‘Business of the Year:’ Chamber of Commerce Honors Olympic Club

A Centralia business dedicated to preserving the area’s history and supporting the community has been named the 2017 Business of the Year by the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce.

The Olympic Club received the recognition at the Chamber’s annual banquet on Friday night at Red Barn Studio in Adna.

“The vision of the Olympic Club is exactly what the downtown of Centralia needed at the time,” Todd Chaput, the chairman of the Chamber’s executive committee, said. “The Olympic Club has a long and storied history with Centralia, but the revitalization that happened at the Olympic Club as a McMenamins… it made it one of the cornerstones of the downtown.” 

Chaput said the business draws in thousands of people from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, an influx that brings in fresh faces and additional money that is then spent at other local businesses.

The diversified business includes two bars, a movie theater and a hotel in downtown Centralia.

Matt Osborne, property manager of The Olympic Club, said he was honored to be recognized for the award. 

“It was very surprising, but it was a very nice thing to find out,” Osborne told The Chronicle on Thursday prior to the award being presented. “(The Olympic Club) kind of revitalized downtown Centralia when it wasn’t going that direction, and they were willing to take a chance on little Centralia, which a lot of people don’t understand the magnitude of 21 years later.”

The Olympic Club reopened as a McMenamins’ location in 1997 after it was purchased by brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin a year before. Since that time, a lot has changed. 

At first, the business featured the main bar and pool hall, but after a renovation in 2002, it became a property that included the movie theater, the tourist bar and the hotel. 

The property itself is rich in history.  The Olympic Club originally opened in 1907. Later, in 1913, the location was rebuilt after a fire destroyed much of the building. Then, in 1980, the main portion of The Olympic Club was named a National Historic Landmark. 

The main bar, which Osborne said is one of the most beautiful bars in Western Washington, features the original Tiffany glass and elaborate touches. 

“They don’t make them like this anymore,” Osborne said. 

Along with the main bar, there’s a pool hall complete with a snooker table and a recently added shuffleboard table. The pool tables are the revitalized original ones from when the Olympic Club first opened, Osborne said. 

The building has a brewery, which is now only used for special events, and also features the Green Room, a private catering space people are able to rent out. One of the lesser known amenities is its outside patio that offers seating for between 60 and 70 people, Osborne said.

Strangely enough, one of the most popular attractions are actually the bathrooms, Osborne said. 

The ladies’ room features 12 different faucets you can turn on with your hands and feet, while the men’s bathroom is known for its urinals, “which are the size of a small town,” Osborne said.

The hotel, which features 27 rooms, is upstairs where a brothel once was. Known as “European-style,” the rooms don’t have televisions or phones. 

“We don’t do phones and TVs, and stuff like that because we want you to come down and enjoy the building,” Osborne said. “When you stay here you get free entries to the movies, too.”

The hotel, along with much of the rest of the building, features history from both Centralia and the original Olympic Club. The hotel rooms are named after people who worked, gambled and in some way contributed to the history of The Olympic Club. 

McMenamins has a history and art department that does extensive research prior to splashing the history on the walls through quotes, murals and other methods.

“That’s one of the fun things,” Osborne said. “They buy these little places that have history to them. They find these places that they fall in love with and take chances on,” he said of the McMenamin brothers.

Deemed as a “bootlegger’s paradise” back in the day, the basement of the building is said to have underground tunnels to the train station once used to pick up and deliver booze.

There’s also old wooden pickle buckets with false bottoms that were used to hide bottles in. 

Osborne said the McMenamins found the Olympic Club by accident after they took an incorrect exit from the interstate that led them to the downtown core of the Hub City. One week later, they purchased the property which was closed and up for sale.

“They were taking a big chance because there wasn’t a lot going on down here unless you were a dive bar,” Osborne said. 

Now, it’s become a destination of sorts. McMenamins has a passport system, and in order to complete it, the person has to visit all of the locations. 

“It’s bringing a lot of people to downtown Centralia who didn’t know it was here,” Osborne said. “I think that’s been great advertising not only for us, but for downtown Centralia because now there are a lot of people who swing in when they are coming from Seattle to Portland.” 

The business is unique, Osborne said, not only because of the history, but also because they give back to the community and shop local as much as they can. 

The business does not buy pre-made products, and tries to use local vendors and produce as much as possible. 

The business’s focus also sets it apart, Osborne said.

“I think we are good for Centralia, and what’s different then a lot of places is we do focus on art and music, not just food and beverages,” he said. “If you are coming to the Oly Club, we want you to come see a movie, stick around to see a band, we want you to check out the history of the place, play pool and we are also family friendly.” 

The Olympic Club on average employees between 40 and 60 people depending on the season. 

The business is located at 112 N Tower Ave., Centralia. The phone number is 360-736-5164. Visit www.mcmenamins.com/OlyClub for more information.