As Jim Ross peeled open soggy letters from 25 years ago, the greenhouse room of Billy McHale’s restaurant in Federal Way began to smell like must and mold.

“It smells very nasty,” said Ross, who has owned the restaurant for 22 years.

The capsule contained pieces of the establishment’s history, as well as predictions for 2014 and copies of Federal Way incorporation documents.

A dozen or so people gathered in the restaurant on Wednesday afternoon to watch Ross open the capsule. Old Polaroid photos and outdated menus were passed around. Most of the small audience declined to touch the soggy documents, but enjoyed hearing them read aloud as former employees predicted the nation’s first black president, instant communication among people and how many children their coworkers would have.

A letter from the restaurant’s founder, John Hale, promised bonuses to all the employees who were there 25 years ago, if they were still there or had retired from Billy McHale’s with an uninterrupted work record, but none of the employees made the cut.

An old video tape and mini-cassette tape were also in the capsule, though it is uncertain whether the contents can be recovered due to the soggy nature of the capsule.

Ross intends to share any legible content on the restaurant’s Facebook page. A video of the opening will also be posted.

Ross also plans to get in touch with the employees who put items in the capsule, as he knows many of them, he said.

The recovery of the restaurant’s history comes three weeks before it moves across the street to the old PJ Pocket’s building. The space will be smaller, but will allow Billy McHale’s to have pool tables, a dance floor and a bigger bar. The general dining area will be smaller, Ross said.

Customers have until the third week of September to get a “final fix” of Billy McHale’s the way it’s always been, Ross said. The new location will sport the same menu but a different décor.

“[But] we’ve tried to stay pretty true to the concept,” Ross said.