Pioneer Spirit

Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood has been part of Katherine Anderson’s life for as long as she can remember.

Anderson, owner of the popular London Plane restaurant, recalls visiting the neighborhood with her father when she was a small child. They always stopped at The Elliott Bay Book Co., the iconic bookstore, which for 37 years occupied a prominent space next to where London Plane is now before it decamped to the Capitol Hill neighborhood in 2010. 

Anderson opened London Plane 10 years ago with Seattle chef and restaurateur Matt Dillon. Dillon is still technically a partner, but is no longer involved in the daily activities of the business.

London Plane swiftly pivoted during the pandemic, becoming a grab-and-go grocery store as well as a restaurant in response to wide-ranging health restrictions. Anderson remains upbeat about the future of both downtown Seattle and the neighborhood itself, which is undergoing unprecedented development sparked by the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the $740 million waterfront improvement project. Roughly two dozen projects, with both public and private investment, are either underway or planned.

Anderson speaks candidly about the neighborhood’s struggles and its future as the city slowly recovers from the pandemic.

I sort of backed into having a restaurant. I had a flower farm and flower shop on Capitol Hill in the Melrose Market.

I think we can be proud of being a real anchor in this neighborhood. That was our intent in the very beginning. It really comes from being a Seattle native and loving this neighborhood and believing in urban spaces and downtown places. It’s a beautiful spot.

I made a 10-year lease. We knew there were big plans for the redevelopment of the waterfront. We’ve been waiting a long time for this investment. It must’ve been public knowledge (about the Viaduct coming down) because we knew there would be sort of transformational change. 

Pioneer Square, it’s like the true heart and most beautiful downtown neighborhood in Seattle.

Crime and homelessness and people in crisis are all pressing issues in Pioneer Square. They require different types of responses and resources from the city. 

We had a bullet come through our front window. Fortunately, nobody was here, but it certainly scares the staff.

It does feel like there’s an energy of clean up in the air. Hopefully, the city, new mayor and council together can address safety in the downtown core and businesses can bring people back, at least in a hybrid fashion. I’m more hopeful than I’ve been in a long time.

There have been many times over the past nine years when I thought, boy, we would have done a lot better if we’d opened in Bellevue or University Village. That would have been a lot easier. But those places didn’t resonate.

In terms of people who love the city and care about it and have been trying to keep their doors open, there’s no other neighborhood like it. It’s the opposite of U Village. I’m perfectly happy going to U Village, but there are no chain stores here. It’s all beautiful, unique, special places.

I feel safe most of the time. I’m not easily scared. I understand why it can be scary to some people. There are definitely people who won’t come down here.

There have been times that I was worn out by being in Pioneer Square, but I’ve never seriously considered moving.

There’s a reason we’re here. I feel like there are a lot of people who care about Pioneer Square. So, people will continue to try, ourselves included.

We became sort of a grocery store really quickly and easily, because we have those retail shelves and we could put a lot of the food we make into containers to sell, like what you would buy at a grocery deli. We packaged up our yogurt; we packaged up our crackers. It was always more set up as food to go for pickup. You come in and you get it and you take it home or sit outside and eat it.

During our time here, we have pivoted about five times.

Do people not know that it’s a beautiful European-style neighborhood with businesses that have stayed open through the pandemic? There’s so much down here from food to clothing, from very high-end clothing to vintage.

Of course, there are kazillions of galleries and they’ve been struggling, but it’s a beautiful neighborhood and the more people who come, the better. Especially on the weekends. Come down for a Saturday afternoon and check out what’s happening on the waterfront and then come over to Pioneer Square.

There’s a real richness that could fill an afternoon. It’s so pretty here in the spring and summer. We have to somehow encourage the perception that it’s a wonderful place to come during the day.

If our lives become more of a blend, then you definitely need people living down here to keep the neighborhood alive. What worked in our favor before was there were so many people who walked down here. The bulk of our business was people who worked in offices in Pioneer Square.

This is a familiar, comfortable place where you’re always welcome. And we’re always open and here for you in different ways, whether you just want a cup of coffee or you want to sit down for a lovely lunch or you want a bouquet of flowers.

I guess I wish people knew how welcomed they would be if they came.