Seattle, WA
At age 94, Seattle’s oldest bartender announces ‘last call’
Driving down Lake City Way, there’s a warm light in the distance — a beacon calling you to a bar room full of beers and bands. The soft, yellow light that’s been glowing decades is the sign for the Shanty Tavern, though it’s known by another name to its owner.
“She is called Miss Shanty,” John Spaccarotelli tells KUOW. He’s owned the place and poured drinks for “umpteen years.”
More precisely, John Spaccarotelli has spent 64 years at this spot on the edge of the road in Lake City, running what’s referred to as the “last roadhouse” in Seattle.
This style of a neighborhood bar, equipped with a dance floor, used to be more common decades ago. John Spaccarotelli’s patrons and family see it as a vanishing piece of Seattle culture.
“There’s just something special about this place,” says Lisa Casal, who comes in for music regularly and enjoys a front row seat at the bar. “These places are disappearing — and it’s sad.”
For the last few years, John Spaccarotelli has only been opening the Shanty Tavern on Friday nights for beer and live music. His three daughters and his grandkids are here to help him out through the busy closing night.
Many of the business’s regulars live in Lake City and walk to the bar from their homes. Now they’re figuring what they’ll do with their Friday nights once the tavern’s doors close.
One regular, Eric Beam, has a “reserved” barstool at the far end of the bar, where he can always be found reading a thick book.
“I come here at the end of the week, sit here, and talk stories with John,” Beam says. “And I leave with a big smile on my face, feeling better. I’m really going to miss that.”
John Spaccarotelli doesn’t plan to sell the land or building, but the 94-year-old said retirement is calling.
“I’m just going to take it easy for a while,” he says.
The Shanty Tavern has been home to longtime regulars like Michael Wansley, better known around here as Wanz, who’s been coming since the 1990s.
“[I] come down here every Friday with a whole bunch of the neighborhood cats,” he says. “We hang out here, play pool, drink beer.”
On its last Friday night open, the Shanty Tavern is much busier than usual, Wansley says, because this is one of the last nights The Shanty Tavern is pouring beers.
People have come to pay their respects and give one last toast.
“I would toast the fact that the beer is always cold, the jokes are almost always dirty, and the asses are always smart,” Wansley says with a raised glass.
In the low, crowded barroom, the Rat City Brass Band wails in one corner. The dance floor is so packed, the floorboards bounce up and down.
John Noe books the bands here. And since the place is so busy on closing night, he’s helping pick up empty bottles, too.
“Twelve years doing this, so it’s the end of an era,” Noe says. “Kind of bittersweet tonight. You know, they’ve become a part of my family.”
It’s an emotional night for the entire Spaccarotelli family. John Spaccarotelli’s daughter, Dayna, has been working with him here for the past 18 years.
“Lot of tears will come later, [I’m] trying to hold it together right now,” Dayna Spaccarotelli says. “My whole life has been here.”
She grew up here with her two sisters. The three used to come in to “help” their dad.
“We’d dance to the jukebox. We’d play shuffleboard and pool. We’d throw darts,” Dayna Spaccarotelli says.
A lot of old regulars made the trip on Friday to say goodbye to the Spaccarotellis. The hardest part, Dayna Spaccarotelli says, is seeing all these old faces and sharing memories.
“I just keep telling myself to just get through tonight. Just get through tonight. It’ll be okay,” Dayna says. “It’s not going to be okay.”
John Spaccarotelli says he plans to spend more time with his family after his retirement. He also wants more time to do what he loves: dancing. He even met a potential new dance partner at the bar’s last call.
“She says she likes to dance,” he said. “Ao I’ll find out if she likes to dance that much with me.”
By around 1:15 a.m., the Shanty Tavern crowd has slimmed down, but the bar’s regulars, who don’t want the place to close yet, have stuck around.
Fulvio Longo, who has a favorite corner barstool, brought in some champagne and is singing goodbye songs with John Spaccarotelli.
Then comes the moment everyone’s been dreading:
“Last call! Last call!” John Spaccarotelli shouts out above the noise. “That’s it, everybody. Last call.”
John Spaccarotelli insists this isn’t goodbye, though.
He says he’ll host one more open house in January and then maybe rent the place out.
But no matter what, the glowing sign isn’t coming down, he says.
“Thank you for the good times with the people that I’ve met,” he says. “And hopefully I’ll meet someone on the street saying, ‘Hi, John.’”
That stretch begins with five more home games: A skilled and successful Carolina squad Monday, followed by St. Louis (for the second time in a week) Wednesday, Ottawa next Saturday, then Nashville (just behind Seattle in the West wild-card race) on March 10 and then finishing with Western Conference leader Colorado March 12.
Stars Shine and Star-Crossed Hat Trick
Vince Dunn opened the scoring in his 600th NHL game. Jordan Eberle topped the best Kraken-season goals mark with his 21st and 22nd goals of the year, with 23 games left to flirt with his first 30-plus goals on the year since his sophomore season in 2011-12. Joey Daccord registered 27 saves on the victorious night, including nine high-danger chances in the first 40 minutes alone.
To the fans’ disappointment, the slick-stickhandling Daccord missed a historic goalie goal by inches. But the sellout crowd was rewarded when Eberle cashed in on the Vancouver empty net. Eberle now has four two-goal games this season.
In a bizarre twist, when Eberle scored that empty-netter, Kraken fans rightfully cheered and tossed headwear for what was presumed to be a hat-trick score. But after Eberle scored, the scoring change on the Kraken’s power play goal was announced when off-ice officials realized Eberle’s shot had just ever-so-slightly deflected off Matty Beniers’ skate. So no hat trick for the second time this season. Linemate Jared McCann and hat-tossing fans thought the Kraken’s all-time leading scorer had notched a hat trick earlier this season, only to have it reversed when an offside infraction by, wait for it, Beniers, erased the goal.
Eberle joked post-game that maybe fans deserved some hats. The Kraken captain also said when Daccord missed by inches on his goalie goal, he was on the bench saying, “he got it, he got it.” Post-game, Eberle said, “It’s just a matter of time before he gets one” because he greatly admires the goaltender’s puck-handling skills.
The Kraken came out fast Saturday night with two goals, a couple of near-misses, lots of scoring attempts and pucks on net during the first 20 minutes. One near-miss was a hard wrist shot from Jordan Eberle that clanged off the far post. But no matter, Eberle scored a pivotal goal in the second period, getting in front of a Vancouver shot and chasing his own ricochet to create a breakaway with his still-elite speed. The 35-year-old Seattle captain went to his lethal backhand to beat Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen. Eberle’s tally re-upped the two-goal lead.
Good night for Kraken special teams as well. The penalty killer snuffed an early third period Canucks power play to keep the two-score cushion. Later third period, Matty Beniers scored on the power play, deflecting an Eberle shot, to push the score to 4-1. Chandler Stephenson earned his second point of the night with the primary assist. Same for Dunn, who notched the second assist. The Kraken needed just 10 seconds to score the man-advantage marker.
Captaining His Best Kraken Season…
It is Eberle’s 21st goal of the season. The next one he scores will set a new high as a Kraken for the teammate everyone calls “Ebs.” That makes it three of five seasons that Eberle has scored 20 or more goals. Eberle almost scored again later second period when matching cross-checking penalties on SEA forward Kaapo Kakko and VAN defenseman Filip Hronek. The ensuing 4-on-4 play was dominated by the Kraken quartet of Eberle, Matty Beniers, Brandon Montour and Ryker Evans. Beniers stood with some moves and an improv that had future Hall of Fame play-by-play man John Forslund saying, “Beniers did everything but score.” It was heartening to see Seattle flexing its offensive chops with a 3-1 lead.
The Kraken scored twice in an opening 20 minutes played to order, returning to the hard forechecking game they exhibited on a heater 10-game streak before the Olympic break. The starting goalie did his part, stopping all nine of Vancouver’s shots in the first 20 minutes to bring confidence to the first-intermission home locker room.
Jumping Out of the Starting Blocks
The Kraken faithful were mega-decibel loud during the announcement of the starting lineups, welcoming back Olympian bronze medalists Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen, as well as Seattle teammates. This week’s two road losses forgotten, replaced by rousing cheers for starters and fourth-liners Freddy Gaudreau, centering Jacob Melanson and Ben Meyers (on the wing for the first since a road matchup in LA right before the winter holiday break).
Defenseman Cale Fleury and Ryker Evans rounded out the skaters in front of Joey Daccord. It’s not a stretch to think head coach Lane Lambert was sending a message with his fourth line and third pair getting the first shift after losing two games in the Midwest by a composite score of 9-2.
Saturday morning, both defenseman Vince Dunn and Lambert both talked about what would be the ideal first 10 to 20 minutes in this Pacific Division showdown with rival Vancouver.
“We need to play simple and hard and direct,” said Dunn, who was playing in his 600th NHL game, 333 with Seattle. “I think we’re very connected when we can get our forecheck going. I think the way we play as a five-man unit is that we slow teams down and don’t get scrambled in our own end. We’re more patient in our own end and letting guys accept their positions and roles and areas that they need to defend in.
“Right away, we need to start shooting pucks … the past two games, the shot count hasn’t been where we wanted it to be in the first 10 minutes. So let’s get some looks and see what happens. Let’s see if we can get the other team scrambling.”
From miners, lumberjacks and seamen to the world arriving on our shores this summer, Folio Seattle will host a program Monday night, with two local soccer scribes detailing the region’s collective footy history in “Seattle’s Road to the 2026 World Cup.”
Matt Pentz, a former soccer reporter for The Seattle Times and The Athletic, is teaming with historian Frank MacDonald, executive director for Washington State Legends of Soccer and occasional Sounder at Heart contributor. The program goes from 6-8 PM at the Folio location in Pike Place Market. Donations of any amount are accepted.
Pentz and MacDonald will dive into the state’s century-plus adoration of the game and highlight what’s changed in the last generation, since Seattle failed to land matches for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Olympians Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Erin Ambrose have all been placed on long-term injured reserve by their PWHL clubs after sustaining injuries during the Milan Cortina Games.
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Knight, a five-time Olympian and captain of the United States team that won gold, will be out of the lineup for the Seattle Torrent indefinitely after sustaining a lower-body injury in Italy, the team announced Friday.
Knight had three goals and three assists for the U.S. at Milan Cortina including a goal in the 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the final. She has three goals and seven assists during the current PWHL season.
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“While we’re eager to be at full strength and recognize the anticipation of Hilary’s return, we’re focused on putting her and our team in the best position for a playoff push,” Torrent general manager Meghan Turner said in a statement.
Minnesota Frost captain Coyne Schofield was placed on long-term injured reserve on Friday retroactive to Feb. 19 with an upper-body injury. Coyne Schofield scored three goals for the United States during the Olympics.
“I am incredibly proud of all our Frost Olympians who demonstrated true excellence on the world stage,” general manager Melissa Caruso said in a statement. “We are fully committed to supporting Kendall throughout her recovery, and our medical team will be working diligently to help her prepare for her return to the ice.”
The moves by the Torrent and Frost came a day after the Montreal Victoire announced that Ambrose has been placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 19 for a lower‑body injury suffered while representing Canada in the gold medal game. Ambrose had a pair of assists at the Olympics.
The Victoire’s Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada’s captain in Italy, was listed as day-to-day with an Olympics-related injury.
Victoire general manager Daniele Sauvageau said of the team’s Olympians “we are confident that they will be back in the lineup in the near future.”
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