These are the restaurants that live on in the minds of Whatcom County
Restaurants and bars create strong, long-lasting memories in Bellingham.
I regularly get emails from readers talking about eateries of the past and it’s a regular topic of conversation on social media. It’s also a reminder to me that no matter how many restaurants open or close in this area, there are some that will stick around in the minds of community members for a long time.
This shows up when people are making geographic references; you can sometimes tell how long someone has lived in Bellingham based on which business they reference when describing a building. I remember someone describing a spot by saying it was where Bullies restaurant used to be in Fairhaven. Never mind that 12th Street Shoes has been in that spot since 1999.
Of course, there are some that continue right along, adding to the Bellingham restaurant history. The Horseshoe Cafe is a prime example of that, having first opened in 1886 and continuing to be a fixture in the downtown core.
Here’s a crib sheet on some of the more common references I hear longtime residents drop when giving directions or making references to long-gone restaurants or bars, with details coming from newspaper archives. This isn’t a list of the greatest restaurants in Bellingham; it’s more about the names that live on because of geography or being a longtime fixture in a neighborhood.
I can guarantee that I missed a few key spots in Bellingham restaurant history; send me an email and I’ll try to track down the details of the more interesting ones for a future column.
▪ Stanello’s: The building on the corner of 12th Street and Old Fairhaven Parkway can be a little hard to describe these days because it currently has several tenants, but it was home to Stanello’s for 14 years until it closed in 2008. Owner Stan Velis started the restaurant in 1974 with the original name of Venus Pizza, changing the name to Stanello’s in 1988. Stanello’s moved into 1514 12th St. when the building was newly constructed in 1994.
▪ Flame Tavern: Perhaps the Flame Tavern became well-known for being closed for so long on a busy downtown Bellingham corner. The tavern was vacant for more than 15 years on the corner of Railroad Avenue and Holly Street before it was condemned to make way for the City Station building. The brick building that was home to the tavern was built in the 1890s.
The spot is now occupied on the bottom floor by the Pita Pit and Cresswell Boggs.
▪ Pacific Cafe: The space next to the Mt. Baker Theatre has had many different restaurants over the years, but for more than 20 years it was Robert Fong’s fine-dining establishment.
▪ High Country: The 14th and 15th floors of Bellingham Towers treated diners to one of the best views in the city for decades. High Country had a long run in the ‘1970s and ‘1980s, but the spot was also home to Nimbus and Top of the Towers. After Nimbus closed, the two floors were renovated in 2014 and are now office spaces.
▪ The Marina: Before the development of Bellwether Way, the lone restaurant on that stretch of property for many years was the Marina restaurant. It was a fixture on the waterfront from 1988 to 2006 until it was purchased by Anthony’s restaurant chain and turned into Anthony’s Hearthfire Grill.
▪ Skippers: With that huge anchor sign next to the building, that spot gets referred to as Skippers even though it was home to Stampadoodle for 11 years before closing earlier this year. The building at 1825 Grant St. is currently being renovated to become Core Physio’s flagship clinic next summer.
▪ Cliff House: Open from 1971 until the end of 2016, this restaurant had sweeping views of Bellingham Bay and was known for menu items like its Whiskey Crab Soup. The property at 331 N. State St. is currently for sale as an opportunity to be remodeled into condominiums with the potential of bringing back an ocean-view restaurant.
▪ Drive-Ins: They were sprinkled all over town, with some still used as directional landmarks. Some examples include Bunk’s (on Cornwall near Bellingham High School), Barter’s (in the Fountain District on Meridian), Morrie’s on Northwest (now Grant’s Drive-In) and Wins in Fairhaven (now Zane Burger).
More details on local drive-ins are in a 2014 book by Wes Gannaway and Kent Holsather, called “Drive-Ins, Drive-Ups, and Drive-Thrus; The History of Drive-in Movie Theaters and Drive-in Food Places in Whatcom County.”
