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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hi-Neighbor back in business


Hi-Neighbor Tavern co-owner Ken Lunde, left, is congratulated by longtime patron Dick Poole on Friday on the reopening of the business at 2201 N. Monroe. The tavern is located in a three-story 1911 building damaged Aug. 12, 2005, in a three-alarm fire.
 (Photo by DAN PELLE / The Spokesman-Review)

Fifteen months after fire nearly destroyed the Lloyd apartment building at Monroe and Mansfield in Spokane, the Hi-Neighbor Tavern on the ground floor reopened this week to the relief of thirsty beer drinkers.

“It feels great. It’s fantastic,” said Pancho Caballero, a longtime regular at the popular watering hole.

On Friday, a small group of beer drinkers bellied up to the newly installed bar tops, swapping stories and a few good-natured barbs.

“Welcome home,” said one of the men, adding that the look was “very nice.”

Owner Ken Lunde said he and partner Dale Storr, a former Air Force pilot and prisoner of war, used the fire loss and closure to remodel the interior with new restrooms, a raised ceiling and longer bar space.

“It’s been a long 15 months,” Lunde said. The tavern reopened Thursday. A welcome-back party was planned for Friday evening.

A spectacular fire that began in an upper-level apartment on Aug. 12, 2005, raced through the upper portions of the three-story 1911 building, displacing more than two dozen residents and closing the Hi-Neighbor and an adjacent karate school.

“I actually thought they would have to tear it down,” Lunde said, but building owner Mark Agee decided to restore the structure. Lunde said the upper apartments are expected to reopen soon.

Lunde said he had an insured loss that totaled about $60,000 and that he and Storr have invested about $20,000 on top of that to reopen.

The owners opted to remain a tavern serving only beer and wine, with no distilled spirits, Lunde said.

The owners are hoping that word will spread throughout the city that the tavern is reopened and that pool and dart league teams displaced by the fire will return to their old haunt.

The Hi-Neighbor dates to 1961 and has had three other owners, including the original owner, the late Gladys Goodman, Lunde said.

“It’s pretty famous around this neighborhood,” he said.