A contractor called the Second Use Field Crew this month to salvage materials from a Mercer Island home. Among the more ordinary items that came from the homeowner- doors, lights, appliances, cabinets, planters- the Crew acquired a bright green vinyl bar with brass rivets.

By total coincidence, Field Crew member Michael Greenwood recognized the bar. It belonged to a friend and her family.

The bar had a decorated past. In the Harvey family, father John Harvey booked bands for places such as the Moore Theater. He also promoted events such as the Seattle Pop Festival. Grandmother Laura S. Harvey, owned a beach house on Mercer Island, just down the street from John Harvey, and bands sometimes stayed there during their Seattle visits. Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones visited the bar, and Led Zeppelin may have sat at the bar as well.

The family sold the bar with Laura S. Harvey’s Mercer Island home in 2009, following her death. However, several years later, the homeowner’s design plans changed and no longer accommodated the bar. The homeowner then decided to part with it. Fortunately for the Harvey family, the homeowner took stewardship of this unique piece to the highest place and donated it to Habitat for Humanity through Second Use.

When Second Use employee Michael Greenwood informed the Harvey family about the bar, daughter Michelle Harvey rushed over. She was nearly brought to tears looking at the bar, thinking of her family’s memories of it, and the thought of it leaving the family again.

“We just said, ‘We can’t lose it again,'” Harvey said. “It has a huge emotional zest that hit me hard.”

Second Use dropped the price of the bar to put it in Michelle Harvey’s price range, and sold it to her on Friday.

“It’s extremely important to us that we close the circle and keep these kinds of pieces in the community,” said Second Use co-owner Patrick Burningham. “Stories like this are a big part of what makes our business special.”

Harvey plans to put the bar in her living room, where she has other eclectic pieces from her grandmother’s collection. She says the bar will fit right in.

Posted 8/22/2012