Arny's

[ZagNative]

Gamagin, Wow! That right there is a masterpiece. Shouldn't this thread go in the Blue & White? And shouldn't GUBoards and/or the Gonzaga community hire a keeper for Gamagin so he doesn't step off a curb in front of a beer truck someday and take all that great St. Al's/Gonzaga neighborhood history with him?

Thanks so much for a superb offering, Gamagin, and to all of the rest of the posters on this thread who gave so much of the flavor of the place to the rest of us.

[Zagineer]

a sad day

How sad to hear Stomboli's.... errr.....Arny's is closing.

Back in my day ('67-'71), it went by the name of Stromboli's. But the bond is stronger than just my GU years. I went to school with Mike Aquino's niece as a classmate in grade school at St. Pascal and in high school at West Valley in the Spokane Valley. (Louise. At least my old memory recalls her as Mike's niece and not his daughter, but I could be mistaken at my age.)

During high school, the Burger Royale was the place to go for great burgers and fried chicken.

So many GU memories of going to Stromboli's at 11:00 pm on a school night after 4 hours in the Crosby Library (yeah, yeah yeah. I needed to. I was in the School of Engineering). Nothing like ordering a Double Whammy to go, taking it back to Dooley to team up with a couple cold brews from the dorm room frig (which was an old Coke vending machine my roommate and I picked up in salvage).

Joey's is now Jack & Dan's. The Bubble Inn is gone. You can't get a Polish Sausage with hot mustard at the Bulldog anymore. Arny's (Stromboli's) is no more. What is the world coming to?

At least there is one constant. Zag BBall lives on from the Big Sky into the WCC!

[MedZag]

We used to go once a week for a late breakfast. Ultimate hangover killer.

I still remember the time with a couple of buddies of mine when at 3am after an especially excessive night of drinking we decided we wanted to go to Arny's. We waited the 3 hours, helping each other fight to urge to pass out, and showed up at 6am for breakfast. Jo gave us so much crap for it, but it was totally worth it.

Anyone know whats going to happen with the diner/property?

[Birddog]

Back in my day ('67-'71), it went by the name of Stromboli's.

You're right in a sense, it was only students at GU that called the place Stroms (the more frequently used name in my memory). This came about because somebody started the story that the owners were named Stromboli when in fact it was still owned by Ray and Dora Martire. See Gamagins ownership timeline. As a Freshman I got in a heated argument with a Sophomore about this and despite my explaining that I grew up a long city block from the store and practically kitty corner from the Martires the sophomore didn't believe me. I think that this "urban legend" of sorts may have come about because another popular spot, Domini's Tavern downtown served sandwiches which were quite popular. At least once a week someone would make a "Dom's run" from our dorm for some sandwiches. If I remember correctly, you had to charge 9 people a buck and that would get the person making the run theirs for free. The owners of Domini's were indeed named Domini. Many other establishments copied the Domini's type of sandwich. Joey's was not one of them. Instead IIRC, they had an intercom to Strom's, (The Freeze etc) across the street. They'd make your order for a "Dubbla Wham" and then Ray would call back when the order was ready. You just slipped off your stool for a moment and walked across the street and back hardly missing a beat.

Birddog

[Dogtownkid]

When I returned to Spokane after many years in foreign parts (California, for one), I could hardly wait to go to Arny's for a Stromboli. What a disappointment! It wasn't the same. The tang was missing from the sauce, and the "French bread" --or whatever that stuff was--didn't taste the same. It wasn't as chewy.

I guess Thomas Wolfe was right when he said that you can't go home again.

[UberZagFan]

What a bummer! 229Sinto will be very disappointed. An Arny's breakfast the following morning after a late night at Jack & Dan's was a must.

And Uber agrees this thread should be in Mae's Blue & White Cafe forum.

[GoBulldogs]

The sign on Arny's says it will open in Spring when she gets back from vacation....hope this is true.

[gamagin]

Here's the Arny's deal so far

From my source, a good one.

The lady who owns Arny's, the business (name, recipes, rest. equipment and lease) but not the property, has closed the doors.

The restaurant is for sale, the property (building and land) is not.

Should you or I buy it (it started out for sale at $150k many months ago but got no takers, so presumably it would be much less), one of us could reopen as Arny's, or change it like it was changed from the Dairy Freeze to Arny's.

So the fate of this building as Arny's will be completely up to whoever steps up and buys the business.

That's as far as this deal has gone to date. It's wide open.

[TheBeast]

From my source, a good one.

The lady who owns Arny's, the business (name, recipes, rest. equipment and lease) but not the property, has closed the doors.

The restaurant is for sale, the property (building and land) is not.

Should you or I buy it (it started out for sale at $150k many months ago but got no takers, so presumably it would be much less), one of us could reopen as Arny's, or change it like it was changed from the Dairy Freeze to Arny's.

So the fate of this building as Arny's will be completely up to whoever steps up and buys the business.

That's as far as this deal has gone to date. It's wide open.

I will move to Spokane and operate it. I am dead serious if anyone wants to invest. I'm pretty cheap, too.

[Zag 77]

GU owns the property/ Nostalgia from Ray

Ray Martire,80, who ran the Dairy Freeze, says GU owns the land and building. He suspects in the long run they probably will raze the place since the other GU properties on that corner are already short on parking. GU would never let him expand, so one night a drunk crashed his car into the back wall, and he added on a couple of feet when they fixed the wall.

He says he enjoyed great years running the Freeze and entertained a couple of generations of GU and G-Prep kids with his stories. He says it was actually a stage for him and selling the food was a sidelight.

One of his favorite stoies comes from the days when Catholics could not eat meat on any Friday, which was bad for his Friday night business. He just would set his clock 30 minutes fast to get the kids in for a midnight burger to break their fast.

He also tells some great stories where he would break up fights by the Prep kids in the lot by inviting them them in for a free burger and Coke.

[gamagin]

Ray, a good friend, is wrong about who owns

the land and building.

As stated above, John Stockton owns it, along with the buildings that now house the Pita Pit, Starbucks & the bagel shop, and David's Pizza.

[gamagin]

Arny's update

The lady who owned the business and the lease on Arny's has walked away. this means its for lease, as is.

The advantage is a qualified person couldl potentially get in there for a lot less than it would take to buy an existing, running business, then lease the building.

The disadvantages might be the lady left with or sold off much of the equipment etc., perhaps the recipes, like for the stromboli & double whammy (or rights to the names, if that is the case) with her.

I don't know the answers, or just how much it would take to ramp the business back up.

I did ask an excellent source if there were any plans to scrape the site for parking. The answer was no, there are no such plans at this time.

The hope is for a new operator to take over Arny's, or remodel it and do whatever that person might have in mind at that location to make a go of it.

The property is managed by Greg Byrd of Byrd Real Estate Group, spokane.

[gamagin]

Arny's will reopen as Wollfy's

I saw the sign this week. Construction workers are busy remodeling the exterior and I would presume, the inside as well. the arny's signs are gone.

Wolffy's was a 3-4 store chain that I thought had disappeared from the spokane scene a few years ago.

I am not sure if there is another outlet besides this one, but there used to be Wolffy's outlets near Francis and Wall on the North side (in front of the Safeway store), and across the street from the Longhorn on Argonne in the valley (inside an old A & W rootbeer restaurant).

However, Wollfy's no longer exists at either site, so I don't know if this is a "new" Wolffy's w/new owners or what. But I will find out of one of you doesn't beat me to it.

However, Wolffy's is/was essentially a hamburger joint. Don't know if they plan to serve breakfast like Arny's did.

Stay tuned.

[TheBeast]

Well, there goes my grand plan.

[jhoop]

You're both sorta right

Ray, a good friend, is wrong about who owns the land and building.

As stated above, John Stockton owns it, along with the buildings that now house the Pita Pit, Starbucks & the bagel shop, and David's Pizza.

When Ray owned the business the real estate was owned by the Jesuits through their real estate arm known as Pioneer Education. Because it was the Jesuits, the common belief was that Gonzaga University owned the property. As a practical matter I believe the major decisions concerning the property had major input from the GU administration. The Jebbies also owned everything south to Boone as well as Jack & Dan's across Hamilton and everything south to and including the Vietnamese restaurant (it's not Thai). John Stockton subsequently bought all of the aformentioned real estate toward the end of his pro career.