STORY BY DOUG BARKER

PHOTOS BY GABE GREEN

So, you’re sick of your job. You love it at the ocean and when you’re there, you always drop in at that funky little tavern at Copalis Beach, the Green Lantern. The vibe is always good. The locals mingle well with the tourists and the place has a great shuffleboard table. “I could see myself running a place like this,” you say to yourself.

Too late.

Rick and Claire Hall beat you to it.

About 15 minutes north of Ocean Shores, where Highway 109 takes a 90 degree bend at the Copalis River, is the Green Lantern Pub. For decades it’s been a favorite of people who live on that stretch of the coast or visit there.

It looks like most neighborhood bars and that’s essentially what it is, but what a neighborhood.

The tavern is about two blocks from the ocean, and a beach approach road runs right next to the bar. A line of windows on the north side of the building looks out at the Copalis River as it cuts through the long marsh grass stirring in the ocean breeze of Griffith-Priday State Park. During the daytime, natural light infused with the tones of the ocean and the beach floods through the windows and over the pool tables, Naugahyde and the big jar of pickled eggs behind the bar. If you can’t decide whether to go to the beach or the bar, you could split the difference at the Green Lantern.

The Halls lived in the Puget Sound area, but had a place in Ocean Shores and often dropped in at the Green Lantern. They would kibitz with the previous owner about buying the place and eventually took the leap. Rick calls it his practice retirement job. It’s a lot more work than he thought it would be, but it’s much better work, he said. “But then, I compare everything to hanging drywall.”

There’s a real melting pot of ages and types at the Green Lantern. A nightly dinner special draws lots of locals in the evening and pool competition and bingo draws them during the daytime. And tourists come and go steadily. This summer bingo proceeds went to the “Lantern Lunch” program that delivers meals to the homes of kids in the area to make sure they get a lunch when school is out.

The Green Lantern has a full bar and the kitchen serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. It’s pub food and the reviews are good and portions generous. Some advice: If you order a C.J. Burger, bring a friend. If you didn’t come with one, you’re apt to make one there.

Visit the Green Lantern Pub

3119 Washington State Route109,

Copalis Beach, WA, 98535