100 years ago in Spokane: Noodle cafe owner takes sightseeing flight; vaudeville theater reopens

Sightseeing trips via airplane were all the rage in Spokane, and one of the latest passengers was Wong Bong, the Chinese owner of a Riverside Avenue noodle cafe.

When Wong Bong and a pilot lifted off in a biplane, The Spokesman-Review reported that his friends made “a rush for the nearest telephone” in order to call the other noodle cafes in town and tell them to go outside and watch for the plane.

Lt. Foster Russell, one of the pilots offering the excursions, said the air was still – which sounds like ideal flying conditions, though apparently not for the thrill-seeking passengers.

“They like the flights better when the wind is active and the action of the ship floppy,” he said.

From the vaudeville beat: The Hippodrome Theater reopened after extensive renovations with a variety show featuring the Steed Syncopated Sextette, described as “Jazzers from Jazzersville.”

Second billing at the Hip, as it was commonly known, went to the Nellie Bennett Troupe, “America’s greatest women athletes, fencing, boxing, wrestling.”

Also on the bill were Browning and Davis, “The Minstrel Boys from Dixie,” and Bull Bear’s Indians, a “versatile Sioux singing, dancing” troupe.

In what was termed “legitimate theater,” the Woodward Players resumed their residency at the Woodward Theater after a summer hiatus with “Here Comes the Bride,” which was billed as a “hilarious farce comedy.”