Ivar's

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Ivar’s

“Sex in your seventies is still great, and it

certainly beats fish & chips”.--Paul Daniels

On Pier 54,.

at Seattle’s waterfront,

sit Ivar’s Fish Bar;

a local landmark & treasure.

I went there

for the first time

in the summer of 1951,

when I was seven.

Elliott Bay

batters at it’s back door.

The smell of kelp, 

wet pier timber

and barnacles

dances in the salt air.

The crowd gathers

in front of the wide high counter,

manned by four manic employees.

The menu is printed huge

on the back wall.

You must yell out your order,

as one of them repeats it

and writes it down.

Then you fade back and linger,

waiting for your food.

The Alaskan cod and halibut

is always fresh and tasty.

The clam chowder

is the best I’ve ever had,

The fries are golden & perfect,

and the tarter sauce is beyond compare.

You dine

in an outdoor covered area,

that’s heated in the windy winter.

Large flocks of sea gulls hover,

begging for a handout.

You would throw a french fry,

or a bit of fish.

into the air,

and there was always

a gull there to catch it.

It was adjacent

to  the Seattle main Ferry Docks,

and great Super Ferries,

came and went.

emptying their cars

and boarding others

beneath blasts from its horn.

A meal at Ivar’s

was always spectacle,

a major event. 

Ivar, the owner,

was quite the character,

and he did all the TV commercials

for the restaurant, reminding me of Burl Ives.

Their motto is “Keep Clam”.

I even have a bobble-head doll of him.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at d'Verse Poet's Pub