Mark Fuller of West Seattle’s Ma’ono and New Luck Toy brings new life to the Benbow, again

Few restaurants in Seattle have received as many eulogies as the Admiral Benbow Inn, having slipped under more than half a dozen owners and evaded demolition plans in the past 20 years.

The West Seattle Diner with a dive bar in the shape of a pirate ship and a fish pond in the bottom was first opened in 1950 and closed in 2002 after the death of the owner Neysa Longmire. “Raise your glass in tearful RIP for the Admiral Benbow Inn in West Seattle, the only bar in town where you can enjoy a bourbon and a cola in the cozy surroundings of a pirate ship,” wrote Melanie Mcfarland in Seattle Times a Year 2002. “Arggh!”

In 2009, the Midwestern Heartland Café opened in this room and restored the pirate ship in honor of its history as the Benbow Room. In 2014, the cafe was sold again to owners who briefly revived the original name – if not the concept – before closing again a year later, leading the Times to call it “a Seattle treasure.” Then, until 2019, it was a bar called Vidiot, unrelated to history. But last week the West Seattle blog reported big news: restaurateur Mark Fuller plans to update the room and return it to its original name.

Fuller’s most famous spot in West Seattle is Ma’ono, which expanded into a mini-chain, but in the soon-to-be-reopened New Luck Toy, he showed how to absorb local history and create a combination of a popular bar and respectful homage. Although he says he’s months of work away from getting the bar into opening shape, that gives him plenty of time to figure out how to properly bring the history of the Benbow into his new concept – hopefully in a way that the locals don’t mind upset.

“Sometimes on Sundays, when I’m here alone, I try very hard to be quiet to see if she doesn’t come back,” Neysa Longmire once told HistoryLink. The apron phantom roamed the hallways, turning the water on and off, and maybe even pushing staff on occasion. “I was wondering if this place where the Benbow Inn is located wasn’t there in the early days. Has anyone died or been killed, or was there a house here? Maybe they just never moved from this place, so they’re still here. “

Neysa Nugent started out as a waitress, then married Lloyd Longmire about a year after the bar opened in 1950. According to reports, Neysa’s daughter came up with the name from their first marriage and drew it from the roadhouse on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, and she redesigned the building according to the theme, complete with the bar based on the model of the Hispaniola. “Diverse meals in a Moby Dick environment. A cocktail lounge shaped like the hull of a ship and the occasional clap of thunder startle unsuspecting drinkers, ”the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described in 1967.

When the Longmires divorced in 1968, Neysa became sole owner and ran it for over 50 years. It served local mayors and politicians, the Chart Room was the backdrop for a Mudhoney music video, it became the Seafair Pirates’ clubhouse, and has hosted dozens of local clubs throughout its history. By the time Neysa died in 2002 at the age of 80, her heirs had already made the decision to close the bar and sent her to the mix of owners.

While some of these owners neglected the unique architecture that was hiding in a basement in West Seattle, most simply struggled to find a way to best embrace the curiosity. But the new owner bodes well for the once popular spot in the neighborhood: Fuller has a track record, both in general and in terms of local history, as he strikes the line between whimsical and cheesy and good food and great drinks with a fun one Note connects the camp.