(WSB photos from Friday morning)
Four days now have passed since the early-morning fire that heavily damaged the interior of the historic Alki Homestead restaurant; yesterday, owner Tom Lin estimated in this update for WSB that it would take more than six months to repair and reopen. This morning, he just sent us another update, including some information related to the cause of the fire, listed by Seattle Fire Department investigators as too many Christmas lights plugged into one socket:

I just want to clarify why we never took down the Christmas lights. We lost reservations for over 600 people the week before Christmas due to the snow storm. Many of the customers called and asked Homestead to keep the lights up till the end of January. The fire was caused by the combination of old wiring, Christmas lights and other unforeseen factors. I don’t think any one is at fault.

I met up with the buyers of Alki Homestead today and many issues were discussed. Johnny and Rose still would like to proceed with the purchase of Alki Homestead after it is restored. However, the following conditions will have to be met:

1. The restaurant has to come back as Alki Homestead or there is no goodwill, hence they will not be interested.
2. If the build-out is more than buyers’ original budget due to fire, the seller may have to make up for the shortfall.
3. Buyers will be included in the restoration process to ensure the integrity of the building.
4. Buyers will not have their names released until documents are signed pertaining to the above conditions.

I appreciate all the support from the community. So far, I believe we can still meet our payroll. It is just nice to know that people are thinking of our employees especially when the job market is really tough now.

Tom Lin
alkihomestead@yahoo.com

We have a followup question out to Tom — who sent the update a short time ago — regarding the buyers, who for the first time he publicly identifies as “Johnny and Rose.” Based on some intel we received when Tom first described the anonymous prospective buyers as a husband-and-wife chef team living in Fauntleroy, we believe “Johnny” is Johnny Zhu (background here, via LinkedIn). More updates to come; we also are asking Tom a question one WSBer posed – whether there’s any way to donate to help the Homestead staff.

(Friday morning photo by David Hutchinson)
Three days after fire damaged Alki’s historic Homestead Restaurant, its owner has a clearer picture of the road ahead to getting it reopened. As we reported Friday morning, investigators say the $400,000 fire was an electrical accident – sparked by too many Christmas lights plugged into a single socket. Tom Lin, who bought the Homestead after longtime owner Doris Nelson passed away, provides this update on what’s happening now with the restaurant (an official Seattle landmark), its employees, and the prospective new owner he was in the process of selling it to when this happened:

The dust has finally settled after 3 chaotic days. I know many people are interested in knowing what is going on with Alki Homestead after the fire, and I will update as much as I can as we proceed with the cleanup.

First of all, I must thank the Fire Department and the Police Department for the prompt response time. I believe the phone call was made at 5:20 AM and they had the fire out by 5:40. I don’t think anyone can ask for more than that. It was such a blessing that fire started at 5 AM instead of 5 PM and no one got hurt.

At 6 AM, my longtime employee, Bonnie, who worked for Mrs. Nelson for 17 years and has worked for me for 3 years, showed up in tears wanting to talk to the Fire Chief. She had one request, she asked if anyone could get the reservation book so she could call all the customers who had reservation for the weekend. A “firewoman” went inside, grabbed the charred reservation book and handed to Bonnie.

After examining the damage, I think it will take longer than 6 months to reopen Alki Homestead. The damage is quite extensive. I believe the entire roof needs to be replaced. The middle part of the second floor will have to come down. There is a big hole in the ceiling of the first floor where the fire went up and that also punctured a hole in the roof.

This is our photo from Friday showing that damage:

Tom continues:

The ceiling of the main dining room is pretty much charred. The fireplace actually stopped the fire from spreading to the left side of the dining room. All the tables and chairs are gone. Luckily, the dining table that is over 100 years old is still standing. The King and Queen’s chairs are ok. The PI clock and the sideboards are charred. All the chandeliers are melted. I think we can salvage the pictures of the Barnards.

I will know more next week after we get the official damage report. I have already instructed the general manager, Chris Long, to supplement employees with their salary for at least 3 months. It is more than a job for most of them and we will not leave them on the street at any cost.

I know we have lots of gift certificates outstanding. We will try to get other restaurants in Alki to honor them or we will redeem the gift certificates with cash. I will post the details soon. If any restaurants would like to honor our gift certificates, please e-mail me.

I have spoken to the buyer of the restaurant business and he is still interested in taking over, except it will be on a later date. I will disclose the buyer’s identity later in the week after our meeting tomorrow. We will be renegotiating the terms of the sale and hopefully come to an agreement.

I bought Alki Homestead because I wanted to preserve the part of history that has been very important to this neighborhood. Some people may still want to treat me like an outsider, but I have as much at stake as anyone else who lives here. In any event, our goal is to restore the restaurant and hopefully make it better. We will get a better facility that will meet the ADA standards, from the bathrooms to the handicapped ramp. Hopefully wheelchair customers won’t have to go through the kitchen and hopefully the bathrooms will be big enough to accommodate wheelchairs with no steps going up and down. This may be our chance to update the restaurant, think positive. Both Alki Homestead and the pan-fried chicken will return.

So much for the thoughts tonight, hope to get some feedback soon. My e-mail is alkihomestead@yahoo.com.

Tom Lin

For those who’ve never been inside, this Wikimedia photo shows what a special place it’s been:

But just hours after the fire, so many of those interior fixtures, as Tom mentioned, were in a charred heap outside:

We will be following up with Tom for those future updates he mentioned.

Eerily, we can’t help but note that it’s just a few weeks till the first anniversary of the fire that closed another beloved West Seattle restaurant for months – the Charlestown Cafe fire in February 2008 – that one, too, an accident; the Charlestown finally reopened almost five months later.

(scroll down for latest information, continuing to add it as we get it)

(photo by David Hutchinson)
ORIGINAL 6:23 AM POST (which was headlined “Alki Homestead fire out”): That’s according to Helen Fitzpatrick of the Seattle Fire Department, who says flames were coming from the rear of the restaurant when crews arrived. Crews were sent out about 5:20 am. The Homestead’s log-house building on 61st SW south of Alki SW (map) is a city landmark (since 1996); the restaurant business was up for sale last year and we had reported just before the holidays (11/25/08 WSB report here) that its owner, Tom Lin, had found buyers. According to the Fire Department, no one was in the building at the time of this morning’s fire. More details and photos shortly. 6:43 AM UPDATE: Another photo from David Hutchinson, this one showing the fire-response vehicles lined up all the way onto Alki Ave. Witness reports say firefighters had to cut into the building while fighting the flames. No word of any injuries.

6:49 AM UPDATE: Co-publisher Patrick has an update from SFD spokesperson Fitzpatrick at the scene: The fire broke out on the 1st floor and flames did shoot up through the roof. No idea yet what caused it. Damage is mostly confined to the 1st floor (which of course is the restaurant’s main floor). 61st remains blocked off from Alki Ave to SW Stevens (Log House Museum).

7 AM UPDATE: Most of the fire vehicles are starting to pack up to leave. We’re not being allowed around back of the building so far, so it’s too soon to say just how extensive the damage appears from the outside.

7:06 AM UPDATE: Fitzpatrick says there’s “significant smoke and char damage on the first floor” and some damage in the attic area. Investigation into the cause continues.

7:22 AM UPDATE: Patrick just talked with owner Tom Lin at the scene. The message he wanted to reaffirm: Nobody is hurt – in the past there were tenants renting some space in the building but that space has been vacant for a while. Tom knows his office was damaged but doesn’t know the extent of the restaurant damage yet and so has no idea when it’ll reopen. He told us that he lives nearby and heard the sirens; when he realized how close they were, he went over to look and was shocked to find out it was the Homestead. Patrick asked about the in-progress sale mentioned in our November report; Tom said it hadn’t closed yet but the prospective purchaser had been actively preparing for some potential remodeling work, and the restaurant had been scheduled to close soon because of that (as he’d told us in November). Patrick adds that the fire damage is not visible from outside, at least from the front of the restaurant; Tom believes the thickness of the log structure kept the flames from actually breaking through the framework, aside from the aforementioned attic damage. (added later – video we shot as a TV reporter was interviewing him with the same questions we’d asked some time earlier)

7:38 AM UPDATE: Owner Tom just told Patrick investigators believe the fire was electrical in origin.

8:01 AM NOTE: We’ll have more photos back shortly, more clearly showing the damage from outside. Regarding the mention of the attic, we’re reminded that we covered a special sale at the Homestead last April (here’s our story, with photos); many of the items had been brought out of storage in the attic.

8:15 AM UPDATE: Adding more photos. First, this is from behind the restaurant, showing the roof damage – that’s right behind the famous vertical neon sign:

Looking at the roof from the front, only a little damage can be seen, right around the chimney:

Here’s a wide shot of the restaurant’s century-old building – from this angle, if not for the fire trucks, you wouldn’t have known there’d been a fire:

By the way, if you’ve never been inside the Homestead, here’s a photo of the interior.

10:29 AM UPDATE: From Dana Vander Houwen at the SFD: The fire is blamed on “excessive draw of power for Christmas lights plugged into a single outlet” and damage is estimated at $400,000.

11:45 AM UPDATE: From an opening to the courtyard on the alley behind the restaurant, you can see this sad scene – burned items from inside the restaurant.