Elliott Bay Book Company

Walter and Maggie Carr opened Elliott Bay Book Company on June 29, 1973, in a 1,600 square foot room of the Globe Building on First Avenue South in Pioneer Square. The store launched Seattle's first bookstore cafe there and, in 1978, the city's first sustained author reading series, arranged by book buyer Rick Simonson. It moved to Capitol Hill in 2010, into a former Ford truck service building from around 1918, and brought its original cedar shelves along. Peter Aaron owned the business for 22 years before selling it in June 2022 to longtime general manager Tracy Taylor and to Murf Hall and Joey Burgess.

More than 20,000 square feet and 19 foot ceilings hold about 150,000 titles, with overstuffed armchairs, a staff recommendation wall and a stained glass logo near the entrance. Little Oddfellows, the sister cafe to Oddfellows next door, pours Caffe Vita coffee on the first floor. Kids get their own area with a play castle, unveiled for the 50th anniversary in 2023. The calendar runs to more than 500 author events a year, and several book groups meet here, covering topics from global issues to young adult and science fiction.