Popular drive-in on way out

Daly's Drive-In in the Eastlake neighborhood, one of the city's favorite burger joints, may join the increasing ranks of longtime small businesses displaced by development.

The family-owned restaurant is known for its award-winning "Daly Double" hamburgers, its milkshakes, salmon burgers, view of Lake Union and even its tartar sauce.

It isn't just the food, fans say; it is Daly's ungentrified ambience and the fact that folks from all generations and means -- from toddlers to grandparents, the well-heeled to the budget-conscious -- feel welcome.

But the 45-year-old fixture's lease is up at the end of January, owners Maureen and Everett Waters said, and the restaurant will be torn down to make way for a multistory office building. The Waters are looking for a new site but have yet to find one.

The sad word is getting out.

"Our customers are crying. Every day they come in and tell us, 'You can't leave!' " Maureen Waters said. "It's really hard to hear that from everybody."

Daly's manager, Maribeth Lewis, the Waters' daughter, said, "The community is really upset.

"I've been asked 75 times a day or more, 'What's going to happen?' and I feel like screaming. I don't know how to answer them," Lewis said. "The building is going to be torn down. We don't know if we can relocate. We honestly just don't know yet."

On Labor Day, families sat at tables, relaxed over burgers and fries, laughing together and tossing mustard packs to each other. Others sat at the corner counters, aware of the cracks in the walls but more interested in the seaplanes, yachts and kayaks on Lake Union. Couples perused the overhead menu behind the cashier, while an elderly man waited in line, reading cartoons posted on an entryway wall.

Orders were called promptly over the sound of sizzling food.

"Coconut shake!" "BLT!" "Hot-fudge shake!" "Fish 'n' chips!"

Nobody liked the idea of losing Daly's, a former drive-in that kept its name for nostalgia's sake. Built in 1962, the same year as the Seattle World's Fair, it remains the only restaurant in a citywide burger chain started by Jim Daly.

The Waters bought the restaurant in 1986. Since May, they've been on a month-to-month lease.

"This is the only place around that has hot-fudge shakes -- they're killer," said Keith Kuhlmann, who came by on a motorcycle with his son, Torrey, a University of Washington student. Kuhlmann said he didn't know Daly's was in jeopardy; he brought his son in to introduce him to the shakes and burgers.

"They're the best burgers in town. Well, Red Mill burgers (in Phinney Ridge and Interbay) are great, too, but the lines are so long," said Kuhlman, who has patronized Daly's for 37 years. "I'm sorry to hear it's being torn down; this is a great location. This whole area has changed drastically."

Chris Leman, longtime Eastlake resident and former president of the Eastlake Community Council, said the community is trying to come to terms with the potential loss yet respect the rights of property owners, who include local developer Chris Hughes.

"It's a bittersweet thing," Leman said. "Chris and his father have been in this neighborhood for about 50 years, so if it's going to happen, we'd rather see the development done by someone who's been a good corporate citizen in the neighborhood.

		Karen Ducey / P-I
	Patrons head into Daly's for lunch Tuesday. The burger joint's lease is up at the end of January, and it will be torn down to make way for an office building.

"But there's no question overall that Eastlake is losing these small and very treasured businesses like Daly's," Leman said. "Nobody's happy to see them go."

A spokesman for the Seattle Department of Planning and Development confirmed that an ownership group called 2701 Eastlake LLC applied for a permit in March to tear down a building south of Daly's, but not yet for the Daly's lot or the one just north, formerly owned by Scott Sherman Auto Repair. Locals say all three lots have a single owner, who plans to erect an office building. But owners could not be reached except Hughes, who would not comment.

Jim Francis, vice president of finance for nearby Lake Union Drydock, has been a steady Daly's customer for 10 years. He pretty much summed up most customers' sentiments.

"Everybody loves Daly's," Francis said. "It's good food, it's fast, it's convenient and not expensive. It's very hard to beat. I'll be sad to see it go. It's the best place around here, as far as I'm concerned."

"The changes I see that are happening -- the upscaling of everything, it makes me sad," said Maureen Waters, whose mother-in-law used to live on an Eastlake houseboat. "There are a lot of little buildings like ours that have been there a long time, getting replaced by condos. A lot of condos. Or new business buildings.

"Pretty soon, all the little funky places will be gone, and a lot of people can't stay. It changes the neighborhood."