I spent most of the week in Spokane, Washington. We did a #mobilecomcamp clock hour class at the River Park Square downtown on Thursday, February 18th.
I have a special place in my heart for this old town in Eastern Washington. My Mom grew up here, the Larson side of our family. My Grandpa Harvey and Grandma Edna arrived here over 100 years ago (1901 and 1898 respectively) and I have several fond memories of taking the train from Seattle to visit them as a kid. I also recall many times growing up that Mom would always refer affectionately to her hometown as Spokaloo.
Spokane is so blessed, in my opinion, to have so many wonderfully restored and repurposed lovely old buildings from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s... One of my favorites is the historic Davenport Hotel built in 1914 by Louis Davenport. It was the first hotel in the United States to have air conditioning, a central vacuum system, and a pipe organ. It’s also the birthplace of the Crab Louis salad.
The original Davenport Hotel, built circa 1914 was named after its developer, Louis Davenport.
Known as the capital of the Inland Empire, Eastern Washington’s economy was and still is agriculturally based. Yet now I discover many technology startups and people gravitating here from big urban centers because of it’s smaller town atmosphere, yet large enough to have a very dynamic arts scene.
River Park Square in downtown Spokane.
It’s a college town too with private colleges like Gonzaga and Whitworth, and public colleges like Washington State and Eastern Washington Universities at the Riverpoint Campus. Also Spokane Community College, Spokane Falls Community College and others like the Institute for Extended learning, the Spokane Art School, and the Washington School of World Studies...
This is impressive to me as a statistical area of about 200,000 residents. The main Eastern Washington State University campus is just a few miles away in Cheney and the WSU main campus is about an hour and half drive south in Pullman, Washington.
The first settler claims were made here in 1871. My Grandpa Harvey Larson came here because the love of his life, Edna, had moved here from Michigan with her family in 1898. They were engaged to be married, but family word has it she was being courted by a local from church and that was the tipping point for him, he came out west and left his job as a young barber in Chicago in 1901.
It’s fun to have this history and connection weaving a tapestry through my thoughts while I’m teaching a class using contemporary mobile communication technology and talking about the 'now and future' of real estate marketing. It was also wonderful to spend some time in Spokane with my First American colleagues and to meet such a fabulous group of local and talented real estate professionals.
The median age in this class was a little younger than many classes I've had this past year. About half are new to the industry and have only been in real estate a few single digit years. They were quick on the uptake, engaging, and a lot of fun. We all learned a lot, especially me! And, we got to meet and chat with several local businesses along the way. I’m hoping to come back soon.
Leaving the new Anthropologie store and on our way back to the Nordstrom's Espresso stand for class closure I'm enjoying the smiles. Most of us, those who can, will be headed afterwards to the Rock City Grill for lunch. If there’s any class I teach that’s like (fast forward) time travel, it’s this one. Akin to speed dating on a scavenger hunt, it’s always exciting to make so many new friends in just 3 hours. To me, this is what education is supposed to be about, connecting human beings in a learning environment.
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