Pike Place Market
Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront on Puget Sound, it serves as a place of business for many small farmers, craftspeople and merchants.The upper street level contains fishmongers, fresh produce stands and craft stalls operating in the covered arcades.Victor Steinbrueck, at one point in the late 1960s, convinced the Advisory Council to recommend designating 17 acres (69,000 m2) as a historical district.[26] In 2008, Seattle voters approved a six-year property-tax levy[27] to fund critical repairs and improvements, which were completed in 2012.As early as 1974, a Seattle Department of Community Development study noted space conflicts between farmers and craft vendors."The Market," wrote the City Auditor's office, ...can be "lost" in either of two ways: It can stray from its traditional character or it can fail financially as a business entity.Farmers take historic precedence, but the PDA "acknowledges the rightful and permanent position of handmade arts and crafts as an integral use of the Market's Daystalls" and their rules seek to encourage a lively mix.[62] The PDA often will not renew multi-year leases for businesses with poor sales performance or other problems, but typically will allow them to remain indefinitely on a month-to-month basis.[64] The money placed in the Market's giant piggybank goes to this foundation, as do the funds raised by several annual or intermittent fundraisers, including Pigs on Parade.Services include hot lunches for low-income seniors, help in finding housing and jobs, and a variety of classes ranging from physical fitness and health to language, geography, art, and computer training.[68] The Downtown Food Bank, located in the Public Market Parking Garage on Western Avenue provides groceries to approximately 1,000 people a week.Besides the aforementioned spoons player Artis the Spoonman and songwriter Jim Page, Market performers in years past or present have included steel guitarist Baby Gramps;[92] Johnny Hahn, who routinely hauls around a 64-key spinet piano;[93] retro-jazzer Howlin' Hobbit, who plays ukulele;[94] klezmer influenced musicians the Bus Tunnel Bandits; hoop busker musician Emery Carl, chairman of the Market's Performer's Guild;[95] blind autoharpist and singer Jeanne Towne;[96] Kirsten "Mother Zosima" Anderberg, who for many years sang feminist and other political songs while dressed in a nun's habit;[97][98] a cappella gospel singers Brother Willie and the Market Crew;[99][100] the old-timey Tallboys;[100][101] Johnny Cash sound-alike Vince Mira;[102] jazz-tinged players Amber Tide (Thaddeus Spae and his late wife Sandahbeth);[100][103] alternative-jazz-pop singer-songwriter Alyse Black, and the late folksinger Jim Hinde, a Vietnam War veteran.[100][104] Jump blues musician PK Dwyer is credited with forming the first-ever street band to busk at the Market.The band evolved into various other alignments, including (successively) the Dynamic Logs, the Jitters, Throbbing Gems, the Royal Famille du Caniveaux / Gutter People of Paris, all of whom played at the Market.[111][114][115] Another restaurant combining Italian food and romantic ambience is the Il Bistro, located below grade in the Economy Market, off the winding cobblestones of Lower Post Alley.[122] He arrived in America from Italy as a stowaway, but soon became a successful farmer with land in South Park, Tukwila and the Kent Valley along the Green River.Outside of the Market, he is credited with keeping Boeing in the Seattle area in 1936 by selling them a large tract of land for a nominal fee.Internationally recognized in the 1940s, Tobey explored the neighborhood with his art in the 1950s and early 1960s,[124][125] as the area was being increasingly characterized by the Seattle Establishment as overdue for urban renewal, particularly replacement with a parking garage, high-rise housing and modern, upscale retail.[8][126][127] For many years, Sol "The Cod Father" Amon of Pure Food Fish has been the longest-tenured vendor at Pike Place Market.He can often be seen outside his stall chatting with visitors and helping them choose their fish, including a brisk tourist trade in salmon packed to travel.The Seattle City Council honored him in 2006 on the 50th anniversary of his taking over the business: they named him "King of the Market" and permanently designated April 11 as Sol Amon Day.[136] The Sanitary Market (Daniel Huntington, 1910; reconstructed 1942, McClelland and Jones; rehabilitated and extended 1981, Bassetti Norton Metler) reputedly was so named for its innovation at the time, that no horses were allowed inside.[8][137][138] The North Arcade (1911 and 1922, John Goodwin; rehabilitation by Bartholick, 1977) constituted a major northward extension of the Main Market, extending it 1,200 feet (370 m) to the northwest and adding 160 covered stalls.The 1978 rehabilitation occurred in conjunction with the construction of the adjacent South Arcade[142] at the corner of First Avenue and Union Street (Olsen / Walker, 1985).It includes condominium apartments, but also the Pike Pub & Brewery and several other retail businesses of a similar character to those within the Market boundaries.[143] The Joe Desimone Bridge across Western Avenue originally connected the North Arcade to the Municipal Market Building (unknown, 1922 or 1924; demolished after a 1974 fire).[144][145] Other old buildings in the Market include the Champion Building (unknown, 1928; rehabilitation by the Champion/Turner Partnership 1977), originally a garage for the Dollar Cab Company, then a meat packing company, now ground floor retail with offices above; the Soames-Dunn Building (unknown, 1918; rehabilitation by Arne Bystrom 1976), once home to Dunn's Seeds and Soames Paper Company (who supplied paper bags to farmers selling in the Market), now retail, including the "original" Starbucks; Stewart House Hotel (unknown, 1902–1911; rehabilitation by Ibsen Nelson & Associates, 1982), a former workingmen's hotel, now retail and low-income housing; Seattle Garden Center (W. C. Geary, 1908; Art Deco details added 1930s; rehabilitation and addition, Arne Bystrom 1976) was once the Gem Egg Market and now houses Sur La Table; and the Fix-Madore Building (1916, unknown; rehabilitation by Bumgardner Partnership 1979), now an office and retail building on the west side of Western Avenue, connected to the Main Market by a footbridge.[150][151][152][153][154][155][156] Also in the Pike-Market neighborhood but outside the historic districts are at least two city-designated landmark not on the NRHP: the Terminal Sales Building (1923–1925), 1932 1st Avenue; and Pier 59, now home to the Seattle Aquarium.While the street is closed to automobiles during some events, efforts to create a permanent pedestrian zone have been blocked by market vendors and business owners.[161] An extension of the streetcar, named the Center City Connector, is planned to stop on 1st Avenue adjacent to the market but is on hold due to funding shortfalls.
U.S. National Register of Historic PlacesU.S. Historic districtSeattle, WashingtonSeattlefarmers' marketsElliott BayPuget SoundcraftspeoplemerchantsPike StreetDowntown Seattleantiquecomic bookrestaurantshead shopsfishmongersproducearcadesquasi-governmentalAlaskan Way ViaductWashington State Route 99central business districtBelltowncentral waterfrontNational Register of Historic PlacesNational Historic Preservation Act of 1966Victor SteinbrueckmudflatsstevedoringHistory of Pike Place MarketThomas P. RevelleCharles Hiram BurnettEconomy MarketCorner MarketSanitary MarketBetty Boweninitiativehistoric preservationSeattle City Councilpublic development authorityPike Place Fish MarketAllied Arts of SeattleAmerican Institute of ArchitectsMemorial DayArtis the SpoonmanJim Pagelow-income housingfood banksPost AlleyTenzing MomoStarbucksJerry BaldwinZev SieglGordon BowkerAlfred PeetPeet's CoffeeSeattle's Best CoffeeNASDAQTibetanRachelbronzepiggy bankWhidbey IslandIsland CountyZurichCowParadesChinese zodiacYear of the PigA cappellagospelspoonssteel guitaristBaby Grampsspinetukulelehoop buskerautoharpistold-timeyVince MiraAlyse BlackVietnam WarJump bluesPK DwyerOrville JohnsonList of restaurants in Pike Place MarketcardroomProhibitionThree Girls BakeryThe Pink DoorJulia ChildCopacabanaBolivianTriangle BuildingNaplesSouth ParkTukwilaGreen RiverBoeingMark Tobeyurban renewalFred Bassetti & Co.Silver Oakum BuildingJapanese AmericaninternedBassetti Norton MetleranarchistLeft Bank Bookscondominium"original" StarbucksArt DecoSur La TablePike Street Hill ClimbRalph AndersonA. E. DoyleMoore Theatre and Hotelcity-designated landmarkSeattle Aquariumone-waypedestrian zoneWestlake CenterLink light railWestlake stationSeattle Center MonorailSouth Lake Union StreetcarPacific Northwest cuisineNational Park Service