So too did the New England Hotel in the upstairs units at 209, 211 and 213 Commercial Street, which also served as a brothel during the Alaska and Yukon Gold Rush era. The hotel hosted loggers, sailors, and railroad workers. Located just south at 207 Commercial Street was the new Skagit Building, which initially housed the Skagit Hotel and would become the home of the Central Tavern. Just south at 205 Commercial - the original site of the Yesler Cookhouse - was a restaurant. McFarland opened their J&M Hotel at 203 Commercial Street. Among the many new brick buildings put up in 1889 were a few at the southwest corner of Commercial and South Washington streets. In the end, about 25 square blocks lay in ruins, including the entire old-town section. But the townsfolk rallied, businessmen stepped up, and reconstruction efforts began at once. But on June 6, 1889, fire broke out in a shop at Front and Madison streets, and the Great Seattle Fire was underway. Hundreds of wooden houses and commercial buildings were erected and the town was coming into its own as a thriving West Coast hub. Over the years Seattle’s business district expanded to the north and east. The area’s long association with nightlife began in 1861 when businessman John Pinnell founded the Illahee saloon/brothel on a lot at 2nd Avenue and Washington Street and imported a San Francisco-based musical trio to entertain his rowdy clientele. It soon became infamous as a rough and tumble place – nicknamed "Skid Road" - where the down-and-out resided. The first one was the log cookhouse associated with Henry Yesler’s (1810?-1892) waterfront sawmill, which was built in 1853 and sited near the crossroads of Commercial Street (today’s 1st Avenue South), Front Street (today’s 1st Avenue), and Mill Street (now Yesler Way). As the tiny timber town grew, its first neighborhood (today’s Pioneer Square area) arose. Today it remains popular with locals, as well as being a must-see shrine for globetrotting Grunge tourists.Īfter the founding of Seattle in 1853, community gathering places became central to the civic life of the village. In 1990 it was redubbed the Central Saloon. In the 1970s the Central helped introduce live blues and rock and roll to the neighborhood, and in the 1980s it played a role in the rise of Grunge Rock, hosting shows by such bands as Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mother Love Bone, Screaming Trees, and Mudhoney. The Central survived the lean Prohibition era, as well as the 1960’s urban-renewal phase, when Pioneer Square buildings were razed before the wider community’s sense of historical preservation took hold and the area was designated as the Pioneer Square-Skid Road National Historic District.
What began as a café associated with the Famous Hotel has existed in many different incarnations, from a Gold Rush-era eatery, to a fleabag Skid Road dive, to a legendary live music venue. The Central Tavern – located in the historic Skagit Building at 207 First Avenue South - has been near the center of Seattle’s nightlife action for many decades.
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