Seattle's El Corazon, site of Pearl Jam's first show, could be demolished

Eddie Vedder, left, and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam play at the Off Ramp, a long-gone dive bar and punk club in Seattle, on Feb. 26, 1991. Eddie Vedder, left, and Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam play at the Off Ramp, a long-gone dive bar and punk club in Seattle, on Feb. 26, 1991. Photo: Alison Braun/Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images Photo: Alison Braun/Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Seattle's El Corazon, site of Pearl Jam's first show, could be demolished 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

The venue where Pearl Jam played its very first show -- under the name Mookie Blaylock -- may soon go the way of the buffalo, as they say. Or maybe just the way of so many aging Seattle buildings.

A demolition permit application was filed in January to raze the two-story building currently home to El Corazon and The Funhouse at 109 Eastlake Avenue East just south of REI.

The property owner listed on the permit application, Dana Sims, did not return phone calls and an email from SeattlePI, but architect John Serkland, the applicant on the permit, confirmed that plans were in place to demolish the building housing El Corazon, though perhaps not immediately.

"As far as I know, it's not going to be demolished until the ground is sold," Serkland said, meaning the building wouldn't be razed until the property was sold.

Serkland said he didn't know what was planned for the site beyond demolition.

A Daily Journal of Commerce story shared on the Vanishing Seattle Facebook page reported a 44-story tower planned to go up south of REI, but records indicate that is on the other side of Stewart Street.

Property records with the King County Assessor's Office indicated the lot including El Corazon was appraised at $5.28 million.

Formerly called Graceland, The Off Ramp Cafe, Sub-Zero, and Cafe Au Go Go, the El Corazon club has been a music venue and/or bar in Seattle since 1910, according to El Corazon's website.

But the club gained notoriety during the grunge years, as The Off Ramp, where bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Alice In Chains had early shows and tried out material before taking it on the road.

"When it was The Off Ramp, that's when it was in its glory days," said Marco Collins, a longtime Seattle disc jockey who helped break many bands from the grunge era when he worked at 107.7 The End. Collins, who is now a DJ at KEXP, was friends with many of the bands whose music he played on the radio back in the '90s, including Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love.

He recalled a PJ Harvey show at The Off Ramp Cafe in 1992 when Cobain and Love showed up in the club for the show.

"It was madness that Kurt and Courtney were there because they just came in by themselves," Collins said. They had come without any security.

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At a tribute to Chris Cornell in 2017, KEXP DJ Riz Rollins recalled meeting Cornell in the bathroom of The Off Ramp.

"Dude was fi-ine!" Rollins said of Cornell, who was likely there for the first Pearl Jam show in 1990.

But the club was never known for being a great place to play or to see music. It was infamous for years for having a pole, possibly supporting the second floor, that was right in front of the stage.

The building, constructed in part prior to 1895, has undergone two major remodels and expansions over the years, leaving little of the original structure intact, according to documents filed with the demolition permit application.

An assessment by The Johnson Partnership found that the building did not meet any of the criteria for it to be named a City of Seattle Landmark.

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Another well-known Seattle venue, the Showbox at the Market, is under consideration for such status after a developer filed plans last July to raze the 79-year-old club and build a tower of luxury apartments in its place. But Seattle music lovers came out in droves to oppose the plans and the City Council temporarily expanded the Pike Place Historic district to include the building. Historic Seattle has since taken the lead on a push to get the city to consider giving the building landmark status, which could at least preserve part or all of the building's facade.

Further details about the planned development in place of El Corazon weren't immediately available.