The Corner Cafe

I often ask friends to share their memories of Walla Walla buildings and sometimes ask for ideas of what building to write about. Diane suggested the one at the corner of Main and 2nd, "the one with all that decorative stuff all over it." She had an ulterior motive, Diane did; she had a fond 1960s memory involving hot chocolate--with a scoop of ice cream in it--served in that very building, and couldn't remember the name of the restaurant. Number Two West Main houses Paul Richardson Agency now and it has a very business-like look to it, and I was intrigued by what changes it had been through over the years. My research told me that the corner building was part of the Quinn Building (which I wrote about before.) It was occupied in 1876 by Marum and Doheny's Dry Goods Store, who advertised "All Goods Marked in Plain Figures", but "sold exclusively for cash." When the dry goods store moved in 1901, Tallman's Drugs moved in and stayed there until 1912 when they moved their pharmacy to a bigger space next door.

Up to the Times Magazine wrote a feature on 2 West Main's 1912 occupant in its Progress Notes:

"The Third National Bank of Walla Walla has purchased the Quinn property at Second and Main Streets....The property has a frontage on Main Street of 53 feet. It is reported that the purchase price was $1,200 per front foot. The Third National Bank will occupy its new quarters sometime during the new year". 

The Third National Bank before the facade was added.

The bank occupied 2 West Main for eight years before they remodeled and created the facade of the building we see today. Up to 1920 the front had been handsome, although not outstanding.

Third National Bank after facade was added.

 The Third National Bank wanted a building everyone would notice, and embellished the exterior with features that resemble those you might see on a cake or fancy pastry. They did extensive remodeling to the inside too. The bank only enjoyed their distinctive building for nine years though, because by 1929, the Third National Bank was no longer listed in city directory, and Alfred Fitzgerald, Jeweler, had his shop there until 1933. This was the year that the building first became a place one could get a meal; Pinky's Barbeque moved in and was followed by Mitchell's Barbeque in 1935. Mitchell's featured "Fountain and Lunch, Cigars, Magazines, Card room."

And then in 1941, Mitchell's left and the Corner Cafe, "The House of Good Food" opened. It lasted until 1973, so it is a place many Walla Walla citizens remember. My friend Carolyn had her bridal lunch upstairs in the Corner's Kuaui Room. Diane and Alan had their romantic hot chocolate and ice cream date there. As a boy, Jim went to his accordion lesson upstairs over Tallman's and then always had a coke at the Corner Cafe afterwards.

When the Corner Cafe closed in 1974, it was back to business for 2 West Main: Jeffris Insurance Agency was followed by Munn's Surveyors and today we find Richardson Appraisers there. I stood downstairs in the Richardson Agency and tried in vain to imagine where the booths, counters, and fountain had been. Upstairs I tried to envision the Kauai Room, but I wasn't successful. The inside of the building is now desks, phones, and computers. The outside of 2 West Main, though, with its distinctive ornamentation, still makes an architectural "statement"--even after all these years.

Thanks, Joe Drazan, for the illustrations and photographs of the Third National Bank and the Corner Cafe.

The Quinn Block

The most fascinating part of writing about Walla Walla's historic buildings is learning how a space can change over time, its owners altering and molding it to their needs. If I walk into Tallman's Drug Store at 4 West Main today I am greeted by friendly folks who fill my prescription and ask about my day. 

If I had entered that door in 1880, I would have been visiting Thomas Quinn, Saddler and Harness Maker. His ads promised "Bridles, Whips, Spurs, Saddle Blankets, and in fact everything found in a first-class harness establishment." In Frank T. Gilbert's 1882 Sketches of Walla Walla, he describes Thomas Quinn: "With manners suave, a disposition to accommodate, and generous promptings towards his fellows, he greets the stranger, the customer, or the friend in that peculiar way ... which seldom fails to leave a desire with the recipient to do him a favor if he can." It appears that an hospitable greeting is part of the building's heritage.

Mr. Quinn's business prospered for years and it was taken over by his wife Clara at his death in 1889.

By 1908 Walla Walla's need for such equipment was no longer as great due to the growing popularity of automobiles, and Quinn'sSaddlery went out of business. The Quinns owned the building on the corner, too, at 2 West Main, which housed Dohenny and Marum's Dry Goods. The two buildings together were known as Quinn's Block, although from the beginning they were architecturally distinct. Both buildings had offices upstairs--doctors, lawyers, Mrs. Sarah Thacker's Commercial School, and the office of the publication Town Talk.In 1901, City Drugs moved into the corner building and when Mr. Tallman bought out Mr. Esteb in 1898 it became Tallman's Drugs.

Quinn's Saddlery gone, 4 West Main went through a dramatic remodel and in 1909 became the Dime Theater, where for ten cents (five cents for children 10 and under) you could see a silent movie in the "Coziest and Most Comfortable Place of Amusement in Town," accompanied by the "the Dime's excellent five-piece orchestra...one of the best musical organizations in Walla Walla." The theater stayed for three years and then moved to Alder Street. 

Tallman's moved from the corner into the more spacious 4 West Main, reinstalled shop front windows and a center door and furnished their new space with cabinets made by White House Crawford that are still in Tallman's today. 

 













The sign that labels the Quinn Building is no longer visible, but perhaps it still exists behind the modern facade. Maybe a future remodel or restoration may reveal it, and remind us that Thomas Quinn, Saddlemaker, was once in business there.

Maybe you are wondering what happened to 2 West Main, the corner building, after Tallman's moved? Iv'e saved that story for next time....