Before P.W. Hoseapples
When John and Jan Sanders opened P.W. Hoseapples at 530 South Asbury in Moscow, Idaho, in spring 1977, they were neither newcomers to the restaurant business nor to the Moscow/Pullman area. Formerly married, the business partners owned and ran Biscuitroot Park in downtown Moscow and operated Pete Hoseapples, a small joint that served sandwiches and their signature deep-dish pizza in downtown Troy, Idaho.
John, a trained accountant, came by his restaurant and entrepreneurial chops via participation, principally with his mother, at the Lumberjack, a long-time restaurant on the outskirts of Troy. Jan, a visionary interior designer, provided the inspiration for the stunning layout at Biscuitroot. The two served as co-owners and operators of the new P.W. Hoseapples after a complete redesign of the interior of the previous bar and nightclub, Moscow Mining Company.
I nailed my audition for the DJ job at P.W.s by mixing then-current disco and funk hits with a couple of popular rock and roll tunes. Jan wanted to develop a popular disco, but she was not a huge disco music fan. When I filled the floor with enthusiastic dancers by throwing in Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band’s “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” Jan was knocked out and I was in.
You knew you were at P.W.s when…
First, you looked over the extensive and eclectic menu. John envisioned appealing to a wide range of appetites, so the bill-of-fare ranged from deluxe burgers and chili dogs to French onion soup, salads, seafood, steaks, and the much-loved deep-dish pizzas.
Second, the P.W.s bar was one-of-a-kind. P.W.s used top-shelf liquors as their “bar pours.” Few bars in the industry, and certainly no local bar, mixed drinks with top-shelf liquor. Your $1.35 returned a shot of Jack Daniels Black Label whiskey, Chivas Regal blended scotch, Bacardi Silver rum, Stolichnaya vodka, Tanqueray gin, or Jose Cuervo Gold tequila, straight or in a mixed drink. For $2.50, large stemware goblets were filled with drinks of blended (and often nearly frozen) delight including the De Pedro Margarita Mucho, daiquiris in five flavors, and the always popular (and exceedingly distinctive) Silver Cloud.
Congratulations: Your interest in this article gets you the Silver Cloud recipe: Choose an ample glass, 12 to 16 oz.; wider at the top is better than not; PWs sometimes used goblet-shaped glasses. The proportions assume the 12 oz. container; add proportionately for a larger drink. Put 2 cups of ice into a blender. Add ¾ shot of light cacao liqueur, ¾ shot Amaretto. Blend then fill with cream and pour into chilled glass, leaving room to float Kahlua coffee liqueur and a dollop or spray of whipped cream at the top. Add a cocktail cherry. Yummy.
Third, you watched the largest rear-projection television screen in the area. Hoseapples seldom played “regular” television programming. We used the system for major sporting events and silent movies (especially Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy). The original M*A*S*H movie was shown so often I learned most of the dialogue in the film.
Fourth and finally, you found yourself dancing on the very large rectangular, polished-steel dance floor under a disco ball, with strobe lights and colored bulbs throbbing to the sounds of funk, R&B, and disco. Friday and Saturday nights, you were joined by a couple hundred equally sweaty patrons dancing the night away. The joint was always jumping.
I played so many great and wildly popular songs. Short lists are very challenging.
A typical night included tunes such as:
- “The Boss” (Diana Ross)
- “Celebration” (Kool & the Gang)
- “We Are Family” (Sister Sledge)
- “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” (McFadden & Whitehead)
- “The Love I Lost” (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes with Teddy Pendergrass)
- “Got to Give it Up” (Marvin Gaye)
- “Shame” (Evelyn “Champagne” King)
- “Boogie Wonderland” (Earth, Wind & Fire)
- “Back in Love Again” (LTD)
- “Got to be Real” (Cheryl Lynn)
- “Flashlight” (Parliament)
- “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” (Michael Jackson)
- “Le Freak” (Chic)
- “Brick House” (Commodores)
- “I will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor)
- A few numbers from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, perhaps the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” and “You Should be Dancing” or “Night Fever” by the Bee Gees
I always ended the night with Donna Summer’s “Last Dance.”
After Hoseapples: where are they now?
After leaving Hoseapples, my partner-in-DJ-crimes, Carlos “Charlie” Del Valle spun tunes upstairs at Alex’s Mexican restaurant in Pullman. Carlos soon completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Idaho while starting a career in sports reporting. Carlos headed for Tacoma and began his career as a professional TV sportscaster.
Carlos went on to report sports in Seattle, including a gig as sports anchor at KING. In 1995 he headed for a weekend sports anchor job at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. There he covered most major LA teams including the Lakers, Dodgers, and Kings. Later, Carlos appeared in three Hollywood films, then settled into a long and fruitful career as an independent media production professional in southern California.
Carlos and I shared friendship—he as near constant companion, me as third wheel—with long-time Seattle newswoman Kathi Goertzen (’80 Comm.). Kathi was about as “regular” at Hoseapples as a hard-working student could spare the time to be. After graduating from WSU, Kathi worked at KREM-TV in Spokane before moving to a distinguished career at KOMO in Seattle. Sadly, cancer brought a premature end to Kathi’s career and life. She passed in August 2012.
Another Hoseapples regular, Cheryl Johnson, ended up Mrs. Ed Lamoureux. About a year into the Hoseapples gig, I met Cheryl. I was in the jock box; she was sitting at table, dancing when asked. Within the next year, I left the job and returned to graduate school at WSU, completing in 1980 the master’s I had interrupted with teaching at University of Idaho, managing apartments in Pullman, and disco-ing down in Moscow. I then spent a year in Seattle while Cheryl stayed in Moscow to complete a bachelor’s degree. We married in Clarkston in 1981 and moved to Eugene for a rhetoric and communication doctorate at the University of Oregon that I completed in 1985.
I retired in May 2023 after 37 years at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. The first 17 or so years were spent in the Department of Communication teaching a variety of speech classes. The last half of my time at BU featured my role as one of four cofounders of the Multimedia Program, now the Department of Interactive Media, where I taught new media theory, intellectual property law, and privacy. Cheryl and I are blessed with four adult offspring and four grandchildren, all within two hours by car.
Retired or not, “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now!”
More memories of P.W.s on Facebook
Disco fever on the Palouse (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2024)
And lastly (apparently not everyone appreciated the dance form)…
(From the 1977 WSU Chinook yearbook)