After 100 years, Pike Place Market future is unclear

KATHY MULAD, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By KATHY MULADY, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, March 19, 2007

You can buy almost anything, including carrots, kites and crystal balls, at Pike Place Market in Seattle. The Market celebrates its centennial starting today.
Photo: Mike Urban/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Just imagine an upscale Market -- spruced-up, sanitized, swept clean of the eccentric characters, well-lit, without a creaky floor or cranky tenants.

It's the worst fear of many Market regulars.

Pike Place Market turns 100 years old this year. The celebration begins today and wraps up Aug. 17 with a daylong festival. Many of the planned events during the next five months are aimed at reminding Seattle residents that the Market is more than just a place for tourists -- it's the soul of the city.

The milestone comes just as Mayor Greg Nickels is expected to propose a levy to raise millions to rehabilitate the historic buildings.

At the same time, some Market tenants, farmers, artists and shoppers worry that the Market of the future will become too polished and sterile -- pressured by the expensive, new downtown condominium crowd and swarms of cruise-ship tourists. Farmers and craftspeople say they sometimes feel more like actors, entertaining and posing as digital cameras click and flash.

There are other pressures weighing on the venerable Market.

Will the Alaskan Way Viaduct stay or go? Will it be bigger, or will it open the Market to the waterfront?

Grocery stores such as Whole Foods or Metropolitan Market that seem to mimic the Market with artfully arranged produce, bakeries and fresh seafood counters, are sprouting throughout the city.

And nearly every Seattle neighborhood has its own smaller-scale farmers market.

"The Market has to adapt and it has to react, but change is a nasty word down here," said Carol Binder, executive director of Pike Place Market.

She is confident that new residents downtown will discover the uniqueness of the Market and make it part of their routines, buying meat, picking the right herbs, comparing prices and getting to know the Market sellers. They'll think of the Market for buying gifts or going out to dinner.

"The Market is more than the products; it is the experience," she said. "That is hard to replicate."

Binder said no major transformations are planned, or even allowed because of the layers of rules, regulations and boards that govern Market operations and preserve the city landmark.

"We will do what we always do; we will stay the same," Binder said.

Many shop owners want to share her optimism, but fear that the Market will lose its grittiness.

"I worry that the Market could be turned into something too glitzy and glittery," said Amy Hanawalt, co-owner of Old Seattle Paperworks in the Market.

"It will be nice when all the condo dwellers in Belltown realize this is a place to buy your milk, your fish, your vegetables, your Christmas gifts. It's not a tourist trap, but the place to come and get what you need downtown," she said.

Among the Market's missions is providing an opportunity to meet the producer, farmer or artist responsible for products at the Market. It also is an incubator for small businesses and includes a senior center, low-income housing and a children's day care.

Pike Place Market was born in 1907 when eight farmers pulled their wagons into the wood-planked square at Pike Place. They began selling fruits and vegetables directly to a crowd of customers who came early that morning with their baskets.

The Market began to fade in the late 1950s and 1960s, the combined result of urban decline and the growth of supermarkets, but it survived, and now thrives, with more than 9 million visitors each year and $11.9 million in operating revenue budgeted this year.

"We could serve 20 million people a year, as long as we stay true to ourselves and who we are," said Patrick Kerr, owner of Patrick Kerr Pen and Ink drawings in the Market's "Down Under" section, a multilevel maze of wide corridors and cozy shops beneath the main arcade of fruit, fish and flowers.

"I worry that when most people think of the Market, they just think of fish and flowers. I hope we start promoting the businesses Down Under more. It is a cool and neat place to come to."

Upstairs, Haley Land and his wife, both artists, have sold ceramic cat and dog pins and magnets at their day stall table at the Market for 22 years.

"We can do a lot to make sure the Market stays vibrant and true to its mission," Land said, "but it will take leadership from within that is willing to fight the current trend to make the Market more upscale, a charming playground for the affluent."

"We need to understand what a public market is and what we represent to Seattle and the world. We have an excellent charter and people who love us. That's a start," he said.

And the rules are strict.

The size of shops, what can be sold, even the paint colors throughout are restricted. Anything flashy, even mechanized signs are prohibited. No chain stores are allowed, unless they started there. There are no golden arches, but Starbucks, which started in the Market, still has a shop there and its original sign. But under Market rules, the global coffee retailer can't sell pastries, as it does in other shops.

Before their lease ended last fall, Rainier Hardware owners were reprimanded by Market directors for stocking too many souvenirs in the tiny shop along with hammers and paintbrushes.

When Molbak's decided to sell its Seattle Garden Center in Pike Place Market, the hunt was on for a similar business to fill its spot. Unable to find a replacement, Beecher's Handmade Cheese was approved to move in.

"Yes there will be changes; change is part of life," said Susan Lane, chairwoman of the Pike Place Market Historical Commission, which must approve allalterations.

But the Market needs significant work that goes deeper than paint or atmosphere, Lane said.

She said shoring up and making seismic improvements to the historic buildings are needed urgently. Most of the basic systems, such as ventilation and plumbing, haven't been upgraded since the 1970s.

"We are getting to the end of the wear cycle. If the Market is going to continue through the next century, then it is critical that we have the underpinnings -- literally -- to support it," she said.

It's hard to say what the future holds for the Market.

But psychic Darleen Christopher of Christopher's Lamp, deep in the Down Under, checked the Market's horoscope and turned over tarot cards.

"Leo is all about the lion, the grandeur. The Market has a lot of heart," she said, peering at the horoscope on her white laptop computer. What Christopher sees could make many nervous -- change is coming.

"How the rules are today may not be the way they are in five years," she said. "If it was a person, I would expect a life change or a job change."