#2600 - The Slammer Tavern, Portland, OR - 8/24/2014

Slammer Tavern, Portland, OR

Barfly called it "one of Portland's oldest bars," even though I've read it was established only in 1979? It's a nifty little place though -- on the edge of an old industrial district, the outside looks like a ghetto autoshop and inside like a beachfront hippy bar. The low ceilings, small space, and year-round Christmas lights only add to the laid-back neighborhood dive goodness.

Bartender Ren, the Slammer Tavern, Portland, OR

500 SE 8th Ave, Portland, OR 97214 - (503) 232-6504
Est. 1979
Web site: facebook
Reviews: eater - wweek - punchdrink - beerchaser - barfly - thrillist - yelp 

#2599 - Rum Club, Portland, OR - 8/24/2014

MMMMmmmm, Rum Club.

"What's the most popular drink here?"
"The Rum Club Daquiri"
"What's the most popular drink among people with very good taste?"
"Everyone who comes here has very good taste."

I had a Rum Club Daquiri. It was good. Then I had a Mai Tai. It was good. And there's a bear with a fez.

720 SE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97214 - (503) 265-8807
Est. 2011
Web site: rumclubpdx.com
Articles ranked: seriouseats - cocktailia - oregonlive - pdxmonthly - wweek - eater - yelp - tripadvisor - thrillist - portlandmercury - thedrinknation - 

#2598 - Luchador, Portland, OR - 8/23/2014

Luchador, Portland, OR

It's a bar in a theme of masked Mexican professional wrestlers because Portland.

Luchador, Portland, OR

4835 N Albina Ave, Portland, OR 97217 - (503) 517-9347
Est. 2014 - Closed 2014
Web site: luchadorpdx.com - facebook
Articles ranked: eater - wweek - yelp - tripadvisor - eater - oregonlive

#2597 - La Center Tavern, La Center WA - 8/23/2014

La Center Tavern, La Center, WA

Update: The La Center Tavern was renamed "4th Street Bar and Grill" in early 2015.

---

I'm sure that the current La Center Tavern has nicer drinks than a few years ago and has nicer food than a few years ago, and it may be more welcomed by a majority of the locals. But for fans of old historical places with lots of character, this is a travesty.

A real estate entry claims that this space has hosted a bar since 1914 (I've found La Center bars in city directories dating back to the 1880s, but they do not contain addresses). But the character promised by a few remaining shots of the old west style former exterior evaporates as you walk in the door. The nice back bar is still there -- it is said to have survived a big fire that destroyed most of the town, but most the decor is like a retirement home cafeteria, with ceramic chickens and all new furniture designed to look old timey. The liquors are confined to a dainty selection of spirits that lean toward flavored vodkas and fireball shots. The jolt from the knitting club theme comes only when you open the bathroom and suddenly seem to be doing your business in the back of semi truck. I can't imagine they will leave that very long -- they're probably shopping for the pink flowered wallpaper now.

What the what?!?!
La Center Tavern, La Center, WA

And yet outside there was a local spitting chaw into a cup and telling me the history of the back bar. He says a biker friend of his told him it was usually packed before the remodel. I don't know whether to believe any of these stories, and, God bless, I wish the current owners luck. But it's not my personal cup of tea, despite some old photos that make me think it used to be.

The old La Center Tavern

107 E 4th St, La Center, WA 98629 - (360) 263-9920                  
Est. ? - Building constructed: 1930/2015
Reviews: yelp - tripadvisor  

#2596 - Ariel Tavern, Ariel, WA - 8/23/2014

Ariel General Store and Tavern, Ariel, WA

The Ariel Tavern is well worth going out of your way for, but at the time I am posting this it is undergoing some very substantial renovation and the re-opening date is uncertain. If anyone unfamiliar with the owner and locals is considering going, I would check the owner's Facebook page and/or givn him a call first.

On this visit in August of 2014, we spoke with Bryan Woodruff, whose mother Dona Elliot was the owner, but who, Bryan informed us, was suffering from stage four kidney disease. I later learned that Dona passed away a little over a year later. Bryan inherited the store and pub, but not the business license, and the state apparently declined to grandfather it in and the store requires very substantial upgrades to state and county code before it can be re-licensed. Bryan is currently working on these and many other improvements. Normally I would feel a mild panic over a remodel of an old place like this whose charm arises largely from its evident age, its paucity of modernity, and the ramshackle accumulation curious artifacts over many years. However, a glance at the Facebook page indicates that Bryan is putting impressive work into restoring items to their previous place as he cleans and paints -- even cleaning off old bumper stickers with vinegar to replace them on newly painted beams.

Ariel Tavern, Ariel, WA

The work is in very large part a tribute to his mother, who purchased the place in 1990, and built on the decor and traditions of the place. The salient tradition is the annual D.B. Cooper celebration, which then owner Jermain Tricolor started in 1974. Cooper, you will recall, was the name used by an unknown man who parachuted from a hijacked Northwest Orient flight on November 24, 1971 with $200,000 in cash (over $1m in current dollars) tied around his waste, never to be found again. Authorities believe he did not survive to use any of the cash, but theories vary widely and there is no shortage of authors and amateur investigators among the hundreds who have descended each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving upon this bar in tiny Ariel, on the southwest bank of Lake Merwin in southwest Washington state. The annual festivities are temporarily suspended for the remodeling, but Woodruff plans to resume as soon as the old bar is up to code and presentable.

Brian Woodruff, current owner, Ariel Tavern

The tradition started after the bar was used by many of the FBI agents and soldiers from Fort Lewis who participated in an extensive ground serach for Cooper in March 1972. The store appears to have been constructed here in 1929, and is unclear how soon it became a (legal) bar. The Mountain News stated that "Initially, the Ariel Store was built in 1929 to serve as a post office, grocery store, and pub for the workers building the nearby Merwin Dam across the Lewis River." This is probably largely true, with the exception of the "pub" part, as the dam was completed in 1931 -- i.e. before the end of prohibition. A local woman named Margaret Colf Hepola, who provided Dona Elliot a brief history of the area and appears to have known whereof she spoke, described it this way:

"The Ariel Post Office was moved five miles west of its old site onto the Northwestern Electric construction site at the west end of the project in 1927 to help get the mail to the workers. Local residents also had to pass through an inspection gate to get their mail. Following an encounter with a U.S. Postal Inspector, the Ariel Post Office was removed from the construction site to what had become the new location of the Runyan Store, also located at the west end of Merwin Dam and a short ways from the Northwestern Electric site.... I have childhood memories of traveling by horse and wagon to the old Ariel Store and buying penny candy. As a teen I joined other youth swimming in a nearby slough. Old Ariel was the meeting place for neighbors and friends to swim and picnic together. The old Ariel location is gone forever and now lives only in my memories." 

Ariel Tavern, Ariel, WA

Much to my regret I have never made it here for the big celebration of America's only unsolved skyjacking case. Since I would very much like to do this some day -- and because I just generally love this old bar -- I am delighted to see that someone who cares about the bar, its past, and its artifacts is working to reopen it. It will be high on my list for future roadtrips when I hear it is open again.

Ariel Tavern, Ariel, WA

   For more great old bars in Washington state see my map.

     

288 Merwin Village Rd, Ariel, WA 98603 - (360) 225-7126
Bar Est. ? - Building constructed: 1929
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: facebook
Reviews: themountainnewswa - themountainnewswa  

#2595 - The Pastime Tavern, Castle Rock, WA - 8/23/2014

Some regulars at The Pastime, Castle Rock, WA

Bars called the "Pastime" have a special place in my heart. It's the most common name for bars in the history of the northwest (at least count I'd identified 59 Pastimes in Washington state alone), but they are not so common now. Many that remain have a good chunk of history behind them, and that seems to be the case with the Pastime(s) in Castle Rock, Washington, though the history is a little confusing.

The Pastime sign states that it was established in 1928, and I have no reason to doubt that. But that it was clearly not a licensed bar at the time, and it was listed a very different addresses in past decades. My primary sources are quite spotty, but from the 40s through the 80s The Pastime bar address alternates between 511 and 515 "Front" (it is now at 127 Front Ave NW). However, I suspect that this was due to street re-numbering rather than a physical move. For one thing, the photos in the bar itself from the 40s appear to have the same back bar, the same knotty pine, and potentially the same exterior front, although later modified. Also, the Oasis down the street claims to have been there since 1933, and it too changes from a high number to a low one, as "Front" addresses appear to have been re-numbered when the street was split into "NW" and "SW" directional names.

Someone informed me that the Pastime may have become a bar in 1942 (and indeed, there's a photo of it as plainly a bar with that date written on it), but I think it may have been significantly earlier. I've found a Pastime listed without an address under beer parlors in Castle Rock in 1940 (and at the 511 address in 1946).

In any case, the bar today has a great historical feel and is filled with boisterous and friendly regulars. "Are you a tourist?" one asks me, perhaps rhetorically, and we soon launch into a discussion of old bars in the area. The tips I get -- the Ariel Tavern "Oh that's a good one" and the La Center Tavern "Not so good" -- are spot on with my own assessments. The old (Brunswick?) back bar from the photos is still there, along with a nice curving one in front. There are taxidermy and antler mounts everywhere (which leads to various references like the "horny room" and the "horniest bar in Castle Rock"). There are poker games, and pulltabs, old school diner food and old school dive bar cocktails. Mostly everyone there seemed to be having a good time -- and that wasn't disrupted even by a tourist.

For more great old bars in Washington state see my map.

127 Front Ave NW, Castle Rock, WA 98611 - (360) 274-6822
Est. 1942? (as bar)
Previous bars in this location: None known
Web site: facebook - youtube - hub.biz
Reviews: tdn - yelp  

#2594 - Walt's Place, McKenna, WA - 8/23/2014

Walt's Place, McKenna, WA

The building that hold's Walt's Place is said to be one of the oldest buildings in McKenna, Washington -- though one may wonder just how many buildings there are in this tiny community on the banks of the Nisqually river, east of Yelm and south of Tacoma. In any case, it has serious history, constructed "in 1895 by the Salsich Lumber Company as the supply/convenience store for the workers living in the boarding house across the street from Walt’s" (now Nisqually Valley Care Center). (yelmonline)

The bar appears to have moved in in 1961 and remained in Walt Coffel's family for 52 years until Walt's son Frank "Spark" Coffel sold it to a local couple in 2013. It's largely positioned as a sports bar, and it's serious about that, with a wooden carving of Ken Griffey Jr. out front and the rainsgutters looping over wooden Seahawks logos. But the vibe is of a neighborhood dive, with cheap cocktails, pulltabs, taxidermy, a lot of character, a lot of characters, and what looks like the original wooden floor. If you like old bars or are just want to catch a game while in the greater Yelm area, it's a nifty little stop.

Walt's Place, McKenna, WA

Nikki, our friendly bartender at Walt's Place, McKenna, WA

35711 Washington 507, Roy, WA 98580 - (360) 458-3221                   
Est. 1961 - Building constructed: 1895
Previous bars in this location: None known
Reviews:  yelmonline - yelp 

#2593 #S1275 - Toronado, Seattle - 8/19/2014

Toronado, Seattle, WA

Update: Toronado closed March 17, 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic.

---

Matt Bonney has been a big part of the Seattle beer scene for many years, helping to build and manage Brouwer's, Bottleworks, and the Burgundian. He now has his own place, using his connections with San Francisco's Lower Haight beer mecca Toronado to open a Seattle location, and his connections with craft brewers around the country to bring in some much sought after brews. He's also added a serious food menu -- no typical tavern fried food, but rather sandwiches, soups and charcuterie built from your selections from 45 menu choices. Unlike the original -- as well as the version in San Diego -- Bonney also offers liquor, with a good selection of bourbon, scotch and tequila. He and his brother were friendly hosts, and put a bit of their own touch on the decor, although it still seems a bit spare, and I'd expect it to accrue character over future years.

1205 NE 65th St, Seattle, WA 98115 - (206) 525-0654
Est. Aug 4, 2014 - Closed Mar 17, 2020 - Building constructed: 1947
Previous bars in this location: Mutiny Hall
Web site: toronadoseattle.com - facebook
Articles ranked: seattletimes - washingtonbeerblog - newschoolbeer - seattlebeernews - eater - seattlemet - ratebeer - beeradvocate - yelp - thestranger