After 73 years, the primary location of the Burgermaster chain will shut on the finish of February, the corporate introduced earlier this month, after its landlord terminated the lease with the intention to construct a brand new constructing on the positioning. Opened in 1952, the College Burgermaster had a run that rivals that of probably the most historic eating places in Seattle: It predates College Village, the buying middle it sits subsequent to; it’s older than Dick’s, Lowell’s, or the Ballard Smoke Store, and almost as outdated as Canlis.
Burgermaster might not have the cultural cachet of Canlis or Dick’s, and the six-restaurant chain is just about unknown exterior the Seattle space. However its authentic location embodies a type of small-city grittiness that has light as Seattle has develop into wealthier and extra cosmopolitan. That restaurant began as a drive-in however modified to a dine-in mannequin within the Nineteen Seventies. And in contrast to the opposite Burgermasters, the situation serves breakfast, making it extra like a diner than a fast-food joint. (A Burgermaster spokesperson stated that the opposite areas have been drive-in solely, however the chain hoped to supply breakfast choices quickly.)
I occur to know a bit in regards to the place as a result of I labored there in 2006 once I was residence from school for the summer time. (As soon as throughout my shift Invoice Gates got here in together with his dad — the Gates household is a big fan of the chain and within the Eighties, Microsoft had the Bellevue location on velocity dial.) We served numerous burgers in the course of the lunch rush, however we additionally had a crowd of breakfast regulars, notably a gaggle of retiree-aged males who would at all times sit on the similar desk, sip the watery espresso we served in glass mugs, and focus on political beliefs. A few of these guys have been so common of their habits that we might punch of their order as they made their sluggish means by means of the doorways — one at all times obtained a scramble with inexperienced peppers, onions, and tomatoes that wasn’t on the menu. Probably the most notable member of the little gang was in all probability Roy McCready, the daddy of Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. He wasn’t notable due to who his son was, he was notable as a result of he had a type of charisma all his personal. Each day he’d present up for his espresso and eggs (in my reminiscence at all times sporting, and pulling off, a leather-based jacket) and sit on the similar desk, which had just a little signal caught into the wall subsequent to it: “Reserved for Roy.”
These outdated guys are nonetheless there, apparently, nonetheless sitting on the similar desk, in line with a Seattle Occasions story in regards to the closure. The shuttering of this location received’t influence the general Burgermaster enterprise, CEO Alex Jensen (grandson of founder Phil Jensen) instructed the paper; Burgermaster is doing superb and constructing out a brand new dine-in restaurant in Issaquah. However the individuals who eat breakfast there day-after-day will undoubtedly miss it. “While you lose one thing like this, you lose your group,” College of Washington professor and Burgermaster common Alfred Runte instructed the Occasions. Loads of eating places as of late speak a giant sport about being “gathering areas” that “construct group,” however that Burgermaster — with its dated aesthetic and full lack of glamor — really was a gathering area.
Grocery firm Albertsons owns the land and plans to redevelop it into an enormous 796-unit, 944,668-square-foot residence advanced, in line with the Occasions. The encircling neighborhood, which is kind of a crossroads between Bryant, Laurelhurst, and the College District, has develop into rather a lot denser within the final couple of many years and is now residence to a variety of high-rise residence buildings. College Village was as soon as a reasonably middle-class place anchored by the Lamonts division retailer, however now it’s full of costly boutiques and chains. The kind of one who retailers there’s way more prone to seize a burger on the Shake Shack than trek throughout the Safeway car parking zone to Burgermaster. They might not even discover Burgermaster after they drive by, apart from to marvel at what the signal with the longhorn emblem is all about. And fairly quickly, that signal will likely be gone.