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

100 years ago in Spokane: Pool halls with ‘workingmen’ drinking soda replace saloons with prohibition in force

From our archives,

100 years ago

A Spokesman-Review reporter and photographer went on assignment to A.S. Nichol’s big new pool hall at 415 W. Main Ave. – formerly one of Jimmie Durkin’s big saloons.

Their goal: to find out how Spokane’s working men were passing the time without saloons.

They found hundreds of men there from early morning to late at night.

“Rotation pool is played almost constantly at all of the 17 tables and is so popular that natives of several European countries may be engaged in the same game,” said the reporter. “At the seven card tables, which are always crowded after the lunch hour, freezeout poker is the favorite.”

The men were drinking nothing but soft drinks – and they claimed they liked it that way. The next morning, they “did not have a big head (a hangover).”

A group of Newport and Priest River loggers “unanimously declared they had more money and were able to stay in town longer this winter than at any time for the last seven or eight years.”

“Probably we drank because there was nothing else to do,” said one. “Now that the liquor is gone, we are finding other ways to amuse ourselves without sapping our strength and hurting our bodies.”

A hundred years later, 415 W. Main is the site of a new restaurant with a name that reaches back to the past: Durkin’s Liquor Bar.