HistoryLink Tours

2327 2nd Avenue

When the movie industry emerged in the early twentieth century, the Belltown neighborhood — thanks to its low density and zoning rules designating it for light industry — became home to myriad film-related businesses. Parts of 2nd and 3rd avenues were known as Film Row, and many of Hollywood’s major studios made Seattle a distribution outpost. The Lorraine Hotel was built in 1925 by modernist architect J. Lister Holmes, and its location made it the film industry’s favorite haunt, a place where showbiz managers, studio representatives, and movie stars stayed. Later renamed the William Tell Hotel, it became low-income housing and is today’s City Hostel. Also surviving from the Film Row era are the RKO Building (2312-2316 2nd Avenue) and the MGM/Loews building (2331 2nd Avenue).

Continue up 2nd Avenue to our next stop.