"This is quite a big bet," Thisun Polasub told CHS Capitol Hill Seattle this month. He was describing RUAM, his new Thai noodle restaurant on 15th Ave E. He called the street "totally different water" from Mill Creek, where his first restaurant, Thai Rhapsody, operates, with a very different cost structure.
He opened at an unusual moment for the street. Two old grocery buildings face each other across 15th Ave E, and this fall they are heading in opposite directions. The one that still looks like a working building is dark. The one waiting to be torn down has events on its calendar from late November into January.
The corner that went quiet in September
The building at 15th and E Harrison dates to the 1922 era and once housed a Piggly Wiggly. In late September it lost all three of its tenants within a few days. CHS reported that Rione XIII and its sibling Rubinstein Bagels, both from One House Hospitality, closed immediately. Bar Vacilando had just marked ten years on the street and announced it would close that weekend. According to The Stranger, Vacilando's last night was Saturday, September 26.
One House Hospitality said "ongoing issues with the building" meant it could no longer operate in the space. In August, crumbling brick had been reported on the building's E Harrison side. Days after the closures, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections told CHS that the façade "appears stable and does not indicate an ongoing safety hazard to the public," and that it would not issue a Hazard Correction Order. The city never ordered anyone out. CHS noted that this end of the block sits "quiet and fully dark." The paper listed three possible futures for the spaces: rehabilitation for new tenants, major structural work before anyone reopens, or redevelopment.
Next door, the buildings that house Grandad's Barber Shop and Rainbow Natural Remedies have the same ownership, and both businesses told CHS they are open.
The tree that outlasted the bar
Vacilando's small patio sat under a roughly 20-foot empress tree, Paulownia tomentosa. The Stranger reports that it grows from the brick foundation of the neighboring building, not from the bar's own space. It forms a canopy over the patio tables and blooms with fragrant purple trumpet flowers in spring. Taha Ebrahimi, author of Trees of Seattle: An Illustrated Walking Guide, estimated for the paper that the city has only about 30 empress trees. She also mentioned another one a couple of blocks away. The species can grow up to 15 feet a year and does not take well to having its roots disturbed. It is also on Washington's monitor list for invasive plants, so moving it would not be simple. For now it stands over an empty patio, and its fate is tied to whatever happens to the building beside it.
Across the street, the building nobody planned to keep
The old QFC block on the other side of 15th was supposed to be the street's big change. Its six-story redevelopment received a director's decision approval in 2025. CHS reports that the project is on hold. Its developer, Hunters Capital, is keeping the stretch busy with pop-up businesses while it waits out the economic conditions that have stalled most new construction in the city. CHS names high interest rates, inflation and a weak rental economy as the forces holding up most major development across the Hill. The same squeeze between permission and project math appears nearby, in Madrona's stalled zoning-to-construction pipeline.
So the former grocery at 416 15th Ave E is open for now as the Quality Flea Center, a 15,000-square-foot event hall and market space. That makes it one of the largest rooms on the street, and it is open because the building it was supposed to become hasn't been built.
The calendar from publication day through the turn of the year:
| Date | Event at the Quality Flea Center | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 20 | 35th North Anniversary Party | Listed on the venue calendar |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | CHASM, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Swap Meet | Noon to 6 p.m., entry by donation; held every third Saturday |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Seattle Fat Mall | Listed on the venue calendar |
| Fri.–Sun., Dec. 11–13 | Punk Rock Flea Market | $1 admission, all ages; Fri. 2–8 p.m., Sat. noon–8 p.m., Sun. noon–6 p.m. |
| Sun., Jan. 3 | Radical Vegan Fest 2 | Listed on the venue calendar |
The Punk Rock Flea Market started in a Belltown basement in September 2006 and has kept its one-dollar door ever since. For December it is billing itself as a holiday marketplace of artists, collectors, makers and sellers. CHASM runs every month, so a swap meet on the third Saturday is now a regular fixture of 15th Ave E for as long as the building stands. Event calendars change, so check the venue's listing before you go.
The bets being placed in between
The dark corner and the busy grocery are the extremes. The rest of the street is changing one storefront at a time, and the newest arrivals are making focused, specific bets.
RUAM took over the former Bites of Bangkok space, which closed after a seven-year run. Before that, the space was home to the much-loved Bagel Deli. The menu sticks to noodle soups, dry noodles and rice bowls, and pad thai and fried rice are left off on purpose. Polasub told CHS that Japanese food in Seattle gets dedicated ramen, katsu and sushi shops, and he wants Thailand's "big noodle culture" to get the same treatment. Those bowls are the food he grew up eating, and he says, "It's my favorite."
Ha Ha Coffee and Tea opened this fall at 324 15th Ave E. Owner Diem Le serves milk tea, smoothies and coffee.
Bar Cantinetta at 555 15th Ave E sits in the Capitol Hilltop Apartments building, the mixed-use project that opened in 2024 on the site of the neighborhood's former service station. At the end of last year, CHS called it the only new restaurant on Capitol Hill in 2025. That says a lot about how slowly new restaurants have arrived, and it makes this fall's RUAM opening stand out.
Two more projects are in the pipeline. Fire Tacos & Cantina plans to move into the old Coastal Kitchen building at 427 15th Ave E, and CHS describes the project as delayed but still in motion. The corner that was home to the Canterbury Tavern at 534 15th Ave E is being prepared for MOOV, a movement and fitness studio.
Not every change on the street has been an opening. Club Comedy Seattle could not find a buyer and closed its street-level space below where RUAM now operates, and the former Ada's Technical Books is shuttered.
One December night that covers the whole street
The 15th Avenue East merchants' calendar has one evening that sends people up and down the whole strip. The Capitol Hill Holiday Wine Walk, put on by Seattle Uncorked and the 15th Ave East BIA, is Wednesday, December 9, from 5 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Attendees trade tasting tickets for pours from 15 Washington wineries at pop-up tasting rooms hosted by retailers along the street. The event is 21 and over, and tickets are nonrefundable.
The two check-in points are KeyBank and Hilltop Apartments. Hilltop Apartments is the mixed-use building that opened on 15th in 2024, and Bar Cantinetta is one of its tenants. Host and winery locations are listed as TBD on the ticket page. So the route depends on which storefronts are open on the night, and that is the question this whole stretch faces right now. Two days later, the Punk Rock Flea Market opens its three-day run across the street in the old QFC.
For a December weekend on 15th, the plan almost writes itself. Have a bowl of noodle soup at RUAM, walk past the dark corner at Harrison and its empress tree, and step into a grocery store that is waiting to be demolished and has a market running inside.
The dark corner at Harrison and the on-hold QFC block are the two sites on 15th Ave E with the most riding on what comes next. If you'd like a clear read on what that means for a home nearby, Melissa Boucher follows the Capitol Hill and Madrona market closely and is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.