#1767 - Fjord Room, Viking Restaurant, Stanwood, WA - 4/28/2012

I wish I knew the age of the old Viking Restaurant here, in Viking Village on Viking Way. It seems to have served as a classic diner for many years before going out of business several years ago, and being purchased by a couple construction workers and reopened in 2008 or 2009. The front bar seems to dominate now, although classic diner/bar food is available. The structure is huge, with multiple rooms that host things from live music to AA meetings. Many of the walls are covered with murals or vintage photos.

Here we met Jeff, who had been drinking since 10:30am (we arrived around 4pm). Jeff explained to us that he didn't bring his dog that day in case he wound up in jail again, as it saddens him to see his dog carted up while he's in jail.

820 Viking Way, Stanwood, WA 98292 - (360) 629-9285

scnews -  yelp 

#1766 - Camano Island Inn, Camano Island, WA - 4/28/2012

The Camano Island Inn is an upscale little bed and breakfast and spa on the west coast of Camano Island, looking out across Saratoga Passage to Whidbey Island and the Olympic mountains.  The inn's bistro, open to the public Tuesday-Sunday, is a formal dining spot with an outside deck overlooking the Puget Sound. The inn is housed in a building barged to the site in the early 1900s and used as a boarding  house for workers at the local shingle mill, near the site where the Kikialos tribe once lived on salmon and shellfish.  It eventually became a fine hotel, The Camano City Hotel, which lasted in the 1950s, and subsequently became a private residence, and then a nursing home,  before being purchased by the current owners in 1995.


From strictly a bar perspective, the emphasis of this list/blog, the Camano Island Inn Bistro is probably not worth seeking out strictly for the bar or pedestrian cocktails.  But for those in the area it does make a very pleasant, sedate setting for a good glass of wine.

1054 SW Camano Drive, Camano Island, WA 98282 - (360) 387-0783
Est. July 3, 1998 - Building constructed: 1904?
Previous bars in this location:  None known
Web site: camanoislandinn.com - facebook - blog  
Reviews: tripadvisor - urbanspoon 

#1765 - Stanwood Hotel and Saloon, Stanwood, WA - 4/28/2012

The Stanwood Hotel had been dated back to 1894, but a piece of 1891 newspaper found in the walls of a local cabin and discussing local visitors, shows that it dates back to at least 1890. The place is currently being remodeled by new owners Marilyn and Leonard Guthrie, and now has the only hotel rooms available in Stanwood. With the federal Beer and Wine Revenue act set to legalize beer on April 7, and federal prohibition on its way to ending Dec 5, Stanwood readied by voting itself wet in March of 1933. While the Bartz Hotel and Pastime Pool Hall were granted the first licenses, the Stanwood Hotel was fast behind.

The Stanwood Hotel is part of the older parts of Stanwood, including several buildings constructed shortly after the great 1888 fire.  The town is at the mouth of an old channel of the Stillaguamish River, near an old village of Stillaguamish tribe ("people of the river"). It was settled by Europeans in 1866, at first called "Centerville," and soon had a saloon and trading post for the loggers and farmers settling in the area. The town was subject to regular flooding before the various dikes were constructed to direct the flows across the old river delta.

Visitors to the hotel should beware, however, as the rooms and bar are haunted by various ghosts, including one female spirit that apparently insists on pushing her breasts up against visiting males at the bar. (It is apparently just a coincidence that these events tend to be experienced in the area where men sit consuming liquor.)  The ghostly manifestations have been verified by "experts," who have found incontrovertible scientific evidence in the form of things like "class 'A' EVPs along with EMF meter readings that indicate intelligent spirit energy that attempts to communicate by recording energy fluctuations in response to questions."

Even if you are not impressed by ghost hunters who take any anomaly in electronic equipment that they don't understand as proof of magical spirits, the hotel provides a charming old west setting in a newly reopened historic venue, and some lively characters at the bar.  The day we dropped in we met local customer Ed, who is apparently the only person to have been kicked out of the Stanwood liquor store.  "I used to crawl in there!" Ed despaired. He and his companion made for lively, if not entirely PC, conversation over lunch.

26926 102nd Ave NW, Stanwood, Washington 98292 - (360) 629-2888
Est. ? 1890-1934 - Building constructed: 1890- Reopened 2012
stanwoodhotel.net - facebook
Reviews: heraldnet - yelp - urbanspoon

#1764 - Longhorn Saloon, Arlington, WA - 4/28/2012

A classic little dive bar, with red, white, and blue longhorns extending from the sides of the building, old folks and bikers inside on the bar stools, and dirty fish tanks.

18802 Smokey Point Boulevard Arlington, WA 98223 - (360) 653-4760
Web site: facebook

#1763 - The Conway Muse, Conway, WA - 4/21/2012

The Conway Muse is a funky restaurant, lounge, and performance space in the tiny, unincorporated community of Conway, WA, near Skagit Bay in NW Washington. It is housed in a gambrel-roofed dairy barn built in 1915, now crammed with art and collectibles, music stages and a sort of guest room in a old paddlewheel river scow. The 2010 census counted 91 people living in Conway, but the Muse will pull in some pretty large crowds to watch a wide variety of musical acts, have a glass of wine, and a variety of somewhat upscale menu items. They feature live music 5 nights a week, including some of the most talented musicians in the state.  There are three separate, fairly sizable  performance areas inside and another stage outside.

The Muse is around the corner at the end of Main Street in Conway, and we would have had no idea of its existence, had we not been chatting at the Conway Pub with a biker couple who regularly come through. The unique character was clear from the exterior, but they are only open in the evenings, so we timed our little tour to have dinner there on the way back home. By the time we arrived back, the Mark Dufresne Band had the crowd up and dancing to his blues harmonica. The food, wine, and cocktails are fairly good, but it is the atmosphere and music that are the main attraction, and seemed like just one of what must be many a rollicking night in the old dairy barn.

18444 Main St, Conway, WA 98238 - (360) 445-3000           
Est. 2004 - Building constructed: 1915
Previous bars in this location: None
Web site: conwaymuse.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - chow  

#1762 - The Castle, Sedro-Woolley, WA - 4/21/2012

The Castle is yet another long-running bar location in Sedro-Woolley (see Mestizo, The Overflow, and Old Timers). Indeed it appears that the bar here, then Minkler Tavern, obtained the second liquor license issued in Sedro-Woolley after prohibition. (SRJ)  It appears to have been The Castle for many years.  It was "Moe's Castle" from 2000 to 2005, then run under variaous names including "Cues and Brews" and "Dusty's" until it was restored as the "Castle" at the start of 2011. It was the last tavern in S-W before beginning to serve spirits under the current owners.  (Although the 1948 Polk Guide lists The Castle at a slightly different address, 712 Metcalf, but listed at 708 in the 1960s throught the 80s.)

It gives few hints of its age today. It is a fairly large bar that obviously has some substantial live music events, and the smashed remains of mirrors and such in the bathrooms evince some boisterous times.

708 Metcalf Street Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 - (360) 855-2263
Est. 1934 - Building constructed: 1913
Previous bars in this location: Cue's and Brews, Dusty's
Skagit River Journal

#1761 - Old Timers, Sedro-Woolley, WA - 4/21/2012

The Old Timers lies discretely behind a cinder block facade with all the charm of a prisoner of war camp. The building was constructed only about a decade ago, but the Old Timers has been in this location for many years, starting out as "Cook & Adams." Cook & Adams are listed at this address at least as late as 1948. "The Old Timers started in 1937 as a partnership between Eddie Adams, the world's champion shingle-packer of 1899 (April 16, 1899, Skagit County Times) and Ford Cook, the first three sport letterman at Sedro-Woolley High School." (SRJ)

Thankfully, the bar is decidedly less severe on the inside, with a quirky hodgepodge of decor, from an odd small stage framed with rough timbers, vintage and recent photos, and doors covered with bottle tops. It has a fairly typical selection of beers and spirits, and we had very friendly service from bartender Rindi. There were not many people there when we went, but a female yelper notes helpfully, "If you like to try to date men who are missing teeth - this is the bar for you!" And a male reviewer adds, "Not too bad if your looking for toothless loose women or late night bar fights."

219 East State Street Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 - (360) 855-0802
Est. 1937
Previous bars in this location: Cook & Adams
yelp - insiderpages