Spud Fish and Chips

English-born brothers Jack and Frank Alger opened SPUD FISH & CHIPS on Alki Beach in June of 1935—right in the midst of the depression—when 10 cents could buy a paper 'boat' stuffed with fries and two big pieces of breaded cod reminiscent of a happier time, on a coast far, far away. In late fall the stand was closed and looked as it does at top (in this Works Progress Administration tax inventory photo recorded on Oct. 14, 1938). It's not commonly known that in 1938 when Ivar Haglund opened his first café—a fish and chips stand at the entrance to his aquarium on Pier 54—that the Alger brothers inadvertently helped him: Roy Buckley, Ivar’s first employee, learned about his fish and chips while working at SPUD. And all of them, Frank, Jack, Ivar and Roy were from West Seattle, not far from the original SPUD. Following the war, the original building was replaced with a nifty modern building featuring portholes, and has since grown to a two-storied anchor for visitors to Alki beach. Shortly after there were SPUDs at Green Lake, Juanita and the Washington state fair in Puyallup too.