Ivar’s Fish Bar and Acres of Clams, as they looked in the early 1950s. Author’s collection.
Recent Departures and a Few Survivors
Restaurants continue to come and go at an alarming pace in Seattle. Recent closures include Cucina Cucina, a chain of Italian-themed restaurants founded in 1988 by Bill and John Schwartz. Their first location was at the south end of Lake Union. Eventually, there were six Cucina Cucinas in Seattle and two more elsewhere. The entire chain was purchased by Wolfgang Puck in 2002 and resold to a Canadian investment group. Some of the restaurants survive today under different names.
Victoria Station, a nationwide chain created in the 1970s, had over one hundred locations at its peak. Its Seattle outlet was at 1880 Fairview E, not far from Cucina Cucina. Like Andy’s Diner in South Seattle, Victoria Station was constructed from repurposed railway cars. The firm ran into financial problems in the late 1980s and began shuttering its restaurants; only one remains in operation today.
The late, lamented Poor Italian Café, at 2002 Second Avenue, opened circa 1982 and closed in 2002. It was transformed into the Buenos Aires Grill, which survives in a different location on First Avenue. The building at 2002 Second is now home to Shaker + Spear, a seafood eatery featuring local ingredients.
Out on Lake City Way, the Italian Spaghetti House opened around 1954 just as pizza was becoming popular in Seattle. It was owned and operated by Vince Giuffre. The pizza makers threw the dough authentically, much to the delight of customers. It closed in 2012, and the building is now occupied by a liquor store.
In Pioneer Square, the J&M closed in 2009, and its contents were auctioned off. In business since pioneer days, it claimed to be Seattle’s oldest bar. It somehow survived in modified form for a few more years, but recently the building was sold and may be turned into a hotel and offices.
Bruno’s Mexican and Italian restaurant was downtown at 1417 Third Avenue. It boasted “the best place downtown for lunch or dinner, serving good Mexican food and fresh pizza daily at reasonable prices.” Bruno’s closed in 2014 after forty years when owner Bruno Mazzarella retired.
Louie’s Cuisine of China, on Fifteenth Avenue NW a quarter mile north of the Ballard Bridge, was another of the many Chinese restaurants owned by the Louie family. It closed in 2014 after thirty-seven years in business. Mama’s Mexican Kitchen, a Belltown favorite since 1974, was a victim of urban renewal and closed in 2016, though plans to reopen—modified and more upscale, as Mama’s Cantina—are being floated. Whether the new place will retain the statue of Elvis at the front door hasn’t been announced.
The Shanty, a fixture on Elliott Avenue, was shuttered in December 2016 after over one hundred years of business. It was originally known as Violet’s Shanty Hamburger Tavern under owner Violet Haubrock and was famous for breakfast, especially chicken fried steak. It is sorely missed.
A FEW SURVIVORS
Not all is lost as far as vintage restaurants go in Seattle. A couple of true oldies still thrive in the Pioneer Square district. The Merchant’s Café, on Yesler across from the pergola, lays claim to being Seattle’s oldest restaurant. Opened as the Merchant’s Exchange and Saloon in 1892, it occupies an 1890 brick building that took the place of a wooden structure destroyed in the great fire. The Central, on First Avenue, dates from the same period. It was originally the Watson Brothers Restaurant (1892) and sank into skid road mediocrity until new owners rescued it and renamed it the Central in 1970.
Beth’s Cafe, 7311 Aurora, is legendary for its twelve-egg omelets. Beth’s was opened in 1954 by Harold and Beth Eisenstadt. Mike’s Chili Parlor, just off Fifteenth Avenue NW in Ballard, has been around since 1922. Chili dominates the menu: chili burgers, chili dogs and just plain chili—available in various sizes from a cup to the Big Ass Bowl (thirty-two ounces). Their fries are pretty good, too.
The 5 Points Café celebrated eighty-five years in business in 2014. It is the longest-run family-owned eatery in Seattle and is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week—one of a handful of Seattle restaurants (not including franchises) to still be round-the-clock operations. Two classic cafés—the Luna Park and the Chelan—are along (or just off) Spokane Street on the way to West Seattle. The Luna Park, named after the amusement park that used to be at Duwamish Head, is a relative newcomer—it opened in place of an old tavern in 1989, though from its authentic 1950s diner atmosphere one would think it much older. The Chelan Café is going on eighty years old, evolving over that time from a five-stool lunch counter to a one-hundred-seat restaurant.
Canlis maintains its sixty-five-plus-year reputation as one of—if not the—most iconic, exclusive and expensive places to dine in Seattle. Peter Canlis ushered in a new dimension of restaurant refinement in 1950 with outstanding service, excellent cuisine and an outstanding view. Canlis’s charcoal broiler—one of the first in the city—was placed in the dining room where it could easily be seen. The restaurant is now run by grandsons Mark and Brian. Dressing up for dinner is expected.
Vito’s continues to be a popular, well-reviewed Italian restaurant located at 927 Ninth Avenue, just east of the central business district. It is said that Vito Santaro, a one-time speakeasy operator, hocked his Cadillac to open a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in 1953; it quickly became a success due to a good location and popularity with “the sports crowd” and priests from nearby Seattle University. His brother Jimmy had been a bartender at Rosellini’s 610. Vito’s specialized in Tuscany cooking. In 2010, after falling into neglect, Vito’s was purchased, refurbished and reopened.
In the International District, Maneki celebrated its one-hundred-year anniversary in 2007, by far the oldest Japanese restaurant in the city. Bush Garden, 614 Maynard Avenue, is well known for its elaborate Oriental garden–style entrance, though its future as a restaurant seems to be in some doubt. A few blocks away on King Street, the venerable Tai Tung seems little changed since it opened in 1935, though the menu has been updated, as Seattleites have become used to spicier Chinese foods than Cantonese, the old standby. Tai Tung’s menu once warned customers that the house was not responsible for food spilled onto their clothing by the waiters.
A couple 1950s chains flourish in the Greater Seattle area. Burgermaster came along in 1952 with its first location on NE Forty-Fifth Street near University Village. Under Phil Jensen, the family-owned business has grown to six locations and is the only place with genuine carhops.
Dick’s was named for co-founder Dick Spady, who died in 2016. The original Dick’s, on Forty-Fifth in Wallingford, opened in 1954 with nineteen-cent hamburgers topping the menu. In the 1990s, it wasn’t unusual to see Bill Gates in line patiently waiting for a burger just like everyone else. Dick’s now has seven locations, the latest opening in 2011 in Edmonds after 112,000 people voted on where the new location should be.
Spud Fish and Chips started out as a takeaway stand along Alki Avenue in 1935. Brothers Jack and Frank Alger upgraded to a sit-down restaurant a few years later and added locations at Green Lake and several other spots in the Greater Seattle area.
Speaking of fish and chips, it is fitting to close with Ivar Haglund, one of Seattle’s most colorful personalities. Ivar opened an aquarium on the waterfront in 1938; noticing that the crowds willing to pay to see local sea life also seemed to be hungry, he soon added a seafood bar serving fish and chips and clam chowder. Well known for his corny jokes and humorous songs, Ivar was a born showman and a larger-than-life part of the city. For many years, he sponsored the Fourth of July fireworks show over Elliott Bay. When he owned the Smith Tower (for many years Seattle’s tallest building), he flew a salmon flag atop the highest point; the city council, irked that he was flaunting some obscure regulation, demanded that it be taken down, which of course he did not do, and the publicity surrounding the resulting “battle” only increased Ivar’s name recognition. The council finally gave in; the salmon flag stayed, and Ivar added to it another pennant bearing his slogan: “Keep Clam.”
Ivar’s Fish Bar and Acres of Clams, as they looked in the early 1950s. Author’s collection.
In 1946, Ivar’s Acres of Clams, a full-service restaurant, opened along the waterfront next to the old fish and chips stand. They are both still there today. Ivar’s on Broadway came and went in the 1960s. In 1956, Don’s Seafood on Fifth Avenue became Ivar’s Captain’s Table, which it remained until relocating to the edge of Elliott Bay in 1965. (It closed in 1991.) Ivar’s Salmon House opened on the north shore of Lake Union in 1969. Later years saw Ivar’s at Mukilteo Landing as well as two dozen Ivar’s Seafood Bars scattered around Greater Seattle. Ivar Haglund passed away in 1985, but his legacy lives on—not only in his namesake restaurants but also for his persona as Seattle’s unofficial goodwill ambassador.