Spokane Night Scenes, photography on the Spokane Club

Spokane Night Scenes, photography on the Spokane Club

This year, I made contact with the management team at the Spokane Club, Monroe and Riverside Ave. As with other NTHP photo shoots, I wanted to get above street level, and to try and mitigate the deciduous growth that interfered with many views of buildings downtown. I was able to make the connection, and I visited the Spokane Club rooftop, for both daylight shots, and then I made a return visit to a similar approach after dark.

The Spokane Club has a unique perspective on a variety of locations that had been listed by NTHP as historic targets. Some of those targets were buildings, and some were streetscapes. From the Spokane Club, both were evident, and were within one block or two, as well as allowing complete viewing of some street areas. Spokane City Hall, Riverpark Square Mall, and several other targets were captured during these visits.

The streetscape at Riverside west of Monroe was a listed target, as was the Cathedral of our Lady of Lourdes. The Cowles building and views of the Monroe Street Bridge were also sought. On the daylight visit (with three other NTHP photogs) it was a warm day, and very pleasant. Some months later when I made a return visit to the Spokane Club, it was completely different. The mist from the Spokane River Falls rose into the air, to be deposited onto the membrane atop the Spokane Club. In some places it froze so that we were literally skating around the roof.

On the Spokane Club roof, there are actually two buildings. The south building on Main Street was the most frozen during the night visit, so we swapped rooftops and went over to the south rooftop on Riverside Avenue. There seemed to be no ice at all here, and the views were spectacular. My contact at the Spokane Club for both of my NTHP visits was Stuart Dimmel, and he was extremely helpful in getting four of us photogs up onto both north and south rooftops, during the daylight visit earlier this year as well as the night visit more recently.

The daylight visit was treated by a visit from security people at the United States Courthouse, as they wanted to know what the photographers were doing on top of the Spokane Club. During our night shoot at the Spokane Club, there was no such visit that I was made aware of.

A few of my favorite shots are listed by the visits I made to the Spokane Club rooftop.

Daylight:

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp17.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp28.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp11.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp21.htm

Night visit:

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amc21024.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/cathbw.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/cowlesriversidemonroe.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/csbnd.htm

Maybe it was just one night in the visits I made to downtown rooftops, but this location got pretty cold for each of us when we visited the Spokane Club. It never bothered the cameras though, and getting two photo ops at the Spokane Club was a terrific opportunity. Stuart Dimmel was a great help each time we went to this location, and I hope we captured enough images to showcase the NTHP targets in both daylight and after dark.

John D. Moore, CPP

Spokane Night Scenes

photos@spokanenightscenes.com

(O) 509 327 5627