Northern Rail Pub taps into Hillyard history

There’s a new neighborhood pub in Hillyard.

The Northern Rail Pub has three beers on tap and seats 32 patrons. But when the weather’s warmer there will be room for more in the beer garden out back.

The outdoor space can hold about 90 people and is anchored by an old railroad car. The vintage speeder, once used for transporting crews to work sites along the tracks, fits the pub’s railroad theme. Owners Lynn Moore and Crysti Alsharari wanted to pay homage to the neighborhood’s heritage.

Hillyard is rooted in the legacy of the Great Northern Railway and an enduring reputation for working-class toughness and pride. Its early residents, many of them immigrants, worked on the railroad.

While the train yards have long since shut down, the neighborhood remains a melting pot as well as one of Spokane’s poorest pockets.

Prices at Northern Rail Pub are modest. This is a place where diners can grab half a sandwich and a bowl of soup for $5.

But don’t expect to find french fries. The pub doesn’t have a deep fryer.

“It’s not bar food,” said Moore. “It’s not deep-fried food. It’s good, healthy food.”

There are a few sandwiches – beef, ham and cheese, turkey with cranberries and cream cheese – as well as a hot dog with chili and cheese and chili cheese burger. Daily soups – such as beef and barley, cowboy bean, onion and taco – are top sellers. Sides and salads include a stuffed baked potato and chef and chicken salads.

There’s no dedicated happy hour, however.

“Every day’s happy,” Moore said. “We don’t have happy hour. We’re happy all day, every day.”

The day starts early. When it opens at 8 a.m., neighbors gather for coffee and pastries. Moore sees her pub as a smaller, local version of “Cheers,” the bar in the 1980s sitcom of the same name “where everybody knows your name.”

“We’re a neighborhood pub,” she said. “People come down here and visit and meet other people and just be who they want to be.”

Moore and Alsharari are the only two working here for now. The pair began renovating the space last summer, giving it a new coat of paint and building the bar from salvaged pieces.

“It’s completely different,” said Alsharari, who worked at the location when it housed a different establishment. “We redid everything. Nothing in here is the same except for the stools.”

The Northern Rail Pub, or simply “The Rail” for short, opened in October. The space previously held another bar and a barber shop, among other businesses. A vintage red, white and blue barber pole – a Hillyard landmark – remains out front.

Inside, antique railroad lanterns sit atop the bar. Vintage signs displaying the numbers of old train cars are also used as decoration.

“Hillyard came about because they built steam engines here,” Moore said. “That’s why we stayed with the railroad theme. We wanted it to be railroad-y.”