West Wind in Seekonk Staying Strong for Nearly 40 Years

Mitchell Massiwer first started the West Wind Pub more than 37 years ago, and he said it’s been an amazing time.

Massiwer said the restaurant itself had changed hands several times before he bought it and stuck with it.

“I was working at the Heart Stone Motor Inn, which is now the Johnson and Wales restaurant,” he said. “I helped with the cooking there but I was mainly a bartender.”

The bar itself holds true to a nautical theme, complete with model tall ships adorning the walls. Massiwer said he bought some of them from local supermarkets when they had a new ship each month, kind of like the Christmas Hess Trucks. He said a lot of them were donated as well.

Massiwer said his success is due mostly to his inability to give up on anything he starts.

“It’s really my stubbornness, I don’t give up on anything,” he said with a laugh. “I would sit here alone for hours some nights, but eventually it turned around. I got the whole place paid off in ten years.”

Massiwer said he still has some of his original regulars since opening the pub in the 70s. He said it’s nice to have that kind of loyalty, since the crowds have changed a lot over the years.

“People’s habits have changed,” he said. “I’ve done quite well over the years. At one time the place was full almost all the time. It’s slacked off a bit but now it’s starting to get better.”

Massiwer said he knows the business runs in cycles and added he doesn’t really panic when people are knocking down the door to get in.

“You do good sometimes and sometimes the crowd goes down,” he said. “I think in this area, for me to be the only owner for 37 years is quite good. I’ve seen a lot of places come and go and yet I’m still here.”

Massiwer said over the years he’s heard some very strange drink orders, and he said it’s funny how often the person ordering the dink has no idea what goes in it.

“Oh boy, girls would come in with a fancy name for a drink they heard about and they don’t know what’s in it!” he said.

Massiwer said his main core of regulars come from factories and other areas of labor.

“Mostly that’s what I get, a working clientele,” he said. “Somebody comes in with a suit I say who’s that?”

Massiwer said he used to have a bar mascot, of a sort. He said there was a dog that, for whatever reason, would run directly to the pub every time there was a lightning storm. It became kind of a tradition in his view.

“The dog used to come here for shelter and he lived all the way in Oak Hill in Attleboro,” he said. “He wasn’t really my mascot, but it was always the first place the owners looked.”

The West Wind Pub is located at 555 Central Ave.