Listen for the shout and watch the toss: this fish market has hurled whole salmon across the counter since the tradition began in the 1980s. What started as a practical solution became a performance and eventually a Harvard Business School case study on workplace culture. Watch for the shout, the toss, the catch — it happens all day, every day, rain or shine.
Thirty feet away, at 1912 Pike Place, is the original Starbucks, opened on March 30, 1971, by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker — three friends who wanted to sell high-quality whole-bean coffee to Seattle consumers. They named it after the first mate in Moby-Dick. Howard Schultz visited in 1982, encountered espresso culture in Milan, and persuaded the founders to serve prepared drinks.
When they declined, Schultz left, founded Il Giornale, bought Starbucks in 1987, and built a global empire from this corner. The original logo still hangs above the door. The line stretches down the street every morning — pilgrims paying homage to the place that convinced the world coffee was worth waiting for.