Here’s the scene from the streets of Seattle’s East Precinct for a sunny Monday in August:

(do you Twitter? Follow us @cdscanner)

When I first moved to the neighborhood twelve years ago, we were a long way from most anything interesting on Capitol Hill. Back then the heart of the neighborhood was on Pine west of Broadway and further north along Broadway itself. But in the last couple of years, some of the best additions on the hill have in the Pike/Pine area around 12th Ave. That puts a variety of new things within walking distance for us in the Central District – in fact, it’s only a 20 minute walk from 23rd & Cherry.

Here’s two new places to check out that have been covered by our friends at Capitol Hill Seattle:

Tavern Law – The highly anticipated new “speakeasy-style” bar and restaurant opened this past Saturday in the new Trace Lofts building just north of 12th & Madison. Twitter user kevinseattle said that the food and drinks were amazing, in spite of some opening-night issues with the service.

Plum Bistro –  Opened in July on the opposite side of 12th, in the spot formerly occupied by Cafe Stellina. It’s a vegan restaurant operated by Makini Howell of Hillside Quickie fame. They’re currently averaging 4-stars in ratings at Yelp.

And after dinner, don’t forget to check out the burgeoning collection of sweet treats in the area, such as Old School Frozen Custard, Molly Moon’s, Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream, and Cupcake Royale.

While on my normal morning dog walk route today (Monday 8/24) at 6:50am we encountered two chocolate labs (possibly with some mix) at 26th Avenue and Jefferson St. that appeared to be running free and possibly escaped from a yard. One male and one female, both with collars on and the female appeared to have a license tag and the male no tag. Unfortunately with 3 dogs of my own in hand already I was not able to catch them to check further, so posting here in case someone is in search of them.

1426 Studios is having a free open house today where you can walk through, look at art by more than twenty local artists, and purchase any of the ones you like.

The show runs from noon to 4pm today, Sunday 8/23, at 1426 S. Jackson.

Participating artists include:

Carol Mallett Adelman • Sarah Banks • Jaq Chartier • Kathryn Daily • Julie Grant • Jessie Higgins Murray • Libby Hill • Jason Hirata • Hanna Jarvenpaa • Nan Johnson • Tricia Law • Liese Marker • Jackie McDowell • Edward Nelson • Shari Noble • Brian Quinn • Stacy Schierholz • Wade Schin • Lynda Sherman • Michiko Swiggs • Gordon Wood • Rebecca Woodhouse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2LeB9mb8xQ

May 30, 2009 Many central area residents participated in a big health care rally in Seattle. This is the story on youtube. Check it out. You might recognize some of your friends and neighbors.

If you find yourself crossing 23rd at Madison, maybe on your way to Cafe Char or The Bottleneck (a CDNews sponsor), look down at the pavement. The notoriously poor condition of the roadway on 23rd is starting to reveal how we used to have direct streetcar service between the neighborhood and the U-district:

Note that you probably won’t find this in most areas, as the city tore up most of the rails in the early 40s and sold them for scrap:

Crews rip up streetcar rails on 23rd Ave on 8/22/1941, courtesy Municipal Seattle Archives

This fall we should learn more about whether we’ll have access to the new streetcar on First Hill. Stay tuned…

Previously: 

• A Streetcar Neighborhood (with Google Map of historic routes)
• Group Releases Conceptual Maps for First Hill Streetcar
• The Streetcar You Desire
• City to Study Streetcar Route to the CD

mkb wrote about this on July 30, with a picture.  Sorry I don’t know how to link to his/her post.

I mentioned this error to a Parks Dept employee who happened to be there at the Good Vibe concert last Saturday – he promised to pass the problem on up the line.

Today I also passed the info on to someone who mentors young people in the CD as a possible project for getting the city to fix something that is disrespectful to the community, as well as learning who Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth were (if they don’t already know).

If anyone notes any progress on correcting this sign, it would be good to let us know, as it’s not a place on my regular route through the area.

The north end of the neighborhood around Madison has been seriously
short on coffee options, especially since the Starbucks at Safeway
closed last year. But that problem is fixed now that Cafe Char has
opened up on Madison, just east of 23rd and up the street from The
Bottleneck.

We stopped in this morning and got some really good lattes and
americanos. Charnita, the owner, also has homeade quiche, and a full
selection of other baked goods, including a seasonal blackberry pie
that a friend told me was amazing. They’ve got free WIFI too.

Cafe Char is open Tuesday through Saturday in the mornings and early
afternoon.

http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/locations/central-area/ca

:) Room mate found…

I posted information about this a couple of weeks ago here: http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2009/08/06/first-townhous

The graphics are finally available for review! It’s in Early Design Guidance, which is sort of the conceptual stage, although the graphics give an indication of what it might look like. If you post comments here, be sure to also send them to the DPD Planner who is doing the administrative design review. Here’s his contact info: http://www.seattle.gov/directory/detail.asp?ID=80561

The original link to the project info is here (enter project number 3010470): http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Design_Review_Program/Pr

…and the public notice is here: http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?BID=444&NID=101