The Virginia Inn Has New Owners—the Stolen Historic Sign Is Back Up, Too

Four Longtime Employees Have Purchased the 122-Year-Old Bar and Restaurantby Meg van HuygenIn 1903, before Pike Place Market even existed, William Herdman opened an unnamed tavern at the unpaved intersection of First Avenue and Virginia Street, then just a sluice of mud. It was in the ground floor of what’s now the Livingston Hotel—then the Rosenberg Block—constructed two years before. Across the street stood a mountain of dirt and rubble from the just-kicked-off Denny Regrade