100 years ago in Spokane: All stops pulled out to entertain boys in uniform

Spokane went all out to entertain soldiers and sailors who were training in the city.

A group of sailors was invited to attend a free matinee performance at the Pantages Theater. This was a vaudeville show featuring an act named “Stockings,” described in the Pantages ad as “a novelty girly offering.”

Then, 100 trainees at the Army’s automotive school were the guests at a banquet in the Davenport Hotel, put on by the National League of Women’s Service.

“Before dinner, the men gathered around the piano on the mezzanine floor and sang many popular ballads, to the delight of the people in the lobby,” said The Spokesman-Review.

After dinner, an orchestra and some local women singers performed popular songs, concluding with “The Long, Long Trail.”

Then they adjourned to the Hall of Doges for dancing, with “galaxies of pretty partners.”

From the vermin beat: F.M. Taylor asked for a tax break from the city for what he considered to be an excellent reason: rats.

He told officials that ever since they created a city dump next to his home, “rats by the million” had overrun his property.

City officials were unmoved. They denied his request.