Home » Bartending News » BARTENDER Hall of Fame Inductee: John “Johnny” Spaccarotelli
A Seattle native who turned a neighborhood tavern into a multi-generational home base—built on service-first hospitality, consistency, and care.
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Born: 1931
Signature Bar: The Shanty Tavern (Maple Leaf, Seattle)
Service: Service-first hospitality; spotless bar standards
A Shanty Friday
“Fridays are for the joy of throwing a party like Jay Gatsby, dancing like Zorbo the Greek, and chatting like Socrates.”
Bar: The Shanty Tavern
Legacy: Community-first hospitality for 65 years
The Bartender Hall of Fame was created in 1985 by Ray Foley to honor the people who define hospitality over a lifetime. John’s legacy as a bartender for 65 years has been measured in trust—earned one guest at a time.
Great bars are built with people—and one person who shows up, day after day, to make everyone feel like they belong. For more than six decades, John “Johnny” Spaccarotelli has been that steady presence at The Shanty Tavern, shaping the Maple Leaf neighborhood’s most reliable “third place.”
Born in 1931 in Seattle to immigrants from Southern Italy, John learned early that community happens around a table. As a teenager, he boxed out of the Rainier Valley Boys Club, a discipline that would later show up in the way he ran a bar: sharp, respectful, and consistent. He served as Military Police in the U.S. Army during the Korean War (1952–1954), worked at Elliot Bay Lumber and Plywood, and attended the University of Washington from 1956 to 1960—even walking on to the Huskies football team in Coach Jim Owens’ first season.
Building The Shanty
In 1961, while selling commercial real estate, John purchased Mac’s Shanty Tavern. He renamed it The Shanty Tavern and later purchased the land beneath it. Two remodels over the years modernized the space, but the mission stayed the same: serve people well. Regulars don’t just come for a drink—they come for the greeting, the sports talk, the encouragement, and the empathetic ear.
John’s priorities are simple: service comes first, and cleanliness is a close second—something customers tease him about, but never stop appreciating. That standard is why The Shanty is generational: children and grandchildren of early patrons now take their own seats at the bar.