Another Cda Car Dealer May Move To ‘Auto Row’ Along Highway 95
Coeur d’Alene’s rapidly growing auto row along Highway 95 may gain a formidable new occupant in the next year. Robideaux Motors, the Lake City’s Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealer, may leave its long-time space on East Sherman Avenue to join the auto dealers along the busy highway.
Neither property owner Harold “Swede” Wachholz nor Robideaux owner John Robideaux Jr. would officially confirm the move. Wachholz said the deal should be completed next week.
Two current leasees on the two-acre piece north of Dalton Avenue said they knew it was in the works.
Henry Acosta, who has had a produce stand on the corner for several summers, said he was told he’d have to find another space for next season to make way for the auto dealership.
Gary Parkinson, of neighboring Black Canyon Oak furniture store, also said he was told the car dealership would be moving on to the property and he was not sure how the venture would affect his store’s space. Gesturing to the acreage of the newly established dealers to the south of Dalton Avenue, Parkinson said that a large car dealership needs all the space it can get.
Robideaux Motors was started by John “Jack” Robideaux, a Spokane native who got his start at Kauffman Buick, in 1960. Through the years the business gained a positive reputation for attracting repeat customers. Jack Robideaux died in 1996, and John Robideaux Jr. runs the company.
A Wisconsin native, Wachholz was in the lumber yard business in the Inland Northwest for many years and owned the former Kootenai Building Supply in Coeur d’Alene from 1968 to 1982. A portion of his land became the home to Dan Barton Oldsmobile south of Dalton Avenue.
Patricia Zao (the last name rhymes with the Harry Belafonte Calypso lyric “DAYoh”) is starting Patricia Ann’s Studio for porcelain doll and custom clothes-making.
The new shop will open Sept. 1 in the north portion of the new Papa Murphy’s Pizza building at 1800 Government Way in Coeur d’Alene. Hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Zao, whose name-pronunciation gimmick came from her husband Peter’s students at North Idaho College, has been sewing for 25 years, starting at age 10 on her mother’s machine in San Diego.
Her mother designed and made dresses for the former Lawrence Welk TV show. And Zao still uses the original sewing machine, along with 10 others. Her family followed a move by her parents to North Idaho nine years ago.
She specializes in and will also offer lessons in porcelain doll-making and the making of doll and children’s custom clothes, including christening gowns.
“Bring in a magazine picture, and I can custom-make the outfit,” she said. Phone 667-6924.
Some tidbits:
A sign along Interstate 90 in Coeur d’Alene indicates the proper exit for visitors seeking information. Once they take the exit, however, the signage disappears and some tourists may feel stranded. Evidently the places to go for the oft-changing information locations are the Big Y Truck Stop on East Sherman Avenue, Coeur d’Alene, and the Post Falls Factory Outlets.
A few downtown Coeur d’Alene restaurateurs volunteered that they do offer pizza when I whined a few weeks ago that there’s no bonafide pizza place in downtown Coeur d’Alene. After enjoying humongous, deep-dish Chicago-style pizza-by-the-slice on a Windy City trip last week, I’ll whine again. The garlic toast we have downtown here is not the answer.
Speaking of food, when in Chicago try the German restaurant The Berghoff. It’s fantastic, with no item over $10. German cuisine is virtually non-existent in North Idaho.
However, a new variety of foods, including the original German sausage, was a special highlight of last weekend’s concurrent festivals downtown, in the city park and at North Idaho College. Special touches were continuous live music at all locations and the free trolley linking the affairs. A notable lack was shrinkage of the juried art show at Art on the Green, which was somewhat stymied by a scheduled Student Union Building construction project that hadn’t started. Perhaps NIC and the arts folks can better coordinate next year.
Speaking of free public shows, don’t forget the Parade of Homes that continues through this weekend. North Idaho builders are showing off 17 homes in various locations. I’ve heard the most notable are along Poleline Road between Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene.
The rumored move of Gargoyle Sunglasses Co. from Kent, Wash., to the Inland Northwest won’t be happening.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Nils Rosdahl The Spokesman-Review