Every so often I come across an eatery that looks so quirky and fun that I must stop there. On my recent trip to Washington, we stopped in one of
these places. Weeks before the trip, my daughter and son in law apprised me of these place near Port Townsend, WA and said that it was “So Sumoflam” that we would go there.
Fat Smitty’s is a funky little burger joint sitting on US Hwy 101 at the junction with WA Route 20 in the Discovery Bay region of Port Townsend. The outside is decorated with a couple dozen chain saw carved statues of food and other oddities. Colorful and fun, it is a must stop!
So, on our trip to Neah Bay in July (see post here) we stopped at Fat Smitty’s for lunch. And, true to their word, this place is a “Sumoflam stop du jour” for sure. Even though I am working on not eating too many burgers, I relaxed my restriction for this one time visit to this one time unique little place.
But if the outside is a drawing card, the inside is an invitation. This place is literally plastered with 1000s of dollar bills (and a few other denominations)! I have never seen anything quite like it. Check out all this money!
Much of the cash has the donor’s names on it or where they are from. Almost every single bill has something written on it. Really unique interior decor!!
Back in 2012, owner Carl “Fat Smitty” Schmidt enlisted Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts to remove all of the money from his walls (see newspaper article) as dozens of inquiries had come in about how much was there. At that time 27 years of cash was removed totaling $10,316, most of which he donated to a kitchen at a Scout camp in Washington.
Apparently, according to Schmidt (in another article), the plastering of money all started back in the 1980s when two sales reps from Caterpillar wanted to pin their business cards to the wall along with a dollar bill. From there it grew and apparently they never touched the walls.
Schmidt, who was in the US Marines in the 1960s, also has a couple of walls dedicated to US Servicemen.
Many still add their business cards to the wall. You’re lucky if you can see one amongst all the cash.
On this particular visit, I was taking photos and noted that I write travel blogs. A table of guests noted, “You must be famous,” to which I replied, “In my own mind!” I sat down with them and asked if I could do a selfie with them. Turns out these guys were from Ukraine and were in the area working. Alex and his friends were great!
Of course, I suppose I should also mention the fact that this place has hamburgers…..I got one of those as well…honestly not in my whole foods plant-based regimen, but, it was a vacation and they didn’t have any vegan offerings (nothing even close!)
And just a couple more shots of the outside woodwork of the place:
[…] I was with the family in Washington and we ventured into a unique eatery called Fat Smitty’s (see my blog post about this quirky place), near Port Townsend. I was in there taking photos and there were three Russians (Ukranians […]
[…] The theme of quirky runs throughout the veins of this post. I now move on to Discovery Bay, WA on US Highway 101 northwest of Seattle, (near Port Townsend, WA) home of the uniquely quirky Fat Smitty’s burger place. Surrounded by a menagerie of interesting and colorful wood carvings on the outside and walls and ceilings plastered with dollar bills (and other denominations), this is a place to behold. Oh, and yes, the burgers aren’t too bad either. See my full post about my August 2015 visit to Fat Smitty’s HERE. […]