This article appears in print in the March 2020 issue. Click here for a free subscription.

On his first day of work at Longacres Racetrack in Renton, 14-year-old Ken Alhadeff put on his best button-down shirt and slacks. He couldn’t wait for his chance to join his father and grandfather in the family business of horse racing.

When he arrived, Alhadeff learned that he didn’t need the fine attire. His job, his family told him, would be to clean the bathrooms. Just like all the other Longacres employees, Alhadeff would start at the bottom and work his way up.

It’s that work ethic that Ken Alhadeff wants to carry on at the family’s current brick-and-mortar business, the Majestic Bay Theatres in Ballard. Though the Seattle family sold Longacres to Boeing in 1990, Alhadeff wanted his children and grandchildren to learn the same business principles he grew up with at the racetrack. A theater, Alhadeff believes, teaches the family pride in serving the community.

“I wanted to give myself, my children and my grandchildren a business where they had the opportunity to interact with the public,” Ken says. “My hope is that everyone spends a little time making sure the bathrooms are clean, popping popcorn or getting a booster seat for a child who can’t quite see. The exact reason for the Majestic Bay all goes back to Longacres.”

A six-generation Seattle family, the Alhadeffs are well-known for their success in business, musical theater and philanthropy. The family earned its acclaim by running the Renton racetrack for almost six decades, until the business of horse racing became less valuable than the land beneath it.

“It was a different time,” says Aaron Alhadeff, Ken’s son, of the heyday of Longacres. “Waiting 40 minutes between races became antiquated. The land inside the oval wasn’t being used.”

After selling Longacres to Boeing, the family purchased a large real estate portfolio in downtown Seattle. They managed the properties until 2007, when they took advantage of a favorable market and sold the buildings for $62 million.

In addition to real estate, Ken Alhadeff produces musical theater on Broadway and for the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle through Junkyard Dog Productions and Alhadeff Productions. One of his company’s original musicals, “Memphis,” won four Tony awards.

The Alhadeffs’ extensive philanthropic work has benefited education, health care, the arts, the homeless, the local film industry, the Jewish community, the Special Olympics and countless other causes. Ken encourages his three children to devote a significant portion of their time to community service, telling them he places as much value in sitting on a nonprofit board as meeting with an investment banker.

Lesser known than their philanthropic and real estate projects, however, is the work the Alhadeffs have done in restoring and building out the historic Majestic Bay. When they bought the theater in 1997, Ken Alhadeff missed the daily interaction with people that the family enjoyed at Longacres.

The Alhadeffs also loved the history of the one-screen theater, which opened in 1914 and is the longest-running movie house west of the Mississippi. The family saw the chance to revitalize a community landmark and assume a relatively small operation. Ken appointed his son, Aaron, to take the helm of day-to-day operations at the Majestic Bay.

The Alhadeffs soon discovered their modest side project would require greater investment, however. A single screen didn’t give the public enough choice of content, and contracts with studios require that a cinema run movies for six weeks. The building was in such a state of disrepair that renovations wouldn’t be simple.

The Alhadeffs ended up tearing the old theater down and building three auditoriums, each named after one of Ken’s three children.

They incorporated wood from the original structure and added nautical details as a nod to Ballard’s ship-building industry. Some of the theater’s windows resemble a ship’s portholes, jellyfish art hangs from the ceiling and parts of the building are trimmed with mahogany. To acknowledge their own family history at Longacres, the Alhadeffs hung English horseracing prints on the wall.

Though the Majestic Bay will never replicate the options of a big, modern multiplex, the Alhadeffs don’t want to go that route. Aaron and Ken hope locals will see the theater as clean, comfortable and impeccably managed — with the confidence of knowing that if something breaks, it’s repaired immediately. “The dream was owning the finest neighborhood theater,” Ken says.

The Alhadeffs want the Majestic Bay to be a place where people are greeted by their names and see other movie regulars they know. When locals request a favor from the Majestic Bay, the Alhadeffs usually say yes. They allowed their marquee to be used as a marriage proposal, for example.

Ken recalls the first time he came down from the upstairs office to greet patrons and hand out free candy and T-shirts. The surprised moviegoers thought he was going to tell them the movie was canceled, since they’d never seen an owner take the time to shake their hands before a film.

Image Credit: Hayley Young

The Majestic Bay property opened in 1914 as a one-screen theater and lays claim to being the longest-running movie house west of the Mississippi.

The Alhadeffs see the Majestic Bay staff as a key component to the neighborhood feel of the theater. They hire teens from Ballard High School and won’t entertain the idea of serving alcohol at the theater because they want to continue employing local youth.

Majestic Bay’s general manager, Brent Siewert, has known the Alhadeffs for decades. He first worked at Longacres when he was in junior high school. He started as a sweeper, moved to the dining room and eventually became their catering manager — staying until the business was sold. Years later, after the Alhadeffs had just acquired the Majestic Bay, Siewert ran into Ken and was recruited to rejoin the family’s team. Siewert says he feels the Alhadeffs’ pride of ownership is a vital part of their business success.

“When the CEO lives by his business, it comes with a different set of expectations,” Siewert says. “I’m always trying to make the family proud.”