Merchant's Cafe, Seattle

Merchant’s Café is one of Seattle’s most enduring historic restaurants, located at the corner of James Street and Yesler Way since 1890. The café claims the title of the city’s oldest continually operating restaurant, and its story stretches back to the period just before the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. Founded by John Hall Sanderson in a two-story wooden building typical of the early waterfront neighborhood, the business was quickly rebuilt in brick after the fire as part of the Sanderson Block. The new structure combined a café and liquor emporium at street level with hotel rooms above, anchoring the area’s commercial revival.

In the early 1890s, the property was sold and renamed the Merchants Exchange Saloon, becoming a popular dining and drinking spot for local businessmen. During the same period, the upstairs rooms operated as a brothel, reflecting the rough-edged character of Seattle during the Gold Rush years. Ownership changed again in 1898, when Franz Schreiner acquired the café; it would remain in his family for nearly eighty years. Like many long-standing businesses, Merchant’s Café struggled during the Great Depression, but it survived, later receiving a gambling license in the early 1950s that helped sustain operations.

The café gained renewed attention in the 1960s through its connection to the Seattle Underground Tours, which began nearby. A major renovation in the early 1970s coincided with Pioneer Square’s recognition as a historic district. Much of the café’s late-19th-century character was preserved, including a carved mahogany bar shipped around Cape Horn, pressed-tin ceilings, decorative woodwork, and worn wooden floors. These features helped establish Merchant’s as a favored gathering place for locals.

By the 1970s, Merchant’s Café had also become a live-music venue, hosting jazz, blues, and rock performances. Notably, the band Heart held a record-release party here in 1977. Today, with its dining room restored and former upstairs spaces converted into a boutique hotel, Merchant’s Café remains closely tied to Pioneer Square’s layered history, offering visitors a rare chance to step into a space shaped by more than a century of Seattle life.