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About Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill is the second most densely populated neighborhood in Seattle,
Washington, United States, after Belltown (the north part of downtown). It is
the center of gay life in Seattle and also a center of its counterculture, while
also home to some of the city's grandest mansions.
The origin of the neighborhood's name is disputed. According to one story, James
A. Moore, the real estate developer who platted much of the area, named it thus
in the hope that the Washington government would move to Seattle from Olympia.
According to another, Moore named it after the Capitol Hill neighborhood of
Denver, Colorado, his wife's hometown. It is thought by the editors of
HistoryLink that the true story is a combination of the two.
Prior to Moore's naming it so in 1901, Capitol Hill was known as Broadway Hill.
Due to its one-time large Catholic population, Capitol Hill was frequently
referred to as Catholic Hill up until the 1950s.
Geography
It is bounded by Interstate 5 to the west, beyond which are Downtown, Cascade,
and Eastlake; by Washington State Route 520 and Interlaken Park to the north,
beyond which is Montlake; by E. Pike and E. Madison Streets to the south, beyond
which are First Hill and the Central District; and by 23rd and 24th Avenues E.
to the east, beyond which is Madison Valley.
Its main thoroughfares are Lakeview Boulevard E.; Bellevue, 10th, 12th, 15th,
and 19th Avenues E.; and Broadway (north- and southbound) and E. Pine, E. Pike,
E. John, E. Thomas, and E. Aloha Streets and E. Olive Way (east- and westbound).
Of these streets, large portions of Pike, Pine, Broadway, 15th and, to a
slightly lesser extent, Olive, are lined almost continuously with streetfront
businesses.
The highest point on Capitol Hill, at 444.5 feet above sea level, is in
Volunteer Park, adjacent to the water tower. Capitol Hill is also responsible
for half of Seattle's 12 steepest street grades: 21% on E. Roy Street between
25th and 26th Avenues E. (western slope), 19% on E. Boston Street between
Harvard Avenue E. and Broadway E. (western slope) and on E. Ward Street between
25th and 26th Avenues E. (eastern slope), and 18% on E. Highland Drive between
24th and 25th Avenues E. (eastern slope), on E. Lee Street between 24th and 25th
Avenues E. (eastern slope), and on E. Roy Street between Melrose and Bellevue
Avenues E. (western slope).
Ambience
Always an eclectic neighborhood, since about 1980 Capitol Hill has also had a
reputation as the center of gay life in Seattle, although it has never been as
exclusively gay as The Castro in San Francisco. Seattle's main gay pride parade
abandoned the hill in 2006 for a route from Downtown Seattle to the Seattle
Center fairgrounds, drawing a crowd estimated at 150,000, but the dyke march and
a neighborhood pride parade still drew a crowd estimated at 50,000.[1] It also
has a reputation as the heart of trendy Seattle, and was the neighborhood most
closely associated with the grunge scene, although most of the best-known music
venues of that era were actually located slightly outside the neighborhood.
A stroll down Broadway or through the Cal Anderson Park will reveal a wide
diversity of people, with couples walking dogs, punks hanging out on street
corners, technology workers that commute to work across Lake Washington buying
groceries and, in the evenings, clubgoers from all over Seattle and Bellevue
visiting the scene for a night out. Shopping in the numerous retail stores and
boutiques offers everything from African art to Hot Topic and there are many
used and vintage clothing stores on Broadway, a few art galleries along East
Pike and Pine Streets, and many music stores that specialize in hip-hop, dance
and electronica, gothic and industrial, or rare used records.
Most of the Hill's major thoroughfares are dotted with coffeehouses, taverns and
bars, and residences cover the gamut from modest motel-like studio apartment
buildings to some of the city's grandest and most venerable mansions, with the
two extremes sometimes cheek-by-jowl.
The neighborhood figures prominently in nightlife and entertainment, with many
bars hosting live music and with numerous fringe theatres. Capitol Hill is also
home to two of the city's best-known movie theaters, both of them part of the
Landmark Theatres chain and both of them architectural conversions of private
meeting halls: the Harvard Exit, in the former home of the Women's Century Club
(converted in the early 1970s) and the Egyptian Theatre, in a former Masonic
lodge (converted in the mid-1980s). The Broadway Performance Hall, located on
the campus of Seattle Central Community College, also hosts a variety of
lectures, performances, and films.
Landmarks and institutions
* Cal Anderson Park
* Cornish College of the Arts
* Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery
* Lake View Cemetery
* Louisa Boren Park
* Roanoke Park
* St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral
* Seattle Asian Art Museum
* Seattle Central Community College
* Seattle Preparatory School
* Volunteer Park
Bars and Clubs
Past
At least since the 1970s, Capitol Hill has played a prominent role in Seattle's
nightlife. Prominent bars in the 1970s, inevitably also full-scale restaurants,
were the upmarket, elegant Henry's Off Broadway and two Broadway "fern bars"
owned by Jerry Kingen. (Kingen also turned the Red Robin from a single tavern at
the southern end of the University Bridge into a restaurant chain.) The bars at
his Boondocker's, Sundecker's, & Greenthumb's and Lion O'Reilly's & BJ
Monkeyshines were both popular with a young crowd, mostly heterosexual and
single. Lion O'Reilly's had a last hurrah as "Lion O's Rock Hard Cafe", which
resulted in legal action by the Hard Rock Cafe chain. Surviving from that era,
with a rougher-hewn version of the same style, is Canterbury Ales and Eats on
15th Avenue E.
With a similar look, but far more emblematic of what was to come, was the Brass
Connection, a bar and disco with a predominantly gay male crowd and occasional
drag shows. It played a key role in moving the heart of Seattle's gay nightlife
scene from relative hidey-holes, mainly in the Pioneer Square and Belltown
neighborhoods, to higher-profile venues, mainly on Capitol Hill and especially
in the Pike-Pine corridor.
In the late 1980s, another gay bar, Tugs Belltown, moved up to the Hill (corner
of Pine and Belmont) and became Tugs Belmont. In this new venue, it played a key
role in Seattle's burgeoning fringe theater scene. Possibly the first bar in
Seattle since before the Prohibition era to regularly host theater performances,
in the early 1990s it was the primary home of the Greek Active Theater, founded
by Dan Savage (working pseudonymously as Keenan Hollohan).
Under Washington State's liquor laws, until the 1990s it was virtually
impossible to have a bar that served hard liquor without having a full
restaurant: at least 40% of revenues had to come from food. Drinking
establishments were (and still are) divided into bars with full licenses and
taverns that could sell only beer, wine, and hard cider.
The scene along the Pike-Pine corridor was never exclusively gay. In the 1990s
Moe's, on Pike just east of Broadway (now the site of Neumo's) transformed a
former Salvation Army facility into a combination bar, restaurant, and
performance venue, with local and national acts as well as dance nights, and
became for several years one of Seattle's most prominent musical performance
venues. Now Neumo's and nearby Chop Suey continue that live music tradition and
dozens of trendy (and friendly-but-divey) bars and clubs cater to gay- and
straight-themed nightlife.
In December, 2005 new Washington State health codes came into effect that
required smokers to remain at least twenty-five feet from all doorways, open
windows and vents while smoking. With doors of neighboring businesses frequently
within fifty feet of each other, this technically leaves nowhere on the sidewalk
to smoke. A difficult issue that affects all businesses in the neighborhood, and
bars and clubs are still finding means to accommodate their smoking and
non-smoking clients while remaining within the law.
Current
* 22 Doors
* The Bad Juju Lounge
* The Baltic Room
* Bar�a
* Bill's Off Broadway
* Bus Stop
* Cafe Metropolitain
* Capitol Club
* Canterbury Ales and Eats
* C.C. Attle's
* Cha Cha Lounge
* Chapel
* Charlie's
* Chop Suey (arguably just outside the boundaries of the neighborhood, but very
much a part of the Capitol Hill scene)
* Clever Dunne's
* Club Z
* The Comet
* The Crescent
* The Cuff Complex
* The Elite
* Elysian Brewing Company
* The Hopvine
* The Honeyhole
* The Jade Pagoda
* The Maharaja
* Kincora's Irish Pub
* Liberty
* Linda's
* Madison Pub
* Man Ray
* Martin's off Madison
* Mercury
* Neighbours
* Neumo's
* Purr
* R Place
* Rosebud Cafe
* The Satellite
* Seattle Eagle
* Six Arms
* The Stumbling Monk
* Sugar
* Summit Public House
* Thumper's
* The Vogue
* The War Room
* Wild Rose
Coffeehouses
Besides the inevitable large Seattle-based chains—Starbucks, Seattle's Best
Coffee (now owned by Starbucks), and Tully's Coffee—Capitol Hill has been home
to some of the city's most prominent locally owned coffeehouses.
The now-defunct Cause Celebre coffeehouse and ice cream parlor on 15th Ave. E.
started life as a worker-owned collective, but was eventually bought out by one
of its founding members. From about 1978 until the mid-1980s, it declared itself
to be "Capitol Hill's living room."
B&O Espresso (at the corner of Belmont Ave. E. and Olive Way, hence B&O: Belmont
and Olive), founded 1976, could be considered one of Seattle's oldest surviving
coffeehouses, except that it has transformed over the years into more of a
restaurant. One of B&O's claims to fame is that the band Pearl Jam conceived of
their name while at this coffeehouse.
Through most of the 1990s, the Cafe Paradiso (now the Caffe Vita on Pike) was
one of the few all-ages music venues in Seattle, slipping through the cracks of
the draconian Teen Dance Ordinance by being, in theory at least, a no-dancing
venue.
The minuscule Coffee Messiah (early 1990s – 2006), decorated in religious
kitsch, serving little but coffee and vegan pastries, was also an all-ages
performance venue for several years. The crowd frequently spilled out onto the
pavement (especially because they could not smoke inside). Acts ranged from punk
rock to drag cabaret, including a cross between the two known as Pho Bang (which
later continued at other venues).
Present-day coffeehouses on the Hill include:
* Bauhaus Coffee
* Caffe Ladro (local chain)
* Caffe Vita (local chain)
* Dilettante Chocolates Cafe & Patisserie
* Espresso Vivace (2 locations, both on the Hill)
* Faire
* Fuel Coffee
* Insomnia
* Joe Bar
* Red Line Cafe
* Top Pot Doughnuts (local chain)
* Victrola Coffee & Art
Several Capitol Hill coffeehouses use mezzanines or similar architectural
devices to add more seating to their relatively small spaces; some take
significant advantage of nearby sidewalks for additional seating. Espresso
Vivace's Broadway location has only sidewalk seating, and that seating is
techically on the property of the bank next door. Bauhaus takes advantage of its
high ceiling not only for a massive wall of books (mostly encyclopedias and
other reference books), but also to place additional seating over the food prep
and serving area; it also spills out onto the sidewalk onto E. Pike Street and
around the corner to Melrose, with sidewalk seats providing a view of the
northern part of downtown.
Recent History
Most recently, Seattle suffered its worst mass-killing since the 1983 Wah Mee
massacre when a 28-year-old man named Kyle Aaron Huff committed the Capitol Hill
massacre on March 25, 2006.
Capitol Hill, ever the politically active neighborhood, saw marches of
protestors that walked up the hill from downtown, which were then turned back
and dispersed by police with tear-gas in the days that followed "N30". N30 was a
day of rioting in downtown Seattle during the WTO Conference of 1999.