By STAN STAPP

Bothell Way, in the olden days, was noted for the number of roadhouses and nightclubs spread along its route. They offered the three Ds of entertainment: Dining, Dancing and Drinking - plus, in some cases, gambling and prostitution. Some were known as steak or chicken houses, others as just plain restaurants. There were two reasons for their location on the outskirts of the city: The introduction of the automobile, which extended the ability of city-dwellers to widen their horizon; and the county's more relaxed attitude towards vice than that of the city's.

At that time, Bothell Way extended from Northeast 75th to the town of Bothell, well beyond what was then Seattle's northeast city limits at Northeast 65th. In Greenwood, the Seattle city limits were at North 85th. In 1954, both were extended to city's current boundary of 145th.

Nowadays, part of the old Bothell Way has been renamed Lake City Way NE, running from Northeast 75th to Northeast 145th. Bothell Way has kept its original name the rest of the route through Kenmore to Bothell. It used to be Bothell Way all the way. In addition, at times, it was also known as the Pacific or Victory Highway.

As a kid, I recall witnessing adults playing slot machines in a Greenwood area establishment, legally, because it was on the NORTH side of North 85th. The SOUTH side would have been illegal. When prohibition ended in 1933, and the liquor laws slowly became more tolerant, the necessity of locating drinking establishments outside the city was no longer an important factor.

Hal Hollstrom, a Lincoln High '36 classmate of mine, recalls how the old Bothell Highway was a "red brick road," the main route to Everett if you veered left and to Bothell if you veered right. This was before the Aurora Bridge was completed in 1932, and Aurora Avenue became U.S. 99, the main route to Everett and beyond.

THE MOST PROMINENT restaurant/nightclub along Bothell Way was, perhaps, the Coon Chicken Inn/Club Cotton, at 8500 Bothell Way. It opened in 1929, and closed in the late '50s. My family ate there a couple of times when I was a little kid. I was much intrigued by the waiters - all of whom were black males - for I'd had no black acquaintances at the time. The North End, in those days, was virtually an all-white suburban ghetto.

Hal, who has an original menu from the Coon Chicken Inn, made a copy for me, the inside of which is printed here. The top dinner item featured a double portion of "Coon Chicken" or "Coon Fried Steak," fruit or shrimp cocktail, chicken consomme, lettuce and tomato or fruit salad, French fries, vegetable, hot rolls, cranberry sherbet, olive and pickle, choice of chocolate nut fudge cake, ice cream, or sherbet, and coffee, tea or milk. All for $1.25. A smaller version was offered at lunchtime for 60 cents.

In about 1942, when I was about 24, several friends and I decided to stop by the Club Cotton one evening. We were all associated with the Hollywood Dance Studios on University Way, several as teachers, and I as a student and boyfriend of one of the teachers, Josephine Klingler.

To our surprise, however, no one else was at the Club Cotton, and there was no band. Just a jukebox. The glamour and crowds of the past were history. We danced several dances, then left.

Coon Chicken Inn was founded by Maxon Lester Graham and his wife, Adelaide. They also owned two other Coon Chicken Inns, one in Salt Lake City, the other in Portland. The Seattle and Salt Lake City restaurants had cabarets and orchestras. Shortly after starting the Lake City operation they moved here, making their home in northeast Seattle.

While prowling the Internet recently, I came across some information about the Coon Chicken Inn, written by a grandson of the founders. Included was a replica of the menu cover, featuring a colorful head logo of a black waiter with a big grin displaying the lettering: COON CHICKEN INN on his teeth. "The head logo also appeared at the entrance of each inn," said the grandson, "and on every dish, silverware item and paper product. The artifacts are very popular in the Black Memorabilia market."

In accompanying copy, the grandson (who did not give his name) added: "I do not condone the 'Jim Crow' attitudes of those days. I and ALL of my siblings believe in full equality for all races, creeds and skin colors. The legacy that was left by my grandparents was one that seemed to be a normal business practice that has since seen its day and I for one am grateful for it."

Today, the original Lake City building is long gone, replaced by Ying's Drive-In, which features a large Chinese menu and a few American items (prawns, hamburgers, and chips) to dine in or to go out. When I stopped by the other day, owner George Ying was not in, but Patty Wang told me: "Customers will tell you Ying's has been here forever!" On second thought, she added: "Well, maybe for 35 years."

ACROSS THE STREET from the Coon Chicken Inn was another restaurant and nightclub, the China Castle, at 8721 Bothell Way, which was built in 1929. In 1935 it changed owners and renamed the Jolly Roger.

Originally, the Jolly Roger was a speakeasy and den of prostitution. The basement was filled with cubicle rooms for the prostitutes and their customers, and there was a lookout tower which, according to legend, "was to watch for the authorities." If they showed up, there was reportedly also "a secret escape tunnel under the highway" to the Coon Chicken Inn.

I've talked to many people who said they "knew about the tunnel," including Jim Doi, who in the '30s operated a vegetable market just north of the Coon Chicken Inn. He believed there MIGHT have been a tunnel there, but - like the others - had never actually been in it. And there was a former Jolly Roger busboy and waiter, Bill Dudley, who shortly after the fire, said: "I can testify there was no tunnel." And Violet Wikstrom, who said there was: "I know because I was there." Take your pick.

I recall a late evening of dancing at the Jolly Roger in about 1938 with another young couple. "Strangers in the night" we were, having met only minutes before at a dance in the Women's Gym on the UW campus. I'd been a regular at these Friday night dances, a high school grad who could afford the price of admission - just 25 cents. Probably half the dancers, like me, were also grads who couldn't afford college; the rest were UW students who could.

Actually, the two girls sort of "kidnapped us" at midnight, just after the band had finished playing the standard quitting number, "Goodnight, Sweetheart." They more or less "made us" take them to the Jolly Roger, which by now was more of a coffee shop/restaurant with a jukebox. We had a great time anyway, foxtrotting and jitterbugging with the big bands on 78 rpm records until 3 a.m.

How lucky can you get?

About 50 years later, 1989 to be exact, the Jolly Roger (by then known as the Hunan Wok Restaurant) went down in flames, believed to have been set. I heard the alarm on my radio scanner and as soon as I could stopped by to witness the destruction of this historical landmark, the last intact roadhouse in Seattle.

NORTH OF THE Coon Chicken Inn and Jolly Roger, at 14540 Bothell Way, was the Plantation restaurant and nightclub, which probably opened in the '20s and folded about 1948. Hal Hollstrom's brother-in-law, Shorty Clough, had a band there at one time. Shorty was a professional drummer and vocalist, and accomplished on the marimba and vibraphone.

The Plantation later became The Manor (also known as the Theatre Club), and for several years offered family-styled dinners and dancing. Several other places later located there, including a Union 76 gas station (which I patronized), and still later (next door) the Elks Club, where my Lincoln High Class of '36 currently holds semi-annual luncheons.

I remember, as a little kid, the first time we drove by the Plantation (at least I think it was the Plantation). I was so impressed with the large white building that I inquired of my folks: "Is this the White House where The President lives?"

THERE WERE, of course, many more dining and drinking places along Bothell Way, such as the Green Mill, at 15316 Bothell Way, which featured a Dutch windmill, and was open during the '40s and '50s, and maybe a little longer.

And then there was the Christie Coffee Pot, Eastwood Doc, Garden Inn, Jim's Cafe & Tavern, Jim's Chili Parlor, Joe's Cafe, Red Wing Barbecue, Coffee Cup, Coffee Pot, Cornwell's Cafe, Cove Restaurant, Hasty Tasty, Lake City Grill, Meves Cafe, Sally's Cafe, Thom-Wal's Cafe, Town Hall Fish & Chips, Village Cafe, and more.

And, if you liked "Fine Italian Food," there was The Leaning Tower of Pizza, at 7521 Bothell Way - which didn't last very long. Could it maybe have leaned a little too far?

Stan Stapp is the retired publisher of the old Outlook, a family-owned community newspaper that covered North Seattle for several decades until its sale in the mid-'70s. He and his wife Dorothy now reside in the Wedgwood neighborhood.