Local color - Family love runs The Pub

 

August 30, 2017

SISTER POWER WITH DAUGHTER ASSIST – Julie Lennartz, left, and sister Sherry Thostensen carry on the 1970s-eatery started by their father Gene. Julie’s daughter, Jasmine, center, provides another generation of energy to the family business.            – Photo courtesy of La Conner Pub & Eatery

Julie and Sherry Lennartz weren’t even teenagers when their father, Gene, bought the La Conner Pub & Eatery, called “The Tavern” by locals.

Known as Gentlemen Gene, he was an engineer with Boeing when that company had problems in the early 1970s. He moved his family to La Conner, where his wife’s family, the Moores, lived. Grandfather Milo Moore was the Mayor of La Conner as well as the head of the Washington State Department of Fisheries. Earlier, he worked for the United Nations in fisheries in Italy, Greece, and Korea.

At the suggestion of Milo, Gene left Seattle and purchased The Tavern. He went on to build Gentlemen Gene’s Pub & Eatery in Mount Vernon. He also purchased the Lone Tree Tavern on Snee-oosh renaming it The Happy Clam.

Julie “fled the valley ‘cause I thought things were better (elsewhere.) I ran away to Hawaii. Three months later I’m calling my Dad from a pay phone on Waikiki Beach, crying. He said, ‘well you better save enough money to buy a one-way ticket back home!’”

At the behest of her grandmother, Alice Moore, Julie started a career with the airlines that lasted for thirty years.

While the Lennartz girls were minding their own business, Gene managed his other two bars, leaning on The Tavern as his “happy place.”

For six rocking years in the 1980s, the Tavern was a destination watering hole and dance saloon for people from Bellevue to Bellingham. Today it remains the locals’ watering hole.

Wednesday night blues got its start with the three Hammond brothers: Larry, Curtis on the sax, and his son, Curtis Junior.

Patti Allen, first female recipient of the Washington Blues Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award, played at The Tavern, as did Kathi McDonald, who sang on albums with the Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker, Linda Hart and Duffy Bishop, another blues singer called “dangerous” by Bo Diddley. L.J. Porter, Nick Vigarino and La Conner’s own Terry Nelson all rocked The Tavern till the notes spilled down the street and across the channel.

Halloween parties, an oompah band on Sundays, and pool tournaments were all part of the scene.

No longer do blues singers belt out sultry songs to Terry Nelson’s Hammond organ and there’s no rousing oompah band on Sundays any more, but clearly, someone walking into the La Conner Pub & Eatery any day of the week will one will find a pool tournament in progress, the jukebox tossing out a tune, pull tabs, sports on the many TVs and families with young children dotting the indoor tables by the windows along the water.

“Dad’s goal was to make it a family dining establishment. That changed everything. We got families in here now until 10:00 at night,” Said Julie. “It was his favorite place on earth.”

Julie clearly adored her father, quickly skimming over his death in 2011 when she, her daughter Jasmine, and her sister Sherry Thostensen inherited the family business. She and her daughter and sister have made it their priority to follow in their father’s footsteps.

His name is prominently displayed on a plaque on the bar, along with the names of many others who called this their home away from home. Plunk yourself down at the bar next to a spot reserved for “Smiley” or “Loverboy” honoring those who have passed on.

Wednesday nights there is a Pool Tournament, aka the Meat Shoot. The winner leaves with a delicious cut of meat. The Oyster Run, a motorcycle rally, packs in hundreds of bikers every fall.

And come summer, the outdoor patio with a stunning view of the famous Rainbow Bridge and the Three Cedar Hats, is packed.

Order some fish and chips and spot tugboats cruising the channel or an unsuspecting boater trying to tie up to the dock against the current. Almost every day there is a sea otter in the channel. Watch bald eagles and seagulls catch an updraft.

“When Dad passed,” Lennartz said, “I was still in the industry (airlines.) On weekends I came up here and they needed full time support. Sherry left her career three years ago. Now we co-manage and I get days off so I’m really happy now.”

Jasmine Reppen, Julie’s daughter, obtained her BA in environmental studies and is also a forester for the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

Lennartz credits her family, the people that work there, her proud kitchen staff who work in a small (dinky) kitchen and the great view for their success, but most of all, the legacy of her father reigns.

See web site for the menu and hours of operations. http://www.laconnertavern.com

 

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