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Lake City Denny's closes

After 30 years in business, the Denny's restaurant at 11745 Lake City Way NE closed its doors on March 7.

Karen Randall, a Denny's spokesperson, said that the combination of declining profits at the restaurant and the fact that the lease was up led to the company's decision to shut the Lake City location.

The Lake City Denny's had about 30 employees, all of whom, Randall says, were offered transfers to other restuarants, including the Denny's in Ballard.

Elva Finch, the former manager of the Lake City Denny's, says some of the restuarants employees are neighborhood residents and all were sorry to leave. "All the staff really loves Lake City," Finch said.

Harris to receive award

Dick Harris, owner of Alley Chevrolet in Lake City, has been named a recipient of a 2001 Notable award from a national organization called Neighborhoods USA for his contributions to the community. He has been invited to attend the 26th annual Neighborhoods USA Conference in Pittsburgh to receive his award.

"Dick Harris ... has provided quiet and persuasive leadership over the past decade on a wide range of Lake City and Thornton Creek watershed issues, writes Yolanda Martinez, coordinator of the Lake City Neighborhood Service Center (also known as the Little City Hall), who nominated Harris for the Notable award. "Dick understands those 'neighborhood' issues, 'watershed' issues 'business' issues and 'residents' issues are fundamentally all the same issues."

Harris's community activities have included helping to form the Lake City Task Force, a local crime watchdog group, serving two consecutive years as president of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce and active participation in citizens efforts to create an urban village plan for the Lake City area.

Honey Bear Bakery closes

For those who missed it, the Honey Bear Bakery located at 2106 N 55th in the Meridian neighborhood, just south of Green lake, closed its doors in late January.

Owner Ron Sher said that business conditions had changed and that the store was no longer profitable. "'Our lease was over, it seemed the appropriate thing to do," Sher said. He then added, "It's sad that we closed."

The Honey Bear, which opened in 1986, quickly became a popular gathering place in the Meridian neighborhood, thanks to its array of fresh-baked goods made with all-natural ingredients, and laid-back, rustic ambience. The bakery also featured live acoustic music on weekend evenings for many years.

The bakery's original owners, Karl Gaskill and Risa Warner, sold the bakery a couple of years ago to Sher, who heads a company called Terranomics which also owns Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue, Lake Forest Park Towne Centre shopping mall in Lake Forest Park, Third Place Books, which is also located at Lake Forest Park Towne Centre, and Elliott Bay Bookstore in Pioneer Square.

Sher opened a second Honey Bear outlet at Lake Forest Park Towne Centre, shortly after his purchase of the original Honey Bear Bakery. The Lake Forest Park Honey Bear will remain open.

Ballard store loses half lease

Don Willis Furniture store in Ballard recently gave up half of its lease. The store is located at 1712 NW Market Street and has been there for three years.

The 7,500-square-foot store actually occupied two buildings that were joined together via a hole that was cut 25 years ago. The owner of one of the two buildings recently sold it and the new owner has raised the rent for the 2,500 square foot portion that Don Willis was occupying. So at the end of April, Don Willis will reduce the size of its Ballard store to the remaining 5,000 square feet it occupies in the other building.

To make way for the smaller space, Don Willis is holding an inventory reduction sale.

Don Willis also has a store in Lake City. They will begin construction on a new building in the summer.

Former LC beautician passes

Cathy J. (Wood) Parr, 38, passed away on March 14 in Tacoma. She had been suffering from declining health due to kidney failure for some time.

Having grown up in Lake Forest Park, Cathy attended Shorecrest High School where she excelled in gymnastics and softball. She graduated from high school in 1980 and went on to attend Renan's Beauty School in Lake City, which was located where the Walgreen's Drug Store now stands at 145th and Lake City Way NE.

She then went on to work as a beautician in the Lake City area for more than 15 years, initially with her older brother Jeff Wood, who owned a business called J.W.'s Hair Salon. When he moved to Monroe, she took over the shop and renamed it The Comfort Zone, which she ran for approximately five years which was located along Lake City Way, just north of NE 125th, in a retail space that later became the European Bakery and is now the site of the soon-to-be-completed Rekhi Building.

A memorial service for Cathy was held on March 25 at the Seattle Mennonite Church in Lake City. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Northwest Kidney Foundation at P.O. Box 3035, Seattle, WA 98114. (