Reviewed by Josh N · Updated September 14, 2026 · How we verify
Reported Phenomena
- Felt male presence
- Apparition in doorway
- Tall hatted figure
Reported by visitors & local legend. Stories, not verified claims.
Tucked into a converted service room a few steps from the Gum Wall, Ghost Alley Espresso may be the smallest business in Seattle, Washington, with a resident ghost story attached to it. The coffee shop sits on Post Alley at Pike Place Market, in a space that once served as a room for bathroom attendants, and the spirit said to linger there is not an anonymous figure but a named one: Arthur Goodwin, one of the Market’s first managers.
A 147-Square-Foot Closet on Post Alley
The footprint is the first thing anyone notices. Writing in the Los Angeles Times in 2014, Christopher Reynolds described how then-owner Mercedes Carrabba converted “a 147-square-foot closet into this snug caffeine haven and tour-guide headquarters.” The same paper has called it a “hole-in-the-wall coffee joint,” which is less a criticism than a plain measurement. There is a small counter and a few stools, and that is the room.
The space sits in the Central Waterfront district and previously served as a bathroom attendants’ room. Leslie Budewitz’s mystery novel Peppermint Barked: A Spice Shop Mystery describes it as a “hidey-hole carved from a former storage and rest station for Market vendors,” which captures the feel of the place even if the book is fiction.
Arthur Goodwin, the Manager Who Kept an Office Nearby
The haunting claim here is unusually specific about its subject. According to the shop’s own website, as reported by Rachael Jones of Seattle Refined, Arthur Goodwin was one of Pike Place Market’s first managers and a designer of the buildings, and he kept his office closest to what is now Ghost Alley Espresso. That proximity is the whole basis of the association. Goodwin is described as the shop’s resident ghost.
It is worth being clear about what this is and is not. The historical record supports Goodwin’s role at the Market. The claim that he remains on Post Alley is folklore attached to a tourist district, circulated by a business that once doubled as a ghost tour office. Nothing here has been verified, and nothing about it needs to be true for the coffee to be good.
What Baristas Report Behind the Counter
The reported phenomena are modest and consistent, which is part of what makes them worth repeating. Baristas at the shop have claimed to feel the presence of a man in the room. One barista is reported to have seen the apparition of a tall man wearing a hat, standing in the doorway.
That is the extent of it. There are no reports here of thrown objects, no death toll, no tragedy anchoring the story. The appeal of Ghost Alley Espresso is a quiet, almost domestic haunting in a space the size of a walk-in closet.
Ghost Tours, a Book and the Post Alley Crowd
Before Michael Buchwald, who is listed as owner as of 2022, the business belonged to Mercedes Carrabba, who owned both Ghost Alley Espresso and Market Ghost Tours and used the shop as a starting point for those tours. In 2020, Carrabba read excerpts from her book Market Ghost Stories at Ghost Alley Espresso and at other supposedly haunted locations around Pike Place Market.
The shop has also been a working neighborhood business rather than a pure attraction. It took part in the Post Alley Hooley in 2013, a neighborhood party presented by the business-and-resident group Post Alley Project, and during the COVID-19 pandemic it took orders through the front window.
Visiting Ghost Alley Espresso at Pike Place Market
This is an open, operating coffee shop, so there is no permission to seek and no tour ticket required. Expect a counter, a handful of stools, and a line if you arrive at a busy hour. The menu leans into unusual flavors, including “salty nut” and turmeric mochas.
The coffee reputation is genuine and does not rest on the ghost. As of 2015 the shop was one of only two in Seattle running a Modbar system, which Rosemary Behan of The National noted allows it to mimic any espresso machine in the world by changing the settings. Rebecca Mongrain of Seattle Refined called its mocha the city’s best in 2017, and writers at Eater, The Infatuation, the Seattle Metropolitan and The Times have all suggested visiting here rather than queueing at the Original Starbucks. Connor McGovern named it among Seattle’s seven best coffee shops for National Geographic’s 2026 list. It has also appeared in multiple editions of the Not for Tourists Guide to Seattle.
Address: Post Alley, Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington
See Ghost Alley Espresso for Yourself
Sources
- A unique Pike Place Market spot has always been ahead of the curve
- The coffee capital: full of beans in Seattle
- A generation of memories steam-cleaned off Seattle's 'gross' but 'beautiful' Gum Wall
- Peppermint Barked: A Spice Shop Mystery
- New in Town: A Beginner's Guide to Pike Place
- Wikipedia: Ghost Alley Espresso
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ghost Alley Espresso Post Alley located?
Ghost Alley Espresso Post Alley is located at Post Alley, Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington.
Can you visit Ghost Alley Espresso Post Alley?
Ghost Alley Espresso Post Alley is open to the public. Always follow posted rules and respect private property.
Reader sightings
Nobody has reported anything here yet. If you have been, you would be the first.
Report your own visit to Ghost Alley Espresso: A 147-Square-Foot Haunt at Pike Place
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