Our first clue came from Chuck:
I just walked by a door marked Grizzled Wizard on 45th between the UPS store and the Erotic Bakery. I did a bit of Google sleuthing and found a liquor license application by Savoy Foods and Joseph L. Couden. But my investigative abilities end there. Since you’re a guy in the know, or at least a guy who knows guys in the know, would you be able to find out any more info?
Always up to the challenge, we checked Everyblock and found little more than Chuck was able to discover:
Location 2317 N. 45th St.
Application date January 19, 2010
Applicant SAVOY FOODS, LLC; COUDEN, JOSEPH L
License number 083856
Event type New application
License types Restaurant / lounge — spirits, beer and wine (Less than 50 percent dedicated dining)
Action type New liquor license application
Fine, we grabbed the license number and tried a public records request. The response:
Thank you for your public records request. Please see the information below:
Trade Name: The Grizzled Wizard
Privilege Type: Spirits/Beer/Wine Restaurant Lounge
Location Address: 2317-A N 45th Street, Seattle, WA, 98103-6905
Daytime phone: 206-849-0062
Licensee: 359591
Pending Licensee: Savoy Foods
Pending people for license: Joseph CoudenThis is a pending application. When the license is active, the application documents will be available for a public records request. You may submit another public records request at that time. You might want to call our office first, to ask if the license is active.
This closes your public records request. If you have any questions, please call or email me.
Not much more to go on, but at least a phone number! But before we had a chance to call the number, ’round about 10 pm, we saw this come across Twitter:
At my bandmate’s new bar in Wallingford (the Grizzled Wizard). We’re listening to doom metal and watching ‘Day of the Dead’. Totes rad.
Saddle up the horses, boys, we’ve got some riding to do! Baby Z safely in bed, we grabbed our metaphorical hat and headed up to the 45th to get the scoop. Behold, The Grizzled Wizard:
Yes, indeed, that odd little bar next to the Erotic Bakery has re-opened under a new owner, Joe Couden and his friend and bar manager, Kendall McCormick. Friends of the owner of the old bar (which has been closed for three months, and whose name we did not collect, and which was never posted on the outside), they got their liquor license earlier today and rushed to open. With the benefit of a coterie of loyal friends and customers from the establishment’s previous incarnation (and a St. Paddy’s Day opening night), they were already doing business at a fair clip.
The plan, in case you’re wondering, is to operate a simple, neighborhood bar. When the Seahawks are playing, expect the music to be down and the TV’s on. Come the weekends, your basic blow-out. There’s food available now, but just your basic obey-the-letter-of-the-law TV dinners. The operators, both veterans of Fremont’s Swingside Cafe, suggested that maybe down the line, the offerings might expand. The darts and video games are free. The drinks are generous, and the atmosphere is boisterous.
In the process of our investigation, we happened to pull up a bar stool next to a Flash, a long-time Wallyhood reader and commenter who we’d never met in the flesh. He informed us that, in the no-bullshit manner to which we’ve become accustomed in his comments, while he liked Wallyhood, we had “too much kid stuff”.
OK, granted. But there we are, out at night, in a bar, Baby Z safely home asleep. Give us some credit, right?
The old bar was called Tony’s Liquid House, although the canopy said “Bon Voyage Chad” for a while, after a going-away party they had there.
Awesome. I knew you the right man for the job. Can’t wait to check it out!
coulda been the first meeting of the nascent wallyhood daddy support meeting?
I’d seen the former bar and wondered what the heck it was. Now it’s a wizard. Magical!
I walked by it last night and couldn’t remember if it had always been there or not. I love the Swingside, I’ll have to stop by.
Not quite correct Jordan. I arrived at about the same time you did when that girl collapsed in the middle of Sunnyside. It almost looked like a hit and run, but my sources say she tried getting served at Murphy’s, Changes and The Moon Temple and was rejected. She should have at least had enough common decency to collapse in the alcove in front of the UPS Store like most street inebriates. You called 911 and I did my best to prevent her getting run over. I don’t believe I introduced myself then though. aocole is correct that the name of the old bar was Tony’s Liquid House, but it was a legacy name from the previous owner who now owns Piccolo’s Pizza on 52nd and Roosevelt in the UD. Incidentally they are getting a liquor license soon. Our preferred internal names for the bar were ‘Gary Coleman’s’, ‘The Schick Scheidel Lounge’, ‘Al’s Is Down The Street, Hipster Scum’ and ‘The Black Eye Of Wallingford’. It can seem like a tough crowd for the uninitiated, but the cops were called there only once in three years so you’re probably statistically safer there than at QFC. Not much can happen at a place that is 90% regulars who know the owner and have a vested interest in keeping the peace. You are correct that you have too much kids stuff, but perhaps I’d care more about our disastrous lack of dog crap bags in public parks and baked sales in schools if I wasn’t required by Washington state law to remain 500 yards away from them. Kidding, kidding. I do hate children though. I like them even less than adults. Funny you know Kirchmer. Small world.
Flash should be a regular contributor to Wallyhood, with articles directed at those of us in the ‘hood without kids and who like bars. Round out the blog a bit 🙂
i liked Tony’s. Whenever i took friends there they thought it was a gay bar. I kept saying they only had regulars and they had to be the worst dressed gays ever, but two different groups of friends remained unconvinced. Love the concept and the Doom soundtrack, can only assume this will keep all those pesky girls away from the clubhouse just like before.
I liked Tony’s too. It’s hilarious that the owner hated when people called it that, but that’s what it said on your bank statement if you ran your debit card. Whenever I’d tell people where I was when I was there, everyone would say, “Where? Oh yea Al’s…” which hopefully will change. The atmosphere remains similar, with another room opened for more pinball, sweet vintage movie posters and extra seating. But the important stuff: cheap, stiff drinks, metal, the occasional sports, free darts, lots of varieties of whiskey, and no bs. A model of what every drinking hole should be.
What is the quality of the bartenders? Would be sweet to have a talented mixologist in Wallyworld, like we find at ZigZag and elsewhere. I’ll always remain loyal to Madame Kate and the Erics at her eponymous pub down the block however.
I agree with Flash on the balance of content on the blog. I have been trying to think of a nice way to say that for a while but I haven’t been able to.
+1 for getting Flash on the payroll
Flash, you’ve been drafted. Please report to the HR department to be issued your press badge and reporter’s notebook.
Count me in the ‘less kid, more bar’ camp! Yay Flash!
Just found this spot reopened last night. Nice enough guys and a good vibe. I too have a few friends insisting Tony’s was a gay bar but who cares if it was. A drink is a drink.
Gay, straight or in between, no one got laid at the old Tony’s. It’s a little more girl friendly now so it will be a more mixed crowd. They only had one bathroom before and that is an obvious turn off for girls. I’ll keep you posted on any tail I see being had, irrespective of color, creed or sexual orientation of the tail in question, I promise. @Wallyhood, I actually do write semi-professionally, but mostly comedy stuff that I get paid for in either cash or at the very least drink tickets. Make an offer. Thanks for the kind words everyone, but that don’t put cream in Daddy’s corn.
Add another voice for the “less kid stuff, please!”
I used to hang out at Tony’s because I thought it was a gay bar. In fact, I called it the “Brown eye of Wallingford.” If It wasn’t a gay bar, then why did it always smell like a semen fart?
Flash should be a regular contributor to Wallyhood, with articles directed at those of us in the ‘hood without kids and who like bars.