#2143 - Joe's Log Cabin, Wenatchee, WA - 4/21/2013

Joe's Log Cabin, Wenatchee, WA

Joe's is basically one of those large, suburban style bars with pull tabs, pool tables, tv sports, jello shots, flavored vodkas, and pretty standard pub food (steaks, burgers, salads). It does have a bit more personality than the typical strip mall suburb version of these bars, with some nice woody interior and decor that goes beyond the standard beer company paraphernalia.

633 N Wenatchee Ave, Wenatchee, WA 98801 - (509) 662-5329
Web site: facebook
Reviews: yelp

#2142 - Wally's Tavern, Wenatchee, WA - 4/21/2013

Wally's Tavern, Wenatchee, WA

AKA "Wally's House of Booze," Wally's Tavern is a classic small town dive during the day, but it appears that it can get quite hopping with some interesting bands on weekend nights.

Wenatchee, WA is a town of great signs, and the Wally's sign is one that demands you check the place out.

I would love to know how old Wally's is and how long there's been a bar in this space. The very limited city guide information I have at does not list a Wally's in the 1936 or 1940 directories (or 1907), but these do list several bars of other names on Wenatchee Ave without specific addresses.

322 S Wenatchee Ave, Wenatchee, WA 98801 - (509) 663-1433
Web site: facebook
Reviews: trshorte - yelp - yelp - wenatcheeworld

#2141 - Ducks and Drakes, Leavenworth, WA - 4/20/2013

221 8th St, Leavenworth, WA 98826 - (509) 548-0270
Web site: ducksanddrakesrestaurant.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - tofuhunter - urbanspoon

#2140 - Tumwater Inn Restaurant and Lounge, Leavenworth, WA - 4/20/2013

There's a carved sign in the Tumwater proclaiming "Best Damn Bar in Town," and it appears that a plurality of locals appears to agree. It is pleasantly glowing at night, with live music a few nights a week, and karaoke on others.

219 9th St, Leavenworth, WA 98826 - (509) 548-4232
Est. March 23, 1987
Web site: facebook
Reviews: yelp

#2139 - South, Leavenworth, WA - 4/20/2013

Reasonably good margaritas and Mexican food selections in the Bavarian village.

913 Front St, Leavenworth, WA 98826 - (509) 888-4328
Est. June 2007
Web site: southleavenworth.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - urbanspoon

#2138 - Munchen Haus, Leavenworth, WA - 4/20/2013

Munchen Haus is part and parcel of the Bavarian village theme of Leavenworth, and if you and your party are in the right frame of mind for kitschy, touristy good time, you will have a good time here and on the town.

On the east side of the Cascade mountain range where Icicle Creek meets the Wenatchee River, Leavenworth is a town of about 2,000 people which attracts 2 million tourists a year. After Lamb-Davis Lumber Company shut down and the Great Northern Railway moved on in the 1920s, Leavenworth struggled for survival through the Great Depression on through the 1960s. When a 1962 plan from the University of Washington's Bureau of Community Development recommended attracting various industries but without an emphasis on tourism, Ted Price and Bob Rogers stepped in. Rogers and Price (a gay couple, not out at the time) had converted the nearby Squirrel Tree Inn to a pre-industrial Bavarian theme, and they recommended doing the same for the dying town of Leavenworth. Having difficulty convincing the town, they and Carolyn Schutte began buying property in the area and remodeling it. By July 1970 the town established the Leavenworth Design Review Board which required all construction and remodeling -- down to the Safeway, the McDonalds, the bank, and the gas station -- to be done in prescribed Bavarian styles. Nowadays the town always seems to be celebrating one oddball festival or another -- on one trip a few years ago we arrived to see a volleyball game in the snow between one team dressed as members of Fred Flintstone's Buffaloes Lodge and the other dressed as sandwiches.

By 2000 when Oliver and Pam Brulotte bought a small space where they could sell Kettlekorn in a covered area between shops, Leavenworth was brimming with shops selling nutcrackers and nesting dolls, Christmas ornaments and funny mugs, candies and cheeses. The shack was Bavarian themed of course, and they eventually expanded to selling microbrews and bratwursts (with 10 different mustard choices). Because they're outside, they're not always the best choice in the Winter months that are the most popular now with the tourists, but when it's warm enough it is a fine little stop.

709 Front St, Leavenworth, WA 98826 - (509) 548-1158
Est. 2001
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: munchenhaus.com - facebook
Reviews: ratebeer - yelp - Leavenworth - beeradvocate

#2137 - The Whistling Post, Skykomish, WA - 4/19/2013

I first made it to this historic bar in the old railroad stop town of Skykomish three weeks after some knucklehead burned it down in the early morning of April 10th, 2012, in an attempt to cover his tracks after he sawed open the ATM machine to get to the $3300 inside. I returned in April the next year, about three months after the owners opened the rebuilt version in January 2013. There were pleasant people inside happy to talk about it, and the bartender even called the owner Charlie Brown to come over and give me a little history. Charlie and his wife Theora "Teddy" Ryder are only the 4th set of owners in the bar's history, with Teddy purchasing the place in 1980.  A photo in the bar shows a very young Teddy in front of the bar with her schoolmates, with a thought balloon added to show her thinking she's going to buy the joint some day.

A bar first opened on this spot in 1897, constructed and run by Patrick McEvoy, who had been the engineer of the first train scheduled to go through Skykomish on June 18, 1893. At that time it was The Olympia, which itself burned down along with most of downtown Skykomish in 1904. Rebuilt in 1905, conflicting accounts I have found have it being renamed the Whistling Post either at the time it was rebuilt after the fire, or just after prohibition by Brian Thompson, who owned the bar from 1934 to 1968. (A whistling post is a marker along the side of the tracks which informs the engineer to blow the whistle before an upcoming crossing.) The location made it through the prohibition years as the Maple Leaf Confectionery, and Charlie says it was also a card room and dance hall.

The locals were very pleased to see the old place rebuilt, and many of them helped in the effort, including assembling the antique, oak back bar Teddy and Charlie purchased in Omaha, Nebraska. I had a pleasant chat with customer Bob, who moved up to these parts about five years ago, after retiring from the carpenters union, and took in the historic photos on the walls. I must admit that I would prefer the dark, woody, divey old place I see in some of the older photos to the bright, neatly-wallboarded new version, but I'm glad to see the place up and running and with the exterior built to match the old building.
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116 Railroad Ave E, Skykomish, WA 98288 - (360) 677-2333
Est. Jan 27, 2013 (current building, previous bar est. 1897) - Building constructed: 2013
Previous bars in this location: The Olympia
Articles: seattletimes - skyvalleychronicle - skykomishhistoricalsociety - king5 - arlingtondepot - yelp