The final days of a Pike Place Market newsie selling the 'daily blatts'

Mark Just and Carolyn Mawbey had never met before Dec. 19. But they've both been frequenting First & Pike News since the 1980s, sometimes to pick up a paper, from Seattle or overseas, and sometimes to grab an elusive, imported art magazine.

"Where else are you going to get it in this town? Barnes and Noble won't have it," Mawbey says.

Mawbey and Just were both there to say goodbye to the newsstand in its final few days, observing one of the final hours of a 78-year-old newspaper boy. As the rain started to lash tourists in Pike Place Market's entrance, Mawbey came by in her white beret and ensemble of coats and scarves to tell the paper-hawker on duty, "It's a shame this has to close down, you all deserve much more."

Just, a few feet away in a weather-beaten rain jacket and loose ponytail, chuckled softly at Mawbey as he looked at the array of niche periodicals. Soon they were both lamenting over the loss of information the market's corner would feel.

They even recognized at times, while they stood together in front of a glossy collage of magazine covers just moments after meeting, that they were part of the problem -- the problem of declining print publication importance, that ripples out to those who hawk papers on city street corners.

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"It's a conduit of the culture that's standing right here, but people just don't buy newspapers and periodicals like they used to," Just said. He had been a customer of the stand since about 1985, Mawbey had been going since about 1989. Just would swing in as he worked in the area for over 30 years, Mawbey made the trip even when she lived in Edmonds.

"I just don't come here as often as I used to, I guess that's part of the problem," Mawbey said. "But when you're meeting friends at the market, or you just have a couple of hours to kill, there's nothing better than grabbing a periodical from here and reading it in the market."

As they trade memories back and forth, a man who grew up in Seattle told the stand's owner, "this is Seattle, right here, you guys can't leave."

But, after 40 years, First & Pike News will leave after its last day of business on Dec. 31 -- a bit of news Just ironically learned about while scrolling through Twitter.

"All of this is what's happening, it's news and journalism on these shelves," Just says as he sweeps his arm, gesturing broadly to the stand. "It's just not the same looking at it through other channels."

The owner agrees, saying the product changes every day. "You own a fruit stand, you sell apples and oranges every day," Lee Lauckhart said. "But here, it's the news, it's history, it's always different."

On a rainy, weekday lunch hour, Lauckhart mans the stand as one of his employees takes a lunch break. He sells packs of bubblegum to those making a trip to the Gum Wall and points tourists in the direction of the first Starbucks -- a duty one of his longtime employees, George Cottrell loves the most.

"I love the regulars and all of my customers, but the tourists who are willing to listen to your guidance with an open mind are my favorite," Cottrell said. Two minutes later, an 11-year-old boy from Beijing named Anthony Yang and his mother buy a pack of gum and a magnet for $6.75. As Yang struggles to get change out of his wallet, Cottrell helps him count out each quarter before sending them on their way to chew a mint-flavored piece and stick it on the wall just 10 feet from the shop.

The writing was on the wall earlier in the millennium when Lauckhart bought out one of his partners, and when the P-I went online-only in 2009. But he's made enough money from the stand in recent years to break even. Now that costs of upkeep are outweighing revenue, he says as he trades a "Trump Impeached" emblazoned Seattle Times for a few bucks, it didn't make much sense to keep it open.

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Lauckhart said he and his family will be there on New Year's Eve wearing aprons and different memorabilia from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Times and other newspapers. He's gathered many over the years since starting the stand after several friends told him he never would.

Before taking his lunch at about 1:30 p.m., Cottrell, a 20-year employee of the stand, said he might wear an old denim shirt with the P-I logo on the breast. He said it was a gift from a former P-I staffer who would buy three Tacoma News Tribunes every weekday -- weather dependent, of course.

Lauckhart said he still remembers the opening in 1979, and the blurb it was given in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"BIG DEAL, BIG NEWS: Seby Namias, who's been selling the daily blatts for 37 years at 1st and Pike, has taken in a new partner. This turns out to be Lee Lauckhart, a Market craftsman, who brings the brilliance of "Read All About It" -- a newstand with all the local and West Coast papers plus a big selection of domestic and foreign mags. Opening festivities tonight -- complete with searchlight, "just like the auto dealers in Lynnwood," says Lauckhart..."

As for what comes next, "sitting in my chair, with a book," Lauckhart says with a cheeky grin. "I'm 78 years old, I've been on this corner doing it for long enough. But maybe I'll travel, I do like that."