The Squirrel Tree Restaurant
Ted Price and Bob Rodgers spent a lot of their free time taking fishing trips around the Pacific Northwest and one of the places they frequented was the Merritt Inn, located on Highway 2 near Stevens Pass, where they also enjoyed skiing. Down the road from the Inn was a restaurant known as the Cole’s Corner Café where they had a meal, and after asking about local cabins for sale, learned instead that the restaurant was for sale. At the time, Ted and Bob had no interest in buying or running a restaurant, but they kept returning to eat there, and each time, the owner would mention that it was still for sale, and the price kept going down.
After much discussion with family and friends (most of whom were opposed to the idea), Ted and Bob took the plunge and purchased the restaurant in 1960. The café was not in good financial shape, so they needed something to make it stand out a bit more; the first thing they did was to rename it “The Squirrel Tree” and decide on a theme for their new venture.
Ted initially wanted to do a Native American theme, as this was a long-time interest of his. However, Bob wanted a Bavarian theme, as he had become fascinated by the Old-World style of architecture that he had seen while stationed in Europe during the war. The mountain setting was ideal for the Bavarian theme and so it won out, and they began to put their ideas into place: the waitresses wore home-made dirndls, the traditional Bavarian-style of dress, and there was Swiss and German oompah-pah music played through speakers.
The building itself received a makeover in the form of a mural of a mountain climber, as well as colorful paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and other designs on the trim, roof gable, window boxes, and shutters. The interior of the restaurant was similarly decorated. One area where the Bavarian theme did not reach was the food; Ted and Bob decided to stick with an American-style menu.
The restaurant ended up being a success, due to a combination of the food, décor, wildlife, and even a local bear that would show up to be hand-fed by waitress Penny Ells. They later added a souvenir shop inside the restaurant, where they sold imported goods and tchotchkes. The success of The Squirrel Tree led Ted and Bob to build a motel next door, The Squirrel Tree Chalet Motel, which, as the name implies, followed a similar theme. These two businesses would be influential in Ted and Bob’s efforts at transforming the dying town of Leavenworth into the booming “Bavarian Village” just a few years later.