Est. 1950 · Long Beach Peninsula Tourism History · Pacific County Roadside Restaurant Heritage
The Lamplighter Restaurant, also known later as Rod's Lamplighter, was a long-running roadside restaurant on the Long Beach Peninsula in Seaview, Washington, Pacific County. The restaurant's tradition included an unusual identifying feature: a brass urn on the mantle of the restaurant's fireplace containing the ashes of former owner Louis 'Louie' Sloan, who lived from 1897 to 1977, and a separate wooden urn containing the ashes of subsequent former owner Lonnie Stanley, who held the restaurant from 1988 to 1992.
The restaurant's identity was tied to Louie and Lonnie as much as to its menu, and successive operators preserved the urns. The Lamplighter closed September 30, 2020, after the owner described pandemic-era business losses as the final blow to an already-struggling operation.
The Long Beach Peninsula's tourism economy supports a number of long-running restaurants, several of which have been the subject of regional Pacific Northwest ghost-tour writing.
Sources
- https://chinookobserver.com/2020/09/29/last-call-rods-lamplighter-turning-out-the-lights/
- https://scaryhq.com/haunted-the-lamplighter-restaurant-long-beach-washington/
- https://www.evergreencoastwa.com/peninsula-pacific-county-have-a-haunted-history/
Pool balls moving in barLights turning on and offElectrical malfunctionsApparitions and presence-sensations reported by employees in the dining area
Local Long Beach Peninsula retellings of the Lamplighter described a ghost named Louie, tied to former owner Louis Sloan whose ashes were kept in a brass urn on the restaurant's fireplace mantle. Louie's reported activity included playing pool in the bar — moving balls during games — turning lights on and off, and producing inexplicable electrical malfunctions. Activity was reported through the restaurant's final operating decades.
The original 2004 Shadowlands account suggested that activity stopped when the ashes were removed, while a subsequent update from the restaurant's owner and manager clarified that the ashes remained on the mantle and that activity continued. Lonnie Stanley's ashes, in a separate wooden urn, were also kept on the property.
These accounts circulate in regional Washington ghost-tour writing rather than in named-investigator publications. With the restaurant closed since 2020, the haunted reputation remains in Long Beach Peninsula local memory.
Notable Entities
Louie (Louis Sloan, 1897–1977)
Media Appearances
- Chinook Observer — Last call: Rod's Lamplighter turning out the lights
Where this legend is told