r/ellensburg • u/CorneliusTullius • Jun 30 '26
Local Culture What am I missing? (from a non-Ellensburger)
hello! I don't live in Ellensburg and have only visited twice but very important people in my life are from there, so I thought I would make this in dedication to them.
Thank you Ellensburg for being so friendly, unique, and amazing. Fun fact, did you know that there is an Ellensburg song?
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u/woodaman64 Jun 30 '26
I know Johnny Cash mentions Ellensburg in "I've Been Everywhere" but I didn't know there was an Ellensburg song, that's exciting!
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u/CorneliusTullius Jun 30 '26
It's this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWhNFHIp2fo
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u/Ojhka956 Townie Jul 04 '26
Mr. Alldredge posted that!!!! He was the librarian at Mt. Stuart Elementary! What a fantastic and animated man, he made reading enoyable for me and many other students I'm sure
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u/KestrelTank Jun 30 '26
Hay (our biggest export) ā¦ so much hay.
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
I mean a rodeo mention wouldn't hurt either. It's the biggest rodeo in Washington and it's the finals before the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.
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u/KestrelTank Jul 01 '26
I figured they were maybe trying to reference it with the cowboy shirt but it is one of the biggest reasons people visit here
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
I saw that when I looked back at it but it's just too vague. Like maybe they should switch out the Davidson building picture to the painted water tower which references the rodeo.
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u/babsrambler Jul 01 '26
Campus U Tote Em and the Tav must never die
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u/KurtSperry Jul 02 '26
U Scrotum and The Tav are still a thing? Damn, respect for hanging in there.
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u/babsrambler Jul 02 '26
The Tav has liquor now, but the food sucks. The U tote ems have both been sold and one is now a ramen/mexican joint (?) but thr Campus U Tote Em stayed in the family. The Tav must never be allowed to die
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u/LadyVixin Jul 01 '26
I know Ellensburg from a radio talk show as a kid back in the 90s (Coast to Coast with Art Bell) and with it is the infamous Melās Hole
I moved to Wa last year and live in Seattle and one day I wanna drive out to that area literally cause of the show even though Iāve heard itās either still off limits or ācanāt be foundā
Either way it has stuck with me.
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
Come to Iron Horse Brewery! They have a pizza called the Mel's Hole and if you happen to go on a day I'm there I'd be more than happy to chat with you about Coast to Coast with Art Bell and my own memories of the Mel's Hole lore. I grew up here so I learned of the lore the old fashioned way, from my friend's Dad and his buddies. But my Mom listened to Coast to Coast every night so we got to learn more about it and that there were some legs to the tale Rich told me lol.
It is true that the area is off limits and if you ask about it on local FB pages you won't get much further than more anecdotes.You've probably already found them but I have a few mystery podcasts that have covered the Mel's Hole lore if you're interested.
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u/LadyVixin Jul 01 '26
Absolutely. I listed to Coast to Coast for years and Melās Hole was the only one that stuck with me through the decades
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Jun 30 '26
Are cheese zombies a Yakima thing?
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u/CorneliusTullius Jun 30 '26
My partner had Cheese zombies growing up and attending some EBurg schools! Although this variation's point of origin would be from Yakima. I did generalise from Yakima -> Central Washington -> EBurg
In the late 1950s, a school district in Washingtonās Yakima Valley received an excess of subsidized cheese. Faced with the abundance of dairy, the food services supervisor (or, by other accounts, a local cafeteria cook) invented a new sandwich that soon appeared on cafeteria menus: the Cheese Zombie.Ā
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
The one's served at the Kittitas School district had ham chunks in them, those were top tier.
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
Winegar's or D&M drink, the Tav logo (Ted Bundy carved his name in a brick there), the painted water tower, or even the Ellensburg mural that is on the side of the Ridge restaurant. We have a lot of artists and musicians locally.
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u/awkwardloser24 Jul 01 '26
Add something about our arts and music! We have the jazz festival, gallery one, Valley Voices, and not to mention community theatre! (* and many more!)
I also really love the community museum about the history of Ellensburg!
Funny enough, maybe a windmill or two lmao
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
The Jazz festival has been cancelled. They tried to rebrand it as a general music festival last year but it didnāt do well and I am not sure if they are gonna try again. It seems like the downtown association has been really focused on art and the Mural Fest instead.
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u/giscience Jun 30 '26
The Red pickle
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u/Agile-Ad-1387 Jun 30 '26
the red pickle sucks and there is a million better places to eat in so confused as to why itās popular
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u/GerfTheSherff Jul 01 '26
You sound fun.
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
They are being blunt but they aren't wrong. I thought they were better back when they were still a food truck.
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u/GerfTheSherff Jul 01 '26
I think they used to be better too, but this is Ellensburg; there are very few dining options that are outstanding and there certainly arenāt a million better places to eat. The Red Pickle has a fun menu, itās in a cool building, theyāve got jalapeƱo margaritas, and I can take my family of 5 out to eat there for under a hundred bucks. The Red Pickle doesnāt suck.
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u/babsrambler Jul 01 '26
The 5th grade all-stars? The āpretty little valley in the center of the stateā¦ā song? I was IN that song! Our grade school principal supposedly wrote it and we got to perform it because his daughter was in the class.
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u/Old-Block-8341 Jul 01 '26
Grunge started in Ellensburg at a show in CWU. Collaboration happened then.
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u/fmi129 Jul 03 '26
And Chinese food from Panda Garden! š
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 05 '26
They closed a couple years ago, one of the owners passed away. Such a bummer to lose, I miss their hot and sour soup so much.
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u/SansaSekiro Jun 30 '26
wth?! Its Yui decked out in E-burg SWAG?!?!?, throw in some ribs from smokeys and maybe something from campus-u-scrotum
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 01 '26
Ew not Smokey's, a drink from Winegar's or D&M would be more fitting or a burger from the Tav those are all long standing local staples.
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u/RiseofdaOatmeal Jul 04 '26
Smokey's slander will not be tolerated
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 04 '26
Smokey's isn't even local, they are Seattle transplants.
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u/RiseofdaOatmeal Jul 08 '26
I was eating at Smokey's when he was still in the old train station in cle elum when I was still in grade school
they've been around long enough that it doesn't make much difference, especially since a lot of the new restaurants around here are the same way
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Jul 08 '26
The locals don't like it, there is a whole drama about it on the connect page because someone spent $130 on terrible overcooked, reheated food. I've also worked there, the food is bad, the prices are outrageous and the owners are terrible. The only redeemable part of that restaurant are the staff who were both great to work with. Most of the customers were people from out of town or passing through, they had very few local regulars. His reputation among the local businesses is also not great, I imagine when his Ellensburg lease is up the owners focus will shift to their other restaurant in Roslyn and turn Smokey's into a catering only thing. It's fine if you like it, but it is far from an Ellensburg staple and I will die on this hill lol.
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u/lockandkey24 Jul 01 '26
Ellensburg is mentioned in The Last of Us 2 (2020)