Oyster Bar History

The sidewalk between 2nd & 3rd on Ankeny Street was stacked with boxes of live crabs. It was 1907 and Louis C. Wachsmuth was carting them inside to the big, briny crab pot. Dealing in seafood was nothing new for Louis. He grew up working with his father and brothers on the family oyster farm in Oysterville, Washington. Louis' father Meinert Wachsmuth was born on the Isle of Sylt, off the coast of Denmark in 1842. At the age of fourteen he stowed away on an ocean going vessel and wound up shipping before the mast for nearly ten years. He sailed aroung the Horn seven times before settling down to work the trade route between San Francisco and the oyster rich bays of Oregon and Washington. He decided to end his maritime career when he was shipwrecked at Yaquina Bay, Oregon, aboard the schooner Annie Doyle in 1865. In 1869 Meinert married Elizabeth Sullivan and moved to Oysterville. He and his bride were blessed with three sons before they returned to San Francisco where Louis was born in 1877. While in California, Meinert worked for the Moraghan Oyster Company but moved back to Oysterville in 1881 to set up his own business. Louis learned to shuck oysters the next at the age of five and developed a lifelong curiosity about the succulent bivalves while growing up along the shores of Shoalwater Bay.

Louis and the Oyster Bar

Meinert retired and sold his entire oyster holdings in 1903. Louis followed his older brothers Harry and Theodore to Portland, Oregon. He worked as a delivery man, cook, and oyster shucker, before opening a wholesale and retail seafood store serving oyster cocktails. In 1919 with advent of prohibition Louis acquired the food bar from the famous Merchant's Exchange Saloon formerly located on 1st & Aiken and decided that a piping hot oyster stew wold be a tasty addition to his tiny menu. Soon the old bar could no longer accommodate the growing number of hungry customers and Louis built several small dining rooms adjacent to the bar. Seating for larger parties was provided when the "Main" dining room with it's distinctive sailing ship interior was built in 1937. The opening of the "Reserve" dining room with the ship shaped kitchen "Star of Oregon"followed in 1940

A Family Tradition

Louis and his wife Elizabeth Sauer were married in 1908. Their children grew up with the business, but tragedy struck in February of 1938. After the family seemed to have recovered from a dangerous strain of influenza, Dan the second oldest, suddenly died from complications of the illness. He was 27 years old and an integral part of the family's future plans. Dan's name was added to "Louis' Oyster Bar" as a memorial and the oldest son Louis Arther worked long and hard to help fill the void. Younger son Chester was still in school and didn't join the firm on a full time basis until after his military service in 1945. Grandpa Louis died in 1958 and his sons Louis A. and Chester continued the family business until passing it onto their sons Louis John and Doug in 1977. In 1991 Doug bought Louis John's shares in the restaurant. He carried on the tradition with the help of his brother Chester Jr. (Tuck) and his wife Joyce. Doug and Joyce had three children. Just like the generations before them, they grew up in the family business. Each child started washing dishes at a young age! Theodore Wachsmuth (Ted), the oldest son, has been working for the family business ever since. During his college years at Portland State University, he managed the kitchen for his father. He met his wife, Stephanie Jones, while visiting his sister in California. They got married in 1996 and now have two children, Caleb and Chloe. Meinert Wachsmuth (Keoni), the younger son also worked for the family business. He moved away to attend Southern Oregon State College. But returned in 1993 to go to the Western Culinary Institute. Upon graduating he moved to the Hawaiian Islands. While he was in Maui he met his wife, Michelle Lyons, in Hana. In 1997 they moved to Portland, joined the family business and got married the next year. They have three children, Louis (Kai), Elizabeth (Hana), and Dan (Kaleo). Elizabeth Wachsmuth (Beth), the youngest, met her husband, Jon Teran, while attending Biola University. They got married in 1998 and had three children, Malia, Joseph Douglas (J.D.) and Kiana. Beth got her doctorate in physical therapy and now works in Pasadena, California. Ted and Keoni manage the restaurant and their father Doug is acting CFO.