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Thanksgiving in Spokane

· Posted Tuesday November 27, 2007 by jamie

For our holiday weekend we made the trip across the mountains to Spokane. My mom grew up in Spokane, so we’ve always had many relatives to visit on that side of the mountains, but since my sister and her husband moved there a few years back, there’s been that much more reason to hit that neck of the woods every so often. And with the recent birth of our second nephew, all the more reason to plan a Thanksgiving trip, even with the associated travel headaches–heavy traffic, potential mountain weather problems, etc.

We stayed at the recently-renovated Montvale Hotel downtown in order to avoid the new baby chaos and to be able to have our “own space” to retreat to. Built as a miners hotel, and at points in its life serving as a bordello, apartments, hardware store, and dormitory for Expo 74 workers, the Montvale opened in 2005 as a boutique hotel that boasts status as “oldest hotel in Spokane”.

The hotel itself was charming, but unfortunately after our late arrival on Wednesday we discovered that our room was directly above Spokane’s newest raw food hot spot, Scratch. We were tired from work and the trip, but apparently the patrons of said establishment were not, as we had the honor of being kept awake by thumping bass until after they closed at 2am. Joy. (As an aside, when we made the reservation, we mentioned TripAdvisor reviews complaining about sound bleed-through. These must have been referring to the pool hall also in the building, because we were assured that our room in the back should only have some noise from the train tracks. We can handle some train noise.) Amidst the grogginess of Thanksgiving morning we managed to get transferred to a different room for the remainder of the stay. We’re still holding out hope that we can get them to comp the miserable first night…this might have bearing on whether we’d be willing to visit again, so fingers crossed on that…

Thursday morning we took the opportunity to sleep in a bit, given the forced lateness of the previous night. Unfortunately this caused us to miss the hotel’s Continental breakfast, and as I soon discovered on a walk around a nearly abandoned downtown Spokane, nothing is open on Thanksgiving. But I did get a good dose of Thanksgiving perspective when I realized that just about everyone who I saw while out-and-about appeared to be homeless. I may not have been able to find food just then, but I could rest assured that later that day I would be feasting like a king in a warm home, surrounded by loving relatives.

I’ve gotta say, though, that Spokane’s downtown has a lot on Tacoma. For starters, it has some geographic advantage in that the flatness of the valley has allowed for a downtown core that exists as a “clump” instead of a long narrow strip like Tacoma’s. As such, Spokane has a more impressive group of large buildings. Riverfront Park, the site of the aforementioned Expo 74, is a wonderful riverside promenade immediately adjacent to the downtown shopping area. And speaking of the shopping area, yes, Spokane has a legitimate downtown shopping area. (I don’t mean to de-legitimize Tacoma’s downtown merchants, because there are some awesome stores in Tacoma, but there isn’t a retail core, per se.) Spokane has a several block area of department stores, a multi-level mall with 20 screen theater (River Park Square), skybridges, and dedicated parking structures for shoppers. Really quite impressive. I’m not sure there is anything specifically that Tacoma can learn from this, but it is something to consider before we make fun of Spokane. (However, we can make fun of their residential recycling program. It really sucks.)


(Photo credit: Remi Olsen)

One last awesome thing to mention about Spokane: Rocket Market. I guess this place would be best described as a “gourmet mini-mart”. The Rocket Bakery chain, of which the Rocket Market is a part, includes a bakery and several coffee shops around town, but the Market location on the South Hill takes it to a whole new level. While there is a full service gas station on-site, for all intents and purposes this is a standalone gourmet market, with a huge wine and beer selection, cheeses, fancy chocolate, organic produce, delicious snack food, cooking supplies, etc.–in the end, essentially the sort of store that you could do all of your shopping at, as long as you don’t want to buy anything for cheap. All in a space about the size of your average 7-11. I would kill to have this place in my neighborhood, and I think it would be a great model for walkable grocery stores all over the city. If you’re ever in Spokane, check it out: 726 E. 43rd Ave.


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Comments:

  1. This Rocket Market sounds exactly like what I have in mind for replacing the D Town market at 9th and Commerce, minus the gasoline sales. Something like this would be a first class addition to downtown. The way you describe it makes it sound like a mini Trader Joe’s. I’ll check out their web site and maybe suggest that they open a shop at 9th and Commerce.

    — Crenshaw Sepulveda    Dec 27, 08:03 PM    #

  2. Crenshaw, I think D Town Market would be a great spot for something like this, especially with the Mecca redevelopment on the short-term horizon, Winthrop redevelopment, on the longer-term horizon, and just general accessibility for a large number of bus and light rail users. Great central location downtown, too.

    I’d also love to see the Neighborhood Market on 6th Ave remodel into something more like this.

    As far as the Rocket Bakery company taking it on, they seem pretty clustered in Spokane, so I doubt they’re interested in taking it on. But it doesn’t hurt to ask, I guess!

    — jamie    Dec 28, 08:38 AM    #