The fight to save Seattle's beloved Showbox venue has already attracted passionate support from the community and is now getting a boost from both local and international music artists.
A total of 178 artists signed an open letter published in the centerfold of the August 10, 2018 edition of The Seattle Times. The letter urges Seattle lawmakers to designate The Showbox site as a historical site, incorporating it into the Pike Place Historic District.
Among those signing the letter are Death Cab for Cutie, Duff McKagan, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Pearl Jam, The XX, Dave Grohl, Dave Matthews, Fred Armisen, Fleet Foxes, Katy Perry, Sleater-Kinney, and many more.
Historic Seattle shared a post on Instagram detailing their effort:
A post shared by Historic Seattle (@historicseattle) on
Now, the resistance has grown well beyond Seattle's local community.
It was recently announced that Vancouver, B.C. based developer Omni filed a proposal to demolish The Showbox site in order to build a 44-story apartment building.
After outcry from the Seattle community, Mayor Jenny Durkan said she was working on a resolution with the developer. Just this week a three and a half hour long city council meeting involved conversations from the community about the proposed development. In attendance was Ben Gibbard of Seattle band Death Cab for Cutie, one of the figures leading the development resistance.
A couple weeks ago, the venue celebrated its 79th birthday, and the development was filed only one day after. The two-story Showbox building was constructed in 1916 and turned into a music venue in 1939.
In addition to the music venue, the building also houses a pawn shop, the Blarney Stone Pub, and other tenants.
Since the announcement, several efforts have been created to try and save the Showbox, including a petition and a Facebook group.
