Why is Bob’s Java Jive, Tacoma’s iconic coffee-pot bar, painted all white?

In the gritty underbelly of crisscrossing highways, Tacoma’s coffee pot-shaped dive bar has lost its color — temporarily — as the owner, just a few years into his stewardship of the century-old icon, completes a much-needed exterior restoration project.

The bar remains open daily for drinks, bar bites, karaoke and other shows.

The whole building — pot, spout, handle, rim and trim — was painted bright-white in the waning days of 2025, but the process began last summer, explained Richard Walden in a phone call this week…

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