SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Actor Jeffrey Tambor’s rent on Queen Anne was $125
May 27, 2017, 8:29 AM
Emmy award-winning actor Jeffrey Tambor remembers his two years living in Seattle during the mid-1970s as one of the best times in his life. In fact, it’s such a fond memory, that he may not recognize the city it has become.
RELATED: Safest and most dangerous places to live in Washington
“I lived on Queen [Anne]. My rent was I think $125 a month,” Tambor told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “It was during the Boeing troubles and I did two years at Seattle [Repertory Theater] … It must be up to almost $200 now.”
Yeah, something like that.
A report from Zumper last July found that Queen Anne’s median rent ranges from $1,400 a month (North Queen Anne) to $1,700 (West Queen Anne). Zumper’s data showed that the highest median price for a one-bedroom unit is $2,390 in downtown. Overall, the median one-bedroom unit in the city costs $1,770; two bedrooms cost $2,400.
Buying, of course, is not much better. According to Zillow home value index data through April of 2017, the median home value in Seattle is $653,400. East Queen Anne is the neighborhood with the highest median home value, at $821,600.
The 72-year-old Tambor has starred in critically acclaimed TV shows including “Arrested Development” and “Transparent,” as well as Dori’s favorite, as Hank Kingsley on “The Larry Sanders Show.” Tambor returned to Seattle on Tuesday to discuss his book, “Are You Anybody?: A Memoir”. It had obviously been a while since the San Francisco native returned to Seattle, as he asked Dori on Monday: “Is Pike Street Market still there?”
“I used to go there and get all of my baking supplies and I used to bake bread while I lived on Queen Anne hill and I would walk every day to the Seattle Repertory Theater,” Tambor said. “And then one show I was understudying – that means you just stand by — and I would then sneak out and sneak into the Seattle SuperSonics arena … If I were in better shape, I could have played with them. I knew all their moves, all their plays.”
One thing that hasn’t changed: Seattleites’ reaction to inclement weather.
“I remember one day it snowed in Seattle; there was a little snow,” he said. “And I’ve never seen — that city shut down. Paralyzed. … The city just said, ‘We quit. Goodbye.’”
