Neighbors party on Perry

It was the night before Bloomsday, and rain was falling gently in the South Perry neighborhood. Neighbors gathered on the west side of the street for a party.

The Lantern tavern opened on South Perry last Thursday, and Saturday evening the place was hopping as much as possible in the tiny storefront that formerly was home to the Pop Shoppe.

“We opened our doors on Thursday, and we immediately got a ton of people,” said Jeff Nordwall, who owns and operates the tavern with his life partner, Elizabeth Paisley. “It’s been much more successful than we ever dreamed of.”

The tiny bar features Washington wines – Spokane-area selections Barrister and Arbor Crest among them – and a big variety of upscale beers.

“We may expand to carry sake in the future, and some port wines,” Nordwall said.

“People come in to meet their neighbors, or they come in and see people they haven’t seen in a long time,” Nordwall said, squeezing his way between guests. “It’s great to see people connect like that.”

Saturday night was also the first time the Perry Street Café was open for dinner, serving a pre-Bloomsday carbo-loading spaghetti menu. The restaurant was busy all night.

“It completely exceeded our expectations,” said owner Geoffrey White at the end of a 14-hour day. “We just served spaghetti with different kinds of sauces, in big Perry Street portions. People loved it.”

This summer, White added, the Perry Street Café and The Shop coffee house will team up on dinner and a movie.

“When The Shop has its outdoor movie nights, we’ll be open for dinner,” White said. The movie schedule is not available yet, but it will be coming out soon.

Speaking of dinner, Pat Kautzman and his daughter Krista Kautzman were both at The Lantern on Saturday night. They’ve just purchased the gray building on the east side of the street – the one with the big white garage doors – and applied for a license to turn that into a pizza restaurant.

“This is just a cool business district,” Pat Kautzman said. “People tell us there is no place to eat out at night, no place to meet; we’re hoping we can do some of that.”

Krista Kautzman just returned to Spokane from Bellingham; she’ll be the main restaurateur.

“Right now, we’re just planning things and we’re pretty excited,” Krista Kautzman said.

Neither has any pizza-baking experience, but both agreed pizza seemed like a relatively simple place to start.

“We have good help from people in the business,” Pat Kautzman said. “And the city has been very helpful when it comes to getting the new permits and all that.”

They are hoping to turn Perry Street Pizza into a family neighborhood restaurant, perhaps with the addition of a community meeting room and a take-out menu. They plan to serve wine and beer as well.

“I’m sure it’s helped us a lot that The Lantern is already open and has its permit,” to serve alcohol Pat Kautzman said.

The night also included an open house at Roots Salon, a full-service beauty parlor featuring hairdressers, nail technicians, estheticians and massage therapy.

Krysten Maxwell, one of Roots’ hairdressers, said the evening had been amazing for the salon.

“We’ve had so many people here,” she said, over the music and chatter from the downstairs party. “Since January, after that long winter, business has really picked up here.”