Know Your Neighbor: Damon Wood, Musician and Yakima Business Owner | Explore Yakima

Damon Wood has been part of the community since the 1990s. Although not a permanent fixture, he continues to come back, meeting audiences from downtown Yakima every time he sticks around.

Originally from Stockton, California, Wood landed in Yakima in 1990 and stayed for seven years, playing drums for the band Stonefly.

He has been living here since 2017, going back and forth between Yakima and Las Vegas.

You may have seen him as a bouncer at the Sports Center on Yakima Street. Or maybe you’re working at Canna Winery on Second Street. He also spent time at The Seasons Performance Hall and Hop Nation.

Now Wood at Punk Bar, 31 N. First St. Bar is co-owner, booker and bartender.

Punks Bar was the brainchild of Wood and co-owner Chris Cox. Both Punks “wanted to be a place where anyone could feel comfortable and have fun and have some live music,” Wood said. “Our hope is just to be a staple in Yakima, to be a destination, you know, where people say, ‘Hey, what do we do in Yakima?’ And I want people to say, ‘Oh, man – you should check out punks.’

Wood has two daughters, Mackenzie, 24, and Sierra, 22. He feels proud when he talks about their success. “My daughters are beautiful. I mean, they’ve done a lot of good work around town,” says Wood.

The oldest is in Seattle after graduating from the University of Washington and the youngest went to college here and is now a lifeguard and head instructor at the Yakima YMCA Aquatic Center.

A friendly game on the downtown Yakima scene, Wood is gratified to be a part of the local beer, wine and music industry.

What do you love about Yakima?

I just love the people here. I remember when I first moved here, I remember driving down the street, kind of in the West Valley area and people would just wave at you as you passed. That blew me away. ‘I don’t know that guy, what the hell is going on?’ I was like So I’ve always had such a friendly feeling around here and there are a lot of nice people here.

I love the weather, the people, there’s so much potential here. I think people get a little down about how things might be going at the time or whatever. There has been a lot of ups and downs lately but there is still a lot of potential for people looking to break out of the big city rat race and start new companies here. I think the city has great growth potential. That’s why I think small businesses like ours (Punks Bar) and others need to network with other people.

What do you want to see in Browse?

Music, culture, arts, visual art, all those things.

Traditional things like the Lower Valley. I think a lot of people forget about the lower valley when you live in Yakima.

Historical things. I know you probably haven’t done that much, but I remember an article in the paper about the history of dams and irrigation canals and how some family and others built those things. This was a big deal. Things like this are so much fun and make Yakima so much fun.

There are so many obscure things that people don’t even know about. I mean, you could tell a historical story about this little street corner. Maybe you can come up with a whole article on this.

If you were the editor of The Explorer, who would you want to interview?

There’s this guy named Keith, he has a one-wheel skateboard team. Single wheels. Punx Bar is certified in one wheeler charging station application. He comes here with the whole team and they drive around town and stuff. He’s doing these races and he’s like third in the state. He is also the artist who brought me the work I have now stopped.

Dalton, I can’t remember his last name, but he owns a screen printing company and Wine Dogs. And I love that he’s very passionate about the community. So I think he’s going to be a good guy.

I don’t know much about them, so I’d like to hear about their success and the people who opened the winery (Yakima Valley Emporium or AVE). They had come in here and we kind of talked and we were going to do the ski thing here but the parking lot was crawling.

5 favorite things

1. My daughters, I love them, they are so wonderful, I wish I could spend more time with them.

2. Music. It has always been a big part of my life. Watching live music. That’s a big thing and one day I’d like to have at least a two-day music festival here (signs around the punk bar).

3. I like to travel, I wish I could do more.

4. Food, new and interesting food. And it goes well with the traveling thing.

5. And Xander, my dog.

(Pets being the easy answer, punk bar regular Zander had to give up his five favorite things: 1. Boots and ear scratches. 2. Pizza. 3. Any human food. 4. Skateboards and bike tires. 5. A new blanket for all mutts, big and small.)