Explaining life in Bellingham to those who don’t live here quickly gets those of us who do into such subjects as who and what’s here and why? The great unwashed may know about actress Hillary Swank having been raised in a B’ham trailer park, others could know of Western Washington University’s presence while the geographically-aware are likely to know that this particularly scenic part of Puget Sound includes the exquisite San Juan Islands.
History is another matter with considerable emphasis placed upon rough and tumbles like Dirty Dan Harris who founded what is now reasonably tony Fairhaven while, according to folklore, rarely taking a bath. Dirty Dan was a certified rascal whose endeavors included bootlegging and smuggling although, comparatively speaking, a winner compared to today’s brackish banksters, Wall Street wantons and D.C. deceits. Rascals today spend so much time chasing a buck that they have little time developing charm. Dirty Dan was a late bloomer in that area of character development.
Evangelically speaking, Aimee Semple McPherson once owned a Bellingham church that became the Bellingham Theater Guild 80 years ago this October. As an intriguing footnote, landlady Aimee never checked out her church while seeking, as would have been her plate passing want, the soft rustle of folding money. Perhaps her prescience back then recognized early indications of what many believe ‘hamsters have become: a vitamin D deficient bunch who, because of a decided lack of sunshine, have become the City of Subdued Excitement. Sister Aimee, the first woman to preach the gospel on radio, is a subject worth Google pursuit if only to learn of her relationship with comedian Milton Berle as claimed by him in his autobiography.
The Waterfront Tavern, older than the Bellingham Theater Guild, is as authentic and satisfying to serious drinkers as Wrigley Field is to followers of baseball. Taking the sports reference one step further, the tavern is the real deal located on West Holly Street not far from a row of collectible shops. Collectibles, as we know, are random junk unqualified to be called antiques yet sold in often what are euphemistically called Antique Stores. Awaiting the wrecking ball on Junk Row is Eartha Kitty’s Antiques--logically kitty cornered from Maritime Heritage Park, not far from Lighthouse Mission where people, made uneasy by life’s vagaries, seek help. The area is called Old Town and the wrecking ball scheduled for Eartha Kitty’s will help create a new Old Town where city fathers anticipate the creation of an urban village, one of those catch phrases politicians embrace because they sound so monumentally meritorious.
On the far west edge of Old Town, the Waterfront has a history although it’s not on a list of historic buildings. Fame wears many faces and the Waterfront has two: a reputation for fish and chips that may be the best in the Pacific Northwest and an attraction for at least three famous serial killers who bellied up to the venerable tavern’s bar.
The tavern, built on pilings erected over mudflats in 1912, attracted Ted Bundy who confessed to killing 20 women although those who know about such things suggest the number may be as high as 36. Even moral authoritarian James Dobson got into the guessing game suggesting Bundy “probably killed more than 100.” Dobson has been known to exaggerate.
While details are scarce regarding Bundy’s mid-70s drinking habits at the Waterfront, such is not the case with Kenneth Bianchi, better known as the Hillside Strangler of Los Angeles. Bianchi, who with his cousin Angelo Buono killed 10 times in hills above Los Angeles during four months in 1977-78, almost made it one more. On the verge of abducting Catherine Lorre, daughter of film actor Peter Lorre, the cousins let her off the hook when they learned her father had played a serial killer in Fritz Lang’s M. Bianchi later moved to Bellingham where he was finally caught after murdering two Washington State University roommates.
While Bundy was described as “charming” by Waterfront regulars, John Allen Muhammad was deemed something less, according to an October 29, 2002 New York Times story written by Charlie LeDuff. Muhammad became the Beltway Sniper when he and teenage traveling companion Lee Malvo moved to Washington, D.C. where he murdered 16 times and wounded four during 48 scary fall days in 2002. Commenting about the Waterfront clientele, then early morning bartender Millie Ulmer said: “I don’t know, we just seem to attract them. This town is full of drifters, but even, so, Muhammad didn’t look right to me. Little did I know.”
The Waterfront Tavern is part watering hole, part sports bar whose interior includes five TV sets, one a big screen model cornered with four dartboards. A bar, possibly as old as the tavern, is awash with signs. Happy Hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. plus a more normal 5-7 p.m. and Coors light is available at $2.25 a pint. Along with the usual bottled beer are eight drafts including the remarkable Mack & Jack African Amber.
Mirroring the popularity of poker, the tavern becomes a seven-day hotbed of No Limit Texas Hold ’em with $11 getting you a 10,000 chips buy-in, Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. Those clues, along with the presence of volunteer dealers, suggest Mike Sexton is not in town filming the World Series Tour. Saturday and Sunday double headers cost $21 each.
The Waterfront Tavern, representing the last vestiges of a maritime community, has been owned 10 years by Canadian Lynne Farmer. Both Farmer, who owns the bar, and Marie Corona-Bishop, who owns and operates the kitchen, are both highly professional and full of the kind of good cheer that helps create the Waterfront’s special ambiance leading to interesting conversation. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself talking with two customers who turned out to be from the Cleveland area where I grew up. Passing through town, she was from West Cleveland, he from Avon Lake--20 miles west of the Forest City. Somehow, he and I got on the Sam Shepherd Murder Case (about which he knew a great deal) and we kicked around an historical murder in a tavern well-known for having served serial killers. As a reporter, I had covered the Shepherd Murder for a grand total of one day. I’ll have more about the Murder in Bay Village anon.
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