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

Huckleberries Online

Downtown CdA Then & Now

OrangeTV/Get Out! North Idaho introduces us to a "then-and-now" look at downtown Coeur d'Alene, comparing 1981 with 2011: "The Facebook group 'Old School Coeur d'Alene' can be massively entertaining for folks like me who are fond of yammering on about a time long ago when our town was less prone to artsy-fartsy foofaraw, touristy rattleclap, and those pesky trees and flowers making everyone's allergies flare up. Call me old, and I'll smack you with a Hall & Oates record. The "THEN" images posted below were swiped from that group's page and landed there Saturday courtesy of Dave Bellamy, who writes, "My dad was on the plannng commission and this still and these pictures were gathered as part of a proposal looking at putting up a cover over the downtown area of CDA. It never panned out but the planning did lead to the downtown we have now." The image on the left is the cover of the proposal pamphlet -- love that totally hideous graphic design."

Question: Do you remember when downtown boosters were considering transforming Sherman Avenue into a covered mall, back in the 1980s? I do.



D.F. Oliveria

D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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