The sails of many a Shilshole boat flew at half-mast over the weekend with news that Charlie Files, the owner of Ballard’s Sloop Tavern, passed away Friday while vacationing in Hawaii.
Files also owned Leny’s in Tangletown, and once ran Targy’s on Queen Anne as well as several other neighborhood watering holes (including his namesake Charlie’s on Shilshole) past and present.
I’ll remember Files for his extraordinarily gracious response to the Sloop’s being named the top-ranked tavern (meaning no hard booze) in my book about Seattle dive bars. Adhering to a low-frills aesthetic, Files always put the drinker first–his 33-ounce “Slooper-sized” mugs of beer are the stuff of local legend, and he’s about the only proprietor in town to sponsor a legitimate yacht club that turned the very notion of such blue-blooded cabals on their heads.
You were a good man, Charlie Files. Your contributions to Seattle’s culture were at least as significant as anything on display at MOHAI. You will be missed, but your spirit lives on in every freshly tapped keg of Rainier at the bars you leave behind.
