Beloved Community Business Award Winner: Targy’s Tavern

Each year, the Queen Anne Historical Society celebrates Preservation Month in May by giving an award to a beloved community business. The most recent award winner was Targy’s Tavern at 600 W. Crockett Street. Targy’s has been a fixture on top of the hill since 1937, not long after Prohibition ended. The unusual name comes from a Seattle longshoreman named Targelson, whose nickname was “Targy.” The tavern has an open floor plan with its original U-shaped bar, a pool table, darts, and activities such as Bingo Tuesdays and Trivia Wednesdays.

Photo QAHS 2025

Targy’s occupies the northwest corner of 6 th  Avenue West and Crockett Street, in a building that was constructed in 1902, back when the street was still an unpaved dirt road. The owners tell us with pride that the timber used to build it was cut and milled exclusively from trees on Queen Anne hill. In addition to the tavern, there are 4 other commercial tenants in the building plus 18 apartments in the upper floor. The apartments were originally used as sleeping quarters for men that worked on the horse-drawn counterbalance trolleys.

1911 black and white photo:  UW Special Collections

The current owner of both Targy’s and the 600 West Crockett building is the Stedman Group, led by the husband-and-wife team Joel and Margo Stedman. The Stedmans purchased the tavern in 2018 from Charlie Files, who had owned it since the 1980’s. After running Targy’s for 5 years (including the financially tricky Covid shutdown), the Stedmans were intrigued when the 600 West Crockett building came up for sale in 2023. They enlisted the help of their extended family to form the Stedman Group to buy the property, promising to maintain the integrity of the historic building for many years to come.

Photo QAHS 2025