Capitol Hill (Seattle)

Geography

Capitol Hill is situated on a steep hill just east of the city's downtown central business district.

The neighborhood is bounded by Interstate 5 (I-5) to the west, beyond which are Downtown, Cascade, and Eastlake; to the north by State Route 520 and Interlaken Park, beyond which are the Portage Bay and Montlake neighborhoods; to the south by E. Union and E. Madison Streets, beyond which are First Hill and the Central District; and to the east by 23rd and 24th Avenues E., beyond which is Madison Valley.

Capitol Hill's main thoroughfare is Broadway, which forms the commercial heart of the district. Other significant streets are 10th, 12th, 15th, and 19th Avenues, all running north-south, and E. Pine, E. Pike, E. John, E. Thomas, and E. Aloha Streets and E. Olive Way, running east-west. Of these streets, large portions of E. Pike Street, E. Pine Street, Broadway, 15th Avenue, and E. Olive Way are lined almost continuously with streetfront businesses.

The Pike-Pine corridor (the area between Pike and Pine street from Boren Avenue through 15th Street is another main thoroughfare of the neighborhood, full of coffeeshops, bars, restaurants, and other food or music related businesses.

The highest point on Capitol Hill, at 444.5 feet (135.5 m) 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. (eastern 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).

History

Circa 1900, Capitol Hill was known as 'Broadway Hill' after the neighborhood's main thoroughfare. The origin of the neighborhood's current 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.

Due to its one-time large Roman Catholic population, Capitol Hill was frequently referred to as Catholic Hill up until the 1980s.

Capitol Hill contains some of Seattle's wealthiest neighborhoods, including "Millionaire's Row" along 14th Avenue E. south of Volunteer Park (family residences on tree-lined streets) and the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District. It also has many distinguished apartment houses, including several by Fred Anhalt, as well as a few surviving Classical Revival complexes such as the Blackstone Apartments. However, the neighborhood's architecture did not fare so well in the decades immediately after World War II. Architect Victor Steinbrueck wrote in 1962 of the "tremendous growth of less-than-luxury apartments" that at first "appear to be consistent with the clean, direct approach associated with contemporary architecture" but whose "open outdoor corridors" totally defeat their "large 'view' windows" by giving occupants no privacy if they leave their blinds open to enjoy the view. "Most tenants close their blinds and look for another apartment when their lease runs out."

Since 1997, Capitol Hill has hosted the Capitol Hill Block Party annually in late July.

Bus transit service to and within Capitol Hill is provided by King County Metro, including electric trolleybus routes 10, 12, 43 and 49 of the Seattle trolleybus system. The First Hill Streetcar line, which opened in January 2016, terminates in the neighborhood.

The Capitol Hill station of Link Light Rail opened in March 2016, as part of the University Link extension. Sound Transit will select proposals for transit-oriented development above and around the station location at Broadway and John Street.

2006 massacre

On March 25, 2006, a mass shooting occurred in the neighborhood, when 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff, a native of Whitefish, Montana, opened fire with a shotgun and a .40-caliber pistol at a rave party after an event at the Capitol Hill Arts Center. Huff killed six and wounded two others before taking his own life after being confronted by police. The shooting was the worst mass murder in Seattle since 1983, when the Wah Mee massacre resulted in 13 deaths.

Culture

Large-scale gay residential settlement of Capitol Hill began in the early 1960s. Accordingly, this district is home to a sizable number of gay and lesbian couples making Capitol Hill Seattle's "gayborhood".

Capitol Hill has a reputation as a bastion of musical culture in Seattle and is the neighborhood most closely associated with the grunge scene from the early 1990s, although most of the best-known music venues of that era were actually located slightly outside the neighborhood. The music scene has transformed since those days and now a variety of genres (electronica, rock, punk, folk, salsa, hip hop and trance) are represented.

The neighborhood figures prominently in nightlife and entertainment, with many bars hosting live music and with numerous fringe theatres. 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 most historic mansions, with the two types sometimes shoulder-to-shoulder.

Capitol Hill is also home to two of the city's best-known movie theaters, both of which are part of the Landmark Theatres chain. Both theaters are architectural conversions of private meeting halls: the Harvard Exit (now closed permanently) in the former home of the Woman's Century Club (converted in the early 1970s) and the Egyptian Theatre, in a former Masonic lodge (converted in the mid-1980s). There is also Seattle's only cinematheque, the Northwest Film Forum, which in addition to screening films, teaches classes on filmmaking and produces film alongside Seattle's burgeoning filmmaking community. The Broadway Performance Hall, located on the campus of Seattle Central College (SCC), also hosts a variety of lectures, performances, and films. These theaters respectively host showings for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) and the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival every year.

The Capitol Hill Arts District, a collaborative project between the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, the Capitol Hill Housing Foundation, and the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce. It is the first arts district in Seattle and contains over 40 arts organizations, including galleries, retail stores, studios, performance venues, and more.

Coffeehouses

Besides the 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 neighborhood is considered a test market for coffee houses by Starbucks Corporation, which placed two stealth Starbucks stores on Capitol Hill in 2009 and 2011.

Several coffee roasting facilities (roasteries) have also existed on and near Capitol Hill, including the first Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room, Victrola Coffee Roasters, Caffé Vita Coffee Roasting Company, Espresso Vivace, and formerly Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

Landmarks and institutions

Registered Historic Places on Capitol Hill include the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District, in which is located the original building of the Cornish College of the Arts; Volunteer Park, in which are the Seattle Asian Art Museum and Volunteer Park Conservatory; and The Northwest School.

In addition to Volunteer Park, parks on the Hill include the exquisite fountain and lawn themed Cal Anderson Park, Louisa Boren Park, Interlaken Park, Roanoke Park, and Thomas Street Park. Lake View Cemetery, containing the graves of Bruce Lee and his son Brandon Lee, lies directly north of Volunteer Park, and the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery north of it in turn.

Also on the Hill are the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Northwest School, Hamlin Robinson School, St. Joseph School, Holy Names Academy, Seattle Hebrew Academy, Seattle Preparatory School, Seattle University, Seattle Central Community College, and St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral.

The oldest African-American church in Seattle is located on 14th Avenue, between E. Pike and E. Pine streets. The First African Methodist Episcopal Church was originally incorporated in 1891 as the Jones Street Church (when 14th Avenue was called Jones Street). The church was constructed in 1912, replacing the large house where congregations were previously held on the same site. It was designated as a Seattle landmark in 1984.

The First Methodist Protestant Church of Seattle, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was remodeled and is now occupied by a design and marketing firm.

There is one Jewish synagogue near Capitol Hill. Temple De Hirsch Sinai, whose Alhadeff Sanctuary was designed by B. Marcus Priteca, among others, is just south of Madison Street, placing it technically in the Central District.