The Little Red Hen, a country dive bar at 7115 Woodlawn Ave NE in Green Lake, is fighting eviction in King County Superior Court. The bar has been open since 1933 and relocated to its current Green Lake location in the late 1960s.
The dispute started over a dumpster. New landlord RLD Group, which took over the building in 2022, terminated an arrangement that allowed neighboring businesses to share the bar’s dumpster. Owner Dominic Shim estimated the change would cost the bar $40,000 annually. RLD filed for eviction in November 2025 after Shim declined to engage in lease negotiations.
The core legal question is whether a valid lease exists. Shim says he has a lease through 2030 established with the prior building owner. RLD says no valid lease has been in place since before they acquired the property and that the bar has been operating month-to-month. Shim sent an email to the landlord in June 2025 that he later described as a mistake, which RLD has included in court filings.
The trial was originally scheduled for April 24, 2026, then moved to September 24 to allow both sides more time to gather evidence. The bar has remained open throughout. A SaveTheHen campaign has collected over 7,000 signatures.
It is not an electronic music venue, but it belongs in the same local infrastructure file as Shingletown and Patchwerks: independent Seattle venues caught between lease renewals, new landlords, and rising operating costs.