Complaints Sink Another Hangout For Teenagers Owner Says Anti-Kid Bias Forced Him To Close Spokane Underground

Kevin Thomson believes he’s a victim of people who don’t like kids.

Twice, he’s opened late-night teenage hangouts. Twice, he’s been forced to close because of complaints from neighboring businesses, residents and police.

Until last week, Thomson ran Spokane Underground, an all-ages pool hall and cafe in the downtown Spokane armory building.

The 30-year-old businessman recently shut down the pool hall after other tenants complained. They accused Thomson of drawing unruly teenagers and gang members who defaced the building with graffiti and littered the area with broken bottles.

“I voluntarily shut the pool hall down because of all the pressure,” he said. “I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of jerking my license.”

His landlord, Phil Berg, owner of the old armory, 202 W. Second, offered a different story.

He said Thomson owed him $5,000 in rent and had created a nuisance.

“Neither the neighbors or tenants nor the city wants him in the building,” Berg said. “I said, ‘Kevin, you run a hobo jungle.”’ Berg plans to reopen the pool hall under new management.

Thomson said he had hoped to hang onto the cafe, dotted with small tables and decorated with portraits of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe.

But on Tuesday he agreed to close the Underground for good.

This was Thomson’s second failed attempt to provide an alcohol-free meeting place for teenagers.

In 1992, Thomson ran Studebaker’s, a 24-hour coffee shop near Garland and Wall that attracted crowds of teenagers. People complained about noise and vandalism in the neighborhood, until he closed that cafe and opened the Underground last summer.

About a month ago, Spokane Police Officer Rick Albin mediated a meeting between Thomson, Berg and the armory’s other tenants, including Laser Quest and Wild Walls, to resolve differences about the pool hall.

“The clientele the Spokane Underground was drawing was not the clientele the other businesses wanted to see,” Albin said.

They gave Thomson 45 days to make improvements, such as increased security, before holding another meeting. But he shut down the pool hall before another meeting could be held.

Thomson said he’s always monitored his crowd.

“I don’t even allow gang music on my jukebox,” he said.

Thomson said he has a zero-tolerance attitude toward drugs and alcohol, and has personally given the boot to people violating that policy.

“If someone says, ‘Hey, do you have a joint?’ they’re out of here,” Thomson said.

Brett McMahon, 22, said he liked to shoot pool at the Underground because he doesn’t like the bar scene and loud drunks.

“It’s much better (for teenagers) than hanging out on the streets,” McMahon said.

Thomson thinks he’s being punished for a few troublemakers who came to his pool hall.

“Are they going to close the Ridpath down because one of their customers shot some people?” Thomson said. “No.”

, DataTimes