HUCKLEBERRIES: Still French cleaning after all these years

A thriving business that would last 60 years — and counting — officially began with a simple headline on the business page of the Coeur d’Alene Press: “Couple buys cleaning firm.”

It could have read: “Couple with eight children to feed, clothe and house buys struggling cleaners.”

Paul and Inez Sand faced a challenge June 29, 1963, when the Press announced their purchase of French Cleaners, then at 730 Fourth St., from Colorado businessman Rich Henry.

“It wasn’t a strong, going concern when they bought the place,” said Ken Sand, of Coeur d’Alene, who was 10 at the time and the fourth of what would become 10 Sand children.

But Paul Sand, a former Marine, had traits that saw him through the lean years: experience, commitment to quality, and a good reputation. He had worked in the cleaning business for the previous 15 years including stints with Bachelor Cleaners and Ammon Cleaners here.

Paul’s French Cleaners was a family business from the start.

“All of us worked there,” Ken said. “We started out working for free. And then we all got a wage as the business improved. Later, Dad hired two workers outside the family.”

In the early days, the Sands might handle 10 pairs of pants and a dress in a day, Ken said. A few years later, they managed more than 300 pairs of pants a day.

“Dad was concerned about quality in everything,” Ken said. “He drilled that into us.”

The family lived at 924 Coeur d’Alene Ave. and attended nearby St. Thomas Catholic Church, where Paul Sand was youth activity chairman for the Knights of Columbus.

“We filled two rows,” Ken said.

The family cleaners, which now is located at Third and Locust, paid the bills for the elder Sands and their 10 kids (in order): Don, Skip, Cathy, Ken, PJ, Mike, Tim, Nick, Barbara and Andy. Sadly, five of the 10 have died, including P.J. and Andy last year.

Nick, the seventh sibling, operates French Cleaners today.

“It’s a tough business to run now,” Ken said. “No one wears suits anymore. Nick does an amazing job running the cleaners despite the challenges.”

Nick shrugs when asked about the name of the business, inherited from the previous owner. “It was just a name to Dad.” Perhaps, he said, the name has something to do with France’s connection to modern dry cleaning. In 1825, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Jolly accidentally discovered how to dry clean.

French Cleaners in a city with a French-sounding name? Seems apropos.

But not forgotten

The Chamber of Commerce Commodores are gone. But their welcoming smiles remain. Remember? The blue jackets? The parade floats? The Aw$um Auction success? The grand openings?

The Coeur d’Alene Press announced the formation of the Commodores 50 years ago (July 6, 1973).

The purpose of the 15-man organization — note: no women at first — was to boost convention business and make conventioneers feel at home. At first, they wore green plaid jackets and green slacks. Their first function occurred July 18-20, 1973, when they welcomed the Idaho Automotive Dealers convention to town.

Bob Myklebust and Hubert Coats co-chaired the original Commodores. Members were: Jerry Jaegar, Francis Smith, Bob Nobis, Leon Doane, Roy Kositzky, Cliff Curtis, C. Patrick King, Peter Simmons, Barry Schuler, Monty Leavitt, Bill Jones, John Rasmussen and chamber manager Chuck Peterson.

The duties of the Commodores evolved to include representing the chamber at business openings, helping launch the annual chamber fundraiser, the Aw$um Auction, and constructing and marching with floats around the region. In 1998, their float won the torchlight and sweepstakes awards in Spokane’s Lilac Parade.

In 2019, the Commodores disbanded. Some say they were victimized by a new direction at the chamber. Others wonder if they were outdated. Many miss them.

Old Fogey Woody?

Back in the day, when kids cruised Sherman, Woody McEvers, our ex-surfer-dude councilman, was a bit of a fuddy-duddy. But he had good reason to be.

In July 1983, when gas was affordable, teens would cruise Sherman Avenue from early evening to 1 or 2 in the morning. One of their favorite turn-around spots was Woody’s old Rustler’s Roost restaurant at Eighth and Sherman. Woody didn’t mind that the kids were enjoying themselves. But he did mind picking up beer bottles, pop cans and half-eaten food in his parking lot the next morning.

“I remember (cruising),” Woody told the Press on July 6, 1983. “All I ask is that they keep the place clean. That’s all that really bothers me. I usually come in around 4:30 a.m. for work, and it’s terrible. There’s trash up and down the street, especially on Sunday morning.”

Unruly teens on Sherman were an issue in the '80s. The city council passed laws to address noise and curfew problems. And helped build a skate park to get skaters off downtown sidewalks. High gas prices eventually took care of the rest.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Happy music and marching/stretching block after block,/but what fun’s a parade/without your .380 Glock? — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“I Love a Parade”).

• Before Silverwood: Give yourself five points if you know that Silverwood is celebrating its 35th anniversary. And give yourself another 10 points if you know that Gary Norton transformed the old Henley Aerodrome, a museum for vintage planes, into Silverwood. And give yourself 25 points, for the win, if you know that Clayton Henley dedicated the aerodrome July 7, 1973.

• Factoid: You know that Tubbs Hill is named after Tony Tubbs, a German immigrant, who was called the “founder of Coeur d’Alene,” in the 75th-anniversary edition of the Press on July 3, 1953. But did you know his full name was Wilhelm Martin Anthony August von Tubbs? In the 1880s, he received patents for 138 acres which comprised our original townsite, including Tubbs Hill.

• Fallen warrior: One of the loudest rounds of applause ever at a Coeur d’Alene Fourth of July Parade occurred at the opening of the 1998 celebration. That’s when ISP Sgt. Jay Komosinski led a riderless horse down Sherman Avenue. The crowd rose, thundered and cried in memory of Trooper Linda Huff, who'd been killed in the line of duty at ISP headquarters weeks before.

• Down but not out: Smokey Bear knows how to prevent forest fires. But not how to handle a hot day in his furry outfit. At the 1998 Fourth of July celebration in Spirit Lake, Smokey was near heat exhaustion when a firefighter noticed and whisked him to a nearby ambulance, where water and a short rest prevented disaster. Remember. Only you can prevent heat exhaustion.

• Out with the old: Retired recreation director Steve Anthony knows there was another school named Bryan on Harrison Avenue because he attended it, a two-story, brick building built about 1903. In the summer of 1963, Del Breithaupt’s crew salvaged brick, wood and piping from the original structure. Del had submitted the only bid to demolish it: $51.

Parting shot

Coeur d’Alene coordinator Jenny Wayman reports that the annual Street Music Week in Coeur d'Alene and Spokane last month raised $27,375 for the second Harvest Inland Northwest Food Bank. That’ll provide 315,000 meals. Overall, this worthy event has raised about $342,000 for the food bank in the last 21 years. (Side note: For the first — and last — time, I made a cameo appearance as a “musician” on Sherman this year, playing tambourine, while Doug Clark of Spokane’s Trailer Park Girls, strummed guitar and sang, “City of New Orleans.” There were no requests for an encore.)

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.