Monorail Espresso

On December 1, 1980, Seattle proprietor Chuck Beek set up an espresso cart at Westlake Mall under the Seattle Center Monorail as an experiment to see whether there was a market for espresso sold on the street rather than in a traditional coffeehouse.

One of the most highly requested orders in the early 90's were "skinny lattes" which consisted of two espresso shots combined with non-fat milk.

[4] Due to the local construction of the growing downtown Seattle along with the raising costs for permits, owner Beek had to move the cart several times.

[1] The coffeehouse is located at 510 Pike Street in Seattle and today is owned and operated by former Monorail barista, Aimee Peck.

In 2012, Peck, a manager at the time bought Monorail Espresso from previous owner Chuck Beek.

However, as a forty-year-old downtown staple they were given a grant from local corporation, Amazon, in efforts to support small businesses in the area.