Gone But Not Forgotten Readers Reminisce About Favorite Businesses From Years Gone By

Just because a relationship has ended doesn’t mean there aren’t still strong feelings.

Take Don Rubendall, for example. One of his all-time favorite Spokane establishments, George’s Coney Island, closed its doors long ago. But he still misses it. And he fondly remembers frequenting the little downtown eatery in the ‘50s.

“I’ve seen a lot of places come and go, but that’s the one that sticks out,” he said. “That’s the one I miss the most.”

For what now-closed local business are you still carrying a torch? The Slice asked readers just that. And we received dozens and dozens of answers.

No surprise. The Crescent was No. 1 on the list.

“They made you feel important, they made you feel like a valued customer,” said Maxine McCandless, one of some 20 readers mentioning the landmark department store. “It was so wonderful. We wore hats and gloves to go shopping there. Anybody over 30 can tell you, there’s never been anything else like it.”

Of course, that’s more or less what people said about a lot of the places they still miss.

We heard about a vegetarian restaurant called The Well, the Second City Studio Theatre, Norski’s Fish Bar, Hooligan & Hannigan’s Tavern (several readers recalled the corned beef sandwiches), the Black Angus restaurant and, well, the list goes on.

Suzie Willcox still mourns the passing of the St. Regis Cafe, which closed in the late ‘80s. “It was a class place with a unique menu,” she said. “It was like a restaurant you’d find in a big city.”

Others on the honor roll of “gone but not forgotten” included: Travo’s restaurant, Boyle Fuel, Bob’s Chili Parlor (“It used to be one heck of a place”), Weiner’s Grocery, Duffy’s Grocery, Woolworth’s downtown, Newberry’s, Henny’s restaurant, Hansen’s Meat Market, Fuddruckers, the Stardust Inn, Town & Country restaurant and a little Italian restaurant called Mary’s. “I would kill for some of those recipes,” said the woman recalling the place. “And the breadsticks, they were huge.”

Readers lamented the loss of Sebastian’s restaurant, Luigi’s (the one that had its heyday around 1960), Cub’s Sub Tub, the Magic Mushroom, Partners restaurant, the Import Market that occupied the space now home to REI, KREM-FM, Moreland’s restaurant, The Giant T drugstore, Fern Candy, Sigman’s IGA, Granny’s Attic restaurant, Dan’s Select Foods and Eating Establishment, Papa Bear’s restaurant, Pepe’s hamburgers, Benewah Creamery, the old A&Ws, Pay ‘N Pak, the Flamingo Cafe and Safari Room, the Safeway at Division and Wellesley and Luther’s restaurant.

Lots of readers mentioned Natatorium Park. Ditto for drive-in theaters.

One caller said he still missed the Rocking Horse Saloon because “There were always great women there.”

And several readers recalled that waiters and waitresses at the Rocking Horse dripped honey on your biscuits while standing on a ladder.

Half a dozen people mentioned the old Graham’s stationery - “Great store, nothing like it since,” said one caller.

Another respondent talked about the void left by the Spokane Chronicle’s demise.

Lucille Davis still misses a little place called Kee’s Variety Store. “You could get things there you couldn’t find anywhere else on the North Side,” she said.

A few recollections were less than complete. “The drugstore downtown that displayed glass eyes in the front window,” wrote Dick Newell.

But there was one recurring theme.

Several readers said, in effect, “If I’d known they were in danger of going out of business I would have been a better customer.”

So you might want to make a mental list of the places that are your favorite businesses here in the summer of 1995. And, well, you know what to do.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 4 Photos