The Ram Restaurant and Brewery, located in 2015 at 515 12th St SE in Salem has been a gathering place since about 1940, when then proprietors Walter Goughnour and Merle E. Pruett converted their auto service station into a “gas station and beer parlour.” Here’s a quick look at the history based off of listings in the local Salem City Directories:
| Dates | Listing In City Directory |
|---|---|
| 1938-39 | Pete’s Service Station
(Joseph L. West & Walter Goughnour) |
| 1940/41 – 1945 | Pete’s Service Station, gas station and beer parlor
(Walter Goughnour & Merle E. Pruett) |
| 1947-1951 | Walter Goughnour Beer Parlor |
| 1953/54-1962 | Walt’s Place, tavern (Walter Goughnour) |
| 1963-1972 | Hof Brau, tavern (Virgil A. Zwicker) |
| 1973-1978 | Vacant or not listed |
| 1979 – | The Ram Pub |
The Ram Pub, April 1974. Salem Area Chamber of Commerce Collection, Willamette Heritage Center, 1998.013.0189.
There are no listings in the Classifieds, white pages, nor in the reverse address directory (either the original 515 12th Street nor the alternative 1170 Bellevue St.) for any iteration of the Ram Restaurant/pub/tavern until 1979. However, a photo found in a collection given to the Willamette Heritage Center by the Chamber of Commerce and dated April 1974 (seen above), suggests that the city directories may have been incorrect in their listings.
When Walter Goughnour first converted the service station into part beer parlor in the 1940s, the neighborhood looked much differently than it does today. The map below shows the building that housed Walt’s Place (circled in orange). The yellow colored buildings marked “D” all indicate residential housing. These houses are, for the most part, gone replaced by hospital buildings to the south (left) and the Willamette University soccer fields to the north (right).
Sanborn Map updated to August 1958. Corner circled in orange is where The RAM stands today.
2024 Update. The Ram Pub at this location closed its doors in 2024.
Well, the closing sign out front stating 52 yrs of gratitude, would imply that the unlisted period of 1972-1978 was ,in fact, incorrect
The unlisted references are directly from the City Directories from that time period, which are not an infallible resource. Often times writers of the phone book-like directories relied on mailed surveys to update their records, which can cause some lapses in information getting included. As the article mentions there are photos that predate 1978, suggesting an older starting date and Robert’s recollections below also seems to back that up.
The Ram most certainly existed by 1972 It was a well-established watering hole by early 1973. I had an industrial job the first half of that year and hung out there after work. In July 1973 I left Salem on a tour of the US, telling buddies I would return on a specific date in mid-December. When I got back later than planned, they said they’d been spent the evening of the appointed date in the Ram, expecting me to walk through the door any minute. I entered the Atkinson Management program at Willamette University in fall of 1974, graduated 1976, even having spent too much time at the Ram.
Thank you for sharing your memories! Helps fill out the historical record!