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Bars where Pete has had a Drink (5,608 bars; 1,754 bars in Seattle) - Click titles below for Lists:


Bars where Pete has had a drink

Friday, September 07, 2012

#1770 #S1023 - Red Papaya, Seattle - 4/29/2012


Update: Red Papaya closed in mid 2017.


The former Signature has been re-made into an ale house decor with 18 taps.  The food remains Vietnamese-centric and they have some very good appetizers at very good prices.  There seems to have been a fairly wholesale change in staff, and while I don't know enough about the old place or the new one to really compare them well, the bartender I had at the new version (Brent, I believe) was a much better one than I had at the old place. I can't think of a better indicator than that.


530 1st Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 - (206) 283-6614
Est. April 18, 2012 - Building constructed: 1950 - Closed 2017
Previous bars in this location: Nonna Maria, Moxie, The Signature
Web site: redpapayaales.com - facebook
Reviews: thestranger - washingtonbeerblog - seattlemet - yelp

#1769 - Anchor Inn, Anacortes, WA - 4/28/2012

An old fisherman once told me that if you go into a bar named "The Anchor" in any place from Alaska to the Florida Keys, you are looking for a fight.

I think those days are pretty much over. The Anchor in Everett held true for many years, but is now a slightly more gentrified paean to the working man. The Anchor Inn in Anacortes may or may not meet that definition -- we stopped by on a lazy afternoon when there was a tiny number of barely moving patrons.

That changed, however, after about twenty minutes, when the riders on the "Bus To Nowhere" -- about 45 of them -- suddenly descended on the place. The BTN is organized annually by two Marysville bars, and rather than nowhere exactly, it goes to a series of bars unknown to the participants and perhaps to the driver as well. This was the 7th bar stop of the BTN so far, and most of them were still drinking heartily although a few victims lay passed out on the bus. The two employees did an admiral job keeping up with the crowd.

The Anchor Inn itself is fairly indistinguishable inside from a hundred other neighborhood dives. It's still a bit smokey, and apparently the new owner has greatly enhanced the drink choices by adding both liquor and some beers on tap besides Bud and Bud Lite. We were informed the Anchor has been around since the 40s, and indeed, the 1948 Polk Guide lists it under this name and address at least as early as 1948.


1920 Commercial Ave, Anacortes, WA 98221 - (360) 293-9948
Est. 1940s
Web site: facebook 
yelp

Thursday, September 06, 2012

#1768 - The Brown Lantern, Anacortes, WA - 4/28/2012

The Brown Lantern Ale House is a fine old tavern that serves standard cocktails, a good selection, and better than average pub food in Anacortes. The Lantern has been around since 1933, just after prohibtion, but a place called "The Anchorage" is said to have been built and started in the building in the 1890s. It's now got a great comfortable feel that seems good for old and young, locals and visitors -- like an English pub without trying to hard to be.




412 Commercial Avenue Anacortes, WA 98221 - (360) 293-2544
Est. 1933 - Building constructed: 1890s

Web site: brownlantern.com - facebook
Reviews: anacortesnow - urbanspoon - tripadvisor - yelp

#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

scnewsyelp 

#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

Monday, September 03, 2012

#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  

Sunday, September 02, 2012

#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

#1760 - Mestizo Sedro-Woolley, WA - 4/21/2012

Raul and Norma Guitron's Mestizo Mexican Family Restaurant not only replaces a previous Mexican restaurant in this location, but also incorporates a historic Sedro-Woolley bar space. "This is most likely the oldest building in Skagit County that has always been dedicated to serving liquor." (SRJ) The current structure was built in 1910, but there has been a bar at this location since the early 1890s. This was eventually named The Klondike, and "became the central drinking place for the wild and woolly town around it and the loggers who came down from upriver camps on the weekends, with money burning in their pockets and ready to dance with the girls who lived at the hotel." (Ibid)

The space was named the Wilson Saloon when the current structure was built in 1910, part of the greater Wixson Hotel. During prohibition it was converted to a pool hall (at least ostensibly) and renamed the Wixson Club (listed at 615 Metcalf). In the 70s and 80s it was renamed the Red Dog, and in the 1990s became The Schooner, which went out of business in 2009. Mestizo is a large place offering fairly standard American Mexican food (think Azteca). They have preserved the grand, 100-year-old, hand-carved back bar, where they now serve massive magaritas. I am not certain of this, but the other portion of the building that now comprises Mestizo may have once been the old Whoopey Noodle Chinese noodle house, rumored to have housed prostitutes and bootleggers catering to the local miners, lumbermen, and steelworkers.

Sedro-Woolley is now a struggling small town, but maintains a good number of bars, supported by people who live in the area but usually commute to elsewhere to work, as well as to buy goods and groceries. Local jobs declined dramatically in the 1970s with the closure of the the sawmills, Skagit Steel, and "the Bughouse" -- Northern State Hospital for the Insane. The towns of Sedro and Woolley were merged and incorporated in 1898, and the area has a rich history of saloons dating back well into the 19th century. The wives of Sedro had persuaded founder Mortimer Cook to change the name from the original "Bug," inspired by the quantity of mosquitoes.  The company town of Woolley had formed around Phillip Woolley's sawmill. Nowadays, the town dresses itself up for outsiders, with various murals and dozens of chainsaw carvings from the big Loggerodeo annual 4th of July celebration. At least for fans of old bars, it remains a very attractive little town.
 

617 Metcalf Street, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 - (360) 855-1300
Est. 2009 - Building constructed: 1910
Previous bars in this location: The Klondike Saloon (previous building), The Wilson Saloon  (1910-?), The Wixson Club Tavern (1960s), Red Dog Tavern (1970s-1980s), The Schooner (1990s-2009)
yelp 
Skagit River Jounal

#1759 - The Overflow, Sedro-Woolley, WA - 4/21/2012

The Overflow is a classic redneck dive bar, generally pleasant for dive bar fans, if sometimes a bit rough around the edges. When I stepped out into the early afternoon sun shining on the back patio, the first thing I heard was a fellow named Dave explaining that "I'm not trying to be an asshole." One wonders what he might be like if he were actually trying, as he then addressed a fellow patron with an angry, "Bruce, you pimple dick fuck!" Bruce opined unhappily something to the effect that the assessment as a pimple dick fuck was in error, and after some posturing and separation of the two, a woman lectured Dave for breaking a promise he had apparently made earlier about not being rude. In defense of his behavior, Dave repeatedly explicated his hypothesis that Bruce is a pimple dick fag fuck, but the two were repaired to different portions of the bar with no manifest resolution of the matter.

The bar appears to have been around since at least the 1940s. It is listed as "Starky's Tavern" in the 1948 Polk Guide. Noel Bourasaw notes, "That Ferry Street location was called the Four Aces for 50 years until Gloria Jean Meiers changed the name in the mid-1990s. She closed the tavern for a couple of years and her sons, the Meiers brothers, reopened it as a cocktail lounge in 2004."
 
In any case, the Overflow is a fairly fun place to stop in for a beer or simple cocktail. Just watch out for Dave.


109 Ferry St, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 - (360) 855-9080 
Est. 2004         
Previous bars in this location: Starky's Tavern, Four Aces Tavern, Gloria Jean's

#1758 - Old Edison Inn, Edison, WA - 4/21/2012

I generally date the age of bars by their time in their current locations, but if you include times they have moved, the Old Edison Inn is one of the oldest in the state.  They have been in their current location only about 20 years, but their liquor license dates back to 1934, and they are said to have been established in 1900. I do not know if they were a bar that far back, but they are also said to be the only one of four Edison saloons to have survived prohibition.

Nowadays it is a bit more sedate and family-oriented than the Longhorn up the road, and has a menu featuring Pacific oysters from Samish Bay, burgers, sandwiches, and steaks.  They have a pretty good selection of beers, and live music on Saturdays and Sundays, which draws a fairly large crowd, some from some fairly long distances.  While we were there on a lazy afternoon, a lanky local slipped over to the upright piano and started banging out some great boogie woogie tunes, (The local turned out to be bluesman Daddy Treetops, whom I've enjoyed a few times in Seattle.) The two bars give Edison an unusually rocking scene for such a tiny town.



5829 Cains Ct, Edison, WA 98232 - (360) 766-6266
Est. 1934
Web site: theedisoninn.com - facebook  
Reviews: urbanspoon - yelp - video