PORT ANGELES — The New Peking Restaurant and Lounge, which was destroyed by a fire Tuesday, had been a staple of the Port Angeles bar scene since it opened as the Top Spot during World War II.
Paul and Genevieve Fletcher built the Top Spot at 2416 Highway 101 in the early 1940s, recalled their daughter-in-law, Joan Gill.
Gill said it was a popular place to dance during the war and post-war years because it had the “biggest dance floor west of Seattle.”
Helen Kullmann said the dance floor and name stayed when she and her husband Dale bought the bar in 1971.
The couple had moved from Seattle after Dale Kullmann retired as a Boeing engineer.
“It was a different lifestyle for me,” said Helen Kullmann, 82, of Port Townsend.
She said they bought the bar because her husband wanted to do something different.
“He looked around and the only thing making money was U-Hauls, traveling vans and bars,” Helen Kullmann said.
“He said, “OK, we’ll buy a tavern.”
The bar catered to a country music crowd but tried a brief stint as a disco, she said.
Helen Kullmann said she was sad to hear the news Tuesday, adding, “We had some good times there.”
The Kullmanns sold it to Henry Yee, who named it Henry Yee’s Restaurant.
It became New Peking Restaurant and Lounge when acquired by the Fong family in 1985.
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Reporter Arwin Rice contributed to this report.
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
