Belltown Messenger

Belltown is a kaleidoscope, a microcosm of the culture of the nation in a single neighborhood. It began with explorer William Bell (1817-1887) and grew up and came of age near the docks. Belltown survived many changes: disagreeing landowners, fish packing/smoking facilities, skid-row, transient housing for the working men, beer houses, brothels...and the re-grade. (Some say the re-grade had the furthest-reaching impact and Seattle would be geographically more like San Francisco if the former seven hills were still intact.)

The most resonating epoch was the "Hollywood Era." For several decades, Belltown's film row was a four-state film hub, beginning in the late-1910s and lasting through the 1960s. This famous film era preceded and maybe led to the artists, the clubs and even the condos that now dominate the neighborhood, the Brooklyn of Seattle.

An infant film row was born with the silent movie era of 1910-1927. To distribute their films, the major motion picture studios created a nationwide distribution network consisting of 31 film exchange centers. Each exchange center did the promoting, renting and shipping of films to the theaters within their area. The Seattle exchange center, initially located in the Pathe Building, 2025 Third Avenue, expanded to service approximately 470 commercial movie-theaters throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. In the center established here in the mud flats of Seattle's low-brow Belltown all important the deals were struck on any major motion picture seen in all Pacific Northwest region theaters.

As the motion picture industry became bigger and bigger, the film exchange centers became more important. During the silent era, Seattle's film row was centered around Third Avenue and Virginia. Then, with the advent of "talkies," booming audiences and the snowballing social importance of Hollywood films, the tiny exchange center office needed to expand.

In 1927, the Film Exchange Building (FEB), also known as the Canterbury Building, was built. The single-story, terra-cotta-ornamented, art deco style 1928 superstructure designed by noted Seattle architect Earl W. Morrison encompassed the entire westside of Second Avenue, from Battery to Wall. Representatives from MGM, United Artists, Universal, Columbia, RKO, Paramount and Warner Brothers quickly moved in. The FEB housed screening rooms, projectionist booths, editing facilities and specially designed storage vaults, designed to contain the highly flammable nitrate-based film. It was within these hallowed walls that all features, shorts and newsreels to be shown within the four-state region were screened, stored and edited. The key feature of the FEB was bringing all the major players in the industry together under one roof. Exhibitors could pop in and negotiate with all of the big film companies in one afternoon, without having to trudge through the rain.

Throughout the 1930s, ten-million shipments were made each year. Each exchange housed an average of 15 distributors and employed an average of 365 people: District managers, assistant managers, publicists, bookers, salesman and film handlers. Some say the industry mushroomed and developed because of the lack of union charges and the easement of teamsters.

Smaller studio and foreign film offices naturally showed up in nearby buildings. "Poverty Row," the offices of Monogram, PRC and Tiffany-Stehl, situated themselves across the street, on the northeast corner of Second and Wall. National Theater Supply opened just south on Second Ave. The William Tell Hotel, 2327 Second Avenue, was where most industry people stayed while in town. It was a boom town.

When a run ended, the reel of film was returned to the film exchange for storage. As reels stacked up more and more film storage vaults were built to house the quickly expanding collection of features, film shorts and newsreels. These film vaults grew like honeycombs through the bustling film row area.

The Rendezvous Restaurant and Jewel Box Theater sprouted up as one of film rows' executive screening rooms. In the late 1930s, MGM relocated to it's own building on the southwest corner of Second and Battery, what is presently the McGraw-Kittenger-Case building. Paramount Pictures moved to its own building on the southeast corner of First and Battery. Film row remained the place to do movie business in Seattle until the 1970s.

As more and more American families began owning television sets, film attendance began declining. Changing social patterns coupled with changing distribution systems brought an end to Seattle's film row. Hollywood realized having 31 film exchange offices strewn about the country didn't make sense. The system was streamlined down to five "super exchanges" and the days were numbered on Belltown's historic film row.

Universal Studios, at the time still located in the FEB, was the last to go, leaving in 1980. This was the era of Seattle's history when the [now infamous] Puget Power billboard read, "Will the last person to leave Seattle turn off the lights?" Some semblance of the old days continued in the once bustling FEB building, but deterioration progressed until the FEB finally closed in 1991. The landmark met the wrecking ball the following year, to make way for the six-story, 239-unit Belltown Court. By the 1990s, Seattle was moving on and there wasn't much concern with preserving the past. Punk was resurgent and Seattle was preoccupied with becoming the next big thing. It was all about grunge, coffee, computers and expansion.

Dennis B. Nyback (www.dennisnybackfilms.com), veteran projectionist, exhibitor and film archivist, lead a group trying to save the FEB building. They saw the notice of proposed land usage as a "kick me" sign. They fought to preserve the historic building because it was designed by Morrison and it was a focal point of an historic era in Seattle more than a decrepit old warehouse. Nyback, Tom Graff, former chairman of the All Arts committee, and a group of supporters, argued for the existing tenants to remain in the building, but to no avail.

The honeycomb of film vaults in the neighborhood morphed stealthily into artists' studios as the neighborhood began to change. Tenants changed. Buildings and landmarks gave way to jumbo condominium projects and galleries. Mike Bard, owner of the Rendezvous building in the 1970s, says although he came into the neighborhood after the film row heyday, he remembers it. He thought it was interesting how the two sides of Belltown - the "First Avenue Element" and the film row on Second Avenue could coexist, without interference.

The McGraw-Kittenger-Case Building, formerly MGM's headquarters on the corner of Second and Battery, is one of the only film row buildings left standing.

The William Tell Hotel, too, is still here. But, now the hotel is a 40-unit residential building run by Plymouth Housing, currently in the process of being remodeled again. The Pathe Building is now Angeline's YWCA. The Rendezvous Restaurant, with its many underground catacombs, is still here, and so is the Jewel Box Theater. Steve Freeborn, one of four new owners who took over in 2002, says they are working to keep the neighborhood heritage alive. In restoring the place they worked to retain the Rendezvous' red-velvet flavor, especially in the Jewel Box. While stripping the outer layer of the theater's interior walls they uncovered near-mint, vintage wall coverings. Unique textured wall coverings they chose to keep, part of keeping the nostalgic nuances. The Jewel Box features nightly entertainment and occasionally still screen movies. Rumor has it there is a (now infamous) ghost up in the old projection booth.