Rogers60

Knight's Diner, 1998.
Bob Parry's mother at the left

Wyatt, my mother hated change, especially when it happened in Spokane. She went ballistic when the World’s Fair wiped out the heart of Spokane’s history. Mr. Beecher, who took us on a tour of skid row, probably didn't like it either. I know he was still around then. I’m not so much that way. If it was important historically, why did we let it rot? I do enjoy my pictures of that area as it was, but I like Riverfront too. Spokane finally recognized an asset: the river and what remains of the falls after the river was dammed. Smith Funeral Home’s embalming room (been there) used to look at the river. Now the entire rear of the renovated building is glass looking at the river.

I do greatly miss one artifact: the Great Northern Depot. They kept the tower, why not the depot? I see that would have required a road to be displaced a few yards. So displace it! The depot wasn't a sleazy skid row bar. Rule number one: YOU DON’T RAZE TRAIN DEPOTS. I always called it “Grampa’s depot,” because my German-immigrant grandfather worked his entire adult life at GN.

I have not lived in Spokane for 36 years. I once went 11 years without visiting. In 1989 I figured it was time to visit elderly parents. Now I visit once a year. I think you and I see Spokane with slightly different eyes, W. I’m always amazed how little Spokane has changed, the valley and Riverfront Park notwithstanding.

Downtown still appears vibrant. That’s unusual in this country. I cannot think of many cities of 196,00 that still have a decent downtown. By the way, the population was 180,000 40 years ago. Not much increase compared to most. It actually sank to 175,000 in the interim. They did essentially raise downtown about 15 feet and gut some blocks to make parking, but once you leave downtown, what changed? There is a lot of growth to the North, but in my eyes, the stuff between downtown and Francis never seems to change. Northtown is revamped every 20 years or so. There is a lot more shopping to the north of it now, but look at Division south of it. Many of the businesses are the same as they were when I was five. Rutherford's Triple XXX is there and was when I was young. The Cathay Inn was there, in another building. It’s still on Division. Granted, Northbound Division is now routed onto Ruby. They moved Knight’s Diner to my old neighborhood, but at least it’s still around. Great breakfasts, but if you have too many of them, you won’t fit between the barstool and the counter. Knight’s supplies a self-limiting diet.

Spokane seems to be full of cultural experiences. The Bloomsday race is a good thing. It made National Geographic, with a view of people on the Main St. hill near that glassed-in view of the river of what was Smith Brothers’ Funeral Home.

I guess I don’t miss the Panda. I only went there a few times. I probably didn’t have the average Rogers experience. For me, the Panda was across town, on the Shadle side of Division. We had Pete’s Coney King, Jack and Sue’s Fountainette, and the Bend Drive-In - now the Bend Restaurant and Casino. I once took the late Bonny McMartin to the Bend Drive-In for a hamburger after the Sadie Hawkins dance. More on Rutherford's XXX. The term XXX means something else today, eh? I'm thinking T-shirt sizes, not movie ratings. I notice that Rutherford's is still around, at least in Spokane and Seattle. There's a XXX on I90 in Issaquah. We may stop there for rations as we begin our October eastward invasion of Spokane from Seatac.