Ivar's Acres of Clams

Ivar Haglund was a folk singer and restaurateur from Seattle who founded Ivar's [1]. In 1938 he opened the city's first aquarium on Pier 54 and sold fish and chips beside it [1]. The full restaurant, Ivar's Acres of Clams, came in 1946 on the same pier, and he coined its motto, Keep Clam [1]. The fish and chip counter and the restaurant both still stand there, though they have been remodeled thoroughly [1]. He bought Pier 54 in 1965, and Ivar's Salmon House opened in 1971 [1]. In 1976 he bought the Smith Tower [1]. He was elected port commissioner in 1983 after filing as a prank [1]. He left his estate chiefly to the University of Washington School of Business, for its University Restaurant Program, having no direct heirs [1]. A neighbor on Pier 56 posted a sign in 1971 telling people not to feed the sea gulls for health reasons, and Haglund answered with a sign of his own that encouraged it [1].