Pioneer Square Spotlight
Pioneer Square Spotlight
Bookstores and Libraries
Arundel Books
Founded in 1984 as a fine press publisher that specialized in art and poetry; three years later, Arundel Books began selling rare and out-of print books. They now operate a retail bookstore in Seattle, an affiliated Indie publishing company called Chatwin Books, and a book printing and binding operation including both digital printing and our own vintage letterpress printing press.
Open Books: A Poem Emporium
This poetry-only bookstore features new, rare, and out-of-print books, chapbooks,and more. They offer events and classes throughout the year and operate a charming co-working space called The Parlor.
Peter Miller Books
Located in Post Alley, this bookstore specializes in architecture and design books, and also carries a wide array of art and design supplies and homewares.
People
Photo courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry
Murray Morgan (1916-2000): Author of Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle, which is said to be the “longest-running Pacific Northwest book in print.”
The term “skid road” originally referred to a logging road used to “skid” trees to the mill. Yesler Street was Seattle’s skid road and Henry Yesler’s mill stood at this intersection. The contemporary meaning of “skid road” as a poor urban area may have originated in Seattle in the 1850s.
“I miss it if I’m not in it for any length of time; I don’t feel comfortable. I want trees and I want frequent rain.”
Photo courtesy Yoshito Okada
John Okada (1923-1971) was the author of the seminal novel about Japanese American incarceration, No-No Boy. He was born in the family quarters of the hotel above the Merchants Cafe and Saloon, which is still in business today. (It’s actually the oldest standing restaurant in Seattle!)
“Only in fiction can the hopes and fears and joys and sorrows of people be adequately recorded.”