Ralph's Bayview cafe is back in the fold

BAYVIEW — For the past decade or more, Bayview, Idaho, has been known for its fishing, its lakefront community, and its U.S. Navy base.

All of those go back a lot longer, but if you asked anyone in town over the past decade or so, what makes Bayview tick, especially at 9 in the morning, you would likely hear it was Ralph’s.

Ralph’s is the town’s first internet cafe and coffeehouse.

It was established more than a decade ago, and more than a decade after internet cafes became vogue.

Some things take a while to get to Bayview.

But the tiny cafe immediately struck a high, WiFi, note in this lakeside town where, even now, getting cell service is a test.

“You have to go up the hill and about a mile to get clear service,” patron Alan Rebeck said.

Ralph’s became more than just a place that served lattes, cappuccinos, Americanos, or brewed coffee in ceramic cups taken out under the awning for the lake view.

For the past decade it has been a gathering place with owner Ralph Jones as ringmaster, historian, town and lake guide and angling contest organizer.

“It can get pretty crazy in here in the morning,” said Daveana Pleznac-Huff. She runs the place with her husband, Kevin, since Ralph Jones passed away in May.

In Jones’ honor, the town’s main street, with the help of property owners, the town council and county officials, became Ralph Jones Boulevard. The street runs right past the internet cafe where the parking lot is usually full, the coffee is always hot and the walls are sort of a shrine to the community, its history and the guy who everyone misses since his untimely death in May.

“The last time I saw Ralph was when we closed and went home,” said Pleznac-Huff who has been the cook at Ralph’s for 10 years. “We said, goodnight, see you in the morning, and I never saw him again.”

She and her husband did some kitchen remodeling, but they plan to leave the rest of the place as is for the time being. That includes the mountain goat head, the big mounted Gerrard rainbow trout and the old photographs, lures, brochures, maps and stuffed eagle that visitors admire as they wait for an order.

A newly hung portrait of Ralph looks over the kitchen. It shows what appears to be an emissary in a black suit, gold bar tie and white shirt with an orchid boutonniere.

“I had never seen him in a suit,” Pleznac-Huff said. “The picture above the bathroom looks more like him.”

In a portrait over the door strung with fishing lures, Ralph wears a bent brim baseball cap and faded shirt.

Rebeck, one of Jones’ many friends, was on the patio outside, Wednesday morning, enjoying a coffee and his laptop. He pushed for the town’s main drag to be renamed to commemorate Jones.

He runs through a mental list of everything Jones brought to the community besides WiFi and a gathering place.

“He generated a tremendous amount of commerce for Bayview,” he said.

It was fitting to name the street after his friend of 15 years.

“I don’t think we could have done better to memorialize him than to take the main avenue and name it after him,” Rebeck said.

Bayview residents Dean and Denice Tiewater visit the cafe every morning.

“It’s like reading the newspaper when you come here in the morning,” Denice said.

Ralph may be gone in the flesh, but his endeavors live on.

The annual late fall Oktoberfish contest he organized for Lake Pend Oreille will be managed by Bayview resident and angler Calvin Nolan.

If coffee is the morning staple at Ralph’s, so is the McRalph, a muffin with cheese and sausage and fixin’s.

“I’ll have two of those,” a visitor tells Keely Streater, who has worked as a waitress at Ralph’s since she was in high school.

She’s a nurse now, helping out in the cafe this summer.

“I have worked for Ralph since I was 15 years old,” she said. “He got me through high school and college, and now I’m back.”

It’s temporary, she said.

Patrons hope Ralph’s is around a long time.

“It’s kind of a museum to Bayview,” Rebeck said.