Smool Studio 1985: 101 Wall Sreet

In 1981, Day Moon Press, our printer for The Belltown Rag, moved out of 101 Wall Street and Smool Studios moved in.By 1985, I had taken over two more storefronts next door on Wall Street, accumulating about 3,000 square feet of space for $275 per month.

While I hadn't done too much to the exterior of the spaces, I did a fair amount of work to the interior and it was probably the best studio I've had. In 1985 I did a series of 'speakeasies' I called Club Carl. I collaborated with two DJs, their friend with a professional sound system, a bartender and a door man. Admission was $2 and at the end of the night we split the till. The place was packed.

It was around this time that I got a call from the someone at the Seattle Times' Pacific Northwest Magazine saying that they had heard that the space was very cool, and asking if they could do a piece on my studio and send a photographer over. I paused, looked around, and said that the person who told them must have been exaggerating and that I didn't think it was a good idea. What I didn't say was that it wasn't a good idea to advertise that I was living 'stylishly' in a space that was not zoned residential. I did however think it was a good idea to photograph the space, so I asked Mark Sullo, and now all these years later I can share his photos,

The mottled grey paint was a cool way to camouflage the very patched and stained ceiling.

In the '80s one could scavenge just about anything including the French doors that led into the front room of 107 Wall Street, the 'residential' space.

The old gas stove was a beauty and the linoleum carpets were taken from the abandoned and rather derelict Cameron Hotel upstairs, as was the claw foot tub in the bathroom.

The bathing room walls were covered with urban blue prints from Architects I knew.

109 Wall Street was the funky space where I could really make a mess, and where I could move the extra furniture from the front when I threw a party.

This picture looks at the back doors of 107 and 109 from a parking 'courtyard' surrounding the old boiler room building that had heated the block.

All of the photos on this page are by Mark Sullo.