Capitol Hill Arts Center

CHAC is now CLOSED. We went there last Saturday only to find it boarded up. There isn’t a notice on their website, but you definitely can’t get in.
Please let me know if I’m wrong about this — I never had a chance to go and would love to be proven wrong.

I go to CHAC on Friday nights for Electric Avenue (it’s in the basement… down the ramp) and the space is fun, the bartenders friendly, and they happily liquor up the boyfriend every week so I get to drive his nice car home. I take a star away for the wretchedness of the bathrooms downstairs. I pee before I leave the house and hold it till I get home.

Just down the block from Crave in the same building, the Capitol Hill Arts Center (CHAC) is a really cool place to catch a show. Just follow the ramp at the southeast corner of the building and there you are! Use caution when walking down to the lounge! It can be tricky if you are wearing leather soled shoes — the combination of wet weather and steep incline of the ramp, you may slip and really hurt yourself!
The performance venue is fairly intimate, but I didn’t feel like a sardine when grooving to the beats! I would guess that the downstairs venue probably reaches max capacity at around 125 or so and double that with the adjoining lounge/​bar.
Prior to the show we were lucky to run into Charlie D., who had secured the best seats in the lounge — a booth that is tucked away in the back corner and can seat 7 –8 people fairly comfortably. The drinks poured here are pretty strong. I will definitely be back for happy hour which runs from 6 p.m. — 8 p.m. daily and all-​day Tuesday! Their happy hour specials:
$ 2.50 Well Drinks
$ 1.00 Off Call Drinks
$ 2.00 Rainier & PBR
This was my first time here and it certainly won’t be my last. I caught some 80’s Night action and witnessed fellow Unilocaler Heather F’s band, 80’s Invasion! These guys are totally awesome! Their set included hits from: Anything Box, Duran Duran, ABC, Animotion, Eurythmics, Dead or Alive, The Fixx, Berlin, Pet Shop Boys, Human League, The Clash, Depeche Mode and more! Their next Seattle show will be on January 9^th at The Triple Door. Check these guys out!
I also want to see the Salon of Shame!
It was great meeting all the new faces and seeing familiar/​regular ones — Unilocal was well represented Saturday!
8 888 888 888 000000000 IIIIII TUBULAR!
8 8 0 0 /​/​/​RADICAL!
8 8 0 0 ssssss KNARLY!
8 888 888 888 0 0 s AWESOME!
8 8 0 0 ssssss TOTALLY!
8 8 0 0 s WICKED!
8 888 888 888 000000000 ssssss TO THE MAX!
Pics:
For those that like to stay connected, they do have free Wi-​Fi in the lounge!

Yeah, yeah, the space is a little cramped, the HVAC probably doesn’t exist, and the logistics of any given event/​show are always a nightmare.
But! Where else are you going to go to see such gems as, The Salon of Shame, Ignite Seattle, Laffhole, and many other small time local shows that may not have the velocity to perform at a bigger/​nicer venue?
Plus, there is a bar (with cheap drinks!) so what are you really complaining about? Just be thankful it exists and tip your head back and finish the cup.

Saw the Salon of Shame here last night. Note there’s no AC, they have some sort of fans but not AC and it was HOT very hot. They do have a bar, the bar makes pretty good drinks but when you ask for a skinny bitch they will they want one too than ask what it is. If you use the ladies room and happen to get the ‘handicap-​ish’ stall there is a peep hole in the wall so you can check out what’s happening in the bar area. Please note that they can not see you I had to check before I went tinkle again just to ease my uncomfortableness about it. The CHAC has some great events, something for almost everyone, go check it out sometime but wait until it cools down a bit.
If they ever get AC or better fans to keep it cool I’ll bump up the stars.

Solid 3 stars. I have now been here twice. First for Salon of Shame (which freakin’ rocked), and second for Laffhole.
Visit number 1’s performance was absolutely wonderful, however it was very hot and muggy like a sweaty armpit. No circulation of air at all. There was tons of people there, so that definitely does not help things.
Visit number 2’s performance sucked ass, but this time was a bit more bareable (or bearable?), as it appears the air was working somewhat.
They also have a bar, and pour stiff drinks at decent prices.
When walking out of the show, the smoking area is 2 feet from the entrance, all the way to the sidewalk. I felt like vomiting once I got to the sidewalk.
I will be going back at some point, but with a hot summer ahead, they need to figure out the ventilation system ASAP.

I love the idea of this space and I’m so glad that there’s so much cool stuff going on there… but I really have to ding them two stars (at least) for their attitude about smoking.
Upstairs, in the restaurant (Crave) and the performance space, there were no issues at all. Restrooms were sort of high school-​ish but were clean enough and almost ample for the number of people there, too.
However, downstairs is a disaster. There’s a small performance space, a lounge, more restrooms (inadequate) and an outdoor smoking area which is MUCH too close to the indoor spaces. Making it even worse, they were letting people smoke INSIDE the lounge, so smoky air was blown into the performance space from inside AND outside.
The main problem seems to be that they are way more interested in enforcing the no-​alcohol-​outside policy (not doing so would presumably cost them their liquor license) than they are in enforcing the no-​smoking-​inside rules (which just cost them the wrath of the non-​smokers like me, and maybe a small ticket from the health department if people complain).
Please, CHAC people, especially for all ages shows where children are present, ENFORCE the no smoking rules indoors AND outdoors (25 feet from the entrances) as the law requires. That means that nobody could smoke downstairs at all, inside or out, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Quality varies depending on the event, but it’s great often enough to warrant the 4. Currently there’s a free electronic music night on Fridays with a wide variety of genres… everything from live drum & bass to acid house djs to techno/​breaks and more. I love the diverse crowd… some neighbors, some industrial people, some clubkids, some drag queens, some burningman people, some folk in crazy costumes, and some random people off the street who happened to be walking by.
The bar selection is decent but the bartenders aren’t great. They also tend to run out of things on busy nights. Luckily they’re surrounded by bars, so if times get tough you can always head upstairs to Crave for a drink or even to a convenience store.
The CHAC also hosts a variety of theater, local art, writers & more.

As far as I know, this last letter in the acronym, CHAC stands for Center, not collective…
Nonetheless, this venue is great.
Performance spaces upstairs and down.
Full bar.
Plenty of other points of interest in the same building– Crave (restaurant, pilates studio, etc.).
Hurrah for mid-​size theaters!

The Capitol Hill Arts Center, or CHAC, is a fun little place that I seem to end up at a lot lately to watch the shows and plays that my friends are in. But this is actually about the tiny li’l bar downstairs, called the CHAC Lounge, where I also seem to log in a significant number of hours.
From 12^th Street, you walk down, down, down a weird sloping driveway. If you’re there to see a play, you might head upstairs or through the doors on the left, but if you’re there to drink, proceed straight through into the bar. It’s invitingly dim inside, and the walls are painted a cozy red. Stacked-​up old TVs against the walls are fitted with plastic grid screen covers that turn the images onscreen into a mesmerizing, flickering display of colored boxes (you can buy the screen covers if you like them that much, but they’re not cheap — they start around $ 30). The tables do not scoot particularly well, but they have very attractive tiled mosaic tops and are pretty to look at.
The very best drink of all is the Blueberry Lemon Drop ($ 7), which looks much like a regular lemon drop but tastes way better. The Karma-​Kaze ($ 5.50), a pomegranatini-​type drink, is also very tasty. Other creatively named drinks include the Leonard Cohen, the Scarlet Letter, and Trish’s Medicine, and there’s usually a daily special or two. They also offer all the usual mixed drinks and a decent selection of beer and wine (though I don’t recommend getting their Bloody Mary — not enough Bloody and way too much Mary). And they seem to be generous with the olives, which I always enjoy.
Because of its location, the CHAC Lounge has busy and slow cycles that coincide with the shows. People cram in there to get a drink before the show, and wander out afterward to drink and discuss what they just saw. During those times, the line at the bar backs up and it takes a while to get your drink — the rest of the time, the place is blissfully quiet and you can have your choice of tables. If you get stuck at the bar during a rush, while away the time by checking out the funny and random stickers plastered all over the back counter.
Whether you want the joint to be jumpin’, or a more low-​key place to enjoy drinks and chat, the CHAC Lounge can serve your needs — if you time it right.

Capitol Hill Arts Collective, referred to as «the CHAC» by those in the know, is not only an integrated performing arts center very similar to how ConWorks used to be, but is also the home to one of the best restaurants in Seattle, along to housing a cozy bar in the basement.
The restaurant, Crave, is a tiny, very gourmet restaurant in their storefront. They specialize in things like Duck Confit and varied cheese plates. along with a highbrow wine list.
But the big draw for me is that CHAC is a nerve-​center for local performing talent, and has consistently produced well done renderings of 20^th century plays. They have become the new home for festivals like ¹⁴⁄₄₈ (
) and Sketchfest.
Granted, I am biased as an actor who has come to know and love the place, but a perfect date on Capitol Hill without having to repark would be dinner at Crave, see a play in the mainstage, go for a drink in the lounge downstairs, and possibly see a latenight that might be playing in the Cabaret space.