April 5, 1981

           The whole day killing time at the laundro. Two kids came in asking for work. I dropped into the Breakers, got refused to dance every time. This is discouraging. Then [again], I got a late start.

           [Author’s note 2022: Ha, I remember this day. I must be joking, I very rarely get refused a dance, so maybe the place was full of couples or something. Here’s the sad tale from the trailer court of the Breakers, a pub that had its day. This photo shows the now-abandoned property. I used to drink there for free on Sundays because my laundromat was the only place equipped to wash all their table covers, a state requirement at that time. My business was just over three miles from this location and as the youngest business owner in town, I was quite well known.
           Back then, there was no drinking on Sundays in Canada, so hundreds of carloads of Canadians would head over the border, the only foot on the brake being the drinking age in Canada was 18, in the USA it was 21. I had a cabin around 800 paces from the Breakers. No electricity, but so what? Don’t need it when the right women are crashing over. The rest of the week was dead, but let me put things in perspective. In it’s heyday, here are some of the bands who played the Breakers:

Bachman Turner Overdrive
Long John Baldry
Steppenwolf
April Wine
Chubby Checker
Loverboy
Trooper
The Kingsmen
Doug & the Slugs
KC & the Sunshine Band

           This was before the mega-concert mafia took over the show biz. Back then, a band would play for $1,000 to a crowd of 400 people, which is both my musical influence and the way it should be. Live music cannot really be pirated. I’ve seen more top-name bands than most any guitar player I ever met, which may explain why I’m not into recording. And, using the staff entrance, I never paid a dime for these shows.

           The decline began in 1986 when Canada opened up for Sunday drinking because of Expo. The Canadian border guards were empowered to arrest drunk drivers where they previously had to call the police like everybody else. In this photo, the entire front entrance was packed with the best pinball and video games of the day, and I never walked in without 2 or 3 rolls of quarters from the laundromat.
           This photo shows the original Breakers, which burned down in 1983. I never saw the replacement building. Another factor was the Canadian exchange rate kept falling and the Breakers had to raise prices continually, plus the Washington State Liquor Control Board hated the place. The business held on a while, but eventually closed in either 2000 or 2002. There is some new club but who cares? The area is also attracting Chinese money, property I could have picked up in 1982 for $8,000 is selling for $2.4 million today.]