Walk into The Great Northern Bar and Grill and you’ll see a sign of Al Tays’ face on the wall. Riddled with bullet holes, it stares down at the bar seats, giving folks a reminder of what The Northern is all about.   

Tays' friends thought the sign would be good fun, the bartender of 27 years said.  

And good fun it was.  

“It was a hoot,” he said. “Yea, I put a 12-gauge deer slug right between my eyes.”  

So the friends shot the thing all up, brought it home – to The Northern, that is – and hung it on the wall, just after Tays retired in 2018 at 64.  

And that’s how it’s gone for a lot of things in Whitefish. If the story wasn’t made inside The Northern, there’s a good chance a sign of it made it on the walls thereafter.  

On Jan. 13, a real estate listing for The Northern went live. Three days later, the property was under contract.  

And sure enough, on the listing’s first photo, is Tays’ bullet-ridden face, part of The Northern’s story, and so part of the sale.  

“The people, I miss a lot,” Tays said. “You know, Whitefish is full of great people. It’s the bar of the town.” 

Tays said he served multiple generations of families. 

“The universal truth is that one generation passes, and another comes forth,” he said. 

Doug Rommereim and Kathy McGrath, and then family, Katie Akey and Scott Larkin, have been running The Northern for about four decades. 

Back in 2019, during The Northern’s 100th anniversary celebration, Rommereim said that the founding date was “just a good guess.”  

“We knew it was sometime around the end of World War I, so I put 1919 on the sign in the 1980s,” he said. “I was never thinking in 30 years we’d have to have a party.” 

In its early years, the bar occupied a smaller space on the north side of Second Street, between Baker and Lupfer avenues. In the 1950s, then-owner Jane Mathias moved the bar to its current location on Central Avenue, built in 1930. In the late 1980s, an adjacent taxidermy business and empty lot were purchased, and remodeled into the band room, pool room and beer garden.  

Tays said that back in the day, you could have plumbers, carpenters, ski bums, the mayor and city judges, all together.  

“There was no differential,” he said. “Everyone was at the bar having a good time. It was a true mixing of Whitefish.” 

The bar was even a good place to hire people, he said.  

“You’d go to the bar at quitting hours. People would come in, trying to get a contractor, remodel a kitchen or something like that. 

“And I’d like to see that continue. I hope whoever buys it, keeps it The Northern. More of a locals bar, a tradition.” 

Tays acknowledged that things change.  

“It’ll be a sad day, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “They’ve done an excellent job taking care of it and preserving the heritage of it. But it’s a day in, day out, sometimes 24-hour job.” 

The Northern, with all its assets and priceless Whitefish memorabilia, is listed for $12 million. 

The listing reads: “Opportunities like this do not come around again because legends are not built twice.” 

For The Northern’s real estate agent, Mike Anderson, it’s a full circle moment.  

Anderson started working in The Northern’s kitchen in high school before going on to manage the bar for 18 years, from the 1980s up to the 2000s.  

“My whole younger life was managing that bar,” he said. “That’s how I started with real estate – talking with the owner Dougie, and telling him I should get my license, because back in the day, there were only a few agents. People were always asking me who’d be the best agent. So I said, let me get my license, and [Dougie] supported me.  

“It’s a pretty big deal to come all the way around and be able to sell something where I started.” 

Anderson stated their reason for selling simply.  

“They’ve owned it 40 years. It’s time to retire,” he said.  

He said that as soon as the listing went live online, it went viral.  

“I got more calls than you’d know what to deal with,” he said.  

He confirmed that the sale is under contract and that the buyers will be a good fit. All information is undisclosed.  

LIKE TAYS AND ANDERSON, longtime musician John Dunnigan is a part of the legend.  

He said in his 35 years working at The Northern – his second home – it’s been nothing but good. 

“I looked around a little differently last night,” Dunnigan said on Friday, after playing his usual Thursday night gig. “Just trying to soak in the ambience, the crowd, the music and just how fun the place is. And what has done for me, and what it means to me, and to a lot of people.  

“I feel good for the [owners], because I think they will be happy in the long run. They are the greatest people to work for in the history of western civilization.”  

Dunnigan says he’ll keep coming to play.  

“I’m sure I’ll go along with the wallpaper, and the Bud Light, and the vending machines. They’ll just keep the guy on Thursday nights. And if that doesn’t happen, so be it. I’ve had my time there. I’m relaxed about it all.”  

ACROSS CENTRAL AVENUE, The Remington Bar and Casino is also listed for sale. In one fell swoop, it hit the market a few days before The Northern.  

The Remington’s history dates back even longer than The Northern’s.  

The bar and casino was established in 1908, just four years after the arrival of the Great Northern Railway, and three after the city of Whitefish was incorporated.  

The Remington’s current building is a Whitefish landmark, tracing back to Hori’s Cafe and Hotel established in 1905. The building was later occupied by several short-lived businesses until local businessman Jack Sesler revamped it into The Remington in the 1970s. Brian Wilson and John Roche purchased it in 1983.  

By the turn of the century, it was owned by Ted Spraul. Current owner Dave Sheeran purchased it in 2016, one year after re-opening the restaurant Mama Blanca’s next door.  

After already dishing out some of the best pizza and then Latin-fusion food in the valley, Sheeran vowed to overhaul part of the bar to create a new hub for live music – and he did. The venue soon rose to be one of the best spots in Whitefish to catch live music.  

About a year ago, Mama Blanca’s closed in favor of Remington Kitchen, which came with a new menu.   

Today, The Remington’s iconic bar, kitchen, venue, casino and the licenses to boot are listed for sale at $13.5 million. 

While it’s just a coincidence that both The Northern and The Remington went up at about the same time, there’s no denying it: the times, they are a-changin’. 

“It plays into the whole, Whitefish is changing,” Dunnigan said. “Whitefish is being bought by the rich. And you know, I’m pretty jaded when it comes to that. So I’m vocal on stage. Sometimes it goes by people quick.  

“And they go, ‘What did he just say? Was he making fun of my hat?’ ‘Yeah, I was.’”