May 21, 2018

The Log Cabin reopened at 7 a.m. Saturday and sold a week’s worth of beer in one day.

The “five-star dive bar” sold $2 beers, and the three picnic tables near the entrance were full all day, manager Dusty Foltz said.

“We instantly had eight people in here. … There was never less than 15 all day,” he said.

Foltz and his wife, Julia — the bar is in her name — led the efforts to reopen The Log Cabin, which has been at 1515 W. Burnside St. for decades. Foltz was a friend of the previous owner, Jerry Adams, who died in March.

The Foltzes worked with property owner CD Investments to get a conditional use permit from the city that would allow a bar to continue operations at that location. The possibility of losing the bar permanently led one of the customers to start a Facebook group, Save The Log Cabin, to drum up support.

The bar, which sells beer and frozen pizzas, is open from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to at least midnight Sunday through Tuesday. The morning hours accommodate shift-swing workers who see happy hour in a different light, Foltz said.

His goal is to preserve the community that Adams and his significant other, Patricia Erickson, built at the bar, so very little will change.

Foltz lowered the beer prices and added a pinball machine. Video lottery machines are expected to return in three weeks.