CENTRAL TAVERN - 1986

Central Tavern - 1986
207 First Ave S.

Intro from an article written by Paul Dorpat in the April 19, 1992 issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"In April 1892, partners named Jamieson and McFarland opened the Seattle Bar at 207 First Ave S. The place prospered through the Alaska Gold Rush into a Pioneer Square institution where one could drink, eat, gamble, and mail a letter or find a job. The bar's second partnership, Master and Casey, changed its name to the Central Cafe in 1919, during Washington's prohibition. With the end of prohibition, the Central quickly returned to booze and developed an extensive end-of-the-bar trade, selling cheap wines at the front door to the residents of the increasingly down-and-out Pioneer Square neighborhood during the depression of the 1930s. The hard times in this neighborhood never ebbed until the late 1960s, when the preservation of the city's oldest neighborhood became a priority of those not living there. This gentrification helped uproot the thousands of fixed-income tenants living along First Avenue between King Street and the Pike Place Market. It also either closed out or cleaned up a number of their dives, like the Central. During the summer of 1971, Jamie Anderson and Bob Foster, two Boeing engineers, stripped and cleaned the Central to its bare bricks and opened it to they knew not whom. During the '70s the Central became Seattle's hip bar...the birthplace of Seattle's celebration of Fat Tuesday. The opening of the Kingdome in the mid-70s ultimately affected the temper of its neighborhoods. ... The sports crowds that periodically swooped through the district further scattered its traditions, new and old. The Central survived with an altered venue. During the mid-to-late 1980s, one of the oldest bars in Seattle [then owned by Mike and Donna Downing, who operated it from 1982 to 1990] was the stage for its newest popular music. The keepers of the Central's centennial are present owners Jim Napolitano and Guy Curtis. Curtis has something in common with the Seattle Bar's original partnership of Jamieson and McFarland, who after they sold out in 1907, moved two doors north and opened J&M Hotel & Bar. In 1990 Guy Curtis, for years the manager of the modern J&M, moved in the opposite direction."

In 1994, the Central Tavern was renamed the Central Saloon, which it remains to this day, still booking original, local live music most nights.

The first live music listing I could find was dated February 18, 1977, featuring "Chebere." I chose to start my research in 1986, the year when the Central became much more than just a typical Pioneer Square club, thanks to the efforts of booking gods Jan Gregor, Terry Lee Hale, and others.

Sources: The Rocket, Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Central Saloon website "History" page.

1986

January 1986

3-4 - Jackals (PDX), Napalm Beach (PDX)
9-11 - Jim Basnight & The Moberlys
13-14 - Rebel Blade, Vibersonics, Western Front
16 - Danger Bunny
24-26 - Jackals (PDX)
31 - Moving Parts

February 1986

1 - Moving Parts
5 - Rangehoods
6 - The Cowboys
7 - Jackals (PDX), F-Holes
8 - Moving Parts
9 - F-Holes, The Ones
10 - Living Dolls, Prudence Dredge
11 - Kinetics
21-23 - Jim Basnight & The Moberlys
28 - Fastbacks, Know Tomorrow

March 1986

1 - Fastbacks, Know Tomorrow
2 - Volume 3
7-8 - Razorbacks
9 - F-Holes, 64 Spiders
14 - Living Dolls, Prudence Dredge
15 - Living Dolls, Tall Tales
16-17 - Jackals (PDX)
21-22 - Big Daddy
28 - Moving Parts, Muggies
29 - Moving Parts, The Life

April 1986

4-5 - Kinetics, Tall Tales
11-12 - Jackals (PDX), Longhorne Seville
18-19 - F-Holes
25-26 - Matinee Idols

May 1986

2-3 - Moving Parts
9-10 - Razorbacks
16-17 - The Cowboys
23-24 - Kinetics, Spirits West
25 - Skinetics
30-31 - Dynamic Logs

June 1986

6 - Tex & The Horseheads (LA), F-Holes, Girl Trouble, L'Andrew
7 - Red Dress
13-14 - Mark Bristol Band
20-21 - Living Dolls, Broadcasters
27-28 - Moving Parts, Spirits West

July 1986

1 - Carnival Season
2 - F-Holes & Friends
3 - Soundgarden, Malfunkshun, My Eye
4-5 - Kinetics
7 - Daryl Redeker
8 - Emerald Nations
9 - Tall Tales
10 - Pop Defect (LA)
11 - Pure Joy, Room 9, Walkabouts
12 - Camper Van Beethoven (CA), Cat Heads (SF), Walkabouts
16 - Tall Tales
17 - Life In General, Handful Of Dust
18 - Slack (PDX), Fred
19 - Green Pajamas, Paisley Sin
21 - Jim Basnight
23 - Spirits West
24 - Clay Alien, Melting Fish
25-26 - Dynamic Logs
29 - The Ones
30 - Spirits West
31 - Joe Average

August 1986

1 - Leaving Trains (LA), Room 9, Jim Basnight
2 - Kinetics
5 - Denizens Of The Mighty Deep (Chicago)
6 - The Mosquitos
7 - "e", Pure Joy
8 - Red Dress, Acoustinauts
9 - Meat Puppets (Phoenix), Angst (SF)
12 - The Ones
13 - No Trend (DC), Feast
14 - Girl Trouble, Guests
15 - Jackals (PDX), Vena Rays
16 - Rank & File (Austin), F-Holes, Splinter Party
19 - Dogs & Men
20 - 4 Bad Dudes
21 - Pure Joy, Dogs & Men
22 - Lonesome Strangers (LA), F-Holes, The Ones
23 - True Believers (Austin), Spirits West, The Cunninghams
26 - Carnival Season
27 - Dos Pesos
28 - F-Holes
29 - Splinter Party, Spirits West
30 - Arms Akimbo

September 1986

3 - 4 Bad Dudes
4 - Joe Average, Green Ice
5 - U-Men, Girl Trouble
6 - Kinetics
9 - Hubris
10 - Clay Alien
11 - Pure Joy, Bundle Of Hiss
12 - Jr. Cadillac
13 - Jackals (PDX), Neon Cross
16 - Napalm Beach (PDX)
17 Crypt Kicker 5
18 - Skin Yard, House Of Secrets
19 - Living Dolls, Wild Debbies
20 - Zoogz Rift (LA), NoMeansNo (Vancouver BC), Circus Of The Stars
24 - The Ones
26 - Moving Parts
27 - Variant Cause, Life In General

October 1986

2 - Green River, Girl Trouble, Sea Hags (SF)
3 - Spirits West, Power Mowers
4 - Dayglow Abortions (Victoria BC), Napalm Beach (PDX), Cheatin' Death
8 - Young Fresh Fellows, Dogmatics
9 - Frames
10 - Soundgarden, Faith No More (SF)
11 - Walkabouts, Pure Joy
15 - 64 Spiders, Neon Cross
16 - Splinter Party
17 - Green Pajamas, Danger Bunny
18 - Saccharine Trust (LA), Napalm Beach (PDX), Skin Yard
22 - John Cale & Chris Spedding (UK/NYC), Ian Fisher, Terry Lee Hale
23 - F-Holes
24 - Kinetics
25 - Living Dolls, Pure Joy
26 - TSOL (LA)
30 - Gary Heffern, The Cunninghams
31 - Joe Average, Spirits West

November 1986

1 - Butthole Surfers (San Antonio), Green River, 64 Spiders
5 - "e"
6 - Napalm Beach (PDX), No Tomorrow
7 - Walkabouts, Pure Joy, Treeclimbers
8 - Red Dress, Acoustinauts
12 - Lifters
13 - Pop Defect (LA), Skin Yard, 64 Spiders
14 - Soul Asylum (Minneapolis), My Eye, CDC Boys
15 - Dead Milkmen (Philly)
19 - F-Holes
20 - Bundle Of Hiss, Malfunkshun, Gut Reaction (A flyer exists showing the Melvins instead of Malfunkshun)
21 - Room 9, Chemistry Set
22 - Beat Rodeo (NY), Jackals (PDX), Splinter Party
26 - Kinetics
27 - Tupelo Chain Sex (LA), Guests
28 - Jr. Cadillac
29 - Life In General, Variant Cause

December 1986

2 - Rhythm Pigs (SF), Skin Yard, Guests
3 - Durango 5
4 - Bad Brains (DC), U-Men (This show was apparently canceled.)
5 - Camper Van Beethoven (CA), Mojo Nixon (San Diego), Walkabouts
6 - Moving Parts
11 - Frames
12 - Life In General, Room 9
13 - Spirits West, Splinter Party
17 - Tinderbox
18 - Prudence Dredge
19 - Jackals (PDX), Splinter Party
20 - Kinetics, Spirits West
26 - Joe Average, The Life
27 - The Life
28 - Mentors, Green River, Malfunkshun
29 - Faith No More (SF)
31 - Moberlys, Living Dolls, The Ones