original post

Three engines and about a dozen fire fighters are blocking off Denny between Harvard & Broadway for a fire reported at 800 Denny. No flames were visible, but the house, which appears to be vacant, is still being tended to. More information to come.

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow (saturday the 26th) is the Seattle AIDS Walk. Lifelong AIDS Alliance has the goal of raising $750,000 for HIV/AIDS research. They are almost at the 50% mark, so definitely contribute if able!

The Seattle AIDS Walk is a 5K walk & run of support and remembrance through the streets of Seattle. We gladly welcome all supporters and friends. Please join us as we honor 23 years of walking to fight HIV and AIDS in the Puget Sound region. Your support as a walker, donor, or volunteer is deeply appreciated.

The event is tomorrow, starting at 9AM from Volunteer Park (1498 E Prospect St on NE Capitol Hill).

When you are done with the walk, venture on over the Harem for gay belly dancing! For more LGBT events and news on Capitol Hill, visit GayCapHill!

No, its mine now, mmm.
Originally uploaded by RichSeattle

CHS is no square. We get funky every now and then, too. Here are a couple of stories that are only kinda SFW.

• Do you know where you can buy a bull penis on Broadway? CHS does.
  Yesterday, while making the rounds with the new Neighborlogs ad guy, CHS learned a little bit about why boiled, dried bull penis is the perfect dog chew toy from our visit to Mud Bay Granary. Now you know, too.
• Meanwhile, a Web site called Seattle Swingers has posted its review of Cal Anderson Park. Some choice comments from the post:
  o "I like parks with rubber ground material."
  o "They are also very busy, so good luck getting a swing at any daylight time."

Scandalous.

Quite a bit is going on this weekend. The hill has made it easy for you to do your part to support HIV/AIDS work & R71 all while having fun!

Thursday

• Hedda Lettuce "Eat Me" at Julia's

Friday 

• Last Friday Arts! at Harem
• Billie Jean: the Legend (mention your support for R71 and $2 will be donated to the Approve R71 campaign)

Saturday

•  Seattle AIDS Walk
• Gay Belly Dancing at Harem
• CHERRY! at Re-Bar

• Billie Jean: the Legend (mention your support for R71 and $2 will be donated to the Approve R71 campaign)

 Sunday

• Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Membership Meeting

For more LGBT related news and events, visit GayCapHill. For LGBT bar and concert related events, visit Seattle Gay Scene.

Of the many wonderful things happening in Park(ing) Day's Central Park on Capitol Hill, one of the more wonderful was Seattle Arts and Lectures' creativity park where visitors could paint, tap out some rhyme on an old typewriter or hack an old book into some found poetry snippets. Here are some of the pieces park visitors put together last Friday.

The 2009 Decibel Festival is in your 'hood this weekend, Thursday through Sunday. The popular electronic music festival draws a savvy and fashionable crowd from all over the world to our city and neighborhood to eat, drink, walk, and buy.

Whether you're into the 808 or not  --- 808 is slang for bass, Roland 808 drum machine, cowbell (and Hawaii, but that doesn't apply) -- we'll have lots of visitors roaming the hill.  What say we  thaw a little of that so-called Seattle freeze and help dispel that reputation.  Just a little.

If you want a taste of the electronic music scene without jumping in with both feet, here's a list of where and when things are happening on the hill and the prime lurking opportunities.

Decibel Festival Will Call and Lounge
The Chapel // Thursday - Saturday
All passholders, including performers, must pass through The Chapel.  Rub elbows with the electronic elite, no tickets required. Find a perch at the bar and hang on...

If you are thinking of buying, now might be the perfect storm.  Rates are extremely low, the government is pitching in $8000 of free money to those who haven't been homeowners in the past 3 years and prices have come WAY down. 

Deals must be closed by the deadline, November 30th, 2009 so if you are thinking of doing this and capturing this free money then you need to get out and start looking.  Being pre-qualified by a lender usually only takes a day.  You will need to have recent paystubs, tax returns and fill out an application but this process is very quick to complete and you will have a good idea of what you can afford.  For more info on the tax credit click the link below:

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/glance.php 

I would just like to caution people that you may qualify for more of a monthly payment than you are comfortable with.  If you really don't want to spend more than a certain amount a month in mortgage payments then make sure that the payment you receive...

With the goal of raising $750,000 to help fight HIV and AIDS, the Seattle AIDS Walk will bring more than 2,000 walkers to Capitol Hill this weekend for a purposeful stroll around Volunteer Park. Saturday's walk starts at 9:30 AM and proceeds around a loop from Volunteer Park down 12th Ave, over to Broadway and then back up Broadway to return to the park for the after-party with food, music -- and this year you probably won't need your umbrella.

It's the 23rd year for the event and there's still time to sign up to walk or make your pledge. Lifelong AIDS Alliance, the group that organizes the walk, is currently at 40% of its $750,000 pledge goal for the walk. Last year, the organization says it raised about $650,000. With the continuing weak economy, giving for Lifelong -- like it is for more organizations these days -- has below expected levels so far in 2009.

For more information on the walk, check out http://seattleaidswalk.org

This week's selections of top CHS comments illustrates what community news is all about -- a few good ideas, some helpful history, an argument or two and, especially, help identifying a type of tree.

Our write-up on the eviction of the Satellite Lounge inspired a few of the old timers to share recent history and what they loved most about the bar.

...hardly that old ...

It is in the up the Hill site of Spags which was bought out by the bus tunnel project. Spags was on Pine below the freeway. Very old gay bar, back to the 1950is. It was suit and tie downtown crowd at happy hour and party central on weekends, friendly, cheap beer, no hard liquor, a tavern....

Spags moved to the hill with a bag of buy out cash and remodeled the building, now site of the Satellite.

When, maybe 15 years ago.... historians speak.

Comment by Mike with curls

Jukebox

One of the things I loved about The Satellite was the jukebox. Once when I was there a Journey song came on ("Don't Stop Believing", I want to say) and the whole place started singing along. Yeah, their food wasn't that great, but it's places like this that help give the neighborhood character (in a good way). Even though I didn't go to the Satellite that often, I will still miss it.

Comment by SS

Meanwhile, CHS super sleuth linder seattle dug up this picture of happier times for the tragic Cadillac that burned on Madison:

looks kinda like this one
I'm not a car expert but here is a (quite similar looking) Cadillac El Dorado at last year's Kirkland Classic Car Festival. Photo by rikrose.

Comment by linder seattle

 

Like the Satellite's closure, the exit of Broadway Grocery from the corner of Harrison and B-way inspired historical analysis and some fond memories:

What kind of grocery store doesn't have milk?

I went in there on a take-out/grocery run, and even though they had wall to wall fridges full of beer and soda, they had no milk. To the back aisle of QFC for me.

I'm not going to miss it. I suppose if you wanted a wide selection of malt liquors it'll be a loss, but I was much sadder to see The Glade (Princess Market) go.

Comment by mattw

let we forget the lamb

Seattle's own sandwich nazi occupied the front of that store for a couple years. He was generally known to make the best lamb in pita sandwich possible. Everything homemade; unbelievably good, but you weren't allowed to take your sandwich off premises. He wanted them eaten immediately, because he was a perfectionist. I believe Rachel Kessler reviewed it for the Stranger. The owner was from Turkey, via Germany and he went bye bye right after 9/11, supposedly deported. The owners of the store said he was in a detention facility for awhile. His food was incomparable -- and I've done a lot of comparing.

Comment by juan

TJ, btw, wins points for funniest comment, 50 characters or less division.

Hmmmm....

So much for 'location, location, location'.

Comment by TJ

The Po Dog Hot Dogs mural controversy thing, if nothing else, is marketing genius. Zeebleoop found a reasonable approach to the 'controversy':

po dog's mural

i see nothing wrong with the mural and it's better than having a bunch of tagger crap scrawled there.

the parking lot owner won't let you use the spaces? then rappel from the roof and paint it anyway. or just paint it in the middle of the night when the parking lot's owner is probably safely tucked in bed.

Comment by zeebleoop

The mysterious YouTube video of a bunny rabbit groove guitaring on Broadway brought out a few eyewitness accounts of a bestial jam session. But which was it? A chicken or a crow?

jammin
i saw him and a guy with a chicken mask were jammin out with some experimental metal stuff for a few hours right next to bank of america.

Comment by madeline

Rabbit and Crow
I saw the rabbit last week, also next to Bank of America on B'way, but accompanied by a crow on drums.

Comment by MK

We liked this happy note regarding the inspirational street style blog, It's My Darlin'

LOVE

Dana, you're awesome! It's people like you who keep me inspired and motivated to dress well.

Comment by Clayton

Coincidence, we're sure. Furries and half of hillku caught on tape?

furry wedding day memories

One of the grooms featured around 3:59 is none other than hillku's very own City Limits!

Comment by final answer

And, finally, some CHS comments are just plain helpful. When CHS wondered what kind of trees had been broken on Pike, DevoDaddy answered.

Type of trees......

Crape Myrtles

Comment by DevoDaddy

The seasons on Capitol Hill, this year at least, know no calendar.

On the Brink of Summer's End uploaded by sea turtle to the CHS flickr pool

Our news partnership with the Seattle Times has meant some good things for CHS: We have access to Seattle Times photo resources, we get some strong citywide attention when we break interesting news and we get some respect from the offline crowd. We also get invited to better parties.

On October 21st, CHS will be part of the KING-5-Seattle Times mayoral debate -- we get to ask a probing question or three. They're not trusting their neighborhood news editors to do their thing on live TV, however -- probably smart. Instead, we're taping the questions this week.

So, what's on your mind re: the would-be mayors, Capitol Hill? I plan to ask questions that are specific to the Hill. Hopefully they draw out answers that are useful city-wide. But, if not and Ballard gets bored, no worries -- they'll also get a turn.

Let me know what you'd like Seattle's mayoral candidates to be asked in the comments. If you like somebody's question, click the green thumb or add a +1 comment.

It's Oktoberfest time. Let's mess with science. Beer science. The Washington Beer Blog -- Everything Beer in the Evergreen State -- is running a poll to determine Seattle's favorite brew pub and Ballard's Maritime Pacific is slowly pulling ahead of the Elysian:

We’ve been running a poll for a couple of weeks now. The question, “What is your favorite Seattle brew pub?” The plan was to pull it down today and announce the results. Change of plans. We’ll run it for the rest of this week to see if the tie can be broken between Maritime Pacific and Elysian Capitol Hill. Big Time is close on their heels.

You know what to do.

That's right. Write in the Hopvine. Just kidding. Root for the home team. BTW, if your hometown beer is available on the Hill, let us know.

Though we are about to be hit by a September heat wave, the seasons are changing. In addition to the start of falling leaves and dewy mornings, on Capitol Hill, that means spiders, spiders everywhere. Neighborhood camera-toter zeebleoop added this amazing shot of a Capitol Hill arachnid to the CHS flickr pool.

With Seattle's 2009 fall election approaching, a choice voters made in 2008 will soon create even more open space on Capitol Hill. From the property taxes collected by the 2008 Parks Levy, money is being set aside to purchase land for another new park on Capitol Hill and the community process has begun to gather feedback on our parks needs -- the city was even out on Park(ing) Day collecting ideas and suggestions. The project will join the spaces created on Summit at John and on 16th at Howell in a wave of new grass and p-patches on the Hill.

But where to put the new Capitol Hill park? The funds are intended to create a park within the Capitol Hill Urban Village, the area ringed in red in this map (the purple line is the light rail tunnel path, btw).

Chip Nevins, acquisitions planner for Seattle Parks, said the decision on where to put the next Capitol Hill park will hinge partly on the Summit/John and 16th/Howell locations:

The Neighborhood Park Acquisition portion of the Pro Parks Levy specifically named two projects to help implement the Capitol Hill Neighborhood Plan: Capitol Hill Park Acquisition: (“Acquire one or two sites listed in Capitol Hill Neighborhood Plan”) and Bellevue Substation Acquisition (“Acquire Bellevue Substation”).

The Bellevue substation wasn't available (and wasn't a great park site) so an alternative site (John and Summit) was proposed by Park staff and agreed to by the community.  The other park that was acquired (16th and E Howell) was proposed by a member of the community.

In this case we would be looking for a park that complements those acquisitions by filling a need in another part of the neighborhood.

According to Lise Ward, senior real property agent for the city, there are a few specific attributes Seattle Parks will look for. "In general, we look for neighborhood park sites that are at least 10,000 sf in size," Ward told CHS. "We are also trying to fill gaps in urban villages where there is more than a 1/8-mile to 1/4-mile walking distance to a park."

This map created by CHS shows Capitol Hill's park coverage using a very fuzzy approximation of the walking distance factor.

That measure leaves a swath of Capitol Hill between Broadway and 14th Ave and Harrison and Aloha relatively park-less. So here's where CHS is plotting the next Capitol Hill park. We'll leave it to you to figure out which 10,000+ sqft plot of land should be used.

View Capitol Hill Park Zone in a larger map

'We've got to help the gays that make them shine!'

As our sister site Gay Cap Hill points out, the 'trailer' for the 2009 Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival is out. It's a We-Are-the-World style hoot:

For more on this year's festival which starts October 16th and features a return for the fest to Capitol Hill's Egyptian Theater, check out Gay Cap Hill's coverage.

With Seattle Central's fall classes starting at the end of this month, here's the tale of one of SCCC's buildings that is off the main campus and right in the heart of the Hill. The history of the building also includes plagues, a famous art school and an equally famous ghost. Capitol Hill historian Dotty DeCoster originally wrote this article for the Capitol Hill Times where it appeared in 2007 but it is not available on the Web. She is able to share her work with CHS and we're happy to feature her take on the Hill's history. We last featured DeCoster's work in this piece: A Piggly Wiggly history of chain stores on 15th Ave

Have you ever noticed the building on the southeast corner of Broadway and Pine Street? That's the Booth Building, now Seattle Central Community College's South Annex. The college recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the building with repairs and repainting. The Booth Building, permitted in 1906 and likely constructed in 1907, was an early mixed-use brick and concrete building constructed on Broadway. Designed by the architecture firm of Thompson & Thompson (CL and CB Thompson); constructed by Layton & White, Contractors, the building was the creation of the doctors John R. and William G. Booth.

View Larger Map | Picture: the building in its Cornish School of music days

1907 was a banner year for building construction in Seattle, part of the building boom that really gave us the shape our built environment here on Capitol Hill. The Booth Building was typical of the neighborhood in offering homes, studio, and performance spaces upstairs to musicians and artists for a large part of it’s history while providing groceries, banks, and automobile parts at the street level. Now one of the oldest mixed-use buildings on Broadway, it still provides shelter for students through Seattle Central Community College, its current owner.

The "Doctors Booth," as they are called in the historical records, arrived in Seattle about 1900, practiced medicine for some years in the Alaska Building, and speculated in real estate along with numerous other people at the time. They were both trained in four-year medical colleges (unusual at the time) and took an interest in public health. Dr. J.R. Booth, for instance, visited San Francisco to study bubonic plague in 1903 and made a report to the City Council and Health Department.  Dr. W. G. Booth was involved in the continuing effort during the early part of the 1900s to ensure a healthy (tuberculosis free) milk supply.  Both doctors were active in the King County Medical Association, and Dr. J.R. Booth was it’s president in 1909.  Dr. William Booth and his wife raised two children here in Seattle and lived the rest of their lives here.  Dr. J.R. Booth returned to the Bay Area where he had gone to medical school and his family settled there.

While Seattle was growing and abuilding in 1907, bubonic plague did strike here.  On October 19, Seattle resident Leong Sheng died of Bubonic plague and there were two other plague-related deaths that year.  A massive round up of rats was conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service and in November, 1907, Seattle passed two ordinances to address sanitary conditions and combat the plague.  Rats, and the plague itself, were one of the prices paid for becoming an active Port – neither were known in the Seattle area until after the 1850s.

Sources:  Historylink.org Essay 418; Seattle Municipal Archives; Seattle Daily Bulletin.

Natural Treasures Originally uploaded
by thewoodenshoes (van Kampen Photography)

I've had a few of my calmest moment on Capitol Hill wandering through the warm air of the Volunteer Park Conservatory. But I kill most every house plant I come in contact with either out of neglect or ambitious over-watering. So this event is a mixed bag for me. For the green-thumbed, it's probably a lot of fun. The Friends of the Conservatory group is holding its fall plant sale Sunday to raise funds and clear out some inventory. On sale, orchids, cacti, bromeliads and other indoor plants. Funds go to support the group's efforts to keep the conservatory open as it approaches its 100th birthday in 2012.

When:     Sunday, September 20, 2009 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM

Where:     1400 E. Galer Street 206.322.4112 / foc@volunteerparkconseravatory.com North Capitol Hill in Volunteer Park, near the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

What:     The Friends of the Conservatory in Volunteer Park are having their Annual Fall Plant Sale

SUNDAY, September 20th from 10 am – 3 pm

On the lawn across from the Conservatory.

Popular favorites such as orchids from Hawaii bromeliads, cactus, succulents and many exotic tropical plants will be featured.

Our Plant Sales sell some of the most unique indoor plants around – come find out for yourself!

(Like the plants grown in the Conservatory!)

It's going to be a great sale! Don't miss it.

Afterwards, take a moment to visit the Conservatory Gift Shop - (10 am- 3:30 pm) - a chance to find great gardening gifts!

Plenty of free parking is available on-site!

A reminder of tonight's (rain or shine!) fun at Miller Playfield including:

• A welcome by Councilmember Rasmussen, chair of the Council Parks Committee
• The potluck!
• Ice-Cream, donated by Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream & Tea Room
• a soccer clinic presented by Seattle University Men’s Soccer. You can cheer the SU Redhawks on against Oregon State at 12:30 on Saturday at  SU Championship Field located on the corner of E. Jefferson St and 13th Ave.
•  a lacrosse demonstration presented by Northwest Women’s Lacrosse Association (NWWLA)

Starts at 6:30 PM. Bring your cleats.

Catered by a beautiful sunny day, Friday's Park(ing) Day was one filled with music, relaxing, and plenty of sod. I took a trip down to the "Central Park" at the People's Parking Lot where about a dozen mini-parks had sprung up for the event. Here are some pictures from the day:

Full coverage of Central Park and pictures of the Park(ing) Day 2009 trophy and award-winning park

I crossed paths with a friendly neighbor last night who works for the Brix condo developer and gave me the scoop on where to get free food, drinks, and entertainment this afternoon.

Brix is hosting a community party today (Saturday, 1 - 4pm) with food from Buca di Beppo and chocolate martinis from Dilletante. There will also be a DJ and other food providers, but friendly nieghbor's post-bar hopping self couldn't remember the details.

I was assured I don't need to pretend to be interested in buying a condo in order to get a plate and a glass.  I'll probably wander around anyway just to satisfy my real estate-lookie-loo curiousity.

Brix condos go on the auction block Sunday, September 29th. See CHS's story on the auction (and the informative comments) for more infomation.

Photo credit:  Yehudit Solomon

If you're planning to head out to a bar on the Hill on Saturday night, here's a great chance to help educate the community about the importance of approving R-71. Volunteers will be meeting at 10:00 p.m. at a location to be announced and going out to the local bars to do some quick and easy outreach. Since you're already going out any way, make your way over to Washington Families Standing Together and RSVP to help with outreach! You can also check out their page with tips on how to be an outreach superstar!

If you want to learn more visit GayCapHill.com

• The Rainer Valley's own Massive Monkees dance crew made it to the top three of America's Best Dance Crews, after a winning performance of NSYNC's "Tearing Up My Heart".
• The Tako Truk, a project of Cormac Mahoney (Corson Building, Sitka and Spruce) and Eastlake's culinary hit of the summer, will serve its final tacos of the year tonight. If you haven't been down there, the chicken and french fry tacos are amazing! (Open until midnight)
• IslandVision attempts to turn all of Mercer Island into a Wildlife Habitat? Those wacky islanders. (Also: Capitol Hill was deemed the "Delinquent Older Brother" in the Mercer Island Family of Nearby Commercial Centers.)
• Ballard's Swedish Medical Center breaks ground on a new 90,000 sqft addition to their campus.
• The geniuses over at Garfield High School in the Central District make it the top public school in Washington for Merit Scholar Nominees.

Bonus: Please welcome Seattle's newest hyperlocal news source, Laurelhurst Blog. Check out their great tips for better gardening<...