This week's Then and Now column is about the Whitten Block, which was built in 1890 by L.B. Whitten, one of Spokane's earliest entrepreneurs. He died in 1927. But his family's story takes a sad turn with mental illness and a murder. The building is now a complex that includes the adjacent Miller building and houses the Hotel Lusso. On the first floor is the Post St. Ale House, a popular spot for lovers of craft beer. Written died in 1927, but a son, Paul Whitten, lived with his mother into adulthood. He'd never had a job and exhibited mental illness and had a drinking problem. In 1946, in a drunken stupor, he murdered a man hired by his mother to do odd jobs. He was sent to Eastern State Hospital instead of prison. Read the sad story here.

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