Bob’s Java Jive is a living piece of Tacoma history. Look inside this coffeepot-shaped bar

The patron called Snake gestures toward the blue-felt pool table in the coffeepot-shaped bar in Tacoma.

“I call it the ‘pool ghost.’ Not everyone has seen it,” Snake told The News Tribune on a Monday night in early July. “You get like a really, really unlucky shot out of the blue, and you’ll see more dust in the air than normal.”

Bob’s Java Jive, 2102 South Tacoma Way, is a T-Town institution steeped in such legends.

There’s the tale about the time the bar’s namesake owner supposedly shut down a set by a pre-world-famous Nirvana — or maybe it was Kurt Cobain’s former band. Keanu Reeves, who starred in a movie shot partly at Bob’s, reportedly offered to buy the building for $1 million . Tacoma-born Bing Crosby used to hang out there back in the day. It’s where Girl Trouble’s singer and guitarist met.

Bob’s backroom was once home to a pair of macaque monkeys named Java and Jive — smoking primates, according to one rumor — and go-go dancers shimmied on a stage.

Despite its exterior, Bob’s doesn’t have coffee on the menu . Rather, it specializes in cocktails, wine, local brews and bar food.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of dollar bills line the Jive’s ceiling. Tropical-looking foliage and fake animal-head mounts adorn the walls. Kaleidoscopic lights flicker in the back, where Snake and other karaoke superstars can belt away their worries.

It’s like Alice in Wonderland scored by the surf-rock tunes of Dick Dale . It’s like Disney World gone tiki. At times it’s fought to stay afloat.

Bob’s owner, Richard Walden, explained that the place comes with certain challenges. He’s had to cover repairs with his personal savings.

“I’ve been doing this all out of my own pocket: paying city fines and trying to stay functioning so this place can exist,” Walden said. “That’s been the struggle.”

The city shuttered Bob’s in 2007 because of fire-code violations . After the community chipped in to save it, the club was resurrected.

COVID-19 threatened Bob’s existence before a fundraising effort exceeded the $10,000 goal within 24 hours.

Still the Jive marches on.

When The News Tribune sat down with Walden, the bar was days away from its You Are Here 2024 event on Saturday, July 6. Tacoma Weekly recently described it as Bob’s “second annual rooftop show and parking lot party .”

Bob’s is a Tacoma landmark that was listed in 2014 on the National Register of Historic Places, but it’s more than just a local haunt overflowing with decades-old lore. For many regulars like Snake, Bob’s is a crucial fixture in their lives.

Another bar regular told The News Tribune that he usually comes every Sunday: “I like to say that this place is my church.”

A ‘genuine’ Tacoma tourist attraction

Bob’s rings in its 97th birthday this year.

A local veterinarian, Otis G. Button, erected the prefabricated building in 1927. Called the Coffee Pot restaurant at the time, it was put together on the Tideflats before getting fastened in place on South Tacoma Way, The News Tribune previously reported.

According to South Sound Magazine, Tacoma artist Bert Smyser designed Bob’s . It has served as a breakfast joint, diner drive-in, speakeasy and Polynesian-themed dance club.

Businessman Bob Radonich purchased the place in 1955, rebranding it as the Java Jive in honor of a song by the Ink Spots, per The News Tribune.

“I love coffee; I love tea,” the song goes. “I love the java jive, and it loves me.”

With a white exterior, blue window awnings and red handle and spout, Bob’s facade is an eye-grabber. Travelers from all over the world come to visit.

Walden sips from a beer can during the interview. His drink of choice? “ Bob’s Light Lager ,” a collaboration with Tacoma’s Sig Brewing that features the coffeepot building on the logo.

Famous bands have hosted post-concert after-parties at Bob’s — including, Walden said, Weezer. He counts Bob’s as one of Tacoma’s only “genuine” tourist attractions.

“We probably get more foreigners — he has an accent, for example,” Walden said, referencing a British-sounding patron in a Hawaiian shirt sitting at the bar. “We get legit people from different countries who come here to see the coffeepot.”

The strange-shaped structure also acts to keep rude, judgmental folks out, he said: “You have to strip your ego to walk in the front door.”

It’s a sentiment that has been echoed by the joint’s late previous owner, Danette Staatz.

“The Jive is a funny place,” she told The News Tribune in 2014 . “You’re either a snoot and you’re going to walk in and hate it, but it’s so different that most people love it. It’s like its own entity. It wraps [its] arms around you when you walk in, and it loves you.”

Bob’s singular shape has also proved to be limiting in some ways. Walden said the circular building isn’t approved to wash produce, such as limes and lemons or tomatoes for burgers, because none of its sinks fit within the health department’s specifications.

There’s no exception for small businesses, he said.

“It’s one of the struggles for us mom-and-pop places is we’re not going to be around anymore in 10 years,” he said. “It’s all going to be Arby’s, and it’s all going to be commercial food places.”

Bob’s ‘Wild West’ history

A hot-pink neon sign glows behind the darkened stage in Bob’s backroom as Snake nails the final chorus of “Ex’s & Oh’s” by Elle King. The 24-year-old, who uses they/them pronouns, lights up while telling The News Tribune about their love for Bob’s.

Creativity thrives in the bar, Snake explained. There are doodles on tables, photos of random people hanging up, funny messages scrawled in the bathrooms. If a swastika ever crops up, it’ll quickly get covered up by a sticker.

The regulars make sure that Bob’s stays welcoming and accepting, they said.

“This crowd, I feel good with — I feel safe with,” Snake said. “They literally treat me like family. I’m friends with the security, I’m friends with the bartenders. If something happens, they’re like, ‘Hey, what happened? What’s your side? What can we do to fix it?’”

That sense of feeling at home, plus the consistent karaoke, kept Walden coming back for 11-ish years, and he bought Bob’s in February 2022.

Walden’s brother, Derek Walden, is the bar manager. Derek told The News Tribune that he remembers seeing the odd-looking building whiz by during car rides as a kid. Years later, he checked it out with a friend.

Derek had no clue at the time that Bob’s is a bar. Stepping inside, he was greeted by a dark, “dungeon-y” vibe.

“It seemed lawless — like the Wild West, almost,” he said. “So it’s always been a gem in my eyes.”

Trying to operate in a nearly 100-year-old building has sometimes felt like solving a mystery, he said. The space can be tough to work in; he’s had to retrace past owners’ footsteps to figure out a certain fix. Derek called keeping the place going a “personal test,” and many times he’s wanted to quit.

Then he’ll be reminded of why he needs to keep going.

“It’s almost like every Saturday night, I’ll be coming in, and I just hear people talking and laughing and see them all have a great time, and realize that I’m helping facilitate [that],” Derek said. “So it’s like music to my ears to hear and see people out there dancing and singing, you know? That’s the reward.”

Looking ahead, Richard said he wants Bob’s to become an event space that will host local festivals and open-air markets. He hopes that the Jive will become a jazz hub. The business hosts a monthly hip-hop show and has opened its doors to rock and country acts.

Just as anyone is welcome to walk through Bob’s doors, the Jive doesn’t discriminate when it comes to genres.

Long-time bartender Dave Wood explained that while Olympia is “hippie” and Seattle is “yuppie,” Grit City is a specific brand of nonjudgmental “blue-collar.” Wood succinctly summed up what Bob’s represents to so many.

“This is Tacoma. This is the heart of Tacoma,” he said. “Seattle can have their Space Needle. We have the Java Jive.”