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Friday, October 21, 2011

Chow Thompson's Point of View Is Closed

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 5:14 PM

Paul Holmes

As Central District News reported way back last month, Seattle classic Thompson's Point of View is closed, owing approximately $14,000 in back taxes. Here is Charles Mudede on the place last summer:

You will not find the best fried chicken at Thompson's Point of View, but you will certainly find one of the best places to eat it... It is the mood of the place that matters most. The people who hang out here are not part of the hiphop generation, but the soul generation and the 1980s R&B generation—meaning, the generation that still has roots in the South and the kinds of family and friendly feelings associated with that world. Maybe it is for this reason that the fried chicken is so basic. Even the spicy version is as plain as the kind of fried chicken you would expect from a kitchen in a home rather than a kitchen in a restaurant...

Here's hoping Thompson's Point of View reopens instead of fading away forever. The depressing legal notice posted on the door is after the jump.

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Comments (15) RSS

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I drove by there today.Any idea what all the electrical equipment on the roof is?

Posted by Ronald_McFondle

on October 21, 2011 at 8:04 PM

The place was one of those delightful Seattle time warps. I hate to sound like an old-timer but those places are fun to have around. Maybe they can scrape up the 14K somehow.

Posted by Quincy on October 21, 2011 at 10:10 PM

Quincy dear, never apologize for sounding like "an old timer". I can bore even myself to death with memories of the candy counter at the First Avenue South Sears, or the pet department in the basement of the downtown Woolworths, or the display windows at the City Light Building, or the bad 70's art in the credit office of the old Nordstrom store, or the smell of the original Jules Mae Tavern on a late November Saturday afternoon after a day of shopping at the old Lake Union St. Vincent de Paul, and before an evening of bowling at University Village lanes.

Yes, it's dreary. But somebody has to do it. And it's infinitely more interesting than, say, Civil War renenactments.

Posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay

on October 21, 2011 at 11:11 PM

Maybe they should pay their taxes.

Posted by Grumpy Pilot on October 22, 2011 at 9:00 AM

if you pay them as you go it's easier. i'll be nice and say that there was probably some bookkeeping incompetence involved.

Posted by Max Solomon on October 22, 2011 at 9:28 AM

@4&5, the guy who opened and ran the place successfully died, suddenly, at 51. His wife took over and has tried to run the place, during a recession, in a neighborhood that has been hit hard by the bad economy and the closing of the drug market around Deano's. I'd venture a guess that if any of those factors were different, Thompson's Point of View would have been able to keep up with its tax bill.

Posted by Luckier on October 22, 2011 at 10:03 AM

there just any place like it in this city..they were always nice to everybody. the jukebox was loud and soulful. the bands that played there even louder and more full of soul.. my favorite memory was spending the afternoon and early evening election night two years ago. we had t leave before the final results were in, but i told my friend that if we didn't he was probably gonna get laid. no sooner than i finished the sentece a very large bosom gold toothed sister came up to him and said 'heyyyy... how YOU doin ?' we laughed on into the victorius night..
..plus where else in the city can you get liver and onions with gravy and mashed potatoes.?
*tears*

Posted by reverend dr dj riz on October 22, 2011 at 10:50 AM

maybe since the neighborhood saved Tougo Coffee ..it’s possible to save Thompson’s?

Posted by olive oyl on October 22, 2011 at 10:55 AM

B&O taxes, which I am assuming this is, are on net revenue, not profits, so if your revenues are not covering your expenses it makes it damn hard to pay the tax.

Yet another reason an income tax makes more sense since to pay that you actually have to have income.

Posted by giffy on October 22, 2011 at 11:15 AM

Catalina, i LOVED going to the Lake Union St. Vincent de Paul with my mom back in the '60s and '70s. when did you move here from Iowa?

Posted by scary tyler moore

on October 22, 2011 at 11:20 AM

@6 - I can't decide if it's better to successfully die, or unsuccessfully die, suddenly. :/

Thompson's will certainly be missed if it remains closed. :(

Posted by treacle on October 22, 2011 at 11:49 AM

Actually, given the fact that this is a restaurant, it's probably mostly collected sales tax. Meaning they've been taking their customer's tax payments and spending them on other things. Which, even in a recession, is generally against the rules.

Posted by But I am le tired on October 22, 2011 at 11:52 AM