[QUOTE=c.captain;70947]I also remember a place called “Joe Biffs” on Terminal Island right by SW Marine Shipyard and the Bumblebee catfood plant that stunk to high heaven. The place had a cement floor with a big drain right in the center of it…simply perfect!.[/QUOTE]
Had a couple of drydockings at SW Marine around '80. They had a “customer lounge” which was not uncommon at that time. Beer on tap and a good single malt, ect. All would meet for a “critique” after the whistle. Made for a good start for the evening. Back when going to sea was fun!
[QUOTE=seadog6608;70942]
Cleveland, Ohio has the Harbor Inn. good greasy burger and beer from all over the world. Detroit has a titty bar on Dix Street called Chix on Dix. I haven’t checked it out but have heard horror stories so I will have to get in there some night!
Damn, what a stroll down vague memory lane![/QUOTE]
Also on the Great Lakes: Anchor Bar in Superior, Wisconsin. Burgers $2.75, or a 1 lb. cheeseburger for $5.75.
Someone mentioned Astoria upthread - I was in a place in Astoria that had on the wall a big chart of the lower part of the river and the bar. Where the buoys were miniature blinking red and green light bulbs had been installed. I recall wondering if they were displaying the right characteristics but I think they were just blinking like x-mass trees lights.
[QUOTE=injunear;70993]Had a couple of drydockings at SW Marine around '80. They had a “customer lounge” which was not uncommon at that time. Beer on tap and a good single malt, ect. All would meet for a “critique” after the whistle. Made for a good start for the evening. Back when going to sea was fun![/QUOTE]
NigerDock in Lagos has a similar customer lounge. It’s all set up in the same building as the cafeteria. Very civilized. I wouldn’t have minded spending my entire time in Lagos in the yard.
[QUOTE=cmakin;70998]NigerDock in Lagos has a similar customer lounge. It’s all set up in the same building as the cafeteria. Very civilized. I wouldn’t have minded spending my entire time in Lagos in the yard.[/QUOTE]
From my time in Nigeria, I would have loved to have a “civilized lounge”. It was always fly in, beg for your equipment in customs, a$$holes and elbows to get the worn-out equipment back running and then off to some other “vacation spot”. After finishing my last job in Port Harcourt, We made our way to Banana Zaiere. I forget the name of the nice hotel with cabanas overlooking the mouth of the Congo River. We called it the Banana Hilton. Our crew all came down with food poisoning.
[QUOTE=cmakin;70971]There was a bar in the SUP hall on Harrison, Rusty’s Chain Locker or something like that. Those of us at the MEBA hall would wander there between the morning and afternoon job calls. Beer was a buck as were the hot dogs. I had many a lunch of an Oly and a dog. The joint was a time machine; straight out of the late 40s/early 50s. Behind the bar was a mural of the San Francisco waterfront, as if you were looking at it onboard a ship in the bay. Since it was in the basement, there were no windows. Instead, there were port holes above the booths that lined the walls, and there were paitings of ships at sea, lighted inside. It was a pretty good place to run into old shipmates, too.[/QUOTE]
I remember it just as the Chain Locker. I can also remember lot’s of hours up on the hiring hall deck between job calls smelling those burgers grilling below for the lunch rush.
Made me half ravenous and I found myself often deciding whether it was a burger for lunch or a Steam beer later up at Gino & Carlo. Shipping could be tough for a permit.
Of note, that mural behind the bar also had some glow paint in it too. I can picture the neon Hills Bros Coffee sign as I write this.
Thinking about it, many of the best drinking times were when in shipyards or at least lay periods. Long days without having to stand watch that night, yards seem to have a natural proximity of venues for yard workers and ship’s crews both to head to after the whistle blows. Sat up on the lift at Dakota Creek in Anacortes a bunch to times and enjoyed many the choice of places to hoist pints on Commercial like the RockFish, the Brown Lantern, the Rose & Crown and the Watertown. Now I live ten miles away and never go to any of them. It’s just not the same if you have to drive to a wateringhole…you need to be able to hike at a quick march to and stumble at a slow crawl back.
Dutch Harbor was great when tied up at the Unisea docks…the Inn was literally feet away and nobody gave a shit if you were from a boat…in fact they liked you even better if you were from a boat since you’d tip better. Lots of great evenings spent waiting on weather in there with it blowing 60 outside. I never was a Elbow Room regular. Maybe location but somehow the Unisea Inn fit me better.
Seward was one of the west drinking towns up north especially if tied up at the city dock. I mean you could bounce from one bar after another across Fourth Avenue like a billiard ball!
Had a great time in Anacortes during yard periods. Dakota Creek is a very good shipyard. The Rockfish was crawling distance. The last time I was there, I stayed at a motel up the hill. There was a take-out Itilian joint beside it. Superb!
I also realized I’m not 21 anymore and did not attempt to hang with the young guys. After 12 hrs in the shipyard, a bucket of shrimp lasagna and a bottle of Flor de Cana was enough!
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;70952]…and the Florida Club in Mombasa I hit both of those in the same trip. USNS Denebola 92-93[/QUOTE]
FraqRat - MUST have been the same cruise as I met AOR4 SAVANNAH in Mombasa in November 1992.
We ended up in the Hania, Crete at California Bar. currency from EVERYWHERE on every surface. They’d light the bar up after pouring ouzo the length of it.
ANY bar in The Gut of Toulon, France qualifies.
Lisbon was GREAT liberty.
NASTY shitholes in Santo Domingo - 1987
Barnacle Bill’s - St Thomas, USVI !!
And one MUST not forget The Joker or the Round-Up in North Charleston, SC
I remember the first time I went into the Unisea Inn. It was brand new and we were shocked to find such a fancy new establishment in Dutch. When the waitress came over to take our order I asked what sort of imported beer she had. Her reply was “Budweiser, its the only beer we have.” The only way to make a phone call in those days was at the pay phone outside on the wall of the Unisea. There would always be a line, and nobody would get of line to urinate, they just let go right there in the street, and it sank when it was warm enough. I waited in line many times to use the “piss phone.”
How about the Board of Trade in Nome? Shanghai Red’s next to the Bludworth Shipyard in Houston? Uncle Bill’s Bait Shack in Port O’Connor? Tipatinas (spelling) in New Orleans (the Neville Brothers played there all the time before they made it big)?
[QUOTE=c.captain;70939]Ah my friend you remember well. Ray’s Boathouse…over priced but fine ladies at happy hours. The Owl (now Conner Bryne) and Firehouse ROCKED! In fact, Ballard Avenue was always quite a party on weekends. The place in the basement of the Ballard Building you are thinking of was “the Backstreet” if memory serves me…some FABULOUS names there in a great venue. I forget the name of the bar at the old Shilshole Marina building (was it the Spinnaker?) that had all the great pics of fishing boats on the walls. Some fine times there but I think the port tore the building down. DAMNED!..I miss the days when I used to call 34th Ave NW home.
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You’re right it was the Backstreet. The Spinnaker sounds right too, and I don’t know, but “Freddy’s” something comes to mind for the breakfast place at Shilshole. I lived on NW 56th St. for awhile. What was the name of that little place almost under the bridge closest to the Marine Power Shipyard (next to Gas Works Park)? Then there was the Blue Moon, Big Time, and the Zoo. I can’t remember the names of other places in the U District, Pike Place, or Pioneer Square.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;71054]I remember the first time I went into the Unisea Inn. It was brand new and we were shocked to find such a fancy new establishment in Dutch. When the waitress came over to take our order I asked what sort of imported beer she had. Her reply was “Budweiser, its the only beer we have.” The only way to make a phone call in those days was at the pay phone outside on the wall of the Unisea. There would always be a line, and nobody would get of line to urinate, they just let go right there in the street, and it sank when it was warm enough. I waited in line many times to use the “piss phone.”[/QUOTE]
LOL! I remember that phone well shipmate and the little old AC store across the street where you could pick up a bottle to take back to the boat with you (of course, at DH prices but what the hell…we all had the $$$ to spend.
We used to sit at the Galaxy dock so the Unisea Inn looked right at the boat but then the weather was so shitty much of the time, you couldn’t even see the water from the place because the windows would be all steamed up.
Of course, hardly a woman in the place but as they say in the Aleutians, there’s a girl behind every tree!
[QUOTE=tugsailor;71059]You’re right it was the Backstreet. The Spinnaker sounds right too, and I don’t know, but “Freddy’s” something comes to mind for the breakfast place at Shilshole. I lived on NW 56th St. for awhile. What was the name of that little place almost under the bridge closest to the Marine Power Shipyard (next to Gas Works Park)? Then there was the Blue Moon, Big Time, and the Zoo. I can’t remember the names of other places in the U District, Pike Place, or Pioneer Square.[/QUOTE]
Man, you have me on the place in Fremont you speak of? There is the Fremont Dock on 34th and Pacific Inn on Stoneway. Fremont itself become quite uppified and the old Fremont Tavern became the Red Door Ale House. Up Fremont Ave is the mighty Buccaroo. The Blue Moon no longer has the sign in the window that said “Sorry, we’re open” but still is filled with many bottom feeders of the U District! There is Voila’s under the University Bridge…is that the place you’re thinking of? I think the place up on 34th above MPE (now Northlake Shipyard) is the Gasworks Cafe?
[QUOTE=c.captain;71061]Man, you have me on the place in Fremont you speak of? There is the Fremont Dock on 34th and Pacific Inn on Stoneway. Fremont itself become quite uppified and the old Fremont Tavern became the Red Door Ale House. Up Fremont Ave is the mighty Buccaroo. The Blue Moon no longer has the sign in the window that said “Sorry, we’re open” but still is filled with many bottom feeders of the U District! There is Voila’s under the University Bridge…is that the place you’re thinking of? I think the place up on 34th above MPE (now Northlake Shipyard) is the Gasworks Cafe?[/QUOTE]
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No. The place I remember, was the closet bar within walking distance of Marine Power. It was just a bit east of the bridge. It was small but had a long narrow feel to it. I don’t know Viola’s. There was an Ivar’s under the I-5 bridge (or at least pretty close to it) on the north shore. I also lived pretty close to the Red Robbin on the south side of the University Bridge for awhile. I really liked the Leschi Boathouse over near Bill Gate’s house. Don’t worry I wasn’t the kind of sailor that would ever go to Capitol Hill or Belltown.
I was always partial to Kaoishung. Amy’s Beer house and I think it was the Tiger Bar. There was a monkey in the tree outside and he would drink cans of beer.
As we used to say at KP … “No bar too far”. We actually made a list up of my whole class, all the establishments frequented.by someone on their sea year. We had the list printed on the back of tee shirts. The writing had to be pretty small, it was a long list.
I also second c.capt … Seattle is a great drinking town. I first discovered hefeweizen at the Ivars next to the ferry terminal and fell in love at Pioneer Square saloon.
If you mean just east of the Aurora Bridge then it you mean the Pacific Inn on Stoneway and 35th. Another wonderful “old school” seafarer’s dive. The building was probably built in the teens and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Inn isn’t that old as well.
The Inn would just be over the stern of the fine old MONONGAHELA in this awesome shot!
DAMN! Now I am about to segway into old Seattle maritime history but this thread is too important so I promise to restrain myself to the topic at hand!
