Latest news with #Jacobsen
The Advertiser
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Bye Bye Baby: Australian music pioneer Col Joye dies
Musician, entertainer and entrepreneur Col Joye has died aged 89, after a career that earned him dozens of gold and platinum records, studded with successive number one hits. Joye was born Colin Jacobsen on April 13, 1939, in Sydney and left school at 14 to work as a salesman for a jeweller and start a band with his brothers Kevin and Keith. The Jacobsen brothers released two singles in 1959 - Stagger Lee and Bye Bye Baby - with the latter reaching number one in the charts, establishing Joye as a major star. On the advice of a clairvoyant, he changed his name to Col Joye and became a regular on the music show Bandstand for 14 years. Col Joye and the Joyboys were the first Australian rock band to reach the American Billboard chart in 1959, touring the US with Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs in the mid-1960s and early 70s. Joye also toured Vietnam with singer Little Pattie to entertain Australian troops, most famously on August 18, 1966, at Nui Dat when the Battle of Long Tan began nearby. The artists later visited injured soldiers in hospital after the battle. After Beatlemania hit Australia, Joye had to wait until 1973 for his next number one single, which was Heaven Is My Woman's Love. Col and his brother Kevin later formed the management company Jacobsen Group, which also handled publishing and recording for famous clients like The Bee Gees. In 1983, Joye was awarded the Order of Australia for his work as an entertainer and his philanthropic work. Joye was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988, the first entertainer to be honoured. In 1990, Joye fell from a tree, suffering head injuries which left him in a coma. However, he made a full recovery and decided to retire from performing. In 2001, the ABC series Long Way to the Top noted his star power and honoured his career. A family feud pulled the Jacobsen Group to pieces in March 2012. It began when the second generation joined the firm - Joye's daughter Amber joined in 1997 and Kevin Jacobsen's son Michael in 2002, when Joye and Jacobsen decided to create Jacobsen Entertainment and float it on the stock exchange. The float was a debacle, raising only $8 million, and the company was placed in administration less than a year after its launch. Ructions over the roles of Amber and Michael escalated, with a lawsuit over Jacobsen's handling of the Dirty Dancing stage musical and the collapse in 2009 of Arena Management, a Jacobsen company headed by Michael. The families spent years warring in local and international courts over the profits for the highly-lucrative musical, with Jacobsen declaring bankruptcy in 2011 amid claims he'd been cheated out of the rights to the multimillion-dollar production. Australian singer and songwriter Normie Rowe told the ABC on Wednesday that Joye was one of his idols. "Col was in my psyche right throughout my entire life. I watched him and I thought, 'if I'm going to be a singer, that's the sort of singer I want to be'." The Australian Recording Industry Association paid tribute to Joye, saying he made a remarkable contribution to the local music scene for more than six decades. "At a time when the local industry was dominated by US and UK artists, he proved that Australians would embrace local artists and local music," CEO Annabelle Herd said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go to Col's family. "He will be sadly missed." Further details of Joye's passing on Tuesday are still to be publicly released. Musician, entertainer and entrepreneur Col Joye has died aged 89, after a career that earned him dozens of gold and platinum records, studded with successive number one hits. Joye was born Colin Jacobsen on April 13, 1939, in Sydney and left school at 14 to work as a salesman for a jeweller and start a band with his brothers Kevin and Keith. The Jacobsen brothers released two singles in 1959 - Stagger Lee and Bye Bye Baby - with the latter reaching number one in the charts, establishing Joye as a major star. On the advice of a clairvoyant, he changed his name to Col Joye and became a regular on the music show Bandstand for 14 years. Col Joye and the Joyboys were the first Australian rock band to reach the American Billboard chart in 1959, touring the US with Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs in the mid-1960s and early 70s. Joye also toured Vietnam with singer Little Pattie to entertain Australian troops, most famously on August 18, 1966, at Nui Dat when the Battle of Long Tan began nearby. The artists later visited injured soldiers in hospital after the battle. After Beatlemania hit Australia, Joye had to wait until 1973 for his next number one single, which was Heaven Is My Woman's Love. Col and his brother Kevin later formed the management company Jacobsen Group, which also handled publishing and recording for famous clients like The Bee Gees. In 1983, Joye was awarded the Order of Australia for his work as an entertainer and his philanthropic work. Joye was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988, the first entertainer to be honoured. In 1990, Joye fell from a tree, suffering head injuries which left him in a coma. However, he made a full recovery and decided to retire from performing. In 2001, the ABC series Long Way to the Top noted his star power and honoured his career. A family feud pulled the Jacobsen Group to pieces in March 2012. It began when the second generation joined the firm - Joye's daughter Amber joined in 1997 and Kevin Jacobsen's son Michael in 2002, when Joye and Jacobsen decided to create Jacobsen Entertainment and float it on the stock exchange. The float was a debacle, raising only $8 million, and the company was placed in administration less than a year after its launch. Ructions over the roles of Amber and Michael escalated, with a lawsuit over Jacobsen's handling of the Dirty Dancing stage musical and the collapse in 2009 of Arena Management, a Jacobsen company headed by Michael. The families spent years warring in local and international courts over the profits for the highly-lucrative musical, with Jacobsen declaring bankruptcy in 2011 amid claims he'd been cheated out of the rights to the multimillion-dollar production. Australian singer and songwriter Normie Rowe told the ABC on Wednesday that Joye was one of his idols. "Col was in my psyche right throughout my entire life. I watched him and I thought, 'if I'm going to be a singer, that's the sort of singer I want to be'." The Australian Recording Industry Association paid tribute to Joye, saying he made a remarkable contribution to the local music scene for more than six decades. "At a time when the local industry was dominated by US and UK artists, he proved that Australians would embrace local artists and local music," CEO Annabelle Herd said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go to Col's family. "He will be sadly missed." Further details of Joye's passing on Tuesday are still to be publicly released. Musician, entertainer and entrepreneur Col Joye has died aged 89, after a career that earned him dozens of gold and platinum records, studded with successive number one hits. Joye was born Colin Jacobsen on April 13, 1939, in Sydney and left school at 14 to work as a salesman for a jeweller and start a band with his brothers Kevin and Keith. The Jacobsen brothers released two singles in 1959 - Stagger Lee and Bye Bye Baby - with the latter reaching number one in the charts, establishing Joye as a major star. On the advice of a clairvoyant, he changed his name to Col Joye and became a regular on the music show Bandstand for 14 years. Col Joye and the Joyboys were the first Australian rock band to reach the American Billboard chart in 1959, touring the US with Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs in the mid-1960s and early 70s. Joye also toured Vietnam with singer Little Pattie to entertain Australian troops, most famously on August 18, 1966, at Nui Dat when the Battle of Long Tan began nearby. The artists later visited injured soldiers in hospital after the battle. After Beatlemania hit Australia, Joye had to wait until 1973 for his next number one single, which was Heaven Is My Woman's Love. Col and his brother Kevin later formed the management company Jacobsen Group, which also handled publishing and recording for famous clients like The Bee Gees. In 1983, Joye was awarded the Order of Australia for his work as an entertainer and his philanthropic work. Joye was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988, the first entertainer to be honoured. In 1990, Joye fell from a tree, suffering head injuries which left him in a coma. However, he made a full recovery and decided to retire from performing. In 2001, the ABC series Long Way to the Top noted his star power and honoured his career. A family feud pulled the Jacobsen Group to pieces in March 2012. It began when the second generation joined the firm - Joye's daughter Amber joined in 1997 and Kevin Jacobsen's son Michael in 2002, when Joye and Jacobsen decided to create Jacobsen Entertainment and float it on the stock exchange. The float was a debacle, raising only $8 million, and the company was placed in administration less than a year after its launch. Ructions over the roles of Amber and Michael escalated, with a lawsuit over Jacobsen's handling of the Dirty Dancing stage musical and the collapse in 2009 of Arena Management, a Jacobsen company headed by Michael. The families spent years warring in local and international courts over the profits for the highly-lucrative musical, with Jacobsen declaring bankruptcy in 2011 amid claims he'd been cheated out of the rights to the multimillion-dollar production. Australian singer and songwriter Normie Rowe told the ABC on Wednesday that Joye was one of his idols. "Col was in my psyche right throughout my entire life. I watched him and I thought, 'if I'm going to be a singer, that's the sort of singer I want to be'." The Australian Recording Industry Association paid tribute to Joye, saying he made a remarkable contribution to the local music scene for more than six decades. "At a time when the local industry was dominated by US and UK artists, he proved that Australians would embrace local artists and local music," CEO Annabelle Herd said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go to Col's family. "He will be sadly missed." Further details of Joye's passing on Tuesday are still to be publicly released. Musician, entertainer and entrepreneur Col Joye has died aged 89, after a career that earned him dozens of gold and platinum records, studded with successive number one hits. Joye was born Colin Jacobsen on April 13, 1939, in Sydney and left school at 14 to work as a salesman for a jeweller and start a band with his brothers Kevin and Keith. The Jacobsen brothers released two singles in 1959 - Stagger Lee and Bye Bye Baby - with the latter reaching number one in the charts, establishing Joye as a major star. On the advice of a clairvoyant, he changed his name to Col Joye and became a regular on the music show Bandstand for 14 years. Col Joye and the Joyboys were the first Australian rock band to reach the American Billboard chart in 1959, touring the US with Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs in the mid-1960s and early 70s. Joye also toured Vietnam with singer Little Pattie to entertain Australian troops, most famously on August 18, 1966, at Nui Dat when the Battle of Long Tan began nearby. The artists later visited injured soldiers in hospital after the battle. After Beatlemania hit Australia, Joye had to wait until 1973 for his next number one single, which was Heaven Is My Woman's Love. Col and his brother Kevin later formed the management company Jacobsen Group, which also handled publishing and recording for famous clients like The Bee Gees. In 1983, Joye was awarded the Order of Australia for his work as an entertainer and his philanthropic work. Joye was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988, the first entertainer to be honoured. In 1990, Joye fell from a tree, suffering head injuries which left him in a coma. However, he made a full recovery and decided to retire from performing. In 2001, the ABC series Long Way to the Top noted his star power and honoured his career. A family feud pulled the Jacobsen Group to pieces in March 2012. It began when the second generation joined the firm - Joye's daughter Amber joined in 1997 and Kevin Jacobsen's son Michael in 2002, when Joye and Jacobsen decided to create Jacobsen Entertainment and float it on the stock exchange. The float was a debacle, raising only $8 million, and the company was placed in administration less than a year after its launch. Ructions over the roles of Amber and Michael escalated, with a lawsuit over Jacobsen's handling of the Dirty Dancing stage musical and the collapse in 2009 of Arena Management, a Jacobsen company headed by Michael. The families spent years warring in local and international courts over the profits for the highly-lucrative musical, with Jacobsen declaring bankruptcy in 2011 amid claims he'd been cheated out of the rights to the multimillion-dollar production. Australian singer and songwriter Normie Rowe told the ABC on Wednesday that Joye was one of his idols. "Col was in my psyche right throughout my entire life. I watched him and I thought, 'if I'm going to be a singer, that's the sort of singer I want to be'." The Australian Recording Industry Association paid tribute to Joye, saying he made a remarkable contribution to the local music scene for more than six decades. "At a time when the local industry was dominated by US and UK artists, he proved that Australians would embrace local artists and local music," CEO Annabelle Herd said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences go to Col's family. "He will be sadly missed." Further details of Joye's passing on Tuesday are still to be publicly released.
Canberra Times
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Canberra Times
Bye Bye Baby: Australian music pioneer Col Joye dies
Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! Be the first to know when news breaks. As it happens Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. Get the very best journalism from The Canberra Times by signing up to our special reports. As it happens Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. Get the latest property and development news here. We've selected the best reading for your weekend. Join our weekly poll for Canberra Times readers. Your exclusive preview of David Pope's latest cartoon. Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. Don't miss updates on news about the Public Service. As it happens Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. More from Entertainment Further details of Joye's passing on Tuesday are still to be publicly released. "He will be sadly missed." "Our deepest condolences go to Col's family. "At a time when the local industry was dominated by US and UK artists, he proved that Australians would embrace local artists and local music," CEO Annabelle Herd said in a statement. The Australian Recording Industry Association paid tribute to Joye, saying he made a remarkable contribution to the local music scene for more than six decades. Normie Rowe (right), with rock legends Brian Cadd and Col Joye, has paid tribute to his idol. (Julian Smith/AAP PHOTOS) "Col was in my psyche right throughout my entire life. I watched him and I thought, 'if I'm going to be a singer, that's the sort of singer I want to be'." Australian singer and songwriter Normie Rowe told the ABC on Wednesday that Joye was one of his idols. The families spent years warring in local and international courts over the profits for the highly-lucrative musical, with Jacobsen declaring bankruptcy in 2011 amid claims he'd been cheated out of the rights to the multimillion-dollar production. Ructions over the roles of Amber and Michael escalated, with a lawsuit over Jacobsen's handling of the Dirty Dancing stage musical and the collapse in 2009 of Arena Management, a Jacobsen company headed by Michael. The float was a debacle, raising only $8 million, and the company was placed in administration less than a year after its launch. It began when the second generation joined the firm - Joye's daughter Amber joined in 1997 and Kevin Jacobsen's son Michael in 2002, when Joye and Jacobsen decided to create Jacobsen Entertainment and float it on the stock exchange. A family feud pulled the Jacobsen Group to pieces in March 2012. In 2001, the ABC series Long Way to the Top noted his star power and honoured his career. However, he made a full recovery and decided to retire from performing. In 1990, Joye fell from a tree, suffering head injuries which left him in a coma. Joye was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988, the first entertainer to be honoured. In 1983, Joye was awarded the Order of Australia for his work as an entertainer and his philanthropic work. Col and his brother Kevin later formed the management company Jacobsen Group, which also handled publishing and recording for famous clients like The Bee Gees. After Beatlemania hit Australia, Joye had to wait until 1973 for his next number one single, which was Heaven Is My Woman's Love. The artists later visited injured soldiers in hospital after the battle. Joye also toured Vietnam with singer Little Pattie to entertain Australian troops, most famously on August 18, 1966, at Nui Dat when the Battle of Long Tan began nearby. Col Joye and the Joyboys were the first Australian rock band to reach the American Billboard chart in 1959, touring the US with Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs in the mid-1960s and early 70s. Billy Thorpe and Col Joye were at the vanguard of Australia's rock industry. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS) On the advice of a clairvoyant, he changed his name to Col Joye and became a regular on the music show Bandstand for 14 years. The Jacobsen brothers released two singles in 1959 - Stagger Lee and Bye Bye Baby - with the latter reaching number one in the charts, establishing Joye as a major star. Joye was born Colin Jacobsen on April 13, 1939, in Sydney and left school at 14 to work as a salesman for a jeweller and start a band with his brothers Kevin and Keith. All other regional websites in your area The digital version of Today's Paper All articles from our website & app Login or signup to continue reading Subscribe now for unlimited access. Musician, entertainer and entrepreneur Col Joye has died aged 89, after a career that earned him dozens of gold and platinum records, studded with successive number one hits. Col Joye's musical and business career endured many highs and lows over almost 70 years. Photo: Matthias Engesser/AAP PHOTOS Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper. 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Indianapolis Star
05-08-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Purdue basketball's season was ended by a missed rebound; Cluff, Jacobsen are here to fix that issue
WEST LAFAYETTE − Oscar Cluff caught a pass on the block, then went to work with a bevy of post moves that helped him average 17.6 points per game at South Dakota State last season. The result on Sunday during Purdue basketball practice at Cardinal Court was Daniel Jacobsen blocking Cluff's shot. "He's so long," Cluff said of Jacobsen. "One of the biggest things for me is I've never played with someone that tall. When he just stands there with his hands up, it's almost damn near above the rim." The two would embark on several more low-post battles throughout Sunday's practice, during which they showcased how they'll likely help in areas the Boilermakers lacked a season ago. The image of how last season ended − a missed defensive rebounding opportunity and Houston scoring at the rim to end Purdue's NCAA Tournament run in the Sweet 16 − encapsulated two weak areas for the Boilermakers in a matter of heartbreaking seconds. Re-live Purdue's run to the Final Four with our commemorative book Purdue allowed nearly 11 second-chance points and more than 30 points in the paint per game on average last season. On nine occasions, teams scored at least 15 second-chance points. Ten times, an opponent scored at least 38 points in the paint. More: Purdue basketball looks forward to center who 'opens up some things' returning stronger from injury More: Oscar Cluff was destined to be a boilermaker. His world tour found Purdue's 'basketball heaven' From JaJuan Johnson to AJ Hammons to Matt Haarms, Isaac Haas, Caleb Swanigan, Trevion Williams and Zach Edey, Purdue has had years of luxury knowing it owned an advantage at the rim. Last season, following Jacobsen's injury, the team relied mostly on a pair of 6-foot-9 players, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Caleb Furst, in the frontcourt and sparingly tried its hand with 7-foot-2 Will Berg, who transferred to Wichita State in the offseason. "There was just too many plays at the rim last year, no matter who was there," coach Matt Painter said. "That is first and foremost for us to do a better job of not allowing so many plays at the rim." With the rim-protecting Jacobsen returning healthy after breaking his tibia one minute into the season's second game and with the addition of Cluff, who averaged 12.3 rebounds per game last season and is lauded for ball screen defense, those issues should be solved. "Both of those guys are going to help us a lot," sophomore guard Gicarri Harris said. "I think Oscar was the second-best rebounder in the country last year. I can already tell in our practices, he's been getting so many offensive rebounds and giving us another possession. "Daniel has been working hard, and he can dominate the post." There are other pluses to the center combination as well. Both are capable outside shooters, which theoretically would allow Trey Kaufman-Renn to move to the four and give him more space to operate in the post, where he was one of college basketball's most efficient players last season. Last season, Kaufman-Renn was Purdue's only true offensive threat in the post. With Jacobsen and Cluff, there are at least three currently, and their varying skillsets allow the Boilermakers' offensive diversity that it lacked on the block in the post-Edey era. Both are lob threats, which Purdue thrived on during the two years Edey played alongside point guard Braden Smith. "I think we're really versatile," Jacobsen said. "We can guard. We can score. We can play in a lot of different ways, and I think that is going to allow us to have a lot of success." Plenty of promise, but there have also been early challenges. Cluff was late joining the Boilermakers while home in Australia during the summer. He showed up out of shape compared to his new teammates. Jacobsen, while he did get back in game flow playing for Team USA's gold medal-winning U19 Fiba World Cup team, still has just one true college basketball game under his belt, though he did have 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to open last season. While sidelined with an injury last season, Jacobsen watched as teams at times exposed Purdue's lack of size. And Cluff, who had to be a scorer for South Dakota State last season, knows at Purdue he's a valuable piece, but not the marquee player, to a hopeful championship puzzle. "I know they are the guys and I want to come in and help do whatever I can contribute," Cluff said. "Whatever that is. Find my place on the team, which is the biggest thing, and I obviously want to learn a lot from them as well."
Hypebeast
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Sophie Lou Jacobsen Unveils Le Verre Bonbon Glassware Collection
French-American designerSophie Lou Jacobsenwants to bring poetry to everyday life with her whimsical glassware. The designer's latest collection Le Verre Bonbon, expands upon her popular Bouquet line, drawing its forms from the delicate natural shapes of blooming flowers. With their glossy, clear materiality and naturalistic texture, the glass vessels, including the Pitcher, Small Bowl, and striped cups, elevate life's quiet moments and joyful gatherings. The Pitcher leads the range with its delicately coiled handle and gently rippled body, ideal for serving cool drinks at Summer evening dinners or Sunday brunches. Designed with a gently curving silhouette in clear glass, the piece mirrors the organic fluidity of fan-shaped blooms. Additionally, the Small Bowl follows a similar sensibility with its softly rippled rim. Boasting a low profile and compact size, the bowl enhances the role of sides like soups, side salads, or shared dips with elegant appeal. Finally, the glasses offer a colorful accent of the largely clear range. Irregular pastel stripes that follow the curve of the glass run vertically from the bottom, adding a fun and whimsical accessory to the table. Available in multiple colors and two sizes, the glasses add to Jacobsen's growing breadth of drinking glasses, including popular silhouettes like the Ripple glass. The latest additions to Sophie Lou Jacobsen's tableware line are available now at thedesigner's web storeand select stockists.
Eater
07-07-2025
- Eater
Why Seattleites Drive Two Hours for This Oyster Bar
There's no way around it, oysters are indulgences. Seattle has many great oyster bars, each with their own charms but all embodiments of some vision of luxury: The Walrus and the Carpenter is the pinnacle of laid-back 2010s hipster cool, Elliott's is a touristy waterfront paradise, Shuckers is all dark wood and old-school class. Oysters at these places are presented like works of art, their exposed bodies glistening and wet, framed by their craggy, primordial, endlessly photogenic shells. You do a little dance with lemon and acidic pink mignonette, maybe hot sauce in an eyedropper, slurp down the briny morsel, and place the shell back down on the plate of ice. Oyster bars aim for elegance because they have to cast a spell. You must walk in and see yourself as a carefree epicurean, so unconcerned with money, you don't bother asking about market price before airily ordering a dozen for the table. But there's another oyster fantasy, one that involves getting in a car and driving south on I-5 toward Tacoma. If you hit midday traffic, Google Maps will tell you to peel off onto 16 near the Tacoma Dome, cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and go up to Gig Harbor before turning west, toward the Olympic Peninsula. Car dealerships with American flags and signs for Costco gradually give way to evergreens and sky. The highway shrinks to two lanes, sometimes hemmed in on one side by trees and the other by water. You hit 101 and head north, skirting the edge of the Skokomish Nation Reservation and passing a tribal-owned casino and grocery store, along with some fireworks stands in various states of disrepair. Two hours and a whole world later, you can finally pull into the gravel parking lot at the Hama Hama Oyster Saloon, maybe Washington state's best oyster bar and certainly the one that's hardest to get to. The Oyster Saloon looks the kind of place humans build after a zombie apocalypse. There's a food truck, a little farm store, Adirondack chairs facing a gently burning wood fire. Most of the tables are under weather-beaten A-frame structures that shield them, partly, from the rain. On a sunny day, you get a panoramic view of the Hood Canal — not a canal but one of North America's few fjords — tree-lined hills across it, and, directly in front of you, the tide flats that constitute the Hama Hama oyster farm, the reason you're here. You probably know the name Hama Hama; the company's oysters are served and celebrated all over the West Coast, and sometimes elsewhere (a few are exported to Singapore). Oysters taste like the waters they grow in, and Hama Hamas are generally described as tasting clean, or green and cucumber-like. In his book The Essential Oyster , Rowan Jacobsen says the flavor is 'nettle soup, with lots of vibrant, herbaceous spring greens and briny sea stock.' The Blue Pool varietal, which is 'tumbled' in bags rather than grown on beaches, has a deeper cup and a slightly creamier flavor profile; Jacobsen calls it 'white miso-shiitake soup.' There's no better place to linger over Hama Hamas and Blue Pools than the saloon, wood smoke in your nose, looking out at the beach where, at night, Hama Hama workers in headlamps harvest oysters out of the shallow, cold water. It's a farm-to-table restaurant in the sense that you can see the (oyster) farm from the table. If you're an oyster person, it's a different vibe than you get at a city oyster bar — more rugged, wilder. It's a way to remove oysters from the manicured restaurant context you usually find them in and get closer to their briny source. If you're not an oyster person, sorry someone dragged you here. The menu is essentially all oysters: raw, marinated escabeche-style, and roasted with chipotle bourbon butter. The last one is what you get if you insist you don't like oysters — they are smoky-sweet and flaky rather than gooey. (There are also crabcakes, salads, and clams; kids can get a grilled cheese sandwich, and adventurous kids can add Douglas fir jelly.) Hama Hama is a family business in its sixth generation. Lissa James Monberg, the company's vice president of shellfish, has told the story countless times. Her mother's grandfather, Daniel Miller Robbins, bought this land in the 1890s to log it. The logging company did well until the Depression, then fell on hard times; at one point, Monberg says, the company was selling scrap metal so it could afford to pay taxes. The family was determined to hang on to this strip of land next to the Hood Canal — Monberg's grandfather 'couldn't let such a good trout stream get away from him,' she says. He sold Christmas trees, logs, iron, shrimp, whatever he could find. Then he tried oysters. The beach in front of the saloon is an ideal natural oyster farm, Monberg explains. On sunny summer days the tide flats absorb heat from the sun at low tide; when the tide comes back in, the water warms up. Without wind mixing the shallows with the colder, deeper water in the middle of the Hood Canal, the water on the tide flats stays warm. It's too hot and sunny — and it gets too cold at night — for the native Olympia oyster. But when Pacific oysters were brought from Japan to Puget Sound in the early 20th century, they flourished: That warm water is just what they need to spawn. Oysters make more oysters by spewing sperm and eggs into the water, which then form larvae. The larvae, if they're lucky and changes in the water temperature don't kill them, eventually settle down on a rock or an oyster shell and start forming a shell of their own. Monberg's family 'always worked with the naturally occurring reproduction,' she says, putting oyster shells out on the beach to 'recruit' larvae during the summer spawning season. She compares it to 'farming dandelions.' They manage the population by not harvesting all the oysters at once. 'It's more like a food forest than a modern industrial farm,' she says. 'You're just working with what's there to try to grow more food than would be there otherwise.' The Oyster Saloon was a natural outgrowth of the family's evolving business. The Hama Hama company got into oysters in the 1950s and opened a retail store next to the farm in the '70s, since locals kept dropping by looking to buy a half-gallon of bivalves. Inspired by Hog Island Oyster Company in Northern California, Hama Hama opened the Oyster Saloon in 2014. Initially, the saloon was just a few tables close to the store. During the pandemic lockdown era, the company expanded it by setting up more tables and building those A-frames. The Oyster Saloon has become wildly popular despite a seeming contradiction. Peak oyster season is in winter, and the saloon is open — but since it's entirely outdoors, diners have to huddle around half-sheltered heat lamps and contend with the wind and the rain. (Granted, this is some people's idea of a good time.) The Oyster Saloon is at its bucolic best in the summer, when oysters aren't traditionally eaten, as spawning changes their flavor. These days, however, people have discarded the old 'only eat oysters in months with an 'r'' rule, and on busy summer weekends the saloon serves 700 people a day, who eat around 300 dozen oysters. These are oyster-obsessed city folk from Seattle and Portland, hikers trekking around the nearby national park, bikers taking a break from roaring their Harleys down 101. (There's a rural-urban divide when it comes to oysters, according to Monberg: City folk like raw oysters. People who grew up out here on the peninsula prefer them cooked.) This popularity has made the saloon more central to Hama Hama's business than ever before. A family of loggers turned into a family of oyster farmers, turned into the owners of maybe the only true destination restaurant in Mason County, Washington. Would Hama Hama ever get more fully into the restaurant game, following the footsteps of Taylor Shellfish Farms, another regional seafood producer, which has three Seattle oyster bars? Taylor is doing a great job, says Hama Hama head chef Dillon Pennell, but Hama Hama doesn't want to do that. The Oyster Saloon isn't just a place to get oysters. 'It's air, it's the wood smoke,' says Pennell. 'I don't think we'd ever be very interested in sterilizing it to the point of shoehorning it into the bottom of a condo in Seattle... It would lose some of the spirit.' You can take the oyster off the beach. You can keep it chilled and damp until the moment comes to carefully, expertly shuck it so that its belly and mantle are unbroken, glistening, ready to be served. But maybe something is lost along the way to that citified oyster bar at the bottom of a condo complex, and maybe you have to drive out to Hama Hama again to remember what that was. See More:
