Owner of PJ’s Pub uses bar to give back to Spokane

Meadow Frank was born in a teepee on Waneta Mountain near the Canadian border, the daughter of a pair of free spirits.

She had her son, Kodiak, when she was 14 and bounced around in life until she figured out that she needed to settle down and get busy building a future for the two of them.

At 34, Frank is now the owner of PJ’s Pub at 1717 N. Monroe St., where she is building a loyal clientele and helping out people in need.

By her count, she has held six fundraising events to help folks facing serious illness, fire losses and other hardships.

Her willingness and generosity rose from her own life experience.

When she was 19, she took off hitchhiking with her son across the East Coast.

“I’ve been down and out. I’ve been hungry. I’ve had nowhere to sleep,” she said.

Her days inside the mountain teepee near Northport were short-lived. Her parents built a permanent shelter for the family, but her mother and father broke up when she was 13.

That sent her life into turmoil, resulting in her teenage pregnancy. The father didn’t want any part of it and she bounced in and out of school, finally earning a GED. Then there was the hitchhiking episode with Kodiak in tow.

But when her son was old enough for school, she said she knew she had to change.

She took three different jobs loading delivery trucks and waitressing, including her starting job serving tables at PJ’s where she has been ever since.

Kodiak said he couldn’t understand why his mother was sleeping all of the time. He liked the fun mom she used to be.

So, Meadow Frank sat him down and explained that she wanted them to get ahead, buy a house and improve their lives financially.

“At least I understood what was going on,” Kodiak Frank said, but his early childhood “was definitely rather adventurous.”

She bought a home and eventually rose to bar manager at PJ’s.

Last year, she got the opportunity to buy the bar from former owner Carol Lewis, who was considering closing it.

Frank said she didn’t want her staff members to lose their jobs, so she scraped together enough money and bought the bar last June.

She currently has a dozen full- and part-time workers, not counting her son who helps out during closed hours.

Frank said she wants PJ’s to be a place where people are comfortable and enjoy themselves. “A lot of people would consider this their ‘Cheers,’ ” she said in reference to the popular TV show that ran from 1982 to 1993.

Tom Heumann, one of the regulars, said, “She is a real sweetheart. She is very generous.”

In past months, the bar has held:

• A food drive and fundraiser for Courtney Williams, an employee, after Williams agreed to be a foster parent for three siblings removed by Child Protective Services from a drug house.

• Another benefit, for people who lost their homes in the north-central Washington wildfires last summer, raised money and filled a 45-foot trailer with household items and clothing.

• A fundraiser that garnered $4,000 for customer Rick Eckel, 29, of Spokane, who was diagnosed with brain cancer.

• A karaoke night and pull-tab game that benefits the Women and Children’s Free Restaurant.

• A benefit for a boy who has a rare skin disorder.

A benefit show is planned Feb. 21 for the family of customer Duane Cooper, 35, who died unexpectedly leaving a wife and two boys.

Frank said the credit for the success of the fundraisers goes to the generosity of her customers.

“We have so many people who care,” she said.

Frank hosts potlucks on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas, times when many establishments are closed, because customers don’t have family or a place to go and appreciate getting together with friends.

She said she looks back on her young life and wonders how she did it.

But Frank said she knows her son is her greatest gift. “I find myself loving him more every day,” she said.