Hama Hama® Oyster Blog

The other day a customer called from Tacoma and asked if we were the little seafood shack along highway 101. She was disappointed to learn that we’d moved into a newer, bigger building.

And a year ago we were worried about the move, too. What if we lost all our charm??? But as soon as we emptied our old store of equipment and took a good, hard look at the building any qualms about moving to a new one evaporated.

Granted, we did end up moving on the most miserable day of the year:

That’s foggy Dan, looking psyched to be moving the gigantic fish deli.

We certainly won’t miss the inside of the old store at all….

…especially since Nathan and Miguel salvaged everything useful (like fluorescent lights and electrical hardware)

… but we admit that the outside had a certain je ne sais quoi:

King Crab and Sherlock, looking ready for anything.

Helena (behind the counter) improvised her costume at the last minute, and came through big with the Bucket List.

Snacking and sampling.

A quartet of rowdy vikings and renegade ship captains came to commandeer some smoked salmon.

She’s a zebra, not a convict.

And we’re back!

Our new store has been open a week and we’re still settling in. Hopefully, one of the many boxes piled up in the office will contain oysterfan’s missing camera. Until then, we’re photo-less.

In the meantime, we want to be sure and remind you about our Grand Opening on Halloween from 2 to 5 pm. We’ll be giving away lots of delicious food: barbecued oysters, oysters on the half shell, and samples of our smoked salmon, smoked oysters, and crab cakes. Come early for the crab cakes because they’re really, really good. There will be a salt water touch tank, a drawing for prizes, and live music provided by local band Sideways Reign.

And if it does actually rain sideways, we’ll party in the shucking room!

We’ve been planning this for 5 years, and now it feels like everything’s happening all at once.

Here’s the schedule:

1. We’re going to begin moving equipment out of the old store and into the new one tomorrow.

2. During the moving process we’ll keep the old store open, and if all goes as planned, we’ll open the new store Thursday morning.

3. This weekend, we’re going to tear down the old store.

4. And our grand opening celebration will occur on Saturday, October 31st, otherwise known as Halloween. Start planning your costume now, and stay tuned for more details.

RIP, little old store. Please don’t come back to haunt us.

Evan finishing up the rockwork

We moved the stained glass window from the old store into the new building

Rich finishing off the sales counter

Red.

but still not hoity toity:

Our friend Evan from Villines Masonry worked all last week (in the record breaking heat) putting a Hamma Hamma river rock facade on the new building. Here he is below, drinking a Bubble Up:

Portable sawmiller Dan Stewart milled up the beautiful cedar beams, along with some window trim and interior siding, from trees harvested on the Hama Hama farm.

We are very proud.

…with a ceiling, rafters, and stairs!