The Marina Offers Spectacular Views, Spectacular Dining
Harbor Location Draws Customers Who Enjoy Seafood and Scenery

Article by Dyas A. Lawson
Photos by Dave Brumbaugh

The Marina Restaurant has for years been the place to go for great seafood along with a great view in Bellingham.

Perched at the edge of Squalicum Harbor, the restaurant offers an unparalleled view of the picturesque boats, masts prickling toward the sky like porcupine quills. The diner may also see what’s going on around the harbor, watch boats of all kinds entering and leaving the harbor and enjoy the often magnificent sunsets over the bay.

“That’s one thing people come here for,” says owner John Arntsen, “to look at the boats, the harbor and the sunsets.”

Another is the excellent food and the attentive but unobtrusive service, with plenty of attention given to mouthwatering culinary details. The Marina’s interior is relaxing, comfortable and pleasing to the eye, but subtle enough not to detract from the real “decoration” outside the windows. And The Marina’s reputation for excellent seafood is well deserved. (In my humble opinion, anyway.)

Arntsen, the restaurant’s original owner, constructed the building and has been in business in the harbor location since February 1988. That’s where he settled after coming to Bellingham to open the Cliff House, and later Dirty Dan’s and other well-known area dining establishments.

“I’ve never regretted being here. This is a great location,” he enthuses. “This is the second-largest boat harbor in the state, with around 1,800 boats last I heard. It’s got a wonderful view.”

At the time, there was talk about constructing a big hotel at the harbor — a much bigger development than the Bellwether is now, Arntsen recalls — and the Port of Bellingham held a competition to see who had the best approach to building a facility there. “We won,” Arntsen says simply, “and we built the restaurant. Something happened and the development didn’t show up, but we did.”

 

New development

A decade later, some development did occur, first in the form of the European-styled Hotel Bellwether just next door to The Marina, followed by the Paulsen Office Building and now a new Anthony’s restaurant. Arntsen says the development has caused some difficulties, but he expects those to be ironed out as time goes on.

One problem, he points out, is the signs in the area. “Squalicum Harbor” and “Thomas Glenn Drive” are on the maps, charts and freeway signs; but the street name has been changed to “Bellwether Way” and the harbor signs are hard to see. People head down there, don’t find what they expect to find and become frustrated.

Another difficulty is parking. With only 700 parking places, difficulties arise when 1,000-ticket events are sold for the area, as happened not too long ago. Arntsen says he’s had some customers call at such times and cancel reservations because they can’t find a place to park.

“Still, the hotel is a net plus at this point. When they have overnight guests, we certainly see our share of customers. Those things will work out,” Arntsen says. “It’s just that the transition’s difficult.”

Construction on the office building and Anthony’s affected The Marina’s business, too, but Arntsen says the combination makes it tricky to try to evaluate which caused what. Since Anthony’s opened shortly before the Sept. 11 World Trade Center atrocity, Arntsen says it’s not easy to discern the impact on his business of Anthony’s opening versus the disaster. The first days after the disaster, and again when the stock market reopened and dropped so low, business fell by about half.

“Aside from that, I’ve been through this (competition opening) before. Usually, people try out the new places and for the most part return to where they were,” he explains.

 

A tough year

Like other restaurant owners, Arntsen credits much of a lower business level to overall area economics.

“It’s been a tough year. Our local economy’s had tough times, with the energy crisis last spring. Georgia-Pacific and Intalco were certainly major players in our market and they’re not the force they once were. We used to have several G-P business meetings in here each day. They were a significant force in the county. A lot of people don’t realize that and there’s nobody to take their place. Hopefully, more things are in the works that we haven’t seen yet,” Arntsen says.

Though The Marina’s $2 million gross is lower than revenues during the pre-1998, pre-construction days, it’s better than during the restaurant’s early years, Arntsen says. With an inside seating capacity of about 215 and an outside capacity of 75, he says about 300 customers enjoy The Marina’s delectable offerings each day.

And he plans to expand the inside to enclose more of the building’s footprint. The banquet room, with a present capacity of 25, has a deck that adjoins it at the end of the building. Permits were in the works at this writing to allow Arntsen to enclose the deck, adding its square footage to the banquet room and expanding that capacity to 75. In addition, that renovation will include three glass walls to take full advantage of the magnificent views in the restaurant’s neighborhood.

“Talks for that are going well,” Arntsen says. “We have that tentatively scheduled for the first of the year.”

Arntsen has little idea what his holiday season will look like. While some companies have already booked holiday events for their employees, others have canceled. “The jury’s out on that one, still,” he says.

But he sounds confident in his business, his location and his employees. “I feel fortunate to have this location,” he says. “There are ups and downs in the business cycle; there always have been. I have wonderful employees and wonderful, loyal customers who are very supportive. I’m glad to be here.”