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{{Short description|Seafood restaurant chain in the U.S. state of Washington}}
{{Infobox restaurant
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| name                = Ivar's
| logo                = Ivar's logo.svg
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| established         = {{start date and age|1938}}
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| current-owner       = [[Ivar Haglund]]
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| city                = [[Seattle]]
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| state               = [[Washington_(state)|Washington]]
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| website            = {{URL|https://www.ivars.com|ivars.com}}

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[[File:Ivars.jpg|right|thumb|Ivar's Acres of Clams]]
[[File:Man by a Statue.jpg|thumb|''[[Ivar Feeding the Gulls]]'' sculpture, outside Ivar's, [[Pier 54, Seattle]]]]
[[File:Ivars Salmon House 03.jpg|thumb|Main entrance of Ivar's Salmon House]]

'''Ivar's''' is a [[seafood]] [[restaurant]] chain based in [[Seattle, Washington]], United States, with operations in the [[Puget Sound]] region.

Ivar's also owns the Seattle-based [[hamburger|burger]] restaurant chain [[Kidd Valley]].

==History==
Ivar's was founded in 1938 by Seattle [[folk music|folk]] singer [[Ivar Haglund]]. Having built Seattle's first [[aquarium]] on what is now [[Pier 54, Seattle|Pier 54]], he decided to add a companion [[fish and chips]] bar to feed his visitors. The bar was short-lived, however. On July 22, 1946, Haglund opened a new restaurant, Ivar's Acres of [[Clam]]s, at the same location. The aquarium closed ten years later, but the restaurant remains.

Ivar's has two other full-service restaurants: Ivar's [[Salmon]] House in Seattle's [[Northlake, Seattle, Washington|Northlake]] neighborhood, and Ivar's Mukilteo Landing in [[Mukilteo, Washington]], next to the [[Washington State Ferries]] terminal. There is a fishbar outside of all three full-service restaurants.  All its other locations are seafood bars.

[[Nard Jones]] remarked in 1972 that Haglund was "not afraid to reflect Puget Sound tradition in the decor of his restaurants, whereas others of his profession seem intent on making their patrons forget where they are." In this respect, he singled out the Salmon House, "an almost exact replica of an old Indian [[longhouse]]."<ref>{{cite book
 | first = Nard
 | last = Jones
 | author-link= Nard Jones
 | year = 1972
 | title = Seattle
 | publisher = Doubleday
 | isbn = 0-385-01875-4
 | pages = 12
}}</ref>

Every [[Independence Day (US)|Independence Day]] from 1964 until 2008, Ivar's sponsored the Fourth of Jul-Ivar's festival and [[fireworks]] show at [[Downtown, Seattle, Washington|Downtown Seattle's]] [[Myrtle Edwards Park]] on [[Elliott Bay]]. Ivar's estimated its attendance at around 300,000 people. On April 3, 2009, Ivar's announced it was no longer sponsoring its Fourth of Jul-Ivar's community fireworks show.  Ivar's decided to focus its efforts on feeding families in the Pacific Northwest through its partnership with Northwest Harvest.<ref>[http://ivars.net/uploads/pdf/Fourth_of_JulIvars_Cancellation.pdf Fourth of Jul-Ivar's Cancellation]{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ivars.net, retrieved April 3, 2009</ref>

In 2021, ''Kettle Classic Clam Chowder with Uncured Bacon'',<ref>{{cite web |date=6 August 2018 |title=Ivars Clam Chowder Recipe (SO Good!) |url=https://www.thriftynorthwestmom.com/ivars-clam-chowder-recipe-so-good/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218083340/https://www.thriftynorthwestmom.com/ivars-clam-chowder-recipe-so-good/ |archive-date=18 February 2022 |access-date=18 February 2022 |website=Thrifty NW Mom}}</ref><ref name="Ivar-Cookbook-978-1-57061-896-3">{{cite book |author1=The Crew at Ivar's |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZw8v2e7RRgC&q=%22Clam+Chowder%22 |title=Ivar's Seafood Cookbook: The O-fish-al Guide to Cooking the Northwest Catch |date=5 November 2013 |publisher=Sasquatch Books |isbn=978-1-57061-896-3 |language=en |access-date=12 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713194316/https://books.google.com/books?id=kZw8v2e7RRgC&q=%22Clam+Chowder%22#v=snippet&q=%22Clam%20Chowder%22&f=false |archive-date=13 July 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> sold only at [[Costco]], was recalled in 13 states for plastic in the Chowder.<ref name="miamiherald-255126867">{{cite news |last1=NEAL |first1=DAVID J. |date=2021-10-20 |title=Food product sold only at Costco recalled in 13 states because plastic might be in the food |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/recalls/article255126867.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713194339/https://www.miamiherald.com/news/recalls/article255126867.html |archive-date=2024-07-13 |access-date=18 February 2022}}</ref>

==Underwater billboard hoax==
Capitalizing on founder Haglund's reputation for eccentric marketing stunts, Ivar's put out a story that Haglund had placed billboards on the bottom of the Sound, related to a proposal he had once made for submarine traffic as a viable mode of transportation. Some documentation was released, including maps of possible sub-aquatic billboard locations. On August 22, 2009 one of the rumored signs was discovered and hoisted out of the water, advertising a cup of Clam Chowder for $0.75. Several other signs followed. The signs were displayed publicly as authentic, with Ivar's saying that for a time they would honor the $0.75 price for chowder.<ref>Erik Lacitis, [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009889864_ivar18m.html Is there something fishy about Ivar's latest stunt?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923031841/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009889864_ivar18m.html |date=2009-09-23 }}< ''Seattle Times'', September 18, 2009. Accessed September 18, 2009.</ref>

All of this turned out to be a hoax. The signs were sunk earlier in 2009, and local historian Paul Dorpat had deliberately furthered the hoax. Dorpat, of [[HistoryLink]] contributes a weekly column to the ''Seattle Times,'' and attempted to hoax that newspaper, whose first story about the billboards cast doubt on their authenticity, stating, "if it was a hoax, a prime suspect would be the Ivar's chain itself." Several minor clues were placed to guarantee that the hoax would eventually unravel. For example, the chowder price wasn't correct for the ostensible date, and the wrong governor's name was on the letterhead from the Department of Fisheries.<ref>Eric Lacitis, [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010253767_ivars12m.html Ivar's undersea billboards a hoax devised as marketing ploy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604114435/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010253767_ivars12m.html |date=2011-06-04 }}, ''Seattle Times'', November 12, 2009. Accessed online 2009-11-13.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Fried clams]]
*''[[Ivar Feeding the Gulls]]'' (1988)
* [[List of seafood restaurants]]
*[[Seattle Mariners#Rally Fries|Rally fries]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.ivars.com Ivar's]
*[https://www.kiddvalley.com Kidd Valley]

{{Fast-food chains of the United States}}
{{Restaurants in Seattle}}

[[Category:1938 establishments in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Fast-food chains of the United States]]
[[Category:Fast-food seafood restaurants]]
[[Category:Regional restaurant chains in the United States]]
[[Category:Restaurants established in 1938]]
[[Category:Restaurants in Seattle]]
[[Category:Seafood restaurants in the United States]]