Esthetic cadences
In most fields of endeavor you can find a cadence. A conversation-stopper in the best sense of the term. There may be more than one cadence if the field has a number of subdisciplines and historical epochs, but you know when you hit THE ONE.

In haute architecture, you can jibber and jabber about the Pantheon and Christopher Wren and Neutra and Corbusier and Fallingwater


In music, Schuetz and Pergolesi have fine points, and Dvorak and Britten can be wonderfully refreshing on a summer's night, and Handel and Rossini knew how to get a piece started in rollicking fashion, and Bach


Among advertising jingles, 'Winston tastes good' had a catchy tune, and 'You deserve a break' was pleasant, and Tiedtke's


In car design, the Baker Electric was elegant and the Cord was dramatic and the Caddy Sixty Special was original and the '53 Stude


You get the point. Cadence. Subject that needs no predicate. Might have been plenty of fine work before and after the cadence, but when you slap it on the table, game's over. And when the composer of the cadence decides to do something new, you genuflect and salute and let it happen.

Downtown Spokane has exactly one cadence, which happened twice. The Davenport


When the Davenport Hotel was built in 1904, it was the cadence of hotels. Gem-like perfection in every detail of architecture and perfection in every detail of service. They washed and ironed your clothes every night and washed and ironed your folding money every night. In 1938 the Duncan Hines guide rated all the restaurants in Spokane as follows: "The world famous Davenport seems to have corralled just about all those looking for good food in Spokane. With its several dining rooms, catering to all tastes and purses, it covers the eating question here."

After WW2 it faded and went through the typical stages of decay, finally closing entirely in 1970. Several half-baked attempts at remodeling came and went. In 2000, Walt Worthy (who had been an unremarkable commercial realtor) spent two years bringing back the full glory of the original, and since then the Davenport has been the focal point of downtown and the pinnacle of hotels. Cadence on first movement, cadence on third movement.

This year Walt Worthy decided to build a brand-new hotel on the river. Nobody questioned his proposal, and it slid through the planning and zoning stages with no hesitation. Steve Eugster didn't even sue to stop it! No need for that. Davenport


  ¶ 5:21 PM