HUCKLEBERRIES: Capone's: Where everybody knows your name

It boiled down to Coeur d’Alene or Eugene, Ore.

Tired of working long hours in the Los Angeles hospitality business, Tom and Teresa Capone searched the country to find the right spot to open a bistro.

In a July 1995 Coeur d’Alene Press profile, Tom was asked why he decided to buy the sleaziest bar in the worst part of Coeur d’Alene to launch his business: Capone’s.

“Ignorance,” Tom laughed.

Today, midtown is an emerging stretch of business investment and expansion, featuring Trader Joe's, Midtown Commons, Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Company and the Midtown Bluebird. In 1991, however, it was a pass-through zone, described by The Press as “halfway ‘twixt’ the bustle of Sherman Avenue and the boondocks of Appleway.”

All that remained of midtown, said The Press, was the Road Runner tavern, “a beer dispensary so seedy even the bikers stayed away.”

Tom and Teresa saw an opportunity while others saw shabbiness.

They wanted to raise their children away from the crime, grime, pollution, gridlock and crowds of the big city. And they wanted to buy rather than lease their future eatery. If things didn’t work out, they could sell the property.

The couple met at the Sheraton in San Diego. He supervised the food setup; she was a cocktail waitress. “I asked her out on a date,” Tom told The Press. “And the rest is history.”

Later, Tom hobnobbed with the stars during his five years with the Hilton in downtown Los Angeles, where he helped manage the banquets for the annual Emmy awards.

“I was a penguin,” Tom told The Press. “Wore a tuxedo every day. I ate like a king, drank like a king, and they treated me well. We worked long, hard hours. But it was rewarding because they paid you for it.”

In Coeur d’Alene, Tom and Teresa struggled for their first year as their customer base changed. Said Tom: “We just pounded nails for a year, cleaning it up and painting.”

Four years later, Capone’s sports pub was the talk of the town. The Coeur d’Alene Press called Tom Capone a “Midtown Revivalist.” Since then, Tom and Teresa have opened pubs in Post Falls and Hayden and purchased the Ponderosa Springs Golf Course.

In 2012, Spokane’s Inlander called Capone’s “North Idaho’s version of 'Cheers.'”

Today, Capone’s remains the hub of one of Coeur d’Alene’s rising neighborhoods.

Drummer boy

Michael Koep is known now as the longtime drummer for The Rub and for organizing free summer concerts in Coeur d’Alene and Hayden.

But 40 years ago, Michael was a Coeur d’Alene High sophomore, performing gigs with schoolmates wherever they could.

That’s how he and the band Vantage, featuring the Nilges brothers, Brian and Greg, ended up on the Dancewana on Lake Coeur d’Alene entertaining Press carriers in July 1985.

“It’s the first time I’d ever done something like that — move my gear onto a boat and play,” said Michael, who also drummed with the band Anthem. “I was so into rock that I tried to play with everyone and anyone.”

Michael and his band fashioned lighting from coffee cans and light bulbs. Duct tape held Michael’s drums together. One band member mimicked Prince by wearing a single glove.

And the girls?

Michael tells Huckleberries: “The girls had hair way bigger than ours, and we were jealous.”

Lost and found

Bud Schmidt met his deadline with only days to spare.

Bud? He was the administrative assistant assigned by Mayor Jim Fromm to create a gallery of the town’s 30 mayors before the 1985 Independence Day (Huckleberries, April 27, 2025).

By late June, Bud had found photos of all but the two mayors who had guided Lake City from the 1904 formation of the city council: H.V. Scallon (1904-09) and Boyd Hamilton (1909-11).

Bud collected most of the photos by contacting the mayors’ descendants or perusing the Museum of North Idaho files. But photos of Scallon and Hamilton eluded him until he met Geraldine Willsey of New Meadows.

She had family here. And, importantly, she possessed a 1908 copy of “Inland Emperors,” which included caricatures of the two MIA mayors among 24 other Coeur d’Alene VIPs.

Fromm and Schmidt lost their City Hall jobs in fall 1985 when the incumbent’s bid for re-election failed. But their contribution to city history survived.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: The grains of sand upon this beach/in total must 4 trillion reach,/and every single grain you see/belongs exclusively to me — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Sanders Beach”).

• Pucker Up: If money and fame weren’t enough, Bill Brow, pilot of Miss Exide, received a bonus for winning the 1965 Diamond Cup hydroplane races on Lake Coeur d’Alene: a kiss on the right cheek from his wife, Faye, and one on the left from Miss Coeur d’Alene XII Sue Wolden. Brow defended his 1964 Diamond Cup title with the win.

• Synchronized: You might be an old-timer if you recall the Aquanettes, a precision water ballet team, featuring girls and women, ages 15-21. By July 1965, they had performed for five years. But they had several vacancies, including the director. The Kroc Center was 44 years away. So, tryouts were held at sponsor Redmond’s Motel pool.

• Late Bloomer: No one was more surprised by his rise to pro football fame than John Friesz. A backup until his senior year at Coeur d’Alene High, the former UIdaho QB never saw himself as “the one who carried the team, never the reason we won.” Before the San Diego Chargers drafted him in the sixth round in 1990, John figured he would graduate with a P.E. major and coach football. He was wrong. And played well in the NFL.

• Cake Walk: For Idaho’s 100th centennial, Coeur d’Alene Resort chefs Bill Steele and Jeff Potts baked a cake, shaped like Idaho, that weighed almost 200 pounds. The two-layer vanilla cream cake was 6 feet long by 4 ½ feet wide. When it was served to 600 after the Kiddies Parade on July 3, 1990, no one cared that it wasn’t a world record.

Parting shot

I have an excuse for missing two weeks of Sunday Huckleberries in June: My wife, Brenda, and I were on the Oregon coast celebrating our golden anniversary on June 21.

Fifty years ago, I was 25 and she was 19 when we wed in the steamy First Baptist Church in Corning, Calif. Without complaint, she then followed me as my newspaper career led us to central California, Montana and Idaho.

It was too cold in Kalispell, too hot in Lewiston, and just right in Coeur d’Alene. Our son, Seth, was born in Kalispell. We lost baby Amanda in Lewiston. And Amy Joy was born here.

In September 1984, Mrs. O made the decision that led us to Coeur d’Alene.

As news editor of the respected Lewiston Tribune, I agonized over a job offer to join the Coeur d’Alene bureau of The Spokesman-Review. I couldn’t make up my mind.

Finally, I asked my soft-spoken wife: “What do you want to do?”

We still chuckle at her uncharacteristic response: “Let’s blow this place.”

And we did.

• • •

D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at [email protected].

    Tom and Teresa Capone had operated their Midtown sports pub for 30 years in 2021.
  

    High schooler Michael Koep, second from right, drummed with the band Vantage aboard the Dancewana in July 1985. From left, band members Wendy Adair, Mike Mitchell, Brian Nilges and Greg Nilges are also shown.
  

    Portraits of the first two Coeur d’Alene mayors, H.V. Scallon, right, and Boyd Hamilton, were found in an old book, “Inland Emperors" in 1985.
  

    Driver Bill Brow of Miss Exide was kissed by his wife, Faye, left, and Miss Coeur d’Alene XII Sue Wolden after winning the Diamond Cup in 1965.
  

    Coeur d’Alene Resort chefs Bill Steele and Jeff Potts celebrated Idaho’s centennial by baking a cake that weighed almost 200 pounds in 1990.
  

    John Friesz was surprised by his rapid rise from a backup quarterback for the Coeur d’Alene Viks to an NFL draft pick in 1990.
  

    The Aquanettes included, from left, Marsha LeFrancis, Nancy Larson, Jana Thomas, Susan Dunlop, Pam Stafford, Jean Secaur and Judy Branson in 1965.
  

    Dave and Brenda Oliveria celebrated their 50th anniversary June 21. A few years earlier, they posed with Huckleberry, their Beagle, at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. (No geraniums were harmed in shooting the photo.)