How many of you remember the days of ‘makin’ the rounds’ in Westport’s Marina District?
Sourdough Lil’s, Freddie Steele’s, Dave’s Ocean Galley, the Continental House, the Islander, Skipper’s and the Driftwood Inn, later known as King’s, to name a few… There were lots of hot spots for a “great time in the old town tonight” when Westport was the ‘Salmon Capitol of the World.’
Sourdough Lil’s has been a plank-holder at the corner of E. Dock Street and N. Nyhus Avenue in Westport’s Marina District for more than 50 years.
Gold Rush decor
Opened in 1947 with interior décor reminiscent of Skagway, Alaska in the Gold Rush era, the 1890s era lounge boasted sawdust floors, red flocked wallpaper, murals of gold seekers trekking through Chilkoot Pass with mandatory 80-pound packs of provisions on their backs in the late 1890s and signed dollar bills tacked to the ceiling.
The dollars-as-décor project started with local fishermen who said they wanted to know that they had the price of a good stiff drink readily available in case they had a bad trip or season. The idea quickly caught on, on soon, nearly everyone who enjoyed a libation there talked their own signed bill overhead, returning year after to year to visit it on vacation trips.
Banjo & piano
Banjo Hall of Famer Myron Hinkle played his four-string on weekends for 24 years straight from 1965 to 1990. Hinkle was often accompanied by Aberdeen resident Don Fletcher who played the bar’s rinky-dink piano. A professional piano tuner, Fletcher was blind from the age of eight. Gay ‘90s tunes were the order of the day, and every table had a printed song sheet with lyrics so customers could sing along.
Several owners
The business changed hands several times through the years. Lillian McKern, who was born in Skagway in 1893, owned the restaurant in from 1949 to 1954. Orville Engle, a Westport city councilman in the late 1950s and early to mid-1960s, was the next proprietor. When the accompanying color photo was taken, the owners were Jim and Bea Madigan. Grayland residents Gene and Darlene Caldwell currently own the building. They operated the restaurant for many years before ceasing operations several years ago.
Still a landmark
The building was originally red and stayed that way for nearly 50 years, until the cost of that particular pigment skyrocketed in the mid-1990s. The Caldwells opted to switch the colors, painting the building white and trimming it in red. Last year, they gave the old girl a bit of a facelift with a new paint job and, despite that the doors aren’t open, Sourdough Lil’s remains a distinctive Westport landmark that kindles fond memories for thousands of her former patrons.
What’s your favorite memory at Sourdough Lil’s? Eating in the dining room? Carousing in the lounge? Enjoying a banana split when the bar was converted for a time to an ice cream parlor in 1989?
