Post #384285 by TorchGuy on Tue, Jun 3, 2008 6:33 AM

The place I was told about in Burien was a Chinese restaurant with a funky fireplace in it. Aside from tiki and lounge decor, I have an affinity for 70s style, and this includes the Malm, Preway, Majestic and various eye-catching custom wood and gas fireplaces - I walk into a lounge with a fire, and I'm home. Leilani Lanes had a killer gas fire with a bed of lava rocks, sitting on a wood-framed smoked glass plate - it and its hammered copper hood hung on six chains above a lava rock waterfall lit by green floodlights. I was also told that the bar at Sun Ya in the International District has an old Malm corner fire, but I haven't been in yet. Louie's works not only because of the fire and the decor, but also because the food is excellent.

A lounge doesn't have to have stellar decor to attract me. That's a plus. If I see a fireplace and the lights are low, I'm in. If I can sit by the fire, I stay. If the decor is cool and/or the drinks are good, I come back regularly.

One of the places in Renton, I don't know the name, but I'll find out. It's below the Highlands - near Herfy's Burgers is a side street that runs between apartments and a fairly recent self-storage business. Past the storage place is the bar. Now, I'm not certain that all the clientele there is bad, but I've only been in with a friend who was taking his buddy there - his buddy and the buddy's drinking friends are all raging alcoholics, and they're violent drunks. The fact that this was one of their regular haunts made me steer clear. I did have a nice chat with the tender about fixing the gas fire, which has seats and a table around the bowl.

The other Renton location... the name escapes me, but it's between 2nd and 3rd on Williams, middle of the block behind the new bank. It changed names recently, and though the tender denied it insistently, it seems to have had a nautical theme in the far past. The bar is three spaces: left, right and rear. There are separate doors into both left and right - I think they're supposed to be bar and restaurant, respectively, though both have a bar (which is down the center). The left side has pool tables etc. the back has dart boards and I think a DJ spot and band spot (though I've never seen either in there) and the right side has tables. The fireplace in the restaurant side has a big hood on the wall with two thick chains hanging down, which visibly used to be attached to the ceiling to give the impression of support - the fire is gas and is, or was, still used. The food here is cheap and passably good. I used to go here with friends, one of whom invoked the wrath of the tender by using the net-connected MP3 jukebox to download his kind of music - that is to say, hardcore rap. The tender got so upset that he began getting out his remote and shutting off the jukebox each time my friend pumped it full of cash, which sparked a few arguments.

Any other vintage bars or lounges with fireplaces, working or not, whether they be gems or dives or dumps? And where are you located, Woofmutt?