The
Embers,
West Seattle: Virtually every top Northwest rock act of the late 1960’s
- 1970’s played this great club on Harbor Avenue.
Mike
McElhoe,
December 2005
Although it
sounds
like a hot spot, The Embers was cool.
Hollywood
couldn't
dream up a better setting for a nightclub, on the edge of Elliott Bay
reflecting
the pinnacled skyline downtown.
There was a
canopy
over the sidewalk, torches, a maitre d'.
The Embers
opened
in 1964 at 1317 Harbor Ave. S.W. It offered drinks by the fireplace,
dining,
dancing and live jazz.
Bill Cosby and
Robert
Culp went there. So did Quincy Jones and West Seattle's own Dyan
Cannon.
But musicians were the real stars at The Embers. Guys like George
Griffin,
Corky Corkran, Bill Franklin and Mike
Mandell
performed there.
"(Guitarist)
Larry
Coryell played The Embers for six months. Two weeks later he was on 'Ed
Sullivan,'" said Kerry Kinsey, owner of the popular jazz club.
As the '60s
wound
down, The Embers shifted its focus to rock 'n' roll. Entertainers like
the Kingsmen, Junior Cadillac and Merrilee Rush performed there.
A reunion of
"Embers
Members" was held at the West Seattle Eagles lodge on August 4.
David Enroth, a
former
employee and fan of The Embers, was reminiscing earlier this summer
with
friends about the nightclub. Then the Admiral Benbow Inn closed
abruptly
with the death of owner Neysa Longmire in late May.
Enroth attended
Longmire's
memorial service, where he talked over old times with another Embers'
alum,
Red James. Both could feel the past slipping away so, while still at
the
memorial for Neysa Longmire, they decided to organize an Embers reunion.
"There was not
another
place in West Seattle that was more famous than The Embers," Enroth
said.
The spark for
The
Embers actually came from another West Seattle establishment called The
Happy Hour. It opened in 1960 in the Admiral District, where TNT's
Place
is today. It too was owned by Kerry Kinsey, along with his father, Ken.
"The Hour," as
it
was affectionately known, was a jazz hangout. Charlie Byrd, Woody
Woodhouse,
Mike Mandell and Stan Getz all jammed there. But The Hour was more of a
sports bar than a jazz venue, Kinsey said.
"I sponsored
every
sport but tiddlywinks really," he chuckled.
One Happy Hour
team
came within a single run of reaching the World Series of Softball in
Stamford,
Conn.
Kinsey always
wanted
to own a jazz club. He grew up in Tacoma and started high school at
Stadium
High. Then his dad moved the family to West Seattle, where he had a
vending
machine business. Kerry enrolled at West Seattle High School and
graduated
in 1950.
"I grew up with
the
big bands in the '40s," Kinsey said. "That's really what attracted me
to
it. Music has an effect on you if you have any kind of soul at all."
The nightclub
scene
came into being partly due to economics, he said.
"The expense of
traveling
with a 14-, 16-, 18-piece band got too high," Kinsey said. "Then the
halls
went away."
Many of the
auditoriums
and theaters where big bands performed were demolished or remodeled
into
large retail stores.
In the 1950s,
combos
of three or four musicians started playing jazz together in smaller,
more
intimate venues. That's also when rock 'n' roll started and its groups
had just three or four musicians too, Kinsey pointed out.
He opened The
Embers
in a building that was constructed in 1907. It once housed a tavern
called
the West Seattle Inn. There were also four apartments on the second
floor.
"It was a
pretty
active jazz club," said Gary Bannister, who does the booking at
Dimitriou's
Jazz Alley in Belltown. Other Seattle jazz clubs popular at the time
were
The Langelin, Pete's Poop Deck, The Penthouse and the College Inn Pub.
"The Embers was
the
only jazz club in West Seattle and probably the only one not downtown
or
in the University District," Bannister said.
Much of the
reason
for the demise of The Embers was the construction of Don Armeni boat
ramp
and its big parking lot across the street, Kinsey said. That was where
Embers' customers used to park.
The wooden
building
where The Embers once glowed still stands on Harbor Avenue. The
brownish-gray
structure is but a sagging semblance of its former glory. Gravity and
rain
have eroded the bottoms of the white-paint letters that spell "Embers."
"It gave people
a
place where a guy could bring his girlfriend, they could enjoy music,
dance,
see name entertainment," Kinsey said. "There was nothing like that in
West
Seattle."
Tim St.
Clair,
West Seattle Herald-News, 2002
West
Seattle
Herald/White Center News Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Kerry Kinsey,
entertainment
pioneer, dies at 72
by David Enroth
Seattle rock n'
roll
legend Pat O'Day called Kerry Kinsey a pioneer. He was. Some of
Seattle's
best early music was played at places Kinsey created in West Seattle:
The
Embers, and Happy Hour Tavern.
As a young boy
Kerry
Kinsey took an early interest in music playing 78s on a hand-cranked
Victrola
in an upstairs bedroom at his Tacoma home. Several years later, after
starting
a career at Boeing, Kerry and father Ken opened the Happy Hour Tavern
in
1960 on Admiral Way in West Seattle. Family members and friends helped
with construction, and forty well-known jazz artists, including Charlie
Byrd, Stan Getz, Woody Woodhouse and Mike Mandell, jammed before
overflowing
crowds of music lovers. Quick success at the Happy Hour led to the
opening
of the elegant Embers on the western shore of Elliott Bay with its
signature
breathtaking view of downtown Seattle.
In a 2002 West
Seattle
Herald story, Kinsey said, "I always wanted to own a jazz club."
Kinsey, who
sold
the Embers 20 years ago, died on Memorial Day in Scottsdale, Ariz. He
had
recently been hospitalized and had suffered heart problems for several
years.
He grew up in
Tacoma
and started high school at Stadium High. Then his dad moved the family
to West Seattle, where he had a vending machine business. Kerry
enrolled
at West Seattle High School and graduated in 1950.
"I grew up with
the
big bands in the '40s," Kinsey said. "That's really what attracted me
to
it. Music has an effect on you if you have any kind of soul at all."
He opened The
Embers
in a building that was constructed in 1907. It once housed a tavern
called
the West Side Inn. There were also four apartments on the second floor.
The Embers was
a
place where lifelong friendships were formed.
"Friends met
friends
after work and guys brought girls to enjoy music, dance, see name
entertainment,"
Kinsey said. "There was nothing like that in West Seattle."
Bill Cosby and
Robert
Culp went there. So did Quincy Jones and West Seattle's own Dyan
Cannon.
Musicians were the real stars at The Embers and some, like Cal Tjader
and
George Griffin, became personal friends of Mr. Kinsey. Corky Corkran,
Bill
Franklin, Johnny King, Sarge West and Mike Mandell performed there.
Guitarist
Larry Coryell played The Embers for six months. Two weeks later he was
on Ed Sullivan. As the '60s wound down, The Embers shifted its focus to
rock 'n' roll. Entertainers like Jim Brady and the Sonics, The
Kingsmen,
Junior Cadillac and Merrilee Rush performed there.
Hollywood
couldn't
dream up a better setting for a nightclub. There was a canopy over the
sidewalk, torches, a maitre d'. Long lines of music lovers from
throughout
the Pacific Northwest enjoyed a moonlit Elliott Bay while waiting to
gain
entrance to West Seattle's most popular place.
In addition to
live
music, Kerry Kinsey sponsored athletic teams. All-world fastball player
Bobby Fesler, the only softball pitcher ever signed to a Triple-A
professional
baseball contract by the Seattle Rainiers, once played for the Happy
Hour
Tavern. One of its teams came within one run of reaching the World
Series
of Softball at Stamford, Connecticut.
Kinsey was born
in
Roslyn, Washington in 1931 to Ken (Welsh) and Frances (Swedish) Kinsey.
He served in the Navy reserve during the Korean War era. His brother
and
sister-in-law, Bill and Bertha Kinsey of Tacoma, and nephews Chris and
Lee, survive him.
A celebration
of
Kerry's life was held in the banquet room at West Seattle Golf Course
on
Thursday, July 15,2004.
David Enroth
was
a friend of Kerry Kinsey for over 30 years, organized his memorial
service,
and worked with him at the Embers on Harbor Drive in the late sixties,
early seventies.
One of
the
bands I was in played the Embers in the mid 70's. The band was named
Sausalito.
We were 6 piece had a couple of horns and played funk. Glenn
McCarty
was in the band with me. He has been playing guitar with the Galaxies
recently. A friend of mine has been playing some bass for Larry
Coryell
(Chuck Deardorf). He brought Larry over to my table at the Triple
Door and we reminisced about Kerry and the Embers.
Jack Dolan,
September
2008
I played The Embers early 80’s with Freddy
Pink and The Hightops (www.freddypink.com).
Kerry was very cool. I remember the built in speakers underneath the
seats/benches
that screamed from another era.
I got Marcus
(Mark)
Doubleday from Electric Flag to play with us for a few nights when
I broke my foot. I remember the stories about Cal Tjader playing
there in the late 60’s and many others. Thanks for the memories.
Sincerely,
Steve Swanson
(Buddy Rich, Wayne Cochran and the CC
Riders, Lionel Hampton, Lou Rawls, Johnny Mathis, Gladys Knight,
Temptations,
Frank Sinatra and others who I played for.)
According to the entertainment
sections
of the Seattle Times during the 1960s, The Dynamic Duo played at The
Embers
from July 1966 to July 11th, 1969.
John England, January 2013
The Mike Cox Band" played at the
"Embers"
(for an audition for an agent in Fairbanks) and the next week we were
on
a plane with an "igloo" of equipment to play for 6 weeks at "The
Rendezvous".
Joel Johnson, February 2013
