Legendary ‘Golden Lion’ has new owners with dream to revitalize Tri-Cities music scene

From their days playing on the stage to bringing it back to life, two Tri-Cities men are pouring everything they have into reopening a iconic Tri-Cities venue — Ray’s Golden Lion.

Talon Yager and Andrew McVay have a lot of memories from great concerts and gigs of their own in the Uptown Shopping Center spot that hosted acts like Tina Turner and Frank Sinatra Jr. and Meatloaf in its heyday before shifting toward metal and rock acts.

Even then, Ray’s was still bringing in bigger names like Alien Ant Farm and Attila.

“It’s always been a home for us,” McVay said. “It gave us a home when we were younger, and we’re excited to get it working and give it back to the community.”

Ray’s Golden Lion was named for its original owner Wai Mon “Raymond” Chin, a Chinese immigrant who opened the Chinese restaurant, where he served as the chef during the day, and music venue in 1963. He ran the restaurant with his wife Shirley and their son Stan.

Ray’s Golden Lion closed down in October 2015. Any chance of reopening faded when Ray Chin died just a few months later after being hit by a car while crossing an intersection in Richland in February 2016.

In addition to their experience on that stage at Ray’s, McVay and Yager have experience running shows. Yager also owns Stick and Stone Pizza in Richland.

Yager said they considered opening a new venue near the Queensgate area, but ultimately, they wanted to bring back the legacy and good times of Ray’s.

They’ve been working for a few years now to make that dream a reality, getting the family’s blessing and singing a lease on the Uptown Shopping Center property last month.

“I think changing the name would change the whole atmosphere,” Yager said. “We were worried someone else would try to get it turn it into something else.”

Their vision

McVay and Yager want to create a space that puts the music first. They believe the key to building Ray’s back as a sustainable venue is ensuring they take care of the artists playing there.

“We plan on essentially giving everything at the door back to the bands,” Yager said.

“We didn’t get treated necessarily right back in the day, so we want to make sure (bands) playing today do,” McVay said.

Live music will largely be on the weekends, but they’re open to some weekday shows if it’s a big enough act touring.

They said that reopening Ray’s Golden Lion isn’t a move to make themselves money — it’s a passion project.

“Giving back to the community is what it’s really all about,” McVay said. “We want to have this place back for the music scene and give people a place to go to hang out and express themselves.”

Since making an announcement about reopening the bar on social media, they’ve been flooded with support and messages about memories at Ray’s.

“We’ve had hundreds of people reaching out. This is one of the most legendary places in town,” Yager said. “We’ve heard from people who were here in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s. Everyone has a story here.”

So far they’ve been busy cleaning building out, trying to determine what to keep. They’re hoping to start the official remodel in February.

There’s a lot of work ahead, but they’re confident they’ll be able to hit their goal of opening July 1.

They hope reopening the bar will help spark a revitalization of the nightlife in the Tri-Cities, especially in the Uptown area of Richland, which was once known for its shows. They’re especially excited that the vintage neon sign and rotating golden lion are still in working order.

While the days of big names like Tina Turner playing shows in smaller cities is past, they hope to build a place that helps artists on the indie circuit thrive.

The beat up cashier stand in the entry way still boasts dozens of stickers from bands that played there in their last few years of operation. But the new Ray’s is not going to be a strictly metal venue, as Ray’s was becoming in its last decade of operation.

They’re planning to book acts that will get people through the doors to make some memories of their own. Ray’s has an occupancy limit north of 400, and the entire bar area is built to be standing room for the show.

Just because they’re willing to branch out, doesn’t mean they aren’t ready to rock though. They’re planning to blow the doors off for their opening weekend.

“We want it to be packed, just pandemonium. We’ve already talked about it,” Yager said. “We want to get big national acts Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We want to get thrown in the fire basically, we want it to be as big as possible, while following occupancy (guidelines).”

The menu

Ray’s Golden Lion at 1353 George Washington Way is in the Uptown Shopping Center in Richland.

They’re planning to operate as a restaurant during the day, and move into bar mode around 9 p.m.

Yager, who is a fourth generation restaurant owner, said they’re planning for a gastropub-style menu. He doesn’t want to get too fancy with the menu, but still plans to have restaurant quality food.

“We’re going to ride the line between good bar food and gastropub. Somewhere in the middle there,” he said. “It’s not going to be really uppity to be a gastropub because it’s a dive bar, I mean, let’s call it what it is, but we’re still going to have good food.”

They’ll also be relaunching the restaurant’s social media pages, where they’ll have contact information for bands interested in booking shows.

Yager said the outpouring of support, and people asking how they can help, has left them confident they’ll be able to bring the legend back to its former glory this summer.

Just look for the neon lights and the dancing golden lion.