The Two Pals
1218 S. Jackson St.
The Vietnamese money transfer business you are standing in front of was once the site of a smoke shop called the Two Pals, where popular vocalist Dee Dee Hackett often sang. Though the original two-story wooden buildings along this block have all been replaced by modern structures, during WWII they housed three venues. On the corner was Russell “Noodles” Smith’s Hill-Top Tavern; five doors down was the Two Pals; and next door to it, the Main Event. Try to imagine, if you can, people barhopping through the district. They might start out with a show by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm at the Black and Tan, then watch a short jazz movie by pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller across the street at the Hill-Top Tavern — the club specialized in “soundies,” as they were called, a sort of precursor to MTV — and top off the night with Dee Dee Hackett singing at the Two Pals or a high-stakes poker game at the Main Event.
For a couple of years during WWII, that was the scene along this strip. Club owner Charlie Beale ran an ad every week in The Northwest Enterprise, encouraging folks to come on down to the Two Pals to buy a war bond and “have a chat,” which might include making a bet on a prize fight or having a lively discussion about which band was hipper, Lionel Hampton’s or Jimmie Lunceford’s, both of whom had recently played downtown.
A 1942 cooperative Christmas greeting from the Two Pals and other local businesses. Two Pals owner Charlie Beale is pictured on the right. Gus West, on the left, later booked the music at the Black Elks Club. (The Northwest Enterprise, December 30, 1942)
The Two Pals was located in the fourth storefront from the left, behind the nose of the hood of the parked car. The club probably hadn’t opened when this picture was taken, in 1937, as there is no sign, and ads didn’t start appearing until 1942. Next door, however, you can just make out the sign for the Main Event above where it says “POOL HALL.” (Source: Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch.)
![Two Pals and Main Event hi res 59190-0055,_stores,_1937[1].tif](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4878d_d4c55ba02ba44bc99af99fabe5afbdc1~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_181,y_0,w_1137,h_852/fill/w_519,h_389,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Two%20Pals%20and%20Main%20Event%20hi%20res%2059190-0055%2C_stores%2C_1937%5B1%5D_tif.png)
The Hill-Top Tavern stood at the northeast corner of Twelve Avenue South and South Jackson Street, which today is a parking lot for Little Saigon’s Jackson Square. Note the arrow-shaped sign saying “Hill-Top” sticking out from the corner of the building. The Hill-Top was operated by Russell “Noodles” Smith, who in the 1930s ran the Black and Tan, across the street, as well as the Ubangi and the Golden West Hotel.
(Source: Washington State Archives,
Puget Sound Regional Branch)
The Seattle action attracted big-time gamblers, including Lena Horne’s father, according to several sources on the scene at the time, who reportedly lived in Seattle for a while and matched wits with “Big George” Stevens. Noodles Smith’s right-hand man, Bruce Rowell, remembered Stevens pulling a thousand dollars in cash out of a secret pocket in the back of his coat one night.
“That’s right! Right there in the Main Event, on Jackson Street. Then he said, ‘Okay, let the good times roll.’”
Dorothy Hilbert, who worked in many Jackson Street clubs, recalled the Two Pals as one of the more popular places in the district.
“I got a job as the manager of the Main Event,” she remembered. “That was next door to the Two Pals, on the north side of the street. We’re talking about 1943 now. The Main Event was a small place, so we didn’t have music all the time there. Right next door to it was the Two Pals and it was larger. They had Dee Dee Hackett and [pianist] Palmer Johnson. They played together there for years.”
After the war, these venues closed, but across the street, the Black and Tan carried on.
Location of the Two Pals today. Address is now 1212 S. Jackson St., which occupies the same parcel as the old club.