This day in history: Spokane leaders pledged tough action against noodle cafes

From 1975: The search for the body of Joseph Hedger was still underway, and the suspect in the shooting, John C. Brannon, was not talking.

Prosecutors filed a second count of first-degree assault against Brannon, although that would later be upgraded to a murder charge when Hedger’s body was found a month later near Newman Lake. Brannon was accused of pulling a gun on his two business partners at a construction site above Liberty Lake.

In other news, the final counting of absentee ballots confirmed that James Chase had been elected to the Spokane City Council, defeating two-term incumbent John Winston. The Spokesman-Review reported that Chase, a future mayor, was the first Black man elected to the City Council.

Also, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, of Yakima, retired after 36 years on the bench. He had suffered a stroke and said he was “unable to shoulder my fair share of the burden.”

From 1925: Spokane authorities were cracking down on “noodle cafes” – low-budget restaurants that also offered dancing.

The restaurants often had private boxes or booths where “conditions are beyond all bounds of decency,” said the commissioner of public safety.

“An investigation conducted by the police division has revealed that high school boys and girls, from 14 to 20 years of age, patronize these dancing cafes,” said the commissioner. “We have found girls sitting on the boys’ laps in these hidden little boxes. The girls are drinking moonshine, smoking cigarettes and going to extremes.”

He asked the council to rescind all dancing licenses to these cafes and asked the proprietors to remove all private boxes.