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January 24, 2011 in City
Century-old Spokane Club has changed its rules with the times
Waiter Joel Thomas prepares to serve an ahi tuna salad in the Spokane Club dining room Wednesday. The club and the menu have seen dramatic changes over the past few years. The menu now features more fresh, local products.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
If reverence for tradition had been allowed to choke the impetus for change, the distinctive Kirtland Cutter-designed building at Riverside Avenue and Monroe Street might well be one of downtown’s “Long ago, that used to be …” landmarks.
But the Spokane Club is still the Spokane Club. And that’s because, time and again, the venerable private enclave’s leaders have cracked open the elegant front door and glimpsed the future.
In the 1960s, an athletics and fitness facility was added. In the 1970s, women were accorded full-status membership. Racial barriers came down. Dress codes were relaxed.
Those in charge of the well-upholstered sanctum that some inhabitants regarded as a bulwark against the unwashed outside world have acknowledged, if not unreservedly embraced, social trends.
A 1990 story in The Spokesman-Review noting the centennial of the upscale haven’s founding at a different site began this way: “The Spokane Club just isn’t what it used to be. A lot of people are glad.”
Still, 20 years later, the formula for survival remains a balancing act.
Board of trustees President Jan Quintrall, who is head of the local Better Business Bureau, summed up the challenge in a recent issue of the club’s magazine:
“Are we trying to include everyone and welcome everyone? Nope. We are a special place and we are selective in the members we embrace, but we are not snobs, nor are we elitist.”
In a city where class-conscious resentment of even the appearance of affluence can rankle, it hasn’t always been an easy sell.
Membership had declined in recent years. For a time, the club took to referring to itself as the Spokane Athletic Club.
But insiders say there’s a new, brutally honest focus on customer service. And since late last summer, the trend arrow is pointing up. Membership is climbing again.
“I’m optimistic,” said John Pilcher, the club’s CEO.
He said more people are coming to realize that the club isn’t “stodgy,” but is, in fact, family-focused and responsive to the needs and desires of young professionals and other members.
After-school programs for kids, a revitalized dining experience and the prospect of a dues discount for snowbirds are just part of the picture in 2011.
“There has been a sea change here at the Spokane Club,” said board President-elect Kevin Twohig, who is executive director of Spokane’s Public Facilities District.
No longer are the club’s leaders obsessed with meeting the expectations of bygone generations, he said.
Today the club even advertises.
According to Pilcher, the Spokane Club has about 3,000 members. That figure swells to about 7,000 when family members are included.
He said about one-third are almost exclusively interested in the nonprofit enterprise’s social/dining offerings, one-third are primarily focused on the athletic facilities (either downtown or at the club’s Spokane Valley complex) and the remaining third regularly take advantage of both.
To join, an individual must be sponsored by two members.
Because of a desire to make signing up more affordable for younger people, there are several membership classifications for different ages. One family plan for those over 30 calls for an initiation fee of $495 and a monthly bill of $151.73.
It’s rare that an applicant is turned down, said Jon Fine, the club’s director of sales and marketing. In those instances, it is almost always because red flags popped up during the credit check, he said.
The possibility of a fitness-center-only membership has been discussed for decades, said Ted Olson, an environmental engineer who was club president 20 years ago. That gets shot down in part because of fears that it would create a schism in the membership that could erode the club’s congenial ambiance, he said.
Besides, according to some, that would ignore the time-honored organization’s reason for being.
“If you define the purpose of a place like the Spokane Club, it’s to be a vital gathering point in the community,” said club CEO Pilcher.
Attempting to maintain that status has required some seismic shifts and subtle tweaks over the years.
Not everyone applauds every step in a new direction, of course – especially certain members who are accustomed to getting their way.
“We have to recognize that we’re not going to please everybody,” said Pilcher.
Going back to when she was a little girl, club member Susan Shane Miller has watched the changes for some 50 years. She knows there are more to come.
“I think the club has rolled with the punches of changing times fairly well,” she said.
And now, just as its signature downtown building is about to turn 100 years old, the Spokane Club is ready to come out swinging.
The Slice: Salvage a thumbs-up, please 
eagleproducer on January 24 at 9:33 a.m.
The food sucks, is overpriced and it’s like being back in the 1950’s in the dining rooms. Lily white. Despite of what they claim here.
How about some real reporting instead of chamber of commerce fluff pieces?
Oh yeah, this isn’t The Inlander or Camus Magazine.
eagleproducer on January 24 at 9:37 a.m.
I know complain about the paper quite a bit, so I decided, in the spirit of the magnanimity the will keep the MAC open with a flood tide of money from Spokane’s elite, to offer some help:
Start digging (literally and figuratively) at the shuttered Mead Kaiser works. That should keep one busy for about a decade and win a Pulitzer or two along the way.
Who wants to bet Stacey is just itching to green-light such and investigation?
hcamper on January 24 at 9:43 a.m.
I was a member of the Spokane Club and thoroughly enjoyed it. The facilities are first class, clean and modern. The staff is helpful and the members are respectful of each other. After leaving, I joined another organization which cost about $80 a month less. What I discovered is …. you get what you pay for. I wish the Club great success. Hopefully one day soon I can return.
spokanecougar on January 24 at 10:42 a.m.
Love when the Cowles makes their paper put out fluff pieces on their rich friends and their rich hang outs trying to make these stuck up, snobby, elitist a-holes look good. What a pathetic horrible article.
Why don’t some of these rich people step up and save the MAC and not fork over thousands of dollars just so they can go eat someplace were poor people wont disturb them.
zelda on January 24 at 11:17 a.m.
spoktucky — Yeah, that sudden announcement in December by Ormet pulling out of the Kaiser deal was rather odd. I remember reading about it in the Journal of Business but don’t recall it being covered in the S-R. Every once in a while the JofB sneaks something by but the news is more tantalizing than revelatory.
As for this “Last Gasp” series, it’s all well and good to commemorate social institutions, but I can’t get out of my head a comment a member made to me 20-some years ago, proudly talking about how well the Spokane Club treated its black employees down through the years. Patronizing/noblesse oblige/quirky aristocratic pretense — all rolled up in a ball of self-righteousness. It left a taint, I do confess.
spencergrainger on January 24 at 12:11 p.m.
It’s embarrassing that it wasn’t until the 1970’s when women and non-whites were allowed to join the Spokane Club. Things haven’t changed. Consider the self-contradicting statement from the board president in this story: “Are we trying to include everyone and welcome everyone? Nope. We are a special place and we are selective in the members we embrace, but we are not snobs, nor are we elitist.”
Give me a break.
zelda on January 24 at 1:43 p.m.
If it costs about $500 to join and a baseline of $1,820 a year in dues, that right there is going to exclude a large segment of the population. Given the number of fitness clubs around town and the availability of downtown dining, seems like their value proposition is largely the opportunity to rub elbows with the right kind of people. But that’s what being a city club is all about — you can exclude on the basis of cost or social suitability.
They’ve lowered the barrier to entry more out of financial desperation than an awakening of egalitarianism. Hey, maybe they could offer a Facebook-only membership for $50.
But, kidding aside, my experiences with the City Club have been that its appeal is to people who were raised or live in the area of the South Hill that for all intents and purposes is red-lined.
I suppose it’s a sign of progress that the clubs don’t exclude on the basis of race or creed anymore, but it’s still within my memory when the Manito Country Club excluded Jews.
eagleproducer on January 25 at 8:37 a.m.
Zelda: Yeah, Manito decided to let us in in the early 80’s but I still can’t name a Jewish member.