#1120 #S668 - Heads or Tails, Seattle - 5/29/2010

Update: Heads or Tails closed Jan 1, 2017.

This place has upgraded from a trash heap to a typical suburban dive.  Its previous incarnation, as the "Lazy Fish Saloon," was depressing in almost every way.  There were stacks of plywood and trash leaning against the interior walls, and 2 or 3 drunks from Aurora Ave leaning toward a fight.  Even the name was a bit shabby and dishonest -- there was a basically a foot-long fish in a two-foot-long tank:  You try being anything but "lazy" being confined in such a space.

The location is said to have hosted bars going back to 1934, although tax records date the building back to 1955, and three people were murdered here in 1994 when it was the "Far Western Pub and Grill."

The new place has cleaned up considerably, adding a back porch area (although granted, this was mainly for the smokers) and the standard dive ingredients -- diner type food, pulltabs, karaoke, and fliers for the local social clubs and semi-pro sports teams ("Seattle Stallions Football," "Ballard Elks Car Show," "9 Ways to Destroy Your Eagles Aerie").  The result seems to be a substantially larger crowd -- and I mean that in more ways than just a higher number of people. At least they must think the food is pretty dang good.

Mind you, all this doesn't mean that you still don't find the occasional dead body in the parking lot ...

12534 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133 - (206) 440-3288
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Previous bars at this location:  Herb's Tavern (60s to 80s), Baluga's Tavern (80s), Rex Pub & Grill (90s), Far Western Pub (mid 90s), Ima's Smokehouse Pub (1995), Bitter Lake Pub (2000s), Dawg Tagz (2000s), Lazy Fish Saloon