The Waterfront is very much a local bar with "regulars," particularly local fisherman and crabbers. It opens early, and offers a decent assortment of American macro beers (featuring the likes of Rainer, MGD and Coors Liter by the pitcher), as well as Mack & Jack African Amber, on its eight taps and by the pitcher, and it's also a full-service bar. Part of the charm of this dim, traditional bar is its location on the waterfront (there's a good view of Bellingham Bay. It's a regular stop for locals who want a quiet drink, as well as local sports fans (multiple large flat panel screens), card players, and motorcyclists. You can sit inside, at small tables, or at the bar, and enjoy traditional America bar food, but the real attraction is the seafood, fresh local halibut, reliably good fish and chips, scallops, and oysters, and a decent French Dip. On Friday's there's a great Fish and Chips special, with halibut. The oysters are fresh, and there's a decent burger too.
Local folklore has it that in earlier years, the bar was a stopping point for a number of serial killers.
Local lore has Ted Bundy, Angelo Buono, Jr, and his cousin Kenneth Bianchi, better known as The Hill Side Strangler, A. Kinney, who murdered a woman whose body was found just off Mount Baker Highway, and John Muhammad, the DC sniper executed after killing 10 people in 2002.
History aside, this a good bar to nurse a few beers or a scotch-and-soda while you catch a game on tv, play a few hands of cards, or watch the sunset over Bellingham Bay.