Ivar's Acres of Clams

This guide to Ivar's Acres of Clams in Seattle traces founder Ivar Haglund's 1947 publicity stunt, the Pacific International Free Style Amateur Clam Eating Contest, born to draw attention to his year-old waterfront restaurant. It follows cab driver Richard Watson's win in that first contest and the arrival a year later of a confident Massachusetts truck driver, Joe Silva, sure he'd take the title by a wide margin. Haglund kept staging stunts for decades, from octopus wrestling to a pancake-topped corn syrup spill, and declared the pier's seagulls its unofficial health inspectors.