Rosellini's 610 Served Elegant Italian to the Downtown Business Crowd

In 1950, Washington's legislature changed the liquor laws, and suddenly you could buy liquor by the drink in restaurants. Peter Canlis opened a spot on Aurora, John Franco opened on Lake Union, Jim Ward opened 13 Coins, and Victor Rosellini (with his brother-in-law John Pogetti) opened Rosellini's 610 at the corner of 6th and Pike.

Victor, born in Tacoma, had worked in several "Little Italy" restaurants in San Francisco's North Beach; when he returned to Seattle he had the elegance and bearing of a patrician. The 610 was a hit with the downtown business crowd, even more so was the Four-10 in the White Henry Stuart Building a few years later: waiters in tuxedos, starched tablecloths, heavy silver service pieces, steaks flamed table side. More than the locations, it was the Rosellini name (and welcoming personality) that counted, a tradition that Victor's son, Robert, never quite pulled off.