The Coast Hotel

Back in 1960, if you looked south from where you are standing under the freeway, you would have seen the Coast Hotel, one of the premier establishments in the historic jazz district. Owned and managed by Russell “Noodles” Smith and his wife, Elbe, who took over after they divorced in 1927, the Coast was one of several Seattle hotels that welcomed people of color. For convenience, they were listed in the Green Book, a must-have for Black travelers at the time. Dave Lee’s Olympus Hotel was in the Green Book, and so was the Atlas, across the street. A May 13, 1927, article in The Northwest Enterprise noted that “the Coast is probably the most expensively furnished hotel west of Chicago catering to colored persons.” That may be why Louis Armstrong often stayed at the Coast when he played in town.

 

The Coast was just one of many businesses torn down to make way for the I-5 freeway, built in 1962. At 815 S. Jackson St. was Art Louie’s Sporting Goods. Art was the son of Charlie Louie, who ran the successful Chinese Garden. Down the street at 925 S. Jackson St. was the Cherry Land Florist, owned by Seattle mayor Bruce Harell’s grandparents, John and Tameno Kobata. For a detailed history of the displacement of these neighborhood businesses, see the excellent site Nobody Lives Here.

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The Jackson Street Jazz Trail Committee is working with the Friends of I-5 Chinatown-International District to commission a mural on the underside of the freeway that will commemorate the historic jazz scene and these lost businesses.