The Ebony Café
514 S. Jackson Street
In 1954, on any given Saturday at six o’clock in the morning — yes, that early! — people used to line up around the corner to get into the Ebony Café. “Jam for Breakfast” was the brainchild of vibist, pianist, bandleader and former Lionel Hampton sideman Elmer Gill (1926-2004), who bought part ownership in the Ebony in 1953. His racially integrated trio, with bassist Al Larkins and white guitarist Al Turay, soon turned the Ebony into one of the hottest spots in town. Gill had come to Seattle from Indianapolis in 1946, after a stint in the service left him at nearby Ft. Lewis. Displeased with the prevailing stereotype of Jackson Street as a seedy honky-tonk district, he went out of his way to create an upscale atmosphere at the Ebony, creating a well-appointed restaurant with a stage, grand piano and kitchen that served full dinners and drinks. Even so, many years later Gill recalled with some annoyance that people still called his place a club. “‘Where’s the gambling?’ they’d ask. It wasn’t a club at all. It was a restaurant.”​
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Ad from an unknown newspaper. (Courtesy of Elmer Gill)
The Ebony was located inside the last door on the left of the Governor Building, which still stands today. It was one of two
ornate white terra-cotta structures along South Jackson Street owned by the
Rainier Heat & Power Company.
(Source: Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch)
![Ebony Cafe in Governor Building 524780-1595,_stores,_1937[1].tif](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4878d_b3c8e7b024bc4e849a907de842772ef9~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_515,h_399,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Ebony%20Cafe%20in%20Governor%20Building%20524780-1595%2C_stores%2C_1937%5B1%5D_tif.png)
The Elmer Gill Trio, with Al Larkins (bass), Elmer Gill and Al Turay (guitar). (Courtesy of Elmer Gill, University of Washington Daily)
The building that housed the Ebony was appropriately elegant. Known as the Governor Building, it is one of two beautiful white terra-cotta buildings along South Jackson Street built by the Rainier Heat & Power Company that still stand today. Through the doors of the Ebony came touring jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiford, Ben Webster, and the Modern Jazz Quartet, who dropped by to jam after their gigs at other venues. “One night,” recalled drummer Dave Coleman, who also worked with Gill, “after the show, George Shearing came through and Armanda Peraza, the conga player, and Toots Thielemans and Cal Tjader. Elmer just locked the door. We ended up playing all night with just the few of us there.”
The Ebony had its ups and downs, thriving through the early ’50s, closing for a while in 1957, then reopening in 1959 with another trio featuring Gill and Coleman. In 1961, fed up with the racial discrimination he encountered in running a restaurant and buying a home, Gill left the United States for Canada and the Ebony was shuttered.
Site of the Ebony in 2024, farthest left storefront, where the New Star Restaurant (with green sign) used to be located. Although the address now says 516, it was 514 when the Ebony occupied the space. The building on the corner next door was demolished in 1940.