The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG - Charles Smith's idea for the former American Legion hall on Waitsburg's Main Street is simple: turn it back into the kind of bar the town needs.

Expected to be called the "Anchor," the planned new drinking establishment in the building just south of the Whoop Em Up Hollow Cafe will serve light beer, "comfort" snacks, standard cocktails, have a big-screen TV, a country music jukebox, and feature games like pinball and fuss ball.

In other words, it will be everything the jimgermanbar across the street isn't.

So who better to hire as the project manager than Jim German himself to ensure the two watering holes will be as different as they can be.

"It's not going to be a fancy cocktail place," said German, who readily admits his own bar with its eclectic big-city drinks and menu isn't up everyone's alley or pocketbook.

"This," he said about the Anchor, "is going to be more of a place for everybody. It will be a working man's tavern that respects its American Legion roots."

German is quick to point out, however, that it will not be another Bull's Eye, the bar after which some of its former local patrons still pine. That kind of bar wouldn't meet today's codes or laws and arguably didn't meet those of its day, he said.

"Believe it or not, it's illegal in the state to be drunk in a bar," he said. "The Anchor will be clean and nice. It will be rustic with a nod back in time. We're going to incorporate as many of the old items as we can."

Smith, who owned a home in Waitsburg until last fall, has been criticized by some in town for closing the Bull's Eye after he bought it, then for renovating the building it was in but not replacing it with a new business.

A new controversy arose a few years ago when he had a giant black-and-white flag painted on his other Main Street building, the American Legion hall.

Now, the acclaimed vintner and former rock concert promoter, feels Waitsburg needs a Main Street bar, particularly after the closure of the Whetstone Pub, said German, who has already heard some grumbling about that vision.

But many in town, including some of the American Legion's own members, welcome the idea that another shuttered building on Main Street will have an active "store front," German said.

The building's renovation is part of a mini Main Street renaissance. Work is expected to wrap up on the Loundagin Building next the post office some time this year when it opens as a boutique hotel and dance studio.

The building north of the historic Times office is undergoing renovation to become a coffee shop by mid year. Tentative plans are also in the works for the Nothing New Antiques store front, and the Plaza theater is nearing the end of its renovation, although it's not expected to be put back in service as a full-time movie theater like Dayton's Liberty.

Work began a few weeks ago on the first far-north bay of the American Legion building as the first part of what may become a multiphase remodel.

"We'll have to see," said German, a close acquaintance of Smith's who also acts as his spokesman on the project. "If it's a going concern, we'll set the boys to work on that side."

"That side" refers to the second commercial bay adjacent to the 2,000-squarefoot space now under renovation. When referring to "the boys," German means the crew from Walla Wallabased Living Space, which is also the contractor on the Loundagin Building.

Owner Peter Farnam and his men have begun to strip the long narrow space behind the glass bricks, to replace rotten floors (and a portion of the building in the back that needed a foundation), to frame in an ADA bathroom and to make other essential upgrades to the space, which has to be brought up to code.

The first bay will be selfcontained and have seating for about 60 with a stage for live music in front of the glass brick "window" that's an iconic part of the building's design.

German plans to use the Legion's small round tables and black vinyl-backed chairs, retain the shape of the wet bar and keep the mezzanine. Paddle fans will come down from the ceiling as well as light fixtures made by Mickey Richards of Northwest Antler Design.

If all goes well, the Anchor is expected to open its doors this summer.