Businesses that cater to smokers are anticipating some loss of business while others plan to go with the flow.

Meanwhile, smokers in West Seattle and White Center bars, taverns, bowling alley and casinos should wish for warm, waterproof coats this Christmas because they'll soon be spending more time outdoors.

On Nov. 8, voters approved Initiative Measure 901, which prohibits smoking in all public places and workplaces throughout Washington. Designated smoking areas inside public places will soon become historic relics.

Washington law has allowed designated smoking areas in most public places. Restaurants, bars, taverns and bowling alleys have been able to designate their entire premises as smoking areas. But that all changes next Thursday, one month after election day. Smokers will soon be lighting up outdoors, at least 25 feet from any entrance, exit, opening window or ventilation intake.

Enforcement of the new smoking ban in public places will be handled by Public Health-Seattle & King County. Fines can go as high as $100.

Roxbury Lanes & Casino will notice enactment of the new anti-smoking law. Currently smoking is allowed throughout the bowling-casino complex, except on Saturday mornings when kids from community centers, schools and the YMCA are there to bowl. Smoking is then restricted to the casino, lounge and restaurant.

Beginning next Thursday, Dec. 8, smokers will be directed to any of three outdoor "smoking gardens," each with a roof, couple of chairs and fire-safe ash trays. The smoking gardens will be near the northeast corner of Roxbury Lanes, the south side and the west side.

"We're gonna go with the flow," said Glenda Harrell. She and her husband Doug own Roxbury Lanes as well as Magic Lanes in White Center.

Though the smoking gardens will have roofs, they cannot have walls, Harrell said. Walls and a roof constitute a structure, and smoking is banned from structures.

Because of concerns about the effects of secondhand smoke, employees of casinos and bowling alleys won't be allowed to clean up the smoking gardens, Harrell said. That job will fall to the owners and managers. Even employees of janitorial services aren't allowed to clean up smoking areas, just owners and managers.

"We anticipate a slight drop in business," Harrell said, referring to smoking customers who might stop coming to Roxbury Lanes & Casino. The hope is that new nonsmoking customers will be attracted by the change to offset the loss in business, she said.

West Seattle Bowl remodeled its interior and prohibited smoking in summer 2004. Smoking was allowed to continue in the lounge but that too will be smokeless next week, said Andy Carl, co-owner of West Seattle Bowl.

When it went nonsmoking a year and a half ago, West Seattle Bowl lost some of its late-night business, Carl said. But the nonsmoking change started to attract more families after school and on weekends, he added. The turnaround took six to nine months.

An outdoor smoking area will be established on the sidewalk in front of West Seattle Bowl about 25 feet south of the main entrance.

Renee Anderson, a bartender at the Tug Tavern, estimated 80 percent of her customers are smokers.

"They feel like their rights have been taken away," she said.

"This is a tavern, where guys smoke big cigars when they get a raise," Anderson said. "I go to the bar to be an adult."

They considered turning the Tug's outdoor deck into a smoking area but it is straight out the tavern's front door. Smoking areas soon must be at least 25 feet away from doors, windows and air vents. The smoking area might have to be moved into the parking lot, which raises safety concerns about mixing cars and people, Anderson said.

The Junction bar West 5 has had a nonsmoking policy since it opened in February 2003, so little will change there. However some West 5 customers are smokers who prefer a smokeless atmosphere, said Dave Montoure, co-owner. When they want a cigarette, they step outside the front and back doors.

With enactment of the expanded smoking ban, customers will be directed to smoke farther away in a parking lot behind West 5.

"We have to be aware of the 25-foot rule," Montoure said.

Despite the fact the White Center Fraternal Order of Eagles is a private club, it too must comply with the new nonsmoking rules because the public is invited inside for Friday night dinners and Sunday morning breakfasts.

About 75 percent of the members of the White Center Fraternal Order of Eagles are smokers, said bar manager Tracy Masovero.

"If you don't want to smell smoke, you don't have to come in here," she said. Nevertheless she's stopped ordering cigarettes for the lodge's vending machine.

"The whole point of a private club is to be different from a tavern and a bar," she added. "You don't want every Tom, Dick and Harry joining up."

Aerie No. 2568 is trying to determine if it can be a part-time nonsmoking facility during the hours it serves the public. Do the White Center Eagles have to prohibit smoking all the time if the public is allowed in only part of the time?

The club also is wondering if catering to smokers might boost membership, Masovero said.

Meanwhile the Eagles are planning to establish an outdoor smoking area south of the building.

Hotels and motels also are affected by Initiative 901. At least 75 percent of hotel and motel rooms must be smoke-free.

West Seattle's only motel, the West Seattle Travelodge, has been renovating its rooms for the past nine months. Now more than 40 of its 51 rooms are reserved for nonsmoking guests, said Ken Maples, the maintenance man who's been renovating the rooms.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.