Slog - Comments on Andy's Diner 1947-2008 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner Sad news about Andy's Diner, Sodo's beloved coalition of retired train cars, has apparently abruptly closed its doors. From suddenly former Andy's bartender Mel C.: After being open since 1947, Andy's Diner has closed it doors. Employees like myself were not given any notice of its closure. Andy's diner which boasts the "presidential" car which FDR toured in during his campaign and his famous pictures were taken had to close, apparently due to finances. The employees included "Millie" an Andy's veteran who had worked there for 43 years, "Tom" who had been a busboy and dishwasher for 18 years... Copyright 2008 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:36:44 -0800 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:13:09 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Mac Is Georgetown expanding or something? I always thought Andy's was pretty solidly SoDo.

]]> Mac http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903798 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903798 City Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:26:59 -0800 Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball If I'd known one of The Spice Girls was a bartender there, I would have gone more often.

]]> Jubilation T. Cornball http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903803 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903803 City Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:50:46 -0800 Comment by Big Sven Used to go there a lot. You could hear a pin drop most days. Nice club sandwich, though.

]]> Big Sven http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903808 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903808 City Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:20:35 -0800 Comment by litlnemo It is so not Georgetown there. Nowhere near Georgetown.

And, dammit, I wish we'd had some advance notice to go there one more time.

]]> litlnemo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903810 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903810 City Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:31:08 -0800 Comment by Pinky God this city is losing its flavor. Come on down Bellevue! The Cold storage in Georgetown, Andys, the Jade, The Sunset...fuck! fuck! fuck! Ive been wasted many a times in Andys playing pull tabs wandering around the presidential car...Im gonna miss that place.

]]> Pinky http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903816 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903816 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:08:00 -0800 Comment by brappy Photo credit, anyone? Anyone?

]]> brappy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903821 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903821 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:35:32 -0800 Comment by catalina vel-duray This is truly a damn, damn shame. I was in there on Friday night, and had no idea.

I did hear someone talking about how "the restaurant's rent has gone up to 15k a month" but I didn't think they were talking about Andy's. Since it's been there so long, I assumed they owned the land. And they could have been talking about some other restaurant.

It would be great is someone could step in and save it, but that's probably a pipe dream. It was one of the last fun little hidden places, like Vito's used to be, or that bar in the Moore Hotel.

How will they ever move those train cars?

]]> catalina vel-duray http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903835 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903835 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:31:05 -0800 Comment by Clint Bummer. I had a birthday party there a couple years ago. Good memories there.

]]> Clint http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903847 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903847 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:37:21 -0800 Comment by max solomon @ 7: you'd be surprised what you can do with cranes.

put this same grouping of train cars on roosevelt, say on the rental car lot by der bier stube, and its a yuppie's dream diner.

location location location.

]]> max solomon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903858 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903858 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:21:17 -0800 Comment by tpn Greg Nickels' DPD marketing sloagan: "We Love Wrecking Your Town!".

I'll pretend to act shocked, and you pretend to believe me.

]]> tpn http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903870 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903870 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:50:48 -0800 Comment by it's ME Oh shit. They had the best monte cristo in the city. And train cars! I am inconsolable.

]]> it's ME http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903909 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903909 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:44:02 -0800 Comment by Ryan I really wish I'd known about this place before this. I had no clue.

]]> Ryan http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903923 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903923 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:59:31 -0800 Comment by infrequent @7 i was there on friday, too. crazy.

]]> infrequent http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903947 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903947 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:13:23 -0800 Comment by Fay Jai Sorry to see the buildings go, and loved the vibe there, but easily the shittiest meal I've ever had here in Seattle. Worse than excreable.

]]> Fay Jai http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903950 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903950 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:15:07 -0800 Comment by vesuvius Frankly, I ate there too and it sucked. Really bad omelet, swimming in grease, stringy, greasy French fries.
A charm that is entirely faded. The Seven Gables is similar: moldy faded carpet with rats running in front of the chairs, before the screen.

]]> vesuvius http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903968 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903968 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:25:33 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV The only real attraction to the place was the opportunity to eat in a railcar.

Which still can be done on the way to Mt. Rainier.

The food was never all that good (in either place...)

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903976 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903976 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:29:45 -0800 Comment by aaa Gotta agree- if their food was even 1% as cool as the vibe - the place would have been great.

Their food was really terrible!!! I remember ordering a "turkey dinner" there and wondering if it had been scooped out of a TV dinner.

]]> aaa http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903980 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c903980 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:32:33 -0800 Comment by bronkitis The food sucked, and the ambience was ruined by suspicious waitstaff. It felt like eating in a diner in Colfax or something, which is not to say that is without its charms. I wonder if the ghosts will go when they move the cars?

]]> bronkitis http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904003 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904003 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:56:06 -0800 Comment by cochise fucking condos.

]]> cochise http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904029 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904029 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:15:06 -0800 Comment by Dr_Awesome Funny, I thought it closed years ago. Seriously- I remember going there way back in the 70's (yes, The Dr. is older than dirt), and I was sorta surprised to read that it *just* closed. It looked sorta grimy and abandoned every time I've been down in that area.

Like the Doghouse in its last few years, Seattle's notable icons seem to lose their luster years before their final exit.

As long as Pecos Pit is still servin' up spiked BBQ sandwiches, Seattle will still have a soul.

]]> Dr_Awesome http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904056 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904056 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:28:59 -0800 Comment by kerri harrop @7: I drove by Andy's on Friday night, on my way home to West Seattle, and was thisclose to stopping in.

Lamenting the loss of old school Seattle is far too commonplace these days. We have lost too many culturally significant places in a very short period of time.

Dive bars, old-timey diners, 24-hour spots...they all serve a purpose.

I will never forget sitting at the bar in the Gay '90's, next to an old man that lived in the low income apartments upstairs. My eyes were saucers when I saw what he was drinking: bourbon and milk. In the same glass.

Every city needs places like the '90's, the aforementioned old Vito's, the Dome Tavern, Sorry Charlie's, the Mirror, and countless other joints that are now shuttered.

The Cheesecake factory stands where the Gay '90's once was. Down the street, Nike Town anchors a block that was once home to Abruzzi's, the finest pizzeria I've ever known in the 206.

I know this old people talk, and I've said it before, but I seriously miss something new almost every day. There are time that I barely recognize the city in which I was born.

]]> kerri harrop http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904059 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904059 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:30:41 -0800 Comment by Fay Jai Ahhhhh....Bourbon and Milk heard about it and not soon after ordered it in the only place worthy of the drink left in this city....The Turf downtown. Not as bad as you would think, I'd order it again. (And, ya gotta admit, better then Joe Don Baker's drink of choice in the craptacular "Heaven's Prisoners"...Bourbon and Peptol Bismol. THAT is disgusting...

]]> Fay Jai http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904083 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904083 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:40:56 -0800 Comment by diana I blame all you cool hipsters for not going regularly and finally starting live music nights as the reason Andy's is closed (A La Jules Maes one-time fate).

]]> diana http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904094 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904094 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:44:59 -0800 Comment by Verna Beaver's Hair Salon Alas. Just about everything I loved about this town is being torn down or yuppied up. I wish I'd known Andy's was closing so soon. And I wish I'd known they were tearing down the neon Fuzzy Wuzzy Rug sign on Fourth Avenue South, too (would have looked great in my backyard). R.I.P.

]]> Verna Beaver's Hair Salon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904329 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904329 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:21:54 -0800 Comment by catalina vel-duray "The only real attraction to the place was the opportunity to eat in a railcar.

Which still can be done on the way to Mt. Rainier. "

It can? By whom? on what? The Spirit of Washington is dead, you know.

Speaking of bad food - at least Andy's was cheap. SOW was both ridiculously expensive AND ridiculously awful.

And the food wasn't all that bad at Andy's. The last few months it had actually gotten better. I'd heard they were under new management. I guess I heard wrong.

]]> catalina vel-duray http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904355 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904355 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:44:29 -0800 Comment by RunnyBunny Peco's Pit gave me DIARRHEA! Fuck that place in the mouth, forever!

]]> RunnyBunny http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904418 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904418 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:31:38 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Not a moving railcar, CV-D, but a stationary rail-car based restaurant just outside of Elbe, on the way to Paradise.

At least it was there last time I went through, a couple years ago.

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904421 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904421 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:33:31 -0800 Comment by playswithknives It's too bad. I cooked there in 2000, and really liked the place. Millie and Tom were great. They had a kick-ass lunch business, but nighttime was pretty slow.

]]> playswithknives http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904554 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904554 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:59:36 -0800 Comment by Dr_Awesome [i]Peco's Pit gave me DIARRHEA! Fuck that place in the mouth, forever![/i]

Well, fine. I'll never ever venture farther away from home than Redmond ever, ever again. The model Space Needle at Gold Creek on Highway 203 will be as close as I get to the real thing for ever more.

]]> Dr_Awesome http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904562 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/01/rip_andys_diner#c904562 City Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:13:09 -0800