DISCOVERY BAY — When Fat Smitty’s restaurant closed for the season last
week, Boy Scouts and other volunteers jumped into the annual cleanup by first stripping the walls of more than 10,000 $1 bills.

Since 1985, customers have been writing messages on the paper money and tacking them onto the walls and ceiling of the landmark restaurant on Highway 101, home to giant wood carvings and the award-winning Fat Smitty’s burger — a 5-inch-thick concoction with two thick patties, bacon and all the trimmings.

Before the dollar bills were plucked off the walls Saturday, nearly every inch of wooden paneling in two rooms was covered with cash. In a few areas, the bills were two, three or four layers thick. Of the $10,316 collected, all but $3,000 will go to build a new dining hall at nearby Camp Parsons Boy Scout Camp near Brinnon. The other $3,000 will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, based in Memphis, Tenn.

“I’ve never taken any dollars down,” said Carl “Fatty Smitty” Schmidt, who has owned the restaurant since 1983. “This money never belonged to me.”

The first bill went up in 1985, when two men selling Caterpillar equipment came into the restaurant to eat at the bar, Schmidt said. One of them asked whether he could stick a dollar bill on the ceiling with his business card. That launched a tradition that has grown through the years.

On Saturday, Schmidt was not able to locate that first bill among the many yellowing dollars hanging from the ceiling. Schmidt and his nephew, Casey Carson, who now manages the place, agreed to leave all the bills on the ceiling to maintain some of the history. That cash could easily exceed another $1,000.

“It is hard to take all this down,” Carson said, looking at the currency, business cards, photos and other items that have become part of the restaurant’s walls. “It makes it easier to know that the money is going to charity, and hopefully people will put it back up again.”

Schmidt, a retired Marine, erected a Marine flag on one wall of the restaurant, dedicating the space to the military. In addition to the dollar bills, one can find insignia, a hat and other military memorabilia tacked to that wall.

“The Navy supports us quite a bit,” Carson said, adding that many re-enlistment parties have been held at Fat Smitty’s.

One section of the ceiling has become a memorial to a man who enjoyed coming into the restaurant, Carson said. His widow tacks up a dollar bill there each year on the date of his death.

A section of one wall shows the accumulation of dollars and cards from Rotary exchange students, who have been coming into Fat Smitty’s for years. They are always welcomed by Schmidt and his wife, Miyo “Mickey” Schmidt, a native of Okinawa.

“Mickey has been a key part of this business,” Carson said. “She is an American success story in itself.”

Some areas are identified with high school sports teams, including many from Kitsap County. Student IDs are often posted in those areas. A collage of the IDs are being planned after everything comes off the walls.

In one part of the ceiling, an outline of a shoe surrounded by bills commemorates the unusual appetite of 15-year-old Jesse Hampton, who ate three Fat Smitty’s burgers in one sitting. It’s a feat few have accomplished in the history of the restaurant.

Through the years, Boy Scouts often stopped at Fat Smitty’s on their way back from camping trips. They would regroup at a big table in the backroom, where one wall became covered with cash, scout patches, student ID cards and notes describing the camping trips.

Bremerton architect Steve Rice led many outings when his son was younger.

“We would be talking with a group of boys about a trip to Camp Handy (near Sequim),” Rice said. “I would ask, ‘Who wants to go?’ And a few hands would go up. Then I’d say, ‘We’ll be stopping at Fat Smitty’s,’ and all the hands would go up.”

Smitty and Mickey took a special interest in the scouts, escorting them into the backroom, sharing stories and making them feel at home. Consuming an entire Fat Smitty burger was a rite of passage for a young person, Rice said.

“Smitty was larger than life to these kids,” he explained. “It was an honor when a kid grew up and could eat a whole Fat Smitty burger. If they couldn’t do it, they would try again the next year.”

On Saturday, Scouts and their leaders from Troops 1512 and 1549 along with Venturing Crew 1504 worked at the bill-removal job for hours. All items were removed and placed in buckets for later sorting. The dollar bills were segregated, formed into stacks of 25 and secured with rubber bands. The stacks nearly covered the top of the bar.

More than $7,000 will be donated to a fundraising campaign for a new dining hall at Camp Parsons, the oldest scout camp in the West, said Sean Neal of Chief Seattle Council who helped with Saturday’s work.

On the “Boy Scout Wall” in the backroom, Rice erected a large wooden nameplate with “Smitty and Mickey” carved at the top. Rice built the memorial out of wooden paneling taken from the old Silver Marmot Grill at Camp Parsons. Now, it will become a permanent place for the scouts to tack their money and memorabilia.

Schmidt said he was happy to turn over operation of the restaurant to Carson and his wife, Kimberly, two years ago. Smitty lives nearby and still comes in frequently. Casey and Kim, too, are retired Marines.

“His dad and I were best friends in the Marine Corps,” Schmidt said, noting that Carson’s dad died years ago. The uncle and nephew are close friends, and Carson said Smitty remains like a father.

“Four generations of families have come here to eat,” Carson said, “and four generations have worked here. I got married here in 1994. There is so much history that you don’t really want to change anything.”

The building started out as a house in 1908, he said. It became a grocery and later a tavern and has operated as a restaurant since the 1940s, with Schmidt taking over in 1983.

Fat Smitty’s will be closed until March 1, as it has been each winter for the past six or seven years, Carson said. It’s a time for “deep cleaning” that cannot be done when people are coming and going every day.

His three teenage children help out in every aspect of the business, Carson said, but he would like them to try other things and see the world before they decide whether the restaurant business is in their future.

When the business reopens in March, he said, the walls will be open for new donations.

“Hopefully, because people know the money is going for charity, it will go up even faster in the future.”

Source – Kitsap Sun