I have heard that the tradition is to somewhere carve or scrawl the letters KPS in any holes a KP cadet might stumble into kinda like old GI’s would write “Kilroy was here” everywhere they could. I bear witness to seeing more than a couple of that mark left behind in bars along the road.
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.
Indeed young man, but it would be much better is all the girls didn’t have such big asses in the NW! I don’t know if it is the climate or what but Seattle girls have always had some of the biggest butts I have ever encountered!
[QUOTE=rshrew;71092]I heard a rumor that the Fremont Dock just closed its doors. A sad day, there is still the ebb tide room down by pier 5 in the chelan cafe.[/QUOTE]
Probably going to build high $$$ condos on the land. Prime views but another bit of old bluecollar workingman Seattle passes away! Like when Doc Freeman’s left that little hole they had right there and lost the business in the process. I am sure they would still be in business if they hadn’t sold out during the dot com madness! Speaking of living NW maritime history, how’s Mark Freeman these days? Gotta be getting up there in the years. There certainly has to be a few thousands of pints hoisted jointly between the Shrewsbury’s and the Freeman’s over the decades!
Don’t forget the Shanty Cafe on Elliot
…God bless them for staying around and leaving one old Seattle institution alive!
Arrgghhhh…just remembered another great Ballard dive. The BAIT HOUSE!
The old Shilshole loop. The Canal (gone), Blazes (gone) Lockspot, Hiram’s, (gone) Golden Tides (gone), Rays, Stuarts (now Anthony’s) Spinnakers ( now the Elks club I think) Windjammer and Charlie’s ( both gone). And if you hadn’t got a DUI by then hit Blazes again on the way back and head for Ballard Ave!
Marks still going strong I pass him in his boat once in awhile. He has a nice little blog on Freemont tugboats webpage actually it’s always a good read with lots of old and new photos. I think they shut the bait shop down too!
[QUOTE=rshrew;71098]Marks still going strong I pass him in his boat once in awhile. He has a nice little blog on Fremont tugboats webpage actually it’s always a good read with lots of old and new photos.[/QUOTE]
go there all the time…a Seattle and PNW towing maritime legend Mark is and damned glad to know that he’s still pullin hard out there!
[QUOTE=c.captain;71038]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!
It’s even more fun when there was 6 feet of snow on top of everything![/QUOTE]
There weren’t any joints outside of the yard or the hotel compound in Lagos that I felt the need to visit. I was only there for a couple of days to survey some damage, anyway.
[QUOTE=capnfab;71035]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.[/QUOTE]
I was on a budget, just out of school, so Steam beer would have to wait. After I made my first 90 day hitch my drinking budget improved. . .
Yeah, that mural either had glow paint or it was lit with a black light. It always looked like dusk. I am still searching for some pictures or other info about it, but haven’t found anything.
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]
Shanghai Red’s is long gone. Closed, razed and cleared. I was last there when I attended a christening party for two new drydocks at the yard. It is no longer Blundworth-Bond, but now a Bollinger yard. I think that Bill’s is still there, but I don’t spent much spare time in Port O’Connor if I don’t have to. I think that the Neville Brothers still play at Tipitinas.
[QUOTE=KPEngineer;71080]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.[/QUOTE]
As I recall during my cadet years, there was an unoffical shore pilot book written up for various establishments in various ports. Often copies were found in the desks in the cadet’s cabin. Finding one of these was almost as good as finding a copy of a Sea Year Project. . . . .
This thread has also sparked my memory about Rio Haina and the joints on the hill across from the sugar refinery. I recall one night when the power went out for a couple of hours, all of the establishments just moved the tables and chairs out on the road and we just made a block party out of it. That ride back to the dock on the back of a motorcycle was a real thrill. I don’t know that I would ever do it sober. Then, again, that is how we used to get around in Tanjung Priok, too.
[QUOTE=c.captain;71084]I have heard that the tradition is to somewhere carve or scrawl the letters KPS in any holes a KP cadet might stumble into kinda like old GI’s would write “Kilroy was here” everywhere they could. I bear witness to seeing more than a couple of that mark left behind in bars along the road.
Indeed young man, but it would be much better is all the girls didn’t have such big asses in the NW! I don’t know if it is the climate or what but Seattle girls have always had some of the biggest butts I have ever encountered![/QUOTE]
KPS. Yeah. “Kings Point Sucks”. Usually followed by the year. I am responsible for a few of those. . . Often I wasn’t the first. I would just then add the year. . . . .I have found that graffiti in places pretty far away from the waterfront at times. There are many of us from the “Kappa Pi Sigma” fraternity.
As far as big asses, I don’t know that those in the PNW can beat those that I used to see in Rotterdam. When I sailed with SeaLand, they used to have their terminal in Pernis, a suburb of Rotterdam. There was a little joint that was walking distance from the dock. Cafe de Herberg, or something like that. The girls were cute, but Geez O’ Pete were they broad in the beam . . . . Not that I have room to comment, of course.
There is one particular dock in some far away port that at one point had KPS followed by the cadets nickname spray painted on it in international orange. The next morning over coffee on the aft deck the 1st related to the cadet “next time you might not want to do that if we are still going to be in port the next day” … Or so I’ve heard anyway.
I meant I fell in love with Hefeweizen at Pioneer Square saloon. I grew up near Seattle so it is where my taste for beer was first formulated. I still enjoy an ice cold Ranier but I can’t say it’s because it’s necessarily that good.
Almost!!! … I never found a book in my room but I have left “relief notes” for cadets following me. Always leave it better than you found it as they say.
