Thieves drilled out the door lock at The Crown, the neighborhood pub at 8000 15th Ave NW, around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 18, and were gone with the safe in four minutes. The pub had been open six days.

Co-owners Bob and Christine Hougland headed to the building after their alarm system triggered, but the burglars had already vanished. All that remained was the drilled lock, a ringing alarm and every piece of cash and checks in the building missing, the owners wrote in an Instagram post that morning.

The security cameras had been disarmed.

The owners said they were reaching out to neighboring businesses for leads.

Bob Hougland, a 30-year Ballard bartending veteran who worked at The Viking, Olaf's and other neighborhood bars, opened The Crown on Aug. 12 in the former Schooner Street Pub space at 15th Ave NW and NW 80th St.

He named the pub after the Crown Hill neighborhood where he lives about a mile away. "My focus is going to be involving the neighborhood," he told My Ballard in an interview published Aug. 12, the day the pub opened.

The location at 8000 15th Ave NW has seen turnover. Schooner Street Pub closed in January after six months; before that, the space housed Pour Decisions and The Dane.

Despite the break-in, The Crown opened at its normal 2 p.m. hour on Aug. 18. The owners told My Ballard the loss was not enough to seriously impede operations. "We're persevering despite it!" they said.

The best way to support the pub, the Houglands said, is to stop by for a meal or a drink. The Crown is open 2 p.m. to midnight daily, serves craft beer, wine and a limited food menu, and is 21+.

Anyone who was near 80th and 15th around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 18 and saw or heard anything can reach the owners through their Instagram account, @thecrownbarballard. No police case number has been made public.