The Ballard Smoke shop is an institution among longtime Ballardites. It’s no wonder that its staff would also have the respect and affection from fishing village residents and patrons from afar. Among the cooks, waitresses and bartenders, there is one woman who has been popping tops, pouring shots and laughing and crying with the best of them at the Smoke Shop for the last 25 years.

Darlene Kaiser said goodbye to the Ballard Smoke Shop last Thanksgiving night. After over 40 years of bartending in Ballard she decided to retire and pursue other ventures. Last Thursday Kaiser tended the Smoke Shop’s island bar amid a thirsty holiday crowd that thronged the bar three-deep in search of spirits, grog and maybe even a smile from the keeper of jubilee.

Since Kaiser announced her retirement she said there have been old friends and customers dropping by to wish her luck and to chat about the future. On the day the Ballad News-Tribune visited there were at least two bouquets of flowers for Kaiser. One was from a couple living in Brooklyn, New York. Kaiser said she used to serve them a long time ago.

Kaiser is originally from Iowa and moved to Seattle when she was 21 after a vacation here.

“I went back to Iowa afterward and tried to stay a year, but I couldn’t stay away. I love Seattle,” said Kaiser.

She said she fell in love with beautiful region and it’s culture and so she left her town of 10,000 people and took a Greyhound bus to the city. However, when she first arrived she said she had trouble finding work. She said that it was during the Boeing strikes and there were billboards that said, “Will the last one leaving Seattle please turn off the lights?” Kaiser fell into a few different jobs, including a skip tracer at a collection agency and a credit authorizer at a jewelry store. Eventually, Kaiser started in serving at Blazes Broiler in Ballard in 1971, which was owned by Glenn Jensen at the time.

“I don’t think I could have stay this long in a certain area. Ballard people are wonderful. … From the first day I landed tending bar in Ballard I felt like it was home.”

Through the years of working in the fishing village Kaiser has met and made friends with many of the fishermen here and in Alaska. She said that many of the captains she sees today were deck hands when she served them years before.

“A lot of the older ones have either retired or quit drinking or passed on, and now we are serving their kids.”

Along with the different fishermen, Kaiser said that she has watched the nightlife of Ballard change from a sleepy fishing village to a vibrant, popular neighborhood that young people are flocking to, especially over the weekends.

“Ballard Avenue is the young place to be now. It’s a hip place to be so we have a lot of young people around. … Yeah Ballard has changed a lot, but the younger generation, they’re fantastic, too. They are so sweet. “

Getting to know people and talking with customer is essential to great bartenders, and watching Kaiser work, it’s easy to see she has social grace that people remember and know after years in Ballard.

“It was just such a great job with wonderful people, and the money was good. … How many people can say they love their co-workers, they love their customers, and they are happy to go to work. That’s why I stuck with it for so long.”

Another reason Kaiser stuck with bartending was that it gave her flexibility to go to school. Kaiser has a degree in journalism and has taken courses to be a veterinary assistant. In fact, animal activism is a passion of Kaiser’s. She volunteered with animal rescues after hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.

“It was hardest thing I have ever had to do with my life and it was also the most rewarding. After that, God, I want to do more with helping animals. … When you get to my age you really start thinking ‘what makes me happy?’ and that does. … When one door closes another one opens.”

Kaiser hopes to pursue being a veterinary assistant and has been volunteering at local shelters.

Her retirement was bittersweet, but Kaiser said she wishes the best for the Smoke Shop, her friends and co-workers and especially for her customers.

“This has been the greatest gig anybody could have had. … My customers, well, I just love them, and I’m going to miss them a bunch.”