Before anyone messages us, let me make something clear: we know Roslyn is not in the eastern part of Washington state. Our geographic knowledge isn’t strong, but it’s not that bad.
We planned that during October, we’d go to the furthest north, south, east, and west churches (and bars) we could find. When we got to the east side of the Snake River, in Clarkston, Washington, we found a bar in an Italian restaurant just a couple of blocks from the border, and it seemed fine. Just … fine. And it was my birthday. There was a wait, even for a seat at the bar. The place wasn’t that interesting.
We knew that the next day, we’d be driving home past another much more interesting bar, someplace I’d much rather write about: The Brick.
Back in the ‘90s, Mindy and I loved watching the TV show Northern Exposure. It was about a New York doctor brought to work in the small town of Cicely, Alaska, for a fish-out-of-water comedy. Cicely (not a real town) was portrayed by the real-life town of Roslyn, Washington. The Brick, a bar/restaurant in the show, exists in Cicely’s real-world doppleganger as well. We wanted to go to there.
The exterior looks much as it did on the show. It’s a bit weathered, and it has a Coke sign I’m sure didn’t make it to the airwaves. Inside, it looked more Washingtonian than Alaskan -- particularly the Seahawks and “12” banners. Most of the tables in the bar portion of The Brick (another room with a separate entrance is the restaurant portion) were filled with people watching the game. Before long, the Rams beat the Hawks (33-31), but people kept watching the replays. (“Oh, look at that big boy run!”). Some people went to the pool and shuffleboard tables, but we sat at the bar.
Sherry the bartender gave us menus and took our drink orders (we both ordered ciders, I went with the Manchester Road Red Apple Cider on tap while Mindy chose Spire Crisp and Dry). I noticed an odd thing at our feet in front of the bar: a running water spittoon (neither of us spit, but we heard that the bar sometimes has races in the spittoon). Mindy ordered a burger and I ordered brisket.
On the wall behind the bar, I saw a notice offering gift cards to “Support our high school football team.” A jar on the bar near Mindy held donations for the medical needs of a Brick employee. Carlena, washing glasses behind the bar, told us it was their most successful fundraiser because people loved the employee and wanted to help her.
Since the crowd wasn’t too demanding at the moment, we asked Carlena our two questions, “What makes for a good bar?” and “What makes for a good church?” Carlena said that for a good bar, “It’s the staff, the personnel, if they work like a well functioning team.” After Mindy (correctly) guessed from her answer that Carlena was one of the bar’s managers, Carlena answered our church question by saying, “The pastor has to grab your attention.”
We talked about The Brick, and she said she appreciates the history of the bar along with the history of the town. The bar opened in its present location in 1889, and was rebuilt in 1898 using the same bricks (thus the name of the bar). It claims to be the longest running bar in the state (I’m not sure what happened during the prohibition years). She also said she enjoys seeing old and new faces. Most days there’s a mix of locals and visitors, often those who were drawn by to the town by a love for Emmy-winning TV shows. (In the last few years, another Emmy-winning show, The Man in the High Castle, was filmed in Roslyn.)
We were also able to ask Christina our questions. She was grabbing some fries while on break from work at a local distillery. She recently moved from Michigan, and she said that at a bar, “As a millennial, I look for entertainment. On weekends they have live bands. It’s a huge attraction.” She told us about bars in her hometown, Mt. Pleasant, where she went to the same bars her parents had gone to when they were in college there. She also mentioned that she likes when there are always lots of people when she’s at a bar. As for what would make for a good church, she said, “I don’t go, but when I have, I like when the service is relevant to life.”
We’ve been to the real Alaska. We even went to a bar in the real Alaska, but I must say we enjoyed our time in this phony Alaska almost as much.
We knew that the next day, we’d be driving home past another much more interesting bar, someplace I’d much rather write about: The Brick.
On the wall behind the bar, I saw a notice offering gift cards to “Support our high school football team.” A jar on the bar near Mindy held donations for the medical needs of a Brick employee. Carlena, washing glasses behind the bar, told us it was their most successful fundraiser because people loved the employee and wanted to help her.
We were also able to ask Christina our questions. She was grabbing some fries while on break from work at a local distillery. She recently moved from Michigan, and she said that at a bar, “As a millennial, I look for entertainment. On weekends they have live bands. It’s a huge attraction.” She told us about bars in her hometown, Mt. Pleasant, where she went to the same bars her parents had gone to when they were in college there. She also mentioned that she likes when there are always lots of people when she’s at a bar. As for what would make for a good church, she said, “I don’t go, but when I have, I like when the service is relevant to life.”
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