1972 - This business property at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and Lincoln Street, containing a gas station, the New Earl Apartments and the Libby and Sons Photographers studio, was sold in 1972 to the WD partnership, a Spokane investment group. Within a year, it would be home to an International House of Pancakes franchise. That IHOP closed in 2002 after 30 years in business and Molly’s Family Dining took its place. (SPOKESMAN-REVIEW PHOTO ARCHIVE / SR)
2018 - The former International House of Pancakes restaurant at Third Avenue and Lincoln Street closed in 2002 and is now Molly’s Family Dining, a breakfast and lunch restaurant not unlike IHOP. The distinctive steep blue roof was repainted to a green before Molly’s opened, also in 2002. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)
An IHOP opened on the corner of Third Avenue and Lincoln Street in 1972 and lasted for 30 years.
Thing were changing quickly in the early 1970s in Spokane. Civic leaders were planning for Expo ’74, and businesses were changing the look of downtown Spokane. On the corner of Third Avenue and Lincoln Street, many changes were taking place. The New Earl Apartments, a three-story, 13-unit block at 224 S. Lincoln St., first appeared in the city’s phone listings in 1927. By 1971, it was getting a little run-down.