Seattle Twist

During the 1950s, ’60s and, to a lesser extent, the ’70s, the home bar was as much a part of American culture as baseball, apple-pie, and Chevrolet. In homes ranging from prosperous businessmen and celebrities to swingin’ bachelors and middle-class married men, the home bar was primarily a male aspect of domestic culture, like brill cream, aqua velva, and a shaving kit, at a time when cocktails and, indeed cocktail parties, were king.

The style, size, and material make-up of home bars in the mid-20th Century were varied, but fairly simple, ranging from contemporary art deco (today often called Atomic or Space Age) to Oceanic, Mariner, tropical, and rustic, bearing such materials as stained and varnished wood, Formica, bamboo, balsa, chrome, padded and/or tufted leather or vinyl, glass bricks and tile, and accessorised with two or more stools. Home bars were available through furniture shops and catalogues, but many were actually do-it-yourself-ers, built by the home (bar) owner himself.

The location of the home bar was an important consideration. Some were simply unaccessorised, stand-alone bars tucked off in the corner somewhere in the house, apartment, or garage, where others were accessorised and were the focal point of a den, basement, recreational room, or drawing room.

Since I was a child I have always been fascinated with the home bar, as both a piece of stylish furniture and of its function. In the 1970s I recall times when friends and I would be at a friend’s house, sitting at his or her father’s bar (most often located in the basement, surrounded by wall-to-wall shag carpet and padded vinyl and leather), listening to music on vinyl or 8-track on the lounge stereo, drinking ginger ale and munching cocktail peanuts, pretending we were adults. This fascination of the home bar has stayed with me up through my adult years, and has lead to a road of re-visitation, renewed appreciation, and a resurrection of a mid-20th Century domestic icon. Not to mention numerous cocktail theme parties and events — all centred round the home bar.

For the next month, each weekend at Seattle Twist I will take you further along this journey, illustrating the path with photographs of some of today’s (and a few of yesterday’s) home bars in Seattle; and inform you of local home bar events, past and future.

Until next time, Cheers! and all the best.

-T.G.