Bellevue , is east of Seatlle. Ivar Haglund (the guy in the picture) was a famous local celeb here in the 50s-70s.
He was a joker, and made a lot of strange commercials.
No those life rings are decorations in his restaurant for 50 years now.
The truth is that in the 70s he had a ad campaign that they found undersea billboards from the 50s in the bay, and they raised them up. This was found to be a hoax. When he was found out, he coined the phrase "Keep Clam"
and it exploded from there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUANmtaY1lQHe shot no clams with a nylon 66