Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 1: 1600 Seventh Avenue, Seattle, WA
Opened (as 1600 Bell Plaza): November 22, 1976.
32 floors, 498 ft.

Naturally I have to connect my Birth Week theme to skyscrapers in one way or another, right? Well, I am 50 years old this year, and so is this building. At 32 stories and just under 500 feet tall, it hardly stands out in the Seattle skyline these days—but, upon its opening in late 1976, it would have: it was the fourth-tallest building in Seattle then. Only Safeco Plaza (50 floors, 630 ft, originally Seattle First National Bank Building), the Space Needle (605 ft), 901 Fifth Avenue (42 floors, 536 ft, originally Bank of California Building), and the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building (37 floors, 487 ft) were taller.

The November 1976 dedication ceremony was a big enough deal that those in attendance included then-Governor Dan Evans, and Don Ameche, the actor who portrayed Alexander Graham Bell in the 1939 biographical film about him. Bell, inventor of the telephone, was the namesake of the company, Pacific Northwest Bell, for which this building was originally named—that was the name used during construction; it opened as 1600 Bell Plaza as the result of a naming contest; and it was later named both US West Communications and Qwest Plaza, before the building was sold in 2012. Today, 1600 Seventh Avenue is merely the 24th-tallest building in Seattle, and houses mostly Nordstrom offices.

I would have killed to gain access to the top floor of this building, but alas, all skyscraper elevators have secured access these days and I don't have any connections up there. I've gotten some other great shots of this building from other skyscrapers, though, and I took nine new ones from the ground right after leaving work six blocks from there on Friday.

Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 2: Third Place Books, original location of PCC Ravenna, Seattle, WA
Opened (as PCC Ravenna): 1976. Actually the second location of the Ravenna store, which originally opened in 1969, but Third Place Books sits on the site where PCC stood between 1976 and 2001.

I'm always happy to find a PCC connection to my Birth Week theme if I can, and I found one this year! Even though PCC had a store in the Ravenna neighborhood as early as 1969—it was PCC's oldest store since moving from its very first storefront from Madrona, where that one had opened as the first-ever store in 1967—but it then moved again to its final spot at NE 65th & 20th Ave NE in 1976.

The Ravenna store somewhat infamously closed in 2001, due to the 1999 opening of a Whole Foods only half a mile away, which is still there. Some PCC members were angry about this for a matter of years; I used to volunteer to count ballots for PCC Board elections as early as 2003, and one guy ran (and lost) because he was still pissed about it.

I found this old photo of the Ravenna PCC, ostensibly from 1976; and I took this shot from roughly the same angle, so you can see the noticeable similarity of the building then and now.

Today, the building that used to be PCC Ravenna is the second location of Third Place Books, which it has been since 2002. I was kind of struck by the smartness of their business strategy: presumably the Cafe Arta in the back of the bookstore and The Pub at Third Place downstairs are a big part of how they have stayed in business in an area when bookstores are dying. Tracy and I had dinner in the cafe upstairs, but we did go into the pub downstairs just to get a look at it.

I was delighted that the bartender down there had some knowledge of the location's history. I asked what this downstairs space had been when it was a PCC store, and he said it was a storage area—with both a lower ceiling and a higher floor, which they hand-dug deeper for the opening of the pub, apparnerently. It has a very charming, wooden, rustic vibe to it.

Side note: I had been to this Third Place Books once before; I had lunch at this very same cafe (actually in 2012 it was called Vios Cafe) during my Birth Week in 2012, with coworkers who have long since moved on from PCC: Scott and Elin. Elin had worked for PCC since the late eighties, so she had well over a decade of memories of the Ravenna PCC. I actually don't remember if the pub was open then, or if it was I don't know that I knew about it.

[posted 10:35am]

Fri, 20:26 Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark # 1: 1600 Seventh Avenue, Seattle, WA
Opened (as 1600 Bell Plaza): November 22, 1976
32 floors, 498 ft.
Nov 1976 dedication ceremony featured then-Governer Dan Evans, and Don Ameche, the actor who portrayed Alexander Graham Bell in the 1939 biographical film about him. Was previously named Pacific Northwest Bell Building (during construction), US West Communications, and Qwest Plaza before shedding any corporate name in favor of 1600 Seventh Avenue after being sold in 2012. Most floors of the building now house Nordstrom offices. https://t.co/TyBfb14JhO

Fri, 20:37: Birth Week 1976 Local Landmark #2: Third Place Books, originally PCC Ravenna store, Seattle WA
Opened (as PCC Ravenna): 1976. Actually the second location of the Ravenna store, which originally opened in 1969, but Third Place Books is in the building that was PCC Ravenna between 1976 and 2001.
It was basically put out of business by the opening of Whole Foods half a mile to the west, which opened in late 1999 and is still there now. It's been Third Place Books since 2002. It has a cafe in the back of the bookstore upstairs and a pub in the lower level, which used to be PCC storage space. https://t.co/5iEbqfDgAq

Birth Week 2026, Day One: 1600 Seventh Avenue / Third Place Books

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