#2306 - City Hall Saloon, Cumberland, WA - 9/27/2013

You won't find the City Hall Saloon while driving to someplace else. It's about 25 east of Tacoma as the crow flies, but if you're not a crow, you'll have to take some backroads. There in the unincorporated old coal mining community of Cumberland, amidst the Cascade foothills, the old, barn-red, two-story building that the locals call "the community center" rises above a large beer garden with various mannequins, vintage signs, and biker paraphernalia.

City Hall Saloon, Cumberland, WA

On Taco Thursday you'll find 500+ bikers there. Inside at the bar you'll find mostly retired white people, yelling insults at one another. There's Ed, and Dirk, who has not one but two three-legged dogs, and Richard, who invested in Microsoft early and now takes care of the electric bill for the place. There's Old Bill -- and you have to be OLD to be Old Someone in this bar -- who was presented medals and flags by a younger vet, but wanted another flag because it only had 48 stars when he served. There's the bartender who makes purses to commemorate stories, like the time her boyfriend was upset that she wouldn't let him drive her jeep without a license and shot the bouquet of plastic flowers someone left on the porch.

City Hall Saloon, Cumberland, WA

One guy recalls when the place was "Carolyn's," and how Carolyn would print up mimeographed song lyrics and the whole bar would sing. I ask if the current owners are here and I'm told "Only when they're thirsty." At one point someone yells out "Safety Meeting!" and a bunch of the patrons trundle outside, taking a break from the beers pulled out of icy drums to partake in another form of unbending. There aren't that many people outside on this damp Friday evening, but in the warmer months there is live music 5 nights a week.



It is, in summary, a very fine bar, but it is clear that, as raucous as the small crowd inside may be, we still have not seen the joint in its prime time. We will definitely have to return on a Taco Thursday, and to listen to some bands on a warm Friday

City Hall Saloon, Cumberland, WA

35317 314th. Way S.E., Cumberland, WA 98022 - 360-886-0569
Est. April 2001 - Building constructed: 1893
Previous bars in this location: Big Mike's, Carolyn's Tavern, the Eager Beaver
Web site: facebook
Reviews: activerain - roadtrippers - owt - blackdiamondhistory - quickthrottle - yelp - afar - insiderpages

#2305 - Boots Tavern, Black Diamond, WA - 9/27/2013

In the 1880s, the Black Diamond Coal Mining Company left it's operation in Nortonville, CA for the richer coal of the Washington state town that still bears its name. The company brought with it a few thousand of the European immigrant workers, and operated in the area until just after World War I. In the early 30s a couple new mining companies revived mining in the area, and it was about this time that Richard "Boots" Pierotti, who once worked in the mines and later the company store, opened his tavern.

Boots Tavern, Black Diamond, WA

Hanging in the bar today -- and featured on the Black Diamond History blog -- there is a King County Assessor photograph of the Boots Tavern labeled 1939, featuring a Boots Tavern sign. JoAnne M. of the Black Diamond Historical Society informed me that portions of the buildings in this area were constructed in 1918, 1936 (at least the front portion of the current tavern), and 1939. In Black Diamond: Mining the Memories, Boots himself recalls hearing in 1935 that they were going to stop giving out beer parlor licenses and that he finally obtained one in 1936. The Tavern was the first new business after the depression, and Boots had to install his own waterline from the water main near the Coal Car, and had to buy a small generator to get any electricity.

Boots Tavern, Black Diamond, WA - 1939
King County photo via Black Diamond History blog

Today the tavern is a nifty local dive and community gathering place -- the kind of bar that has potluck dinners during Seahawks games, Buckup games on Saturdays, barbecues, tributes to deceased patrons, and various other special events where customers are as involved as the bar staff. We chatted with regulars Debbie and Bob, who made sure we checked out the inside doors of the bathrooms, and informed us of another great bar to check out next, City Hall in Cumberland. It was a very enjoyable visit and we look forward to coming back from time to time.

Inside of door to women's room at the
Boots Tavern, in Black Diamond, WA

31117 3rd Ave Black Diamond, WA 98010 - (360) 886-2659
Est. 1936 or earlier - Building constructed: 1936 (possibly earlier for some portion)
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: facebook
Reviews: blackdiamondhistory - bikerfriendlybar - yelp

#2304 - Pla-Mor Bar and Grill, Maple Valley, WA - 9/27/2013

Pla Mor Tavern / Bar and Grill, Maple Valley, WA

The Pla Mor is a long-time local dive in Maple Valley, a city of about 25,000 some ten miles east of SeaTac airport. It sits along a section of the Maple Valley Highway that splits residential areas from shopping centers, and manages to somehow maintain the feeling of a rural setting. The bar has been around a long time, but I do not know how long: The building was constructed right after prohibition (1933) and it's been the Pla Mor since at least the early 60s. "Fred DePasquale bought the Pla Mor for $24,000 in 1966 and sold two kinds of beer and wine, mostly to blue-collar workers, such as coal miners from Black Diamond, loggers and construction workers" (Seattle Times), and it's been in the DePasquale family ever since.

It is known for its fish tanks and two 18-pound piranhas, also featured in a funky mural along the front. It features fairly typical bar fare, though it touts it's affordable steaks. A long time local I met at another bar suggested it was best to go in the early afternoon, to see "drunk, middle-aged people fighting."

People who like dive bars will like it here. It has a fair amount of character and characters, and reminders of quite a lot of Washington state bar history in the form of bar tokens under the plexiglass bar counter.

Painted above the urinal in men's room of Pla Mor Bar and Grill

21607 SE 272nd St Maple Valley, WA 98038 - (425) 432-6858
Est. ? - Building constructed: 1933
Reviews: seattletimes - yelp

#2303 - Nikki's Restaurant and Lounge, Covington, WA - 9/27/2013

Covington Washington is a small city of about 18,000 people, about 20 miles southeast of Seattle, with a retail core hugging state highway 516. It was incorporated only in 1997, largely as a defense against either "being annexed by Kent or being developed into oblivion by King County." (historylink)  When the first Europeans arrived in the area in the 1850s, it was home to the 'Stkamish, Smulkamis, and Skopamish ... later, all three tribes would be lumped together under the name of other groups along the White and Green rivers, as "Muckleshoot."' (ibid) The Muckelshoot and Klickitat fought removal from their homes, killing nine settlers a few miles from present day Covington, but you know how that story went in the long run.

The area was first known to the white people as Jenkins Prairie, and later took the name of the Northern Pacific Railroad's surveyor, Richard Covington, who laid out a route known as the Palmer Cutoff, or in the code of the railroad's telegrams, "Rodent Frugality." Once almost entirely a bedroom community, the current conquerors are the strip malls and corporate chains. Since about 2000 the highway has been increasingly surrounded by the tribes of the Walmarts, Costcos, Home Depots, Targets and Applebees.

Nikki's is an exception to that. There aren't many places to have a drink in Covington. There are no taverns left, and although Nikki's is relatively new and more known for its breakfasts, it does have a sizable lounge that hosts live bands. Previously there was a Godfather's Pizza here for many years before the location eventually hosted the "272 Bar and Grill." But the 272 was too pricey for Covington, I was informed -- an observation I found echoed in just about every Yelp entry from the time -- and it became Nikki's in Dec. 2011. And while the space itself still doesn't have much character, the few people there on this lazy Friday afternoon did.

Bartender Jamie was explaining how her husband couldn't figure out how he had a hangover after having only 6 beers, though he also had 2 Irish Coffees and couldn't remember the number of jello shots. Customer Joe isn't content to just have jello shots at Nikki's, so he makes himself a bowl at home ("a shot is a table spoon"). Joe had recently come from a doctor visit ("No, my doctor's in old Renton -- you have to go armed"). Apparently Joe's doctor keeps telling him he needs to quit drinking but Joe told him "I run into more old drunks than old doctors." I was disappointed to find no old taverns in Covington, but more pleased to find at least a few old tavern kind of people.

27120 174th Pl SE Covington, WA 98042 - (253) 236-5623
Est. Dec 12, 2011 - Building constructed: 1985
Previous bars in this location: 272 Bar and Grill
Web site: facebook
Reviews: yelp - urbanspoon - tripadvisor

#2302 #S1176 - Foundation, Seattle - 9/26/2013

Update: Foundation Nightclub was closed Aug 9, 2018 after Seattle police confirmed in-house, management-approved drug dealers, seized "829 grams of cocaine, over 1,000 grams of MDMA, 400 ecstasy pills, 800 Xanax pills, 190 grams of ketamine, 13 grams of DMT, 176 grams of GHB, 1200 Molly capsules, and additional prescription drugs, as well as two handguns and more than $60,000 in cash,” and had an underground officer coached by one of the dealers on how to dose women with date-rape drugs.

Oontz oontz oontz oontz ...

Boy George, Foundation Nightclub, Seattle

2218 Western Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121 - (206) 535-7285
Est. Oct 31, 2012 - Closed Aug 9, 2019 - Building constructed: 1913
Previous bars in this location: Baccano Ristorante & Vinoteca, Club Medusa, Venom
Web site: foundation-nightclub.com - facebook
Reviews: seattleite - yelp

#2301 #S1175 - Monkey Bridge, Seattle - 9/25/2013

There's only a tiny little bar here, which you are unlikely to seek out for just a drink. But it is pleasant place to have a sip while waiting for some pretty good Vietnamese food from the Nguyen family what used to run Viet Chi downtown.

1723 NW Market St Seattle, WA 98107 - (206) 297-6048
Est. 2008 - Building constructed: 1955
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: themonkeybridge.com
Reviews: seattleweekly - seattletimes - yelp - seattlemag - seattlepi - thestranger

#2300 #S1174 - Barnacle, Seattle - 9/25/2013

Barnacle Bar, Seattle

Sometimes it seems like Renee Erickson and I were just not mean to get along. Everybody else in Seattle seems to love, love, love Renee Erickson, but our tastes just seem doomed to an ill-fated relationship. So I was never blown away, as everyone else in this town seems to have been, by The Whale Wins, and I certainly do not wake up craving the octopus terrine at Barnacle that everybody else seems to love. It seems senseless to me that a civilization that has discovered fire and has access to bacon and blackberries should ever settle for scavenging the low tide for sustenance and serving it tartare. And that's not to mention considering it a great treat to receive a plate of razor slim octopus floating in a plate of olive oil. I don't even like oysters.

I could probably make a logically consistent argument for me tastes if I didn't love lobster and Dungeness crab so much, but that's beside the point, so don't tell Renee Erickson about that. And her brightly lit Barnacle Bar, the Italian apertivo squeezed into a hallway-shaped space adjacent Staple and Fancy, which looks like a kitchen set from a Martha Stewart program, is close to the opposite of my preferred bar decor. And finally, as if to rub sea salt in the wound, Erickson confessed to The Stranger that she loves Lays potato chips, sardines, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac -- and she hates chili. How could I ever, ever be expected to get along with such a woman?

Barnacle Bar, Seattle

And yet she keeps seducing me back. The cocktails bartender Ria provided me at Barnacle Bar were lovely, and while much of Renee's menu reflects our dysfunctional relationship, there are always a few highly enticing treasures lying between the slimy creatures from the tidal pools, even if it means resorting to cheese tactics. . So yes, Renee, even as I escape to long chili binges and extended Lays potato chip fasts, God help me, you know I'll be back.

Octopus terrine, Barnacle Bar, Seattle

4743 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, Washington 98107 - (206) 706-3379
Est. Sep 23, 2013 - Building constructed: 1900 or earlier
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: thebarnaclebar.com - facebook
Reviews: thestranger - seattletimes - seattlemag - seattlemet - seattlemet - yelp