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

Time Warp New Book Offers Vivid Images Of Life In Spokane In The 1930s And ‘40s

Once there was a city full of wonders: The Crescent, The Italian Gardens, The Desert Oasis, The Auditorium Theatre and Bob’s Chili Parlor.

Bob’s Chili Parlor? Well, wonders can take many forms.

Put them all together and you had, to quote a song from the era, a helluva town.

That’s the conclusion one reaches from reading “Downtown Spokane Images, 1930-1949,” by Carolyn Hage Nunemaker (175 pages, $19.95).

With its 100-plus photographs, this book is an irresistible nostalgia trip for those who remember the ‘30s and ‘40s in Spokane. For those who don’t, it’s a vivid look at an era, and a downtown to be envied. Listen to how Nunemaker describes how vibrant Spokane was in those days:

“The streets were alive with shoppers, office workers, bankers, shop clerks, waitresses, stock traders from the Spokane Stock exchange, doctors, dentists, nurses and people hurrying to restaurants, theaters and buses. People shopped in numerous downtown food markets. They attended radio programs produced in downtown studios…Nearly every office building was filled.”

It was a downtown where policemen walked a beat and newsboys (often grown men) shouted the headlines on every corner.

Nunemaker picked this era because those were the years when she was growing up in Spokane. As it happens, it was also somewhat of a golden era for downtown Spokane, before the automobile, the freeway and post-war sprawl combined to dilute the energy of downtowns across the country.

Writing it was a labor of love for this 65-year-old retired Spokane schoolteacher.

“It began more than five years ago when I read some articles about The Crescent closing,” said Nunemaker, who taught music to District 81 elementary and junior high students. “I started thinking about downtown in the earlier days. I thought maybe I would write an article for the paper. Then it got longer and longer, and then it became three articles. This was from someone who had never written anything before.”

Then, Nancy Compau, who runs the Northwest Room of the Spokane Public Library, suggested that she make it into a book. It made sense - the manuscript was already too long to be a series of articles anyway.

“My first reaction was, ‘My husband will kill me,”’ said Nunemaker.

But he didn’t, and she ended up working on it for five years, on and off. Then, using their own money, she and her husband, John, ended up publishing it themselves. All of that work is already paying off - the book has nearly sold out its 1,000-copy initial run after only a month on the market. Another 5,000 copies are on the presses.

The book contains separate chapters on all of the major components of downtown Spokane: “Stores, Shops and Markets,” “Restaurants,” “Theaters,” “Buildings,” “Radio and Radio Studios” and “Street Railways,” to name a few.

The text is a mixture of her own memories (“I remember the thrill of using the cage elevators in Spokane’s Empire State Building”) and her own research. She also conducted about 35 interviews, mostly with Spokane old-timers.

Here, she quotes one former theater employee: “I would carry a bank bag of $50 to $100 and walk along Main or Trent toward Division. I wouldn’t think of doing that now!”

“It was hard for me to interview people,” she said. “I would make up excuses not to call them. But it surprised me - once I had somebody on the phone, they liked talking about it. They always said, ‘Oh, this was so much fun!”’ The chapter she had the most fun with was “Shops, Stores and Markets,” partly because those were the places most fascinating to her as a young girl. The Crescent, of course, was particularly fertile ground.

“One of the earliest memories I have of The Crescent is of a dress that was purchased for me there when I was 3 or 4 years old,” she writes. “I was very proud of this red plaid dress with white collar that had a label named for the most famous Hollywood child star of the time - my ‘Shirley Temple dress.”’

The “Restaurants” chapter is one of the most vivid, evoking the tastes and smells at some long-gone Spokane landmarks: The Fern, one of many popular soda fountains; Malcolm Stocker’s Fish and Chips; The Aster Tea Room, and the Davenport Hotel’s Isabella Room and Italian Gardens. And Nunemaker rhapsodizes about the legendary tamales at Bob’s Chili Parlor.

“There were no Mexican restaurants in Spokane then, and this food was not only savory, but unique,” she wrote.

Nunemaker virtually catalogs the major buildings of downtown, many of which no longer exist: The Marble Bank Building (First National Bank), the Norfolk Building, the Metals Building, the Great Northern Depot and the Union Station.

If Nunemaker could wave a magic wand and make one single building re-materialize after all these years, she said she would pick the Auditorium Building. This was a five-story 1890 landmark at the corner of Main and Post. It contained banks, offices, apartments and a 1,588-seat theater.

“Imagine a magnificent theater of 19th Century opulence, with plush and ornate furnishings, fine carved woods, shining brass, silver and jeweled chandeliers, stained glass windows, gilded pillars, one of the largest stages anywhere - a theater that attracted the world’s foremost actors, musicians and entertainers to its stage,” she wrote. “How proud the city must have been of this fine theater.”

It was torn down in 1934, two years after she was born. She never even saw it.

Her book never addresses the downtown of today, but she can hardly help but have her own thoughts on the subject. She is not crazy about closing off streets - they “make the streets look empty.”

But she is optimistic about the Davenport Hotel renovation, and the hoped-for Davenport Arts District around it. She is also cheered by the thought of The Bon and Nordstrom committing to downtown.

Since working on this book, she finds herself experiencing an odd sense of time warp when she walks on downtown’s historic sidewalks.

“I’ve immersed myself so much in the past, I find I am still surprised when I find out that something isn’t there,” she said. “Where is the Bandbox Theater, or the little place with the doughnut machine in the window? It is sort of bittersweet. As you get older, you want things to stay the same.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BOOK REVIEW “Downtown Spokane Images, 1930-1949,” by Carolyn Hage Nunemaker (175 pages, $19.95), is available at Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main; Joel Inc., 165 S. Post; Mel’s Nursery Floral and Gifts, 8800 N. Division, and other area bookstores.

This sidebar appeared with the story: BOOK REVIEW “Downtown Spokane Images, 1930-1949,” by Carolyn Hage Nunemaker (175 pages, $19.95), is available at Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main; Joel Inc., 165 S. Post; Mel’s Nursery Floral and Gifts, 8800 N. Division, and other area bookstores.