Speakeasy Café

Speakeasy Café. . Just like that - it was gone. An electrical fire gutted the building at Second Avenue and Bell Street on May 18, 2001, putting an end to a storied Belltown place. Constructed in 1925 as the Seattle Taxicab Company headquarters and garage, the two-story brick warehouse was designed by architect Louis Svarz (1886-1976). It was home to various taxicab and auto-related companies through the 194os. During the next several decades it housed theater operator, Higgins Amusement Company, and Pacific Auto Rebuild. Seattle’s original Display and Costume Supply occupied the space during the 1970s and 80s. Seattle Building Salvage moved in during the early 1990s. The historic 211 Billiards Club occupied the second floor from 1987., In 1995, Mike Apgar, his wife Gretchen and his brother Tyler opened the Speakeasy Café. It was Seattle’s first internet café and one of the first in the United States. The Café brought together coffee, culture and computers with a mission to “provide a service that is not simply entertaining, but educational, enlightening, and most of all empowering.” The Café housed a cocktail bar, an get gallery and a small experimental performance space. The civic and artistic hub in the re-emerging Belltown neighborhood, it was a place for tech workers, artists, poets and musicians. The 2001 fire sped up the inevitable, times were changing and the Café was set to close. The building was demolished in 2005, and in its place stands 206 Bell, a commercial and residential building that opened in June 2013.