Say So Long To Folksy Dog House
"What'll it be, honey?" For 60 years, apron-clad waitresses at the Dog House have been asking that homey question. Comes now the bad news. They won't be asking much longer.
The 24-hour-a-day restaurant at Seventh Avenue and Bell Street, an institution known for its motto, "All Roads Lead to the Dog House," will close Jan. 31, casualty of an era of espresso carts and fast-food outlets.
When the news broke, my first thought was: What will happen to J.P. "Beau" Beaumont, the fictional Seattle Police detective who supposedly hangs out there? I put the question to Beau's creator, J.A. (for Judy) Jance, over lunch at - where else? - the Dog House.
"Either I have to get a new hangout or learn to cook," sighs Jance, a lanky, plain-spoken woman who relishes the Dog House for its honest cuisine and its lippy waitresses.
Right on cue, Jennie Lee "J. L." Alvord shows up with her order pad and demands, "What'll it be? The usual?" Jance nods. Her standing order is a grilled tuna san ($2.95) and "Silex- brewed" coffee (75 cents) diluted with a half cup of boiling water.
The Dog House menu runs to standards like chicken-fried steak, the rib eye ("tenderness not guaranteed") and "the pooch," a hamburger that "speaks for itself."
Jance asks Alvord what she's going to do when the Dog House closes. Spry and spunky at 76, Alvord replies, "I'm gonna work 'til I'm 80."
"You told me you were going to retire at 75," protests Jance.
"Have to work," Alvord says. "Bad investments. I vacationed in Reno."
Jance explains she discovered the Dog House in the early '80s when she moved to Seattle, a single mom with two small children and a job selling life insurance.
"I could eat here for $5, tip included, the outside I could afford," she recalls. In 1986, her mysteries growing in popularity, Jance started holding book signings at the Dog House with proceeds going to homeless shelters.
So it won't be easy to find a new 24-hour joint for Beau. Jance is thinking about Jack's (5900 15th Ave. N.W.) and Cafe Minnie's (101 Denny Way) but hasn't decided.
Jance tells of hosting a recent birthday breakfast at the Dog House. As guests were leaving, they ran into Alvord, who was angrily slapping a catsup bottle against the palm of her hand, as she waited for a drunk to count out his change. Alvord said to him, "Next time, honey, don't try to drink the catsup."
Dog House stories often show up in Jance's books. She recycled one involving a friend who doesn't eat red meat and ordered a salmon burger.
The friend complained, `This doesn't look like salmon."
The waitress snapped, "It's not. We're out of salmon. It's ham."
Dog House co-manager David Gulbransen says he may try to reopen elsewhere, although he's looking at five years of losses. (Gulbransen's mother, Laurie, who still works at the Dog House, inherited the restaurant from the founder's widow.)
If he doesn't try again, Gulbransen says he'll offer the mural with its "all roads lead to" motto to a local museum. Or maybe to the family of the artist, the late Blackie Martin.
Meanwhile, it's service as usual at the Dog House.
"What else are you out of?" asks one wary customer.
The waitress responds, "You order it and we'll see."
Jean Godden's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Times.