With the dreary weather outside, you might forget that it is the BEGINNING OF FARMERS MARKET SEASON! Hooray! The Broadway Farmers Market opens on Sunday at its new location, along Broadway in front of Seattle Central Community College. As is logical for those who aren't farm-folk, it starts at a leisurely 11 a.m. more ›

Last night 8 windows of the JP Morgan Chase on Broadway were broken in by a loose collection of anarchist activists ("anywhere from 4-6"), according to Capitol Hill Seattle and a related post on pugetsoundanarchists.org. The vandals were wearing all black with masks over their faces, and left literature at the scene. Police did not elaborate of the nature of said literature. more ›

One of Broadway's funniest, most heartwarming musicals is making its way to Seattle, and you absolutely won't want to miss it. As you most likely already know, Billy Elliot is a comedy musical based on the same-titled film about a boy who decides to take up ballet rather than boxing. With music by Sir Elton John, and lyrics by Lee Hall, this is a musical with a stellar soundtrack, witty dialogue and some impressive dancing. Since Billy Elliot the Musical debuted in London in 2005, it has been running strong in performances by various productions worldwide. more ›

Smoke from a brush fire that started at about 1:15 today has got traffic backed up for miles on I-5. Q13 has raw video. The fire blocked all southbound I-5 lanes and four northbound, but WSDOT Twitter tells us that now 3 lanes are open each direction. Somewhere in all that traffic are people who were trying to head to Southcenter Mall just for the air conditioning, and got stuck on a sweltering, smoky I-5 instead. We feel for them. But this is exactly why we never leave Capitol Hill--wait, what's this about a brush fire on Broadway near Harborview? Folks, the end is officially near. more ›

One thing the loop does is remove the need for decision about 12th or Broadway, which, it being Seattle, could keep us at the consensus table for the next quarter of a century. Also, as we understand it, it takes up less space to run the streetcar one way down a street, and it pencils out (construction-wise) as cheaper to do. more ›

Tacoma native and former Seattle theater stalwart Louis Hobson scored his first Broadway role this year, and it's a great one. Not just a great role, with turns comedic and dramatic, but one that's in a terrific and affecting show. Hobson plays Dr. Madden in the musical Next to Normal, which concerns a woman's struggle with mental illness. (We know, sounds odd, but it's amazing, trust us. Or trust Ben Brantley. Or Peter Travers.) We first interviewed Louis two years ago over e-mail, when he was starring in the 5th Avenue's production of West Side Story. This time we met him in the lobby of New York's Booth Theater, about 90 minutes before he was to take the stage. more ›

Over the past few weeks, we've hit up new Broadway sushi joint I Love Wasabi--which unfortunately started out as "I Love Washabi"--twice. They've got a big selection of crazy rolls (and we do so enjoy crazy rolls), so we ordered four on each occasion. The first time around, we think we picked some of the better rolls from the menu, but the second time, we found the food presentation much improved (to be expected with a new restaurant). more ›

Robinson, who plays "conjure man" Bynum Walker in Joe Turner, is in his seventies, he's tall, and he'll look familiar if you are a dedicated fan of Kojak. Or Baretta. Or Quincy, M.E. Or Starsky & Hutch. A contract player for Universal in the '70s, Robinson played bit parts on dozens of T.V. shows. more ›

Frost/Nixon plays tonight at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets are $18-$60 plus fees. more ›

Cats was one of Broadway's longest standing musical productions, having debuted there in 1982 and running until September of 2000, although it lives on around the country in a Broadway Across America tour (now at the Paramount through this weekend) and, no doubt, on community stages far and wide. more ›

The other day we spotted this Segway-on-steroids trike on Broadway, which a parking enforcement officer was tooling around on, and our blood pressure shot up a few points. It turns out to be something called a T3 Motion, which is a competitor to the Segway, and besides its Robocop styling, it comes with a siren. more ›

CHS has the scoop on why there's a giant mosquito loitering at Broadway and Pike. more ›

We said Pacific Northwest Ballet's Broadway Festival was an enormous amount of fun, and it sounds like plenty of you figured that out for yourselves. Artistic director Peter Boal just sent out this "Next round's on me!" email: "With 5,250 tickets purchased to date, we have broken the old record for single tickets sold for a mixed repertory program. It is also the highest grossing mixed repertory program in our company's history, surpassing the old record set by Valentine in 2006." Two shows left: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. more ›

ONE WEEKEND ONLY more ›

We have to start here by jumping in and saying that this is easily one of the most exciting weekends of theatre we've seen in town in months--two festivals running, genre-breaking opera, ballet crossing over into Broadway show tune territory, two shows that have had their runs extended (, you've lost your bloody mind. It doesn't get better than this! more ›

Seattlest's wine guy, Ronald, kicks off the weekend by hosting a $75, 5-course, 5-wine wine dinner Friday at Portfolio, the dining room of the Art Institute's culinary academy. (Note: 20 percent discount to Seattlest readers; call 206-239-2363 for reservations.) Saturday night will find him, Barolo in hand, at Mitchelli's for a farewell toast to the venerable "Trat," closing later this month after 32 years in Pioneer Square. more ›

Howard Schultz says no more layoffs at Starbucks, and if you believe that we'd love to show you our oceanfront property in Oklahoma. Life continues to be unfair: Microsoft's permatemps are protesting a 10 percent pay cut while former president Bush is charging $150,000 per speech but the sun will come out tomorrow next year: Sleepless in Seattle may be adapted for the Broadway stage, exposing a whole new generation to dated stereotypes of this city. Can't wait. more ›

Got a tip from Joshua, who just talked with the owner of the B&O Espresso about his Capitol Hill plans, and it doesn't sound like the wrecking ball is imminent. Majed says he's been invited to stay at the Belmont and Olive location for another "two to three years." This on the heels of CHS reporting that the proposed B&O location on Broadway is "for lease" again. These are troubled times and we'd prefer if nothing came between us and our preferred chocolate mousse purveyor. more ›

Over the weekend we walked into the cash-only Than Bros. pho restaurant on Broadway, ordered a small bowl, and were charged $5.42, a price increase as yet unreflected on their online menu. We don't remember the specific passage in Revelations where the high price of pho is called out, but we're sure it's there. A friend of ours was just reminiscing about the days of the $3.87 small bowl with tears in his eyes. At these prices, we're likely to start expecting broth instead of that watery brownish stuff we use as a base for the plum sauce. Tomorrow night we're going to hear Paul Krugman speak at Town Hall on "The Return of Depression Economics"--we'll ask what pho used to cost in '33 and report back. more ›

Yesterday we posted about Metro's route status updates and suggested you check their adverse weather page for the latest news. Funny story there. We'd walked past a rerouted 10 bus on Broadway--a big branch fell on the bus lines on 15th Avenue East on Sunday night--on the way in to work, but when we checked Metro's page, there was no mention of that reroute. Maybe they already fixed the lines, we thought. But after lunch we spied a 10 bus on Broadway again, so we asked the driver how long his Broadway holiday excursion was going to last. "You know, I haven't heard anything at all on the radio all morning," he told us. "I'm just going to keep driving until someone tells me something." more ›

• We knew we'd heard that name somewhere--Steve Almond, who wrote a lovely innocuous column for Martha Stewart Living about Christmas candy, is familiar to us through his at-times NSFW short story collections. Matthew at Roots & Grubs points out that he, too, can write about Christmas candy, and his bibliography is 99% safe and Martha-approved.
• West Seattle Blog breaks out the snow talk! They're pointing everyone towards a community Christmas tree lighting, and as is the usual, WSB also has a scoop: the weatherman has a blog.
• The school closure meetings have everyone in a tizzy about their neighborhood schools. Capitol Hill Seattle reports with relief on their beloved Lowell, which was removed from the closure list, and the commenters react with skepticism and challenging questions (like, what happened to all the rhetoric about Lowell's building falling apart?).

Yesterday at noon, the sharrow-makers were at the north end of Broadway, and by the time we biked over to Pike for Blogsgiving, it was sharrows all the way. If anyone's asking, Broadway could use a dedicated bike lane, not just sharrows. But perhaps this is just a beachhead for the new bikeocracy. more ›

• Burien is busy branding--and the city is using très fancy technology to do so. B-Town Blog posted the latest video and offered a bullet-point summary of the very nice branding elements you will see, should you choose to spend minutes of your life watching a YouTube about all the wonders Burien has to offer.
• PhinneyWood would like you to donate your watches to charity via Jody Laine of the Tiempo Watch and Clock Shop. Why not? You probably use your cell phone for time-keeping already, anyway.
• Care for some Irish Knockers? Why, yes, thank you for asking! Magnolia Voice had the skinny on the new menu at Mulleady's, including photos of the restaurant's interior (they have a very inviting fireplace!).

Wednesdays are $4.99 burger days at the Deluxe Bar & Grill on Broadway, down by the Harvard Exit. You have to purchase a beverage (not necessarily beer), but then you can choose from the Tillamook cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, gardenburger, bacon-onion-avocado burger, mushroom-and-swiss burger, BBQ burger, bleu cheese burger, and chicken burger. more ›

To the hundreds--if not more--of people dancing, beating drums, cheering, waving signs and blocking traffic for hours on Capitol Hill's Broadway with us tonight: you are noisy and beautiful, you make this city beautiful, and reveling in Obama and Gregoire's wins would not have been nearly as joyous without you in the streets. To whomever brought fireworks: genius (okay, a little dangerous maybe, but genius). And to whomever brought their kids: you've given them a huge gift by letting them see a community at its most profoundly, honestly, loudly, and proudly celebratory. Holy shit! That just happened! UPDATE: KING5's footage of some of the partying. more ›

• West Seattle Blog has been covering a weekend diving accident at Seacrest which left one man struggling for his life at Harborview.
• The Central District News also spent the weekend updating and covering a sad story of two youth shot near Garfield High School. One of the young men died at the scene, while another was taken to Harborview to care for his injuries.
• Oh no. Now that Halloween is over, the Christmas/holiday lights and decorations are arriving. Capitol Hill Seattle reports the lights are already being strung up and down Broadway.

You may be under the impression that Seattle's numerous Than Brothers locations are equal to each other, each serving delicious pho in similarly disheveled and and unappealing dining rooms. We’re here to tell you that you are wrong. Over the past year, Seattlest David and Rachael have exhaustively toured Seattle's five Than Brothers to give you the best, the worst, and most importantly, the goldfish-iest of Seattle’s most ubiquitous of pho restaurants. Today we’ll be providing a brief overview of the distinctive features of each Seattle location. Friday we’ll be back with the first annual 2008 Seattlest Than Brothers PhO-dyssey awards! more ›

The Dilettante Mocha Cafe and Chocolate Martini Bar had its opening night yesterday, in its new location on the retail floor of the new Brix condos at the north end of Broadway. It's cozied up next to the new Vivace Roasteria. This is the pastry case, from which all good things emanate. Besides desserts, they also serve lunch and dinner. We were struck by the appearance of meatloaf on the menu. Maybe it comes with a truffle on the side. more ›

Things are cash-only at the moment, since there's a glitch with the swipey-reader system, but otherwise it's all systems go. We also got a dark chocolate graham-cracker cookie. more ›

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