Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 50 years ago

A big new shopping center at 30th Avenue and Grand Boulevard cleared a key hurdle in a 1962 zoning vote.

The shopping center proposal had long been controversial among South Hill residents. The Spokane City Plan Commission had also been asked to rule on a competing proposal, for a shopping center at 29th Avenue and Perry Street.

The “South Side shopping center deadlock,” as the paper called it, had generated “heated and emotional arguments” for years.

At this meeting, the commission denied the Perry Street project and approved rezoning for the Grand project.

Developer James S. Black announced after the vote that “we expect to build a shopping center fulfilling the high standards of excellence which we believe the plan commission envisioned.”

Today, that shopping center is the site of a Super 1 supermarket, a Ross Dress for Less store, the Manito Tap House and a number of other businesses.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1889: Montana became the 41st state. … 1972: The premium cable TV network HBO (Home Box Office) made its debut with a showing of the movie “Sometimes a Great Notion.”