The Elliott Bay Brewery and Pub at 4720 California Ave. s.w. is getting a facelift in a restoration plan designed to bring the front of the building back to what it once was.

Todd Carden was out on a lift on Monday, helping to remove some of the building's wooden facade. They plan to take the top section of the building's "face" back to the windows that are still there, to bring more light into the interior. A new sign will follow.

"We're going to remodel the storefront eventually", said contractor, Mark Silver, "but before that we did that we thought we'd get back to the old splendor which is an old brick building with a bank of eight windows. So we plan to scrape the old paint off of them."

The remodel will restore what the building looked like in it's early days (the front says 1932) but for many years it operated as Steve Athan's Men's Store (the shadow of the former wooden letters could be seen on the facade). Athan still owns the building but now lives in Las Vegas.

During the 1970's when it was a mens store, the front had two angled display windows and central door, typical of other retail storefronts in West Seattle. The new version will have wood frame windows.

After Athan closed his retail business, for a short time it was a game store, then in 1991 it became a brewery but was taken over by Elliott Bay in 1999.

Carden said, "We just want to take the building back to its old look. We want to open up the windows and get some light in here. It seemed like the right thing to do."

According to the DPD records for the work it will cost approximately $8500 to complete the work.