Fire Hits Landmark On North Division Early Morning Blaze At The Shed Started In Upstairs Apartment

Two months after The Shed sounded its final last call, the storied Spokane restaurant and lounge was ravaged by a Friday morning fire and ordered ripped down.

“There goes a tradition, a landmark,” said Vaughn Nicholas, who said he worked at The Shed on North Division for two years and lived in an upstairs apartment there until early June. He passed by on his bicycle Friday afternoon to see the smoldering mess.

Spokane Fire Department investigators were not sure what caused the 5 a.m. fire.

Fire Capt. Joel Fielder said the blaze erupted in an upstairs apartment that was supposed to have been vacant.

Fielder said there are signs that people had been getting into the building through upper-level windows. Charred belongings such as mattresses and clothing were found inside, he said.

Fielder said former tenants are expected to be interviewed next week. He said power to the building had been left on.

Firefighters heading to the restaurant at 1801 N. Division could see smoke as they left the downtown station house. When they arrived, flames were blowing out the second-floor window on the northwest corner, Fielder said.

Embers floated one block north, landing on the shake roof of Central Baptist Church, resulting in a small flare-up that was soon doused.

Firefighters went inside The Shed but soon pulled out as the blaze intensified. The fire was under control within an hour.

Known as the Pine Shed during its heyday in the 1960s and ‘70s, the venerable Spokane drinking spot had recently come onto hard times.

Rod Plese, the building’s owner, said the past tenant had fallen behind on lease payments.

People living in nine low-rent apartments above the restaurant - which the past tenant operated, too - were told they had to move out in April.

“We were all a little bitter about it,” Nicholas said.

Plese said the property is covered by insurance.

Since the building’s closure, Plese said he had been trying to find a renter - such as a restaurant chain - who would pay $7,000 a month.

Plese and his partner, Harold Fettig, bought The Shed in 1991. It is now worth about $500,000, according to land records.

The Shed has been at its present location since 1964, when the Wilks brothers - Roy and Bill - relocated from across the street. At the time, they boasted in a Spokane Chronicle article about revamping their dance floor and bringing in more bands.

Plese said he does not know what will be done with the property.

“There was a lot of history,” he said.

Several Spokane eateries have burned in the past two years, starting with Luigi’s in May 1998. A grease fire was blamed.

Arson was blamed for a July 1999 fire that gutted the Mars Hotel and Casino - a downtown entertainment stop riddled by financial and legal troubles.

On New Year’s Day this year, the El Toreador Restaurant and Lounge was reduced to a charred heap after being left vacant and up for sale. The fire was human-caused, officials say, though not necessarily arson.