This beloved Puyallup bar has a new owner. What are her plans?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Brooklyn Smith bought Bumpy’s Pub Sept. 17 after managing it for three years.
- She upgraded operations with a whiskey shelf and menu revamp to improve service.
- Smith plans modest restorations and equipment upgrades to preserve Bumpy’s legacy.
A decades-old Puyallup institution is entering a new chapter.
Manager Brooklyn Smith has become the new owner of Bumpy’s Pub, a beloved dive bar at 116 E. Main Ave. The previous owners, Brian and Heather Gelston, owned the bar for 21 years.
“I’ve always wanted to do this and so when I got the opportunity to get my hands on a bar, I really dug in,” Smith told The News Tribune. “They wanted to see it go to someone who wanted to put the work in, not someone who just had money and wanted the bar.”
Smith said her first day as the new owner was Sept. 17, after coordinating with the Gelstons since April. She joined the Bumpy’s crew as the manager three years ago.
“There hadn’t been a manager in many years,” Smith said. “I don’t know if there ever really was an official manager besides the owners.”
The News Tribune reached out to Heather Gelston to ask why they sold the bar and to get their perspective on their 21 years managing the Puyallup treasure. Gelston did not respond before deadline.
‘I just thought the restaurant industry was, like, sexy.’
Smith’s love for the bartender life first ignited when she saw the spark it brought out in her mother, who managed bars and restaurants in Gig Harbor and Tacoma.
“She worked really hard at home. I saw this heavier version of my mom, emotionally,” Smith said. “And I went to work with her one day and she walked in and put on a whole different face that I had never seen before. She was the boss, she was respected, and she had this swagger I’ve never seen. And immediately, I thought the restaurant industry was just, like, sexy.”
When she turned 16, Smith dove head first into a life in the service industry. She learned the trade in Tacoma, spending time at Doyle’s Public House and Top of Tacoma.
Eventually, she found herself “butting heads” with her bosses.
“I wanted to get my hands into things and see a better way we could do something, or advertising, or marketing opportunity,” Smith said. “And I just started stepping on people’s toes and kind of realizing it right away. And I was just, like, you know, ‘I should do this some day. I should run something.’”
‘You’re going to get hazed a little bit.’
When Smith interviewed for a position at Bumpy’s, she had no idea what was in store for her.
“This is not what I saw for myself, like, a dive bar. I wanted to do something a lot more cliche, like a cocktail bar,” Smith said. “But this is an iconic bar in this area, so there’s no way I was going to turn it down.”
Bumpy’s is a bar where about 90% of the customers are regulars, Smith said, and with that came some resistance.
“You’re going to get hazed a little bit by the regulars, and the people who care about Bumpy’s being Bumpy’s,” Smith said.
When she first joined, Bumpy’s used an analog till. On busy weekends, bartenders would lay people’s cards across the counter, put the guest check under it, and put a tally of what they had and punch it in at the end. It wasn’t uncommon for the wind to scatter the tabs everywhere when someone walked in the door, and mix the cards up.
So, Smith brought in a rolodex.
“You would have thought I’d dropped a bomb in the place,” Smith said.
But eventually, Smith said, the pushback died down. She then brought other changes to the bar, such as a Point of Sale system, a whiskey shelf, and a menu revamp.
“It’s like a living room with a liquor license,” Smith said. “If you go in, you start redecorating someone’s home, they’re going to be pissed. It was challenging for sure, but I’m a part of it now.”
‘Put my stamp on it’
It’s a point of pride, Smith said, to be a Bumpy’s bartender.
The bar is tiny but packed, with room for barely more than two people behind the bar at a time. Walking through the fire, she said, is what made her better.
“I need one bartender to be able to do three people’s jobs and they do it and it’s really incredible to see sometimes,” Smith said. “When I just started bartending here, I thought I was as good as I was ever going to get. And then the first three months here kicked my ass.”
Smith said she is most excited to make an impact on the bar that has become her second home.
“I’m most excited for just, kind of, putting my stamp on it,” Smith said. “This was actually the first bar I ever went to as an adult, and then I never came back until my interview to manage it, and I feel like I really missed out on something.”
At Bumpy’s, Smith rarely sees someone with a laptop, or staring at their phone. Instead, the air is electric with conversation.
Smith said that any changes she makes in the future will be with “functionality and comfort” in mind – like updating the bar’s air conditioner to prepare for the sweltering summers, or adding new ice machines.
One goal, she said, is to bring Bumpy’s back to its roots.
“Something I really want to do is take the paint off the building and put the original brick face back up, and just kind of nod to the history,” Smith said. “The building, it’s been here forever, and I’d like to see it look like an old brick tavern.”
Regardless, there is one message that Smith has above all else: This local favorite will be here for years to come.
“It feels like my living room too,” Smith said. “We’re a well-oiled machine. If I change anything too much, it would be very foolish of me.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story spelled the previous owners’ last name as Galston. It’s Gelston.
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
