Not in Pullman, but Domini Sandwiches of Spokane is an 'institution' patronized by many Pullmanians

 Not in Pullman, but Domini Sandwiches of Spokane is an 'institution' patronized by many Pullmanians

 

Downtown institution Domini Sandwiches closing in December

By Thomas Clouse, Spokane S-R, Sept. 15, 2024

The most famous sliced meat of the Lilac City, and a side of free popcorn, will soon vacate downtown Spokane.

 

Domini’s Sandwiches, a family-legacy business that has served generations of customers, will officially close on Dec. 6, owner Tom “Tommy” Domini said.

 

“It’s going to be sad,” said Domini, 67, who has been looking to sell for some time. “I’m sure I will be crying and hugging everybody. I’ve been here for 50 years.”

 

Domini’s built an institution through customer service, a sandwich that will stretch any stomach and a menu that changed slower than glacial melting.

 

It’s anchored the spot at 703 W. Sprague Ave., on the first floor of the Washington Trust building, for more than 60 years.

 

But Domini has been looking for someone to buy his business for more than a year.

 

He said he couldn’t go into details about the potential buyer, who has his permission to carry the Domini name and its signature sandwiches.

 

The next owner, however, won’t be operating at the current location in the Washington Trust building.

 

“The bank decided they wanted to keep that space, so we couldn’t continue operating in this location,” Domini said.

 

Despite the uncertainty, Domini said he’s ready to leave the early mornings and long hours behind.

 

“It’s time. You’ve got to do something with the rest of your life,” Domini said. “I feel bad for my employees. They have been with me through thick and thin. I’m going to treat them well, too. It’s just a shame.”

 

A legacy meeting place

Domini’s dining room just before noon on Friday mostly had empty booths.

 

But the one in back was patronized by Mike and Mike, both retired Spokane bankers.

 

“My first job interview was with (AgWest) Farm Credit in 1979,” said Mike Palmer. “For lunch, they brought me here.”

 

Palmer has been meeting Mike Ekins once a week since then. For a long time, the Mikes joined a group of five who always took a corner booth.

 

“It’s that familiarity – it feels like home,” Ekins said.

 

One of the Domini’s employees knows the Fiat that Palmer drives, which she refers to as the “clown car.”

 

Just like most regular customers, their favorite sandwiches are already being prepared as they enter the restaurant.

 

“I brought a client here and they ordered a small. (The client) said, ‘Geez, that’s a big sandwich,’ ” Palmer said. “We started coming here when Al ran it. Then Joe (Domini) was here for a while, cousin Bobby (Bruce) and Tom. The room always smelled like fresh popcorn.”

 

Over the years, the “Mikes” have seen changes, not only to Domini’s, but the overall logistics of downtown.

 

“It used to be, you had to be here no later than 11:30 a.m. to get a place to sit,” Ekins said. “There used to be more people working downtown. But it’s good for us. We always get a seat. But in the old days? No way.”

 

He noted that Domini’s had a unique way of shaming customers who wrote a bad check. They simply taped the returned check to the post above the cash register with the name showing for all the other customers to see.

 

“You couldn’t hold your head up in Spokane,” Ekins said of those who bounced checks.

 

The “Mikes” were unaware until Friday of Domini’s pending closing on Dec. 6.

 

“It will be the second ‘Day of Infamy,’ when Domini’s closes” Ekins said, referring to the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack.

 

Gerrit Kischner, an educator from Seattle who was in Spokane to take a class at Washington State University Spokane, said he knew nothing of Domini’s lore. He just needed lunch on Friday and saw the place.

 

“I did not expect it to be that big,” Kischner said of his Reuben sandwich. “The bread is great.”

 

Kischner mostly eats a vegetarian diet.

 

“I did look for a salad on the menu. I didn’t see it. I didn’t ask any further,” he said.

 

Michelle Petretee was getting her regular – roast beef and cheddar on French bread with mayonnaise – and had a bag of sandwiches for others on Friday. It was her second visit to Domini’s this week.

 

“I’ve been coming here since I got my driver’s license when I was 16,” she said.

 

Petretree, a manager and a member of the family that owns Trudeau’s Marina, said the two businesses have been linked by history.

 

“We were founded in 1948. They’ve been here since we’ve been there,” Petretee said. “My parents ate here. My son eats here. My grandson eats here. You can’t get roast beef like this. It’s made fresh every day.”

 

Petretree said few places anywhere can see a customer and start the order.

 

“When they see me, they start making it,” she said of her sandwich.

 

‘Spokane’s loss’

The restaurant was founded in 1947 as the Stockholm Bar on Howard Street by Tom’s father, Al Domini, and uncle Fred Domini. That business competed with another set of Domini brothers, who ran the New Deal around the corner.

 

A fire in 1962 at the business next door ended Domini’s tavern. It reopened in 1963 as Domini Sandwiches at 703 W. Sprague Ave.

 

It moved for a couple years to the Davenport Hotel, which coincided with Expo ’74, but returned to West Sprague in 1975 after a major renovation to the Washington Trust building.

 

Brother Joe Domini left Spokane in 1970 and earned a psychology degree at the University of Washington before returning home in 1992 to help run the sandwich business. He retired in 2013 and moved to Phoenix.

 

Joe Domini said he was waiting to play tennis about six months ago in Phoenix when he overheard a woman in the group ahead of him talking about how she often visits Spokane and always goes to Domini’s.

 

“I’m standing around listening to this lady’s conversation. I said, ‘I’m part of the family.’ She was shocked,” Domini said. “She thought it was funnier than hell.”

 

He said it was a reminder of all the customers who have come through, including movie stars, former Seattle Supersonics player Jack Sikma and even the late Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who patronized Domini’s when he was in Spokane managing the Dodgers’ farm team in the early 1970s.

 

The restaurant would stay open for Hoopfest, Lilac Parades and even take orders for the University of Washington band. The biggest order topped 2,000 sandwiches, he said.

 

But Joe Domini said he’s happy for his little brother.

 

“Yeah, he needs a break,” Joe said of Tom. “I think he would have rather sold it and had someone keep it going. It’s Spokane’s loss, too.”

 

Passing the bun

Domini said the new owner has his blessing to carry the name and signature sandwiches that customers have embraced over the decades.

 

Before that can happen, however, the prospective owner needs to find a location.

 

“I don’t think it will be downtown,” Tom Domini said. “It’s just too hard to find a location that is safe enough, and it’s expensive.”

 

He’ll help the new owner get set up and work with them to learn the processes.

 

In the meantime, customers only have until Dec. 6 to order Domini’s signature sandwiches.

 

“Hopefully, people will come in to say, ‘Thank you.’ Some have been coming here for 40 or 50 years. It’s incredible,” Tom Domini said.

 

“I love my job. It’s been a great experience.”

 

 

Lewis-Clark Valley College at Linfield JV Football Sept. 8, 2024; Wildcats win, 36-0

Lewis-Clark Valley College at Linfield JV Football Sept. 8, 2024; Wildcats win, 36-0

“Loggers” of Lewis-Clark Valley College football played a game Sun. afternoon, Sept. 8, 2024, on Maxwell Field in McMinnville, Ore., on the Linfield University campus versus the Linfield “Wildcats” Junior Varsity team.

Note: All “Loggers” are full time students at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.

 

 

Pullman is ‘such a small town that everybody kind of bumps into each other’

 

Story provided more because of its description of Pullman and WSU than for the Pulllman High 2024 football preview

……………..

Pullman is ‘such a small town that everybody kind of bumps into each other’

Trib headlines: Pullman prepares for new season with new coach; Kevin Agnew, the Hounds’ baseball coach, takes football reins

By Sam Taylor, Lewiston Tribune Sports, Sept 5, 2024

Following six days of two-a-days, the Pullman Greyhounds drove up College Hill and watched the other Pullman-based football team play.

The Greyhounds were treated to a 70-30 Washington State Cougar win over Portland State.

They also got to tour the Cougar Football Complex, a place where some of the Hounds had been before.

“We walk through the coaches’ offices, and a young lady that I have in class is sitting there in her dad’s office,” Pullman coach Kevin Agnew said. “She knows all the kids, so it’s kind of funny. And then the other two boys ... they’re like, ‘Well, can we go sit in our dad’s office now?’”

That is the quirk of a high school in a town of about 34,000 where the majority of the population is connected to an R1 research institution with a Division-I college athletics program.

“It’s such a small town that everybody kind of bumps into each other,” Agnew said.

The Hounds appreciated the opportunity to see the Cougs after a tough week of preseason prep.

“They were blown away by the size of the players on the field when we got to be at pregame,” he said.

Agnew, who has also coached Pullman baseball for the past five years, enters his first season as the Greyhounds’ football coach. He served as the Hounds’ defensive coordinator for the past three seasons and as an assistant coach the year before that to former coach David Cofer.

The first-year football head coach graduated from WSU, where he met his wife. The two lived in Seattle before striking on an opportunity to move back to Pullman. Agnew’s wife, Kate, teaches physical education at Pullman High School and Agnew taught at Lincoln Middle School before starting a new job as Pullman’s career choices and leadership teacher.

His path to coaching follows his father’s, who also coached baseball and football at Woodinville High School in Washington. His father coached baseball for 28 years and coached football for 12 of those, Agnew said.

“This has always been a kind of a calling to me,” Agnew said. “I enjoy it, you know. I just love the competitiveness of it. I think the thing that drew me to football was just, you know, this is one of the last kind of areas in public schools where we can really take a young man and change his life for the better.”

Agnew replaces Cofer, who is now Colfax’s coach.

The Hounds had a couple of kids who got hurt over the summer or otherwise did not return. They have a core group of upperclassmen, such as Ryan Anderson, who played before, but mostly on the defensive side of the ball.

Leading the Hounds is sophomore quarterback Connor Stewart, who made a handful of starts at the end of last season. Stewart possesses a good arm, solid decision making and the ability to spread the ball out to different levels of the offense.

“(Stewart) wants to be a good player,” Agnew said. “He works at it. He’s a football guy first, and wants to be a good quarterback, and takes a lot of pride in that.”

Protecting Stewart and rushing opposing quarterbacks are a pair of linemen poised for success.

Sam Sears and Ahmad Alssalem return to Pullman with a chance at imposing their will as two of the biggest and strongest Hounds around.

“They’re kind of big boys on campus, and they kind of push guys around in practice and stuff and in our drills,” Agnew said. “So just that tone, that intensity, aggressiveness up front, I think, is what we’re looking for from those guys.”

Returning to the starting center role and playing some defensive line for the Hounds is Lucas Clark.

The Greyhounds compete in a tough Greater Spokane League, playing some of the finest teams in eastern Washington along with local rivals Moscow and Clarkston.

Moscow has outscored its first two opponents 97-0. Clarkston is the reigning 2A GSL regular season champion.

“Every week presents a challenge in year one, trying to create your own culture and build on the positives from the past,” Agnew said. “Pullman football has got a proud tradition. It’s been a good football program for a long time, and we’re trying to kind of just build off of that and leave our own legacy during the time that we’re here.”

In Year 1 of his tenure, Agnew wants his team to be accountable, consistently intense and relentless.

Off the gridiron, he wants the Greyhounds to have an indelible reputation.

“We want our community to say, ‘There’s a Pullman football player right there. I can trust that kid. I know he’s going to show up, he’s going to be on time, he’s going to work hard, he’s going to be honest, he’s going to be respectful,’” Agnew said. “I want people to look at that and just be proud of the work these kids are putting in and the effort that they’re putting in.”

3 things to watch

• Kevin Agnew is Pullman’s new coach. The Hounds’ baseball coach of five years takes on the role of head football coach after serving as the team’s defensive coordinator for three years. How will Pullman look in Year 1 of the Agnew era?
• Pullman returns two talented linemen — Sam Sears and Ahmad Alssalem who figure to anchor the Hounds’ offense and provide a boost to Pullman’s defensive efforts. How many winning moments will the pair create?
• Pullman’s quarterback, Connor Stewart, got a handful of starts under his belt at the end of last season. How good can the Hounds be with Stewart under center full-time?

PULLMAN

COACH — Kevin Agnew (First year)

LAST YEAR’S RECORD — 5-5 overall, 3-3 2A Greater Spokane League

RETURNING LETTERWINNERS — Brady Coulter, sr., RB/LB; Evan Anderson, sr., WR/FS; Connor Stewart, so., QB; Ahmad Alssalem, sr., DT; Lucas Clark, sr., C/DL; Sam Sears, sr., NG; Will Focht, sr.; Hunter Recknagle, jr., LB; Caleb Ratfliff, sr., DB.

SCHEDULE

9/5 — vs. Lakeside, 7 p.m.
9/13 — at Moscow, 7 p.m.
9/20 — vs. Deer Park, 7 p.m.
9/27 — at West Valley, 7 p.m.
10/4 — vs. East Valley 7 p.m.
10/11 — at Rogers 8 p.m.
10/17 — at North Central 5 p.m.
10/25 — vs. Clarkston 7 p.m.

Queen of 2006 National Lentil Festival in Pullman

Took these photos in August 2006 for National Lentil Festival publicity/promotion. They are of Lentil Queen Katy Lee. Some photo show her friend, Laura Fleener (Matthews). One includes Katy's mother, Kary Lamb Lee. 

(Notice the bowl of lentil chili!)

 

It's Paradise (Street) in Pullman, Washington (June 2023)

It's Paradise (Street) in
Pullman, Washington
(June 2023) 

https://youtu.be/MJZXjv4cpZw

 

 

Mike & Sue Hinz 5/31/2024 in Pullman

 Mike & Sue Hinz 5/31/2024 in Pullman 

(Mattis was born in Pullman) Former Defense Secretary James Mattis accepts WSU’s inaugural Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service

(Mattis was born in Pullman) 

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis accepts WSU’s inaugural Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service

By Amanda Sullender, Spokane S-R 4/9/2024

In accepting the first Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service, former Secretary of Defense and retired general James Mattis on Tuesday called on those in the audience to reject political division and cynicism for this country.

“I trust some of you young folks in the audience will leave tonight refusing to adopt the childish practices you see too often on our television screens. Rather, resolving to embrace the courage, the conviction, the civility and the dignity of Tom Foley,” Mattis said during the award presentation by Washington State University’s Foley Institute . The award was given at the John J. Hemmingson Center on the Gonzaga University campus.

Before retiring in 2013, Mattis served over 40 years in the United States military, including as a general at the highest levels in the U.S. Marine Corps. Mattis was called back into service as Secretary of Defense under former President Donald Trump. He later resigned and broke from Trump in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

Mattis is also a native son of Washington, having been born in Pullman and graduated from Central Washington University. In accepting the award, Mattis said he hoped he was a good steward for the legacy of Tom Foley, whom he called “one of the finest citizens our state ever produced.”

The only Speaker of the House from Washington state, the late Congressman served 30 years. A member of the Democratic Party, Foley was Speaker from 1989 to 1995.

Mattis called Foley the “quintessential American patriot,” who put his country before his party and his personal interest. He specifically cited Foley’s roll in shepherding the Americans with Disabilities Act through Congress in the 1990s.

“You see this same theme in him looking at people who are left behind on the margins of our society and bringing them inside and giving them a level playing field,” he said.

In Mattis’ view, Foley was also an example of a public servant who actively seeks to work with those opposed to him. Calling such bipartisanship a “lost art” in today’s politics, Mattis hopes he is a representative of that same ethos.

“Tom Foley had a worldview that just one generation ago dominated America. It is amazing and can even be a bit discouraging, though, to see how much our political climate has degraded in the past year,” he said.

In introducing the general, inventor and entrepreneur Ed Schweitzer of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories said Mattis had “earned a reputation for technical brilliance and humility.”

“It’s fitting and proper that General Mattis, a man who has dedicated his life to public service into protecting and defending the values of democracy and our Constitution, should be the first recipient,” Schweitzer said.

More than his military career, Schweitzer pointed to when Mattis spoke out against President Trump amid civil unrest seen in 2020. At the time, Mattis called Trump “the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people.”

“There was a time when our country felt divided, angry, hopeless. Many of our political leaders use their platforms to inflame tensions. Others remained silent and said nothing at all. General Mattis spoke out in support of national unity and civil liberties,” Schweitzer said at the ceremony.

Mattis only referred to his former boss indirectly. Praising the late 5th district Congressman, Mattis said Foley did not “whine like a baby” and contest the result when losing his seat in 1994 by a mere 4,000 votes – an oblique reference to Trump’s debunked election fraud claims.

At the center of Mattis’ message was for Americans to reject disunity.

“At home, we see Americans engaging in contempt for each other and seemingly unaware of the delight they create in Bejing and Moscow – hoping Americans will turn cynical and lose their selfless spirit,” he said.

It was a message WSU senior and Foley Institute intern Nicholas Wong called “inspiring” for someone who wants a career in public service.

“Mattis very much spoke to the idea of just being human and how it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, we all want largely the same stuff,” he said. “It felt like he was semi-directly talking to me. It means a lot to hear from a person of his position to not be cynical when it comes to our country.”

Speaking at news conference before the event, Mattis also declined to provide his opinion on the possibility his former boss may win the presidency again this fall. Asked what a Trump victory would mean for the country, Mattis said that retired generals should also “retire their tongues” when it comes to politics.

Mattis on VA crisis

During his tenure as Secretary of Defense in 2017, Mattis was involved in the decision to have the VA adopt the same electronic health system as the Department of Defense. Transition to this first system was first implemented in 2020 at Spokane’s Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center. Since then, The Spokesman-Review has reported on flaws in the new electronic health system causing multiple patient deaths and harm to veterans receiving care.

Mattis admitted he was not aware of these issues, but defended the decision to create a single electronic health system between active-duty veterans and those receiving healthcare from the VA.

“The idea was if someone left the military after four years or 24 years or 44 years, they didn’t have to start over. Their name, their social security, their rank. In other words, we simply keep the system that keeps the military going and pick that up and take it forward into the VA system – building on what was already a body of medical knowledge of that individual,” he said at the news conference.

While admitting difficulties occur when a new system is implemented, Mattis also defended current Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough as the right man to fix any problems that may exist.

“If anyone can straighten this out, that’s the Secretary of the VA. He’s very experienced. He knows what he is doing. He will not be deflected by hard problems, he will overcome them,” he said.

PHOTO April 9, 2024 Updated Tue., April 9, 2024 at 10:37 p.m. PHOTO: Heather Foley, widow  of the late former U.S. Speaker of the House Thomas S. Foley, bestows the inaugural Thomas S. Foley Award for Distinguished Public Service to former United States Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis during a ceremony at Gonzaga University on Tuesday. The award was sponsored by the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)