Riverfront Park's a gem in interesting downtown Spokane

By HILDA ANDERSON  
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Morning-after pundits typically judge the short-term success or failure of major international expositions by whether they made money. But the lasting measure is their legacy.

Here in Washington, we've staged two world's fairs in the past 35 years. Both have endowed their host cities with outstanding civic attractions.

In Seattle, the 74-acre Seattle Center has meant more to the city in the intervening years than Century 21, the world's fair, did in 1962.

In Spokane, the heritage of Expo 74, that city's world's fair in 1974, is the splendid 100-acre Riverfront Park. What were once dingy railroad yards in the heart of the city have become the showplace and recreation center for the metropolitan area.

Sprawling over two islands in the middle of the Spokane River, the park is a people place where paths wind through green meadows, weeping willows droop toward the water and downtown buildings cast reflections on its placid surface.

Among the attractions is the IMAX Theater, which shows 70mm movies on a screen five stories tall. Currently alternating are "Super Speedway," "The Magic of Flight" and the Academy Award-nominated "The Living Sea." The theater is open Saturday from 1 to 8 p.m., Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $5.25 for adults and teens, $4.50 for those 12 and under and 55 and over.

The ice skating rink, which shares space with the IMAX Theater in the former United States Pavilion, opens for seasonal business on Oct. 24. Current rates are not available, but last year's were $4.25 for adults and teens, $3.25 for those 55 and over and 12 and under, plus $1.75 for rental skates.

The Gondola Skyride swings across the face of raging Spokane Falls as it carries four passengers at a time to the other side of the river and back. The ride operates weekends through Oct. 23, weather permitting. Fare is $3.

Take the open-sided, red tour train on a circuit of the fairgrounds, with stops along the way. You'll learn some facts about Expo 74 and see the 157-foot Clock Tower, formerly part of the Great Northern Railroad Station and now the signature structure of the park. The train also operates on weekends through Oct. 23, weather permitting. Fare is $2.25 for all ages.

You don't have to be a kid to enjoy the Looff Carousel. Built just after the turn of the century, the merry-go-round ran for almost 60 years at Spokane's Natatorium Park, then moved to Riverfront Park in the mid-'70s.

You can ride one of the 54 horses, a giraffe, a tiger or in one of two Chinese dragon chairs. Music plays, bells clang and the horses, embedded with imported German cut-glass jewels, go up and down. Cost of a ride is $1.50, $1 for those 12 and under and 55 and over.

A real curiosity at the park is the huge Radio Flyer, an oversized replica of the traditional red wagon beloved by generations of youngsters. The larger-than-life version is a favorite of children, who climb to the top, go down the slide at one end and play on the gym bars beneath it.

Don't miss the marvelous metal sculpture at the southwest corner of the park. Entitled, "The Joy of Running Together," it's in honor of the city's annual Bloomsday run each May and consists of 39 full-size running figures and two people in wheelchairs competing in a race.

"Downtown Spokane -- clean, safe, beautiful," proclaim banners draped from street lamps. The city is also an architectural treasure.

Pick up a copy of the Spokane Tourmap and the Spokane Visitors Guide at the Spokane Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, 926 W. Sprague St., in the 1923 Chronicle Building, where you also can watch the city's daily newspapers coming off the presses. Back-to-back with the building on Riverside Avenue is the 1891 Spokesman-Review Building, a Romanesque Revival gem in red brick.

Among the other buildings of note in the downtown area is the 1914 Davenport Hotel at 807 W. Sprague St. It's the work of noted architect Kirtland Kelsey Cutter, who built many residences in the city and whose Seattle work includes the Rainier Club, the Stimson-Green House and the Seattle Golf and Country Club.

A few blocks west of downtown in historic Browne's Addition are two of Cutter's better-known homes. One, at 2208 W. Second Ave., is the Clark mansion, built in 1898 for Patrick F. Clark, who made his fortune from mining in Idaho. Today the building houses one of the city's finest restaurants, Patsy Clark's, with a menu that matches the opulence of the mansion.

The same year Cutter designed the Clark mansion, he also did the Campbell House at 2316 W. First Ave. The Tudor revival-style home is now part of the Cheney Cowles Museum and is open to the public.

Downtown, you can park in another notable building, the Parkade, built in 1967 at the corner of West Main Street and North Howard Street, a block from Riverfront Park. Skywalks connect the structure to 14 blocks of shopping and dining. The charge to park is $3.50 for all day, $1.50 on Sunday.

A block from the Parkade is Boo Radley's, a nifty shop at 232 N. Howard St. The name is a real attention-getter for fans of the book and movie classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The shop is filled with funny, sometimes outrageous and fascinating things -- movie posters, wild greeting cards and postcards, finger puppets, fake eyeballs, "Van Gogh's ear," Chewbacca and R2D2 statues, a 12-inch Princess Leia and an engagement calendar entitled "Hard-boiled -- great lines for every week from classic noir films."

Among the books are "A Malcontent's Book of Meditations for Every Interminable Day of the Year" and "Black Velvet -- the Art We Love to Hate."

Boo Radley's is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Just down the street at 214 N. Howard St. is Mizuna, a vegetarian restaurant with a diverse menu. Lunch specialties include a roasted vegetable sandwich, Thai noodle salad, burritos, portobello mushroom burger, falafel pita and Greek platter, from $3.95 to $8.50. Lunch is served Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m., brunch on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In strolling around downtown, we were impressed with the Plaza, home of the Spokane Transit Authority at 701 W. Riverside Ave. If you want to get around by bus, you'll find it's an attractive, user-friendly place where you can get information on arrivals and departures, view color-coded route maps, get exact change and pick up a free map of the entire Spokane Transit System. Transit fares are 75 cents for ages 6 and older, free for under 6.

You'll find a good variety of lodgings from which to choose in the downtown area. Among them are the DoubleTree Hotel (formerly the Red Lion and, before that, the Sheraton), at 322 N. Spokane Falls Court next to the river and Riverfront Park; the Rodeway Inn City Center, at 827 W. First Ave.; Cavanaugh's Fourth Avenue, at 110 E. Fourth Ave.; Cavanaugh's Inn at the Park, at 303 W. North River Drive, overlooking the fairgrounds; Courtyard by Marriott, at 401 N. Riverpoint Blvd., and Holiday Inn Express, at 801 N. Division St.

The Spokane Area Convention & Visitors Bureau can supply you with additional information on lodging, restaurants, sightseeing, entertainment, sports and recreation.