PORT ANGELES — As much as he loves the business, it’s time to let it go, owner Bob Grattan said of the landmark Bushwhacker restaurant.
The restaurant, which has offered steaks and seafood for nearly 40 years at 1527 E. First St. in Port Angeles, will close at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Grattan, 62, is retiring.
He said last week that managing a family business dominated his life for nearly four decades.
It has been “all-encompassing,” he said.
He plans to visit his two children — Sadie Grattan, 30, and Cassidy Grattan, 34.
He also likes to write and said penning a book about the restaurant business might be in his plans.
Grattan, who once planned to be a teacher, remains interested in education and wants to find a way to be active in the schools.
The restaurant business and building are for sale, but Grattan said no deals are pending, although several people have expressed interest.
Early ’70s
Grattan got his feet wet in the restaurant business in the early 1970s — first washing dishes at a Glacier National Park eatery and later at a restaurant near his alma mater, the University of Montana.
He had planned to enter the education profession, but he left that and Montana behind when his brother-in-law, Ched Lyman, bought the restaurant, opening it as the Bushwacker in Feburary 1976, and offered Grattan the position of manager.
“It sounded like a great opportunity,” he said, adding that he wasn’t quite ready to teach.
When Lyman and Grattan’s sister, Sheila, divorced, she got the business.
Grattan and his sister became partners in The Bushwhacker in 1983.
Frugals’ beginnings
Things went so well that they started a drive-through restaurant in the 1990s that has become an Olympic Peninsula icon: Frugals at 1520 E. Front St.
Frugals did so well that they decided to divide the businesses: Grattan ended up with The Bushwhacker, and Sheila got Frugals.
He found that as much as he liked cooking in the kitchen at The Bushwhacker, he loved being the host in the front of the house even more.
“I like the people business,” he said, noting that he enjoys making waffles for customers at the restaurant’s Sunday brunch.
Among the customers over the years, many stand out in Grattan’s mind.
Among them is longtime customer Harry Gasnick, a Clallam County public defender.
Gasnick has brought a group of public defenders to The Bushwhacker on Thursday nights for years, Grattan said.
The restaurant is their sanctuary, the group’s “Thursday night refuge,” he said.
In particular, he has enjoyed trading stories and laughs with Gasnick, whom he described as a big sports fan.
Touching moments
There have been many touching moments, too.
“There was an older couple in the restaurant this week,” he said, “who proposed in the bar years ago.”
That couple is Jack and Ruth Brown, whom he said courted and were engaged at The Bushwhacker.
They’ve been together 27 years, Grattan said.
Many rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions and Christmas and birthday parties have taken place at the restaurant.
Grattan remembered one surprise party thrown by a woman whose husband was losing his sight.
The owner was touched when the woman described the colors of all the party balloons in the room for her husband and told him who was there.
With a smile, Grattan said the name “Bushwhacker” comes from Australia — people who blaze trails through the woods.
Before it was The Bushwhacker, the building housed the Sawmill, a tavern and meeting place.
Driving force
The Bushwhacker, which now has 20 workers, has had more than 600 employees since 1976, and Grattan said their contributions have been the real driving force behind the restaurant’s success.
He mentioned Colleen Alger, who was a manager for 27 years.
Alger had a reputation for grabbing onto projects and following them through to the end. Her tenacity earned her the moniker “Bulldog.”
“She was a real smart girl,” he said.
Grattan credits his former wife, Julie, for the restaurant’s success, too.
Julie had prior background in the food business when he hired her as a waitress.
They later married and had children, now all grown.
Grattan said she was an “integral part of the restaurant” who worked in several roles, including making desserts and managing the facility’s catering business.
The business didn’t catch on with any of his children, although Sadie worked as a waitress.
She is now a student at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
At one point, local architect Rob Linkletter designed the lounge addition to the restaurant, and it became known as the Links Room in his honor.
Linkletter is also well-known for designing Linkletter Hall, an auditorium at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Coming together
The most gratifying part of owning the restaurant, Grattan said, has been “seeing families come together, see their friends and visit.”
And the hardest part?
The long hours take a toll, as well as worrying about the restaurant when he has not been there, he said.
The Bushwhacker has been open seven days a week, and it’s a “real stressful business,” he added.
As much as he might look forward to giving up the stress, Grattan said it has been even better that many customers have come in to eat and visit him before he makes his exit.
“It’s been great,” even a little overwhelming, he said, hearing from “people who wish me the best.”
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Reporter Mark Swanson can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5054, or mswanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
