For perhaps the first time in the building’s nearly 100-year history, Hotel Cathlamet now has a tavern.

Hotel owner Laurel Waller said many patrons, mostly women, have told her recently that they would like a place to meet with friends and wind down after work before going home.

“Over time, enough seeds get planted and here you go,” she said with a laugh Thursday.

Waller and her son, Timothy, have owned and operated the hotel for about three and a half years. In the downstairs they lease four retail stalls to local businesses.

When a space opened up, the new renter said they only wanted half of the space, Waller said. So she decided to transform the other half into a tavern.

“There it was, sitting here waiting for me to turn it into something,” she said. “I started toward what I imagined might be a place that women would like to stop.”

The 530-square-foot space now hosts her grandfather’s old armchairs and tables made of wine barrels. The walls are pink and burgundy, and smooth jazz plays quietly in the background…


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