Pike Place Market - Notable People

Notable People

Frank Goodwin and his brothers developed most of the core Market buildings. He was largely responsible for the decision to keep ornament to a minimum, in order to keep the emphasis on the products rather than the institution and in order not to scare off people looking for good prices on their produce. Upon his retirement in 1925, his nephew Arthur Goodwin took over most of the Market ownership, selling some shares to people outside of the family.

Giuseppe "Joe" Desimone was born about 40 miles (64 km) east of Naples, Italy. He arrived in America from Italy as a stowaway, but soon became a successful farmer with land in South Park, Tukwila and the Kent Valley along the Green River. A longtime Market vendor, was one of those who bought shares in the Market in 1925, and eventually became its owner by slowly buying out Arthur Goodwin. He was president of the Market until his death in 1946. Outside of the Market, he is credited with keeping Boeing in the Seattle area in 1936 by selling them a large tract of land for a nominal fee.

His son Richard Desimone succeeded him as president of the market and served in that position until 1974. He kept the Market alive in dark times for farmers' markets, doing nearly all business on handshake deals rather than through formal leases. He later served on the Market Historical Commission.

Victor Steinbrueck was the leading architect-activist in defining the Pike Market neighborhood, and artist Mark Tobey in visualizing and recording, in developing his "Northwest Mystic" style of the internationally recognized Northwest School of art. Internationally recognized in the 1940s, Tobey explored the neighborhood with his art in the 1950s and early 1960s, as the area was being increasingly characterized by the Seattle Establishment as overdue for urban renewal, particularly replacement with a parking garage, high-rise housing and modern, upscale retail. People of city neighborhoods and citizen preservation activists struggled through the 1960s, culminating in 1971 with 2 to 1 passage of a citizen initiative for protection and citizen oversight of the core Pike Place Market that has since largely protected the neighborhood.

George Rolfe, the first director of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority (PDA), played a key role in the economic revitalization of the Market after it was saved by the 1971 referendum. It was under his management that the direction of automobile traffic on Pike Place was reversed and the pedestrian-friendly brick paving was introduced. Rolfe also emphasized the construction of pedestrian routes to the waterfront so that the Market became the center of a pedestrian network.

For many years, Sol "The Cod Father" Amon of Pure Food Fish has been the longest-tenured vendor at Pike Place Market. His father, Jack Amon, began selling fish in the Market in 1911 as a partner in the Philadelphia Fish Market. From about 1920 to 1935, he owned and operated the American Fish Company. In 1951 he bought the Pure Food Fish Company (founded 1917–1918), which Sol Amon largely took over in 1956. Sol had worked in the Market since 1947 and has been sole proprietor of Pure Food Fish since his father's death in 1966. He can often be seen outside his stall chatting with visitors and helping them choose their fish, including a brisk tourist trade in salmon packed to travel. The Seattle City Council honored him in 2006 on the 50th anniversary of his taking over the business: they named him "King of the Market" and permanently designated April 11 as Sol Amon Day. Amon is a longtime major supporter of the Market Foundation. On the first Sol Amon Day in 2006, Amon donated all of the day's profits from Pure Food Fish to the Foundation.