A Place for Artists

South of where you are located was the heart of Seattle’s first Japantown or Nihonmachi, centered on S Main St. Japantown never regained its prominence after the Japanese American Internment of World War II. A remnant of this history, the 1919 Tashiro Kaplan building, has housed a farmer’s market, various businesses and social services, and artists’ studios. Economic downturns in the 1980s made affordable “live-work” spaces available for artists, but with the real-estate market boom in the 1990s, landowners began renovating buildings and seeking wealthier tenants. Rent prices rose, pushing artists out of the neighborhood. With a resurgence in 2004, the building re-opened with 50 units of affordable housing and studio spaces for artists, galleries, the non-profit agency 4Culture, and 20+ commercial arts-related entities.