Friday, May 2, 2014

Rainier #8: Kliks Building

119 First Street

Kliks Building in Rainier, Oregon on September 5, 2005
Kliks Building on September 5, 2005.

This building was built around 1908. It has a basement underneath, and there were once glass blocks in the adjacent sidewalk on B Street to let light in. I don't know the building's original use, but on January 27, 1940, Charles T. Bross moved his hardware store into this building from a building on East 2nd between A and B Streets. Bross had originally been in the plumbing business in Rainier since 1912 and transitioned to hardware in 1931. After World War II his son Fred F. Bross took over operation of the business.

IMG_1854 Kliks Building in Rainier, Oregon on July 13, 2008
Kliks Building on July 13, 2008.

Bross Hardware closed in the summer of 1965. On June 11, 1973, the Mr. Bojangles pizza parlor, owned and operated by Sandy Bryant, opened in the building, which was now owned by Leroy Nelson of Columbia River Floor Coverings. By the 1980s it was called Busy Bee's Pizza, and had a glass box inside acting as a honeybee hive. A pipe through the wall let the bees get outside. It has been known as Luigi’s Pizza as it is today for many years.

IMG_0428 Kliks Building in Rainier, Oregon on February 24, 2011
Kliks Building on February 24, 2011.

IMG_0433 Kliks Building in Rainier, Oregon on February 24, 2011
Kliks Building on February 24, 2011.

IMG_0597 Kliks Building in Rainier, Oregon on February 25, 2011
Kliks Building on February 25, 2011.

Continue to 9: Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church

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