Murphy's Pub, the first 10 years
Let's start at the very beginning...
Monday morning, May 18th, 1981. The one year anniversary of the eruption that blew the top off of Mt. St. Helens This was the day that my partner and I signed papers and received the keys to Andy's Tavern, a smallish, non-descript beer joint on N. 45th street in Seattle Washington. Looking back now it makes sense that these two events should cross paths but at that moment it was far from obvious to me other than the omen of possible complete and utter destruction and failure with a high body count. A year before, the landscape of a large chunk of Southwestern Washington State was changed forever while tragically taking 57 lives in the process. I was unaware that morning of the movement already happening that was reshaping the very business we were stumbling into just as thoroughly as a volcano but for the moment let's celebrate. We invited family and friends inside that evening for a closed party of beer, pizza and foosball. Tomorrow we would worry about how to get people to give us their money in exchange for a glass of beer...seemed simple enough.
My partner was my childhood best friend while growing up in Yakima Washington. I tracked him down after moving back to Seattle and spending the previous 4 years in Houston where I lived after my 4 years in the U.S. Navy. We had a special rapport that time and distance had not damaged. He invited me to a grand opening of a tavern that a teammate on his softball team had just bought and fixed up. I was fascinated by the spectacle of the excitement of his patrons not realizing just yet that free beer and food usually gets this reaction. I had spent much of my time in Houston working as the manager of movie houses and was currently doing that same job in downtown Seattle at the UA 70-150. I realized that it was a dead end career but also saw the cross over experience of selling pop and popcorn in a cinema vs selling beer and peanuts in a tavern. He worked at Rainier bank as a lead teller and was as bored as I was. We began to think we could do this too...his friend didn't appear to have any special skills or education...just the guts to give it a go...and of course some money. My partner was the scion of one of the founders of Rainier bank and had access to funds but I had to present a business plan to my dad and cross my fingers for a loan. To my everlasting surprise he did help me out but it was strictly business...interest only payments at the rate of the latest T bill auction which in those days often went as high as 16%, with a balloon payment after 7 years.
The liquor laws of Washington State in 1981 had not evolved much since the repeal of Prohibition or so it seemed. The intent of the law was to grudgingly allow drinking by adults but with so much regulation as to stifle it as much as possible. The Restaurant association lobby managed to keep liquor by the glass sales the exclusive domain of the restaurant cocktail lounge. The taverns of Washington remained an anachronistic neighborhood beer bar...windowless by law to keep their "activities" unseen by respectable folk. Signage was at most a small beer neon sign with the name below or on the heavy door. Live music needed a special, expensive and difficult to acquire "cabaret license", otherwise the diversions were pool tables, foosball or the new video games. Draft beer was separated into 2 types: Western beers, Olympia, Rainier, Blitz, e.g. and Eastern beers, Budweiser, Miller, Schlitz, etc. Beer was served in schooner glasses of various sizes, usually 10-12oz. for approximately 50 cents per with Eastern beers a nickle to a dime more presumably for transportation costs. A large jar with pickled eggs and some Beer Nuts was the usual fare and a cigarette machine in the corner completed a typical tavern's attractions. The one exclusive tavern advantage over the restaurant or "H" licensee was the selling of draft kegs which to some establishments became a major source of business especially to college frat's, banquets and parties.
Andy's Tavern
Andy's Tavern was the perfect example of the typical tavern...windowless, dark and dank with a pervading odor of stale beer, cigarette smoke and Pinesol cleaner. Our business broker had shown us a number of similar beer joints of various sizes in north Seattle but Andy's had a couple of advantages to me...it was larger than most we saw and was closer to the University on this stretch of 45th in the neighborhood of Wallingford. An art house cinema, the Guild 45th was directly across the street and a couple of other taverns on the block, "Goldies", the "Rathole" the "Moon Temple" Chinese bar, together with Andy's formed what the small menagerie of regulars called "downtown". Nightly they would pub crawl between these joints looking for something to happen I suppose, I never quite got the point of it. The interior of Andy's was painted black to hide 40 years of sin, but one one large wall had a huge painted neon colored mural of a space scene with shooting stars, exploding planets and one prominent floating naked woman which we dubbed "Laser Tits". The artist was a regular who was very protective of his work. He badgered me as to what my plan for redecorating was and if his masterpiece would be spared. I had an unformed idea in my brain but I was firm in believing that this place should be named after one of us. I was Irish on my mother's side, McGinnis from County Sligo, while my partner's middle name was Murphy and I remember saying "Every city needs to have a Murphy's", and so we agreed on the name and the decor would thus follow on a vague Irish theme. "Laser Tits" had her days numbered...but we took pictures for posterity's sake.
Andy Mentzos, the owner of Andy's for 29 years was a large Greek-American, who smoked a pipe and tended bar by day while turning over the business at night to his sons. He gave me a quick primer on his tricks of the trade to help me "succeed" as he had. He had a small freezer where he kept bags of Buddig brand sliced meats, especially corned beef. A 300 lb. Cuban regular named Jose would arrive every afternoon and somehow occupy a small stool which was a trick all by itself. He spoke little if any English but could say: "Corn-ned beef" which meant "feed me" in Cuban I guess. Tossing him one bag after another like a bear in the zoo, he, in one swift motion would rip the bag open and stuff the entire contents into his mouth, then a couple of quick chews and that was that...Andy would buy these on sale for 25 cents and sell them for 50 cents a pop. Jose also had his own green bottle of white port saved just for him. Andy would pour the cheap jug wine into this smaller bottle for more profit. When handing Jose this bottle he would mark where the full line was and where it was when Jose was through and charge accordingly. All of this "business" was good for 12 to 15 bucks at the end of the day. Another of Andy's "tips" was selling to go bags of bottled beer to drivers on their way home from work. They would stop right in front, dash in and for $3.50 could buy a "7" pack...Andy's innovation...to slip one extra bottle in with the 6 pack...genius. We kept a number of these ready to go all afternoon. The sons at night I learned were well known marijuana retailers while I understand that a monthly check left for the liquor enforcement officer allowed many University students to have their first underage tavern experience. I also later discovered that the real business of Andy was the selling of the tavern itself. He evidently had sold and retaken over the tavern any number of times. The trick is to sell to an unsuspecting neophyte and keep the down payment after the failure while taking a nice vacation in the meantime. I'm sure he had his ticket punched for Hawaii when the two new rubes walked through his door ready for our turn.
Rough start
Having come up recently from Texas one of my grand ideas was to change one of the drafts to Lone Star beer which had been bought by Olympia. I also changed the glass from a schooner to a small handled 12oz. mug and raised the price from 50 to 60 cents. In the tavern world of 1981 that was earth shattering and did not go over well at all. My very first customer was a nice older gentleman by the name of Ralph Lord and went by R. Lord for short. It was clear he was a tippler but very genial. I gave him a prize for being my first customer: a written note stating that forevermore his price of a glass of beer would be the price I charged that first day, 60 cents. Ralph became a fixture in the early afternoon before heading to the Moon Temple for stronger stuff. He was a retired TV repairman and helped out with some of the goofy ideas I had for early projection TV's. He was proud of that little note which he kept carefully folded up in his wallet and would pull out to show people at the bar for many years afterwards. He went on to see Our Lord in the early 90's, bless his heart.
That first day brought in just $47, while Andy's was sold on the basis of an average of $150 per day. Something was amiss. Business stayed like that for several weeks. Sometimes some "suits" would come in and express they were worried that I might gentrify their little slumming tavern. It was clear that the business that kept Andy's alive was not selling beer and we evidently weren't selling what people wanted. Often my only business at night was the small band of musicians that lived in the apartment upstairs. They called themselves the "Maggot brains" which was an insult to maggots. They actually weren't bad guys though and spent 20-30 bucks a night and brought in some friends sometimes. The former regulars would come in and sniff around to see if we were ready to fold yet and then leave to drink across the street. It was obvious that there was a boycott abrew. I knew that success would not be to win these folks over but rather to draw an entirely new crowd. We began closing during the day the rest of May, June and July to remodel while opening from 8 to 12 or so to bring in some money and let people know we were still there. We worked all day repainting, carpeting, putting up wainscoting, a new large front window I found in an antique store as well as stained glass windows. New entry tile, fixed up bathrooms, a sound system, TV's, new chairs and stools, the exterior repainted with an awning...this street had never seen anything quite like this before.
I had quit the cinema by now and was working at the Park Hilton downtown as a health spa attendant for which I got a meal. I would dash to Andy's as soon as I could, work on the remodel, then bar tend until closing, get home and then be back at the hotel by 8 a.m. We were quickly using up our remodel budget as I had a distinct vision of what I wanted while my partner just agreed to my ideas but was evidently building up a resentment. We had a partnership rather than a corporation at this point. We were well past the modest clean up and go that his softball friend had done to his place.
Murphy's "a" Pub
Everything depended on having our grand opening as "Murphy's a Pub", Seattle's first establishment using the term "pub". The liquor board had to approve our name change and "pub" was a technical term for a type of liquor establishment in Canada and Great Britain, short for "Public House". I stuck the "a" in the middle to make it more of an adjective which seemed to satisfy the big shots. So August 4th was the day of days. It was also the hottest day ever in Seattle for that date, wouldn't you know. 90 something outside turned out to be 100+ inside which is terrible for pouring beer. We had family and friends, Andy and his crowd and some curious passersby come through for the free food and cheap beer...again everybody's favorite! As it turned out it was our busiest day ever but not sure if there was a profit considering our expenses. But now it was official...open every day at 3 pm, close at 2 pm...I needed employees!
Business returned to being lousy but now with longer hours. My partner would come in the morning and clean the place from the previous night's negligible business and I would show up in the late morning to meet deliveries and salesmen and open at three. My first employee was a girl named Stacia who worked at Goldies in the afternoon and then would come over in the evening to spell me for a couple of hours. She was young and cute and brought some business with her. My next employee was a young student at the U., Steve, who was very eager and brought in some of his student friends. MTV began that August which we showed on our prehistoric big screen...a silvered screen reflecting the picture from a TV with a bizarre lens attached...it worked. Fall finally came and the students returned to the U. which later would be a huge boost for business but sadly they didn't yet know we existed except for the few who had imbibed underage the previous year. We had to watch ID's very closely, but back then licenses were easily "fixed".
I read in the P-I that the city council voted to relax the "cabaret license" beginning the next January 1st. I hoped that live music might be the draw I was looking for and had a stage built in advance so it would be ready to go. Later I was surprised that so few other taverns noticed this change or cared at all. Change was glacial in the biz it would appear. During this time my partner continued to come in to clean but started taking for himself some of the previous nights money. He had a right to it as an owner but he really crimped the little momentum we were getting. Murphy's was still a work in progress with so much that needed to be done. We rarely saw each other and each of us were thinking the other was a growing problem. Our partnership agreement failed to dilineate our respective contributions to the business. Oops.
Start the music
The holidays came and went uneventfully. January '82 promised to be a wasteland that just might break us after all. I had this new stage but who could I find to play and play what? One afternoon two guys came in to talk to me about music...Robert Kotta and William Pint. They had a band called "Copperfield" that played an uptempo blend of folk music, sea chanties and Irish drinking songs. They promised me, promised, that they would fill the house if I hired them. This was a foreign concept to me since I had never been full even on the Grand Opening. I was skeptical but excited at the idea. They did all the promotion and audio set up. They delivered on that promise and more. It was a record night. My tiny crew and I were swamped...not having enough glasses kept us running to grab a glass at the last sip or even before. It was crazy and everybody loved it. "Copperfield" became our virtual house band and got Murphy's in with the growing and newly popular folk scene that was bubbling but needing places to play. The word was out that Murphy's was here, had a stage and as important had the right feel for this music. A seismic change had occurred, something new and exciting was being sensed, in the right place and right time. We tried more bands and artists, not all were successful of course, but people were noticing.
Early beer
My brief experiment with Lone Star had been a dismal failure. Nobody in Seattle cared a whit about Texas or Texas beer. Now that we were officially Murphy's a Pub I wanted to pour Guinness and make it as authentic an Irish pub as one could 6,000 miles from the Auld Sod. There was a problem however. The Mick McHugh establishments, Jakes and F.X. McRory's and a few others in town sold the entire allotment. The Guinness destined for the West Coast was brewed in Dublin and shipped through the canal with San Francisco getting the lions share. Mick liked this arrangement which mirrored his other even better deal with Anchor Steam, getting only enough for himself and proclaiming an exclusive on Anchor. That fall I did manage to finagle a small share and joined the very elite group that was pouring Dublin Stout. It came in primitive kegs with small gas containers inside the keg that often had leaked out during passage. We learned the art of the pour and started to get a reputation for a proper pint which went a long way to help Murphy's to be discovered by the proper crowd...the expat Irish and Brits. A problem was the proper glass to serve it in. A pint in Britain is 20 oz...much larger than the usual beer serving in Seattle. I noticed a tavern in Bellingham, "Bullies", advertising "pounders" referring to 16oz. glasses. I discovered that these were in fact shaker glasses used to shake cocktails and just happened to be 16 oz. and resemble the British pint glass. So we started using these as our Guinness glass and kept the smaller glasses for everything else and with pitchers. Price became an issue...Guinness was still a niche product and customers were used to paying just so much for their regular fare. A big help in that regard came by way of Portland and Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve. About this time the old brewery began marketing this beer as being very exclusive and hard to get primarily by numbering their bottles according to supposed brew batches. I was told that Murphy's was just the 4th location they had in Washington when we began pouring it. They were quite successful in creating demand and with demand came an opportunity for price inflation. Henry's, in my opinion did a great service to the later microbeer movement by breaking the price barriers that would help the small brewers ask enough to survive. Starbucks had the same problem at the same time...tossing decades of limits that customers were willing to pay.
First St. Patrick's Day
By early March, 1982, Murphy's had a bit of wind in it's sails at last with a growing buzz for music,
Guinness and just being a different kind of place. Bob Kotta came in and warned me: "you better be ready for Paddy's Day". That kind of unnerved me as I had never even been out for any St. Patrick's Day myself, ever, but I had been doing my research and thought I could give it a go anyway. I was determined to set a high mark that I could emulate year after year and would put Murphy's on the map among the more distinguished parties in town. There was a tradition in Seattle of the Irish Heritage Club running the show with a dinner, parade and laying of a green stripe downtown. The regular handful of Irish restaurants kept the business to themselves mostly with taverns left to serve green tinted Rainier. I wanted to be break up that good ol boys club and bring some of the "green" to Wallingford. I hired a whole day and night's worth of the most popular bands I had found the past three months. Guinness of course was to be a draw and I wanted to begin a tradition of giving away a souvenir pin to my customers that would remind them where to return the next year. I charged a whopping $2 cover charge which had become my regular cover...as well as charging the same for the beer as normal. The pub looked splendid in flags, balloons, and pendants of all kinds when we opened the door at 11 a.m...then nothing...just a couple of stragglers here and there who were not even aware of the day. Then a few and few more and by the time school and work were out it became a landslide. Getting through the crowd to serve was a new problem good to have as was having a line out the door and holding up the crowd, counting heads for the fire department, washing enough glasses and having enough beer, etc. We cut our teeth on these problems for the first time, but not the last. It was a record night by a multiple of 5...exhausted we stayed way past closing and shared war stories...a tradition we continued ever since. The word of mouth was explosive. Murphy's became an "in" place to be and be seen.
We started having music 7 nights a week and a regular Sunday Irish Session of local Celtic musicians. Seattle had been in desperate need evidently of just such a place and embraced us fully. There were just a couple of other places for Irish/Folk music at this time...the New Melody tavern in Ballard and the Monroe Center, also in Ballard. Murphy's became a valued venue for a new wave of local and touring musicians to play at. Many of these bands needed a gig between stops in Vancouver, Portland, Spokane and couldn't find a suitable place until now. It was good to be needed.
Paddy's day not only opened our eyes but Andy Mentzos' eyes as well. It was clear to him now that we were going to be able to hold on and not have to return the keys as was the usual routine. Not long afterward I was informed that the building had been sold and we had a new landlord...Marvin Albert was a minor player in Hollywood so he told us and was investing in property. He was short, stocky, balding, and so overly tanned that he resembled a large coffee bean. The fast banter with his wife Judy was something to behold and reminded me of a comedy act, like "Stiller and Meara", only unfunny. They would become a very large pain in the ass. He made it clear to me that he had inherited the lease I signed with Andy and was not very happy about the terms which he thought favored me...$450/ month. To make the rent, pay Andy the contract payment for the business, $330 or so, pay staff, utilities and the rest was a trick we struggled with, but with the momentum from Paddy's we could begin to relax just a wee bit.
Neighborhood renaissance
N. 45th street in Wallingford was somewhere to drive by on the way to Ballard or I-5 and the U. depending on your direction. Murphy's success evidently was noticed as things began looking up along this little strip. Next door to Murphy's was a boarded up former upholstery business with broken windows and plywood exterior. Soon it was beautifully remodeled into a gelateria named "Dominic's" after owner Phil Woods' young son. Across the street was a non-descript building with blackened out windows and a single light that I was told was some kind of a whore house...it was torn down and a second screen of the Guild 45th cinema was built with an art deco facade to match the original. "Goldies" tavern became one of the city's leading houses of video games and started drawing large crowds. The "Rat hole" was sold to a pair of lesbians who opened the first gay bar outside of the downtown area, called the "Bus Stop". A closed elementary school a block away, surrounded by fencing was developed into a unique shopping "mall" with artsy shops and cafes. Suddenly Murphy's found itself in the middle of a hot little neighborhood. There was a push back however, by the locals who voted for an RPZ, where one needed a sticker to park on the street after a certain hour. We had no parking of our own so it was a definite set back to business but eventually people learned to park further out and hoof it. The business on the corner was our accountant, Leo Fleury. He also owned the property where "Dominic's" was currently and had had a contentious relationship with Andy Mentzos over the years. Behind these 3 business formed a small parking area unseen from the street where we kept our dumpsters and bottle recycle barrels. Leo lost his wife and decided to move into an apartment on top of his business but with a window that faced this back area. He complained about the noise coming from the pub's windows and the often open back door that we needed for ventilation. Eventually, he built a big steel swing gate across the only entry and locked it. Just one more of a growing list of headaches that began to pile up.
Micro beers
About the same time as our first St. Patrick's Day in 1982, I was reading in the Seattle P-I some interesting articles about a fledgling new small brewery being built in a former transmission shop in Ballard, one that I had actually had my car serviced in. Intrigued, I knocked on their door and met Paul Shipman, one of the owners. He and his partner Gordon Bowker came from Ste. Michelle wines and Starbucks coffee respectively. Together with their brew master, Charles McElevey they proposed to bring a brand new beer into the market, RedHook Ale. I had a funny feeling that this was going to be growing trend and was exactly the type of development I had dreamed of when I got in the business less than a year before. Paul was a very excitable and charismatic guy just learning about beer and brewing. I became a bit of a nuisance there checking on the beers' status and making sure I was at the front of the line when it was ready. Shortly after our first anniversary as "Murphy's" in August 1982, "Red Hook" was ready to be introduced to the public. Mick McHugh's F.X. McRory's was evidently deemed prestigious enough for the likes of Governor Spellman and Mayor Royer and the rest of the city's elite and was chosen for the initial rollout which was to be August 11, 1982. Paul surprised me by delivering 2 kegs the night before with the promise that I was not to pour them until after the "official" opening, but with a wink. Before the door closed behind Paul, we were lining up pints to taste this exciting new brew...thus making Murphy's Pub the "unofficial" but actual first establishment to pour Red Hook ale.
I can't say however that the hype matched the product at this early stage. Red Hook suffered from an unintentional "banana" ester but most of us were not experienced enough to let it bother us and downed it with glee anyway. Red Hook was not alone, however...away in small burgs around the state, brewers were tinkering with their own recipes and dreams of glory. In an old Opera House in Yakima, Bert Grant, a renowned hop expert was brewing his own Scottish style ale. There was an early struggle between these two new breweries for customers. Micro beers were far from a sure thing...the big breweries wanted to drown the baby in the bathtub by denying access to distributorships. The higher price turned off many taverns and restaurants accustomed to $35 kegs and being asked almost double plus a $40 keg deposit and next to zero point of sale support. I was in 100% however. I started increasing the number of tap handles, drilling new towers, doubling the ones I had and building extra space in the cooler. It was a heady time no pun intended. Pubs began competing among themselves for the prestige of opening a new beer and trumpeting their growing number of tap handles. I thrived on this competition. I was determined to be the point of the spear in this new business, the one others looked to for the latest and greatest. A friend of mine, Vince Cottone wrote an influential column in the P-I that followed the beer business, both brewing and retail. Murphy's usually got liberal mention, for only the price of gratis pints. Cheap.
A bit later, a couple we were friendly with who owned "The Young Pine" a small grocery on 56th ave. started their own brewery in the tiny town of Kalama, Wa. Tom Baune and Beth Hart called their beer Pyramid pale ale. They really wanted to have their opening at Murphy's which we were proud to do. Their beer was good from the start but they hit it big when they introduced the first wheat beer "Wheaten" ale to the public. Mike Hale personally trucked his beer over the pass from Colville, Wa. to Murphy's. Eventually he moved to Kirkland and finally Fremont. I count him as a friend. We helped to introduce many of the Oregon micro's including Full Sail from Hood River and Widmer Brothers from Portland. Murphy's reputation as a beer mecca became an essential part of our DNA. From the dawn of the movement I understood the importance that the retailer had to complete the circle...from brewer, to pub, to drinker...the earth had shifted under our feet... taverns became pubs, mass produced American lager became craft beer and we are all better that it happened and I am proud of the small part Murphy's had in that transformation.
American Pubs Inc.
Business of course was improving but what was not was my relationship with my partner. He stopped cleaning in the morning as we had to hire a real janitor with the bigger business. He did not participate in the running of the business or enjoy the exciting things that were happening almost every day. Many people did not even know he existed at all. I was continuing to improve the decor and efficiency of the operation. I was also having to hire more people, naturally as the business was really starting to take off. He would come in and write himself a check now for much more than 20 or 40 bucks. There were growing issues between us that unfortunately brought us to a dangerous head one morning. He liked to "pack heat"...carry a concealed weapon which he would lay on the bar when he came in before we opened in the morning. This particular morning words were exchanged that set us both off. There was a struggle that found us in a comedic looking wrestling match on the carpet but we weren't laughing. He started crawling toward the bar where he laid his gun and I was determined to stop him from rising up to who knows what. Eventually we both ran out of energy and cooler heads returned but he left and afterwards only communicated by notes left under windshield wipers and then finally by attorneys. He wanted to be bought out...hallelujah...but not by me. He wanted me to present to him an acceptable buyer or he would shut down the business. I had a bartender that was impressive and interested in the business, Dan Cowan. I broached the idea to him which he took to. He asked his father for some money but couldn't come up with all he needed. I decided to come up with the rest myself on the sly. Dan and I would form a new corporation, American Pubs, Inc...an ambitious sounding title; I had big plans. The day we closed the deal with my former partner, we met at the bank across the street. He had a last second demand or he wouldn't sign the papers...he wanted 5 new, crisp $100 bills, off the books. He wanted it handed to him under the table where he counted it, then signed, got up and left in his cowboy hat and Western style suede jacket concealing his gun, walked out, got in his collector Mercedes Benz and drove off...I have never seen my former partner and best friend ever again, but his name lives on as the Murphy in Murphy's Pub.
Cooper's Alehouse
Murphy's was not built for the business we were doing...the cooler was too small, the taps too far from the cooler, no space for storage of kegs or empties. Cases had to be stored under the bench. Often I would open a case and find most if not all had been opened and consumed, warm, right there under our nose by any number of guilty parties. In fact it had become quite the game of scamming beers by the expats who had learned their tricks back home where evidently it is a national past time and expected. The worst way was our system of tabs...large rounds being charged to tabs and then denying it was theirs or walking out on them all together. Anyway, this was the state of affairs in 1984...an altogether inadequate plant for the amount of current business let alone future growth. No food, just mixed nuts and microwaved Cornish pasties.
The competition was pressing me with more and more taps and beers. I wanted a place that would set a new standard of beer service this time with food and TV sports that were also coming into it's own. On Lake City Way, my tavern broker showed me a place that had everything I wanted but was in terrible shape.
The owner was a genial guy named David Cooper Wall...he had big plans himself but a recent divorce knocked him for a loop and he was ready to get out and change directions. Coopers became our second location in 1984. I liked the barrel reference to "Coopers" and added the "alehouse" moniker rather than pub, now becoming the first to use that particular term describing the growing importance of the new micro movement. The interior had disgusting blue shag carpeting, dark stained paneling with a small arrangement of
yard sale quality furniture. The exterior was a wall of cheap white wood and tinted windows. Prior to David owning, it had been an Asian dance club or something I was told. David's staff was loyal to him and worried I would fire them. I kept them all including Randy Smith who in time would become a valuable manager of Coopers. My plan was to become Murphy's biggest competitor, the one I was afraid might appear someday. After months of remodeling Coopers revealed a then almost unthinkable number of tap handles...22! The motif was 50's American, black, white and red tile floor with vintage juke boxes. We had a small kitchen that specialized in fish and chips. The exterior was completely redone with new double pane windows and awnings. My hope was to be able to pour the full extent of the micro beer inventory at that time...soon there would be 100's of offerings but for a short time I was pretty close. At Murphy's we had gotten into steel tip darts that I, "ahem" discovered had a talent for and highly enjoyed but we only had space for one board, albeit beautiful, handmade oak, next to the men's room door. Coopers had 6 boards designed with the throwing line, "oche" a part of the tile floor design...my idea! Coopers became a nationally known establishment featured in articles in Time magazine, N.Y. Times, Sunset magazine, among many others Later, we were able to purchase the building itself from Larry Peterson, the owner of Giggles. I had a vague plan to open a new pub every 3 years or so. I was approached to open a pub in Belltown, where the Belltown Pub is today. I was going to call it the "Denny Hill Pub" or DHP to honor the now missing major hill where it was located. Problems arose that kept that from happening as well as a number of other opportunities over the years. Turns out "American Pubs" was fated to remain just the two, a couple of miles apart.
Going into cruise control
Murphy's also received it's fair share of publicity...a big center spread of the Seattle Times Sunday magazine, the cover of Washington magazine, The P-I, The Seattle Weekly, The University Daily, The Oregonian to name just a few. We were even asked by KIRO TV's "PM Magazine" if we could create a St. Patricks Day celebration a week early to be broadcast on the actual day and make it appear it was live...bands, crowds, decorations, the works. I agreed but it was a super hassle, but came off actually looking pretty authentic and helped business after all. Murphy's was blessed to have a core of employees that became the heart and soul of the pub...Big Brian, Chad Petersen, Laurie & Becky McMahon, Sally Cairns and Caitlin Racey, Besa, Mary and Roberta were a few of many who helped out during this time and sometimes much longer.
Irish were applying for work as well...Ciaron O'Mahoney was one of my first Irish bartenders...Finbar McGinty, and Conor Byrne, were all outstanding musicians as well when not bartending. One day a customer/friend Susan, asked me a favor...if I would sign the paperwork that would allow her Irish boyfriend to emigrate to Seattle. I would have to attest he had a job at Murphy's that no one else could fill or something. Well I didn't but I helped Susan anyway and sometime later Andy Kelleher arrived, fresh from Ireland and ready for work. He was shy and with an unintelligible accent but he had been a barman back home and caught on quickly and over time became my manager at Murphy's after Brian Milbrath had moved on to a job at G. Raden distributors.
I bartended afternoons and would serve a couple of gals at the bar who would come in after work who had a soft spot for Irish accents...Jodi Allen and her friend Laurie I think was her name. We were friendly and I enjoyed their company when one time she came in quite upset with news that her brother was very ill with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma and at that time not expected to survive. That scare eventually passed and she wound up dating one of my Irish bartenders, Brian Patton. A very affable fellow, they took a shine to each other and wound up marrying...Jodie's brother was Paul Allen of Microsoft fame. Brian left Murphy's to own golf courses around the area as well as jetting to Portland Trailblazer games. Brian and Jody were just 2 of many marriages and divorces that Murphy's was responsible for. I personally believe that the ratio of the two is almost exactly 50/50!
Sports sponsorship was an important give back to my patrons as well as good for business. Murphy's dart teams played on Wed. night and Thursday nights, our softball teams came after practice and games, soccer teams were common piling in bodies and downing pitchers. We had some champions, mostly in darts but always seemed to struggle in soccer and softball. Murphy's occasionally was the post game drink up location for Seattle's Gaelic football team and the Seattle Rugby team. The "ruggers" drink up was a spectacle/orgy that proved many rumors all too true...a version of the fabled "baby elephant walk" among them. Use your imagination. I found it hard to believe that doctors, lawyers and other professional types could lose all inhibition among their rugby brothers, after just a couple of pints of beer.
Parking was a pain with the RPZ, the second cinema and a growing popularity. I began collecting parking tickets which I chose to ignore because of some flawed rationale on my part. I thought that the cops would never bother with parking scofflaws! Well, one morning while still in my bathrobe I answered a knock at my door where a regular person asked me my name. I answered "Chris Barnes"...big mistake. He said I was under arrest and wanted me to leave with him right then and there. I asked if I could get dressed which he grumpily agreed to. I was taken downtown and placed in a holding cell and told I had accumulated $700 in unpaid parking fines! He explained that the fines would double and double again and evidently they had a bench warrant out for me! I called Dan at home and asked him to get a check from Murphy's and come and bail me out. I waited an hour or so and then the door to this "room" opened and Dan was there mumbling some expletives at the cop and sort of had a bit of a shoving match as he was then pushed into the cell with me. Dan explained that when he was asked to show his I.D. they ran a check on him and he had $450 in fines on him as well! "For Chrissakes"!! How were we to even open up the pub?! Next we called up our bookkeeper/bartender Sally Cairns and told her to come with cash this time and don't tell them who you are for the love of God! We finally were "sprung" from parking fine jail with an expensive lesson learned the hard way.
"Dedicated to the preservation of traditional music"
Music became an integral part of the Murphy's formula, as was intimated by this, our rather lofty sounding motto. Early in 1982, I was approached by a couple of gals who wanted to host an Open Mike, one of the first in Seattle. There was one in Tacoma going at that time and an irregular one at the New Melody I think. Those two gals decided to turn over the weekly duties to musician John Weiss (J.W.) who then began a career hosting that Open Mike every Wednesday night for the next 23 years except when he had heart surgery. Singer/Songwriters, bands of all types of music were on display, for better or worse. If you played you got a free beer...that was the lure and a few minutes in front of your friends I guess. I found some gems too and would hire many of them for later gigs on a weekend for real money. Sunday afternoons too would draw local musicians for a Celtic session or seisun in Gaelic, where the talented and just learning would mix it up in rousing reels, again for a free pint. Murphy's also played host to the "Irish Piper's Club" on a semi monthly basis. Dennis Brooks with his iconic pipe clenched in his teeth was the leader of an assemblage of Irish pipe aficionados who would meet up at Murphy's for a mass "concert" of Uilleann pipes or Irish bag pipe, quite different than the better known Scottish bag pipe. Played seated rather than walking and the bag filled by a bellows rather than by mouth are two obvious differences. The sound produced however is unique, beautiful and haunting. Having a dozen or so playing at once was a scene Seattle had never witnessed and heard before or since I imagine.
Demand for a concert venue from touring musicians had us setting up awkward seating arrangements for world class talent that had no place to go or more likely because the price was right at Murphy's...free. Andy Irvine, Dick Gaughan, Tommy Hayes, Kevin Burke were rare talents not usually seen in small pubs let alone one in Seattle, Washington. Perhaps the strangest booking was having the Scottish power group, the "Battlefield Band" play on our tiny stage. Better suited for a stadium gig they blew the roof off and we had two floors! The quiet gigs were problematic for us...my regular crowd wanted in and had a habit of just saying "I'm a regular" and walking past the door person. Darts and talking kept going on and even the opening of the cash register bothered the purists who had paid as much as $7.00 to sit on a folding chair and listen to some incredible fiddle work. It proved less than perfect and later the special music eventually found more appropriate venues.
Murphy's reputation however was enough to entice the members of the world famous Irish group "The Chieftains" to come in for a pint or two after their concert at the University of Washington one evening. Their autographs on a photo with a personal message is one of my most precious mementos. We were also visited by "The Waterboys" and other international touring groups.
Sandy Bradley's "Potluck"
Sandy Bradley was a nationally known musician who lived in Wallingford down the street from Murphy's in a small apartment, that is when she was in town. She and her band mates, the Canote brothers... The "Small wonder string band" were usually on the road performing gigs. Their music was highly entertaining with clever songs and expert picking on various stringed instruments. They played Murphy's many times and would always bring in a small army of fervent fans. One day she came in and asked me if I would be interested in allowing them to use Murphy's as a home for a live radio show on Saturday mornings that would be aired on public stations around the country. I was flattered that she would consider Murphy's for such a gig. I agreed, of course, but couldn't believe it would be anything more than a novelty and last a month or so at most. There was a lot of work to do...a special phone line was installed and we needed an up grade to the stage, lighting, seating and a new piano! Sandy picked out a used piano with the proper sound she wanted and we had it brought in. The show opened with the usual line: "Live from Murphy's Pub in Wallingford, gateway to Ballard"...local humor. Sandy and the boys would play a number, have some banter among themselves and then introduce a guest performer or two, end with another number from Sandy and then close. One hour, every Saturday morning, usually following a very busy Friday night. We needed to move tables and chairs to allow rows of folding chairs and reset the sound system usually left a mess from the night before. There was very little business to be had in the morning especially with the usual folkie types that attended the show. I was particularly annoyed when I saw the show staff going next door to "Dominic's" and selling coffee and wares from him and let them know it. Much later, it was cool with me when girl friends of the boys made their own pastries and sold them to the usually packed crowd. It was an effort to get the place back in shape for the day after the show but still I enjoyed having the show there. It was a smaller version of "Prarie home companion" and was a definite feather in our cap if not our cash register. By the way, my prediction of a month was a bit off...it went on for 5 years!!
Remodel again
Murphy's boasted a broad and diverse clientele. There were the Irish of course, the locals, often carpenters and plastermen, and the fishermen who passed through on their way to Alaska to work on salmon, crab and halibut boats and return with a nice check, then on to home for a few months then return to do it all over again. The Brits, often brick masons and tilers as well as many other craftspeople, stained glass artists, and wood carvers were among our regulars. Trying to give back I hired many of them to help remodel Murphy's into a true destination pub. I had stained glass windows commissioned to represent each one of Ireland's four provinces and a beautiful new oak bar top and matching beer tower with Celtic designed mahogany inlay. Custom back bar cabinets with Celtic etched glass doors, a spectacular new front door with a Celtic knot stained glass window and finally an entirely new exterior facade in a traditional pub motif complete with hand painted pub signage. It was simply at that time in Seattle, the city's premier pub, Irish or otherwise.
We began to serve hard cider about this time, mainly to the Brits who were used to it as a regular pub offering. Shortly afterward I learned what a head butt was and discovered the two were closely connected. Murphy's also earned a couple of other "firsts" to add to an already long list...I had Hale's brewery brew for us the State's first custom house brews, "Cooper's own" and "Old Mashie no.3"...mild, amber ales but with a nice hop finish. The State did not allow brew pubs as yet while to my disappointment allowed micro breweries to open their own small pubs in direct competition to the pubs who had built their business. A "house beer" allowed us to offer a custom, private beer of our own if not actually brewing it ourselves. Vince Cottone helped me procure and install a beer pump engine and pour the first "real ale" in the State. This "cask conditioned" ale had a small amount of yeast in the keg itself which continued to "condition" the beer. The effect was an amping up of flavor without excess carbonation except for what was naturally produced by the slight fermentation still taking place. Again, we were learning, both by the brewers and the consumers. It was an acquired taste for most, but I was thrilled to offer it. Murphy's also might have been the absolute smokiest bar in the city, so Murphy's then just had to offer the most extravagant tobacco selection...all the domestics, of course, but also Sobranie Black Russians, Players, Rothman Red and Blue, Gitane, cigars, roll your own tobacco and papers, and all kinds of exotics. Oddly I never had smoked but I'm sure my lungs would say otherwise as well as my clothes after coming home. Later I was very relieved when the new smoking laws went into effect...before then it was business suicide to self impose smoking rules.
Dan Cowan says goodbye
Unlike my first partner, Dan and I got along famously and actually arranged a mutually agreeable work schedule and duties. Dan slowly gravitated to the music side and enjoyed booking the various touring artists and local groups. We bought an upgraded sound system, speakers and stage lighting for a professional show but still had feed back issues due to the odd floor plan and the stage placement. Dan became adept at working out the kinks of the "mix" in setting up the bands. After 4 years or so, Dan seemed to want to move on to something more of his making and we had a mutually agreeable buyout of Dan's interest in American Pubs. We had a great send off party and that was that. Dan took some time off then became a major player in remaking of the historic Ballard Avenue area with a number of successful ventures. I'm so happy and impressed for his great success, but not surprised.
Folklife!
The annual festival of folk and ethnic music had been going on over the Memorial Day weekend at Seattle Center for a decade or so when I came up with an idea. I wondered if they would let me set up a pub and sell beer to these tens of thousands of folksters or would they chase this crass capitalist out on a rail, tarred and feathered? I met the head of Folklife, Scott something or other and broached the notion and lo and behold it seemed they were quite anxious to bring in some extra dough to an event that had only a $2.00 optional donation. I would become the very first beer purveyor at a festival on the Seattle Center grounds! I was also determined to bring the Murphy's Pub experience to Folklife and not scrimp or overcharge. I had a custom bar built with actual brass beer towers. We rented tents, tables, chairs and fencing. They scheduled the Irish and Celtic music at a stage right next to us and I brought in much of the Murphy's and Cooper's staff. The result was epic, absolutely packed for hours...a huge hit. Folklife was very weather sensitive being Memorial Day weekend, but we bucked even the rain with crowds waiting for a perfect Guinness or the latest Microbeer. They moved the pub around the grounds year to year until they settled us in the Northwest Rooms area. One year, 1993 I think, I went to meet Scott as usual to settle details and he told me that he had instead contracted with Pyramid brewery. They would be the exclusive beer provider and be running the pub from now on. I was apoplectic. This was not the Pyramid brewery that belonged to our friends and had opened at Murphy's in 1984...this was now a corporate brewery with an Englishman in charge...George Hancock. I started a new revolution and tossed Pyramid beers from both Murphy's and Cooper's, like so many crates of tea off a ship. Childish reaction? Perhaps, but it felt good. George personally apologized but I didn't sell Pyramid products for 5 years and I never saw lines at a Folklife pub ever again and believe me I checked.
Neighborhood changes again
45th Street continued to develop with new and improved everything. The girls at the "Bus Stop" sold to a guy who renamed it "Changes" but kept it gay and became more successful. The corner realtor office became the area's first Thai restaurant. Next door, "Dominic's" sold and was turned into the "Beeliner Diner", a hot little place with chatty waitresses and fabulous coconut cake. A french restaurant "Les Copains" opened on the next corner beside the "Boulangerie" french bakery. The theatre drew big crowds for private early premiers, one of which had Al Pacino sneaking away and dropping into Murphy's for a quick beer. Wow. In the meantime my landlord, Marvin Albert was always upset at something. Above Murphy's were 3 apartments and he was always carping about how everything we did impacted his other tenants. I had a solution...why don't I just rent the whole building? I rented one of the apartments for my office and extra storage...very important in fact. I rented the other much larger apartment and then sub leased to a group of young student types who were also customers. The other apartment stayed with it's tenant, Tim who didn't mind any of the commotion anyway. Unfortunately, one night I received a phone call that Murphy's was on fire and raced to Wallingford from West Seattle, where I lived. 45th Street was closed with many flashing red lights and full fire hoses crisscrossed across the street. I later learned that the fire was confined to that large apartment where one of the tenants fell asleep in a chair with a cigarette...very minor damage. According to Marvin I was to blame. That really set him off. He and his wife began to harass me by making crazy demands of all kinds. I bit my tongue but there were moments of real anger that popped out of me. By the late '80's he told me he was "counting the days" of the remainder of the lease. One time I remember him repeating on the phone: "the clock is ticking...the clock is ticking". I truly hated him.
The end of an era
While the 10 year lease did in fact wind down, I faced a big decision. Do I just walk and call it a day or move the business lock, stock and barrel to another location? Saner people would have walked. The business I felt was very much dependent on the Wallingford neighborhood it had thrived in. Where could I move to? The stores were all so relatively small without any vacancies anyway. Surprisingly, a half block away the neighborhood Radio Shack suddenly shuttered up and closed. It was a larger space that I could remodel into a dream location where all of the buggy problems I currently had could be solved. I let myself dream a little bit while biding the rest of my time with Marvin. May 18th 1991 came and went without a resolution and we stayed in business on a month to month basis. I was hoping for a new lease or even the chance to buy the property which we in fact did discuss for a while but Marvin quickly changed his mind as he must have found a potential tenant that would put up with his odd ball demands, something I had doubted he would ever find. I was wrong. He found Starbucks...who was anxious to get a foot hold in the neighborhood. I was given my walking papers and was to be out by July 15th, 1991. As a backup plan I had negotiated with the owners of the Radio Shack property and managed to mesh with the closing of Murphy's and have a place to take all of the interior and important elements that I wanted to use at the new location. We had a very special closing night that was emotional for everybody as many people didn't understand exactly what was happening and why. I got carried off on customers shoulders at one point and then we all just stayed very late and reminisced with current and former employees then closed and locked the door. The next day I had a huge crew of volunteers help with removing and carrying the bar top down to the new empty space, but not until we stopped traffic on 45th. I had saved the old front door in my garage just for this purpose as I removed the gorgeous new door and replaced it with the old one from Andy's tavern. We removed the beautiful stained glass windows, the backbar, even many of the glass bricks and neon lighting, the authentic pub tables, sound equipment, tables and chairs, glass ware, beer and wine...everything that wasn't nailed down. Starbucks wouldn't want anything anyway but I wanted to deny Marvin any booty too.
So, that is about it for the first 10 years...a unique place and time. I was proud to have witnessed and participated in changing the industry in fundamental ways and opening it up to the twenty first century which was fast approaching. I wanted the new location to take full advantage of these changes...in fact had to in order to survive in this new competitive landscape. Sadly I said goodbye to stained carpet, a beer cooler that was usually on the fritz, no keg storage, bathrooms that belonged in a third world country all with an aroma of smoke and stale beer much like Andy's tavern, but this time it was "our" smells. Sometimes I visit the Starbucks that now occupies old Murphy's, those smells now replaced by the heavy, sharp aroma of roasted coffee and look for "archaeological" evidence of it's past life...little remains except the basic floor plan, redecorated and repurposed with an unfamiliar library-like stillness provided by the individuals bent over their respective laptops, oblivious to each other or of the "ghosts" that must surely be seated among them waiting for their next "jar" of Guinness.
I miss it dearly and when I dream Murphy's dreams, which I do quite often, it is always seems to be inside this old space.
