The Family Affair restaurant and bar closed on February 1. The longtime Seattle Times employee watering hole was originally called the 234 Club (after its street address at 234 Fairview Ave N), and then became the Nine (a name resulting from adding up 2-3-4 in numerology) before its current owners, who are retiring due to illness, took over in 1989.
Diego, the beloved dog of Bimbo's Burrito Kitchen/Cha Cha Lounge owner Jeff Ofelt, died on January 10 after a three-year battle with cancer. Diego used to appear daily at Righteous Rags, the used clothing store Ofelt ran in the mid-'90s in the current Cha Cha space on East Pine Street. As former Stranger ad salesperson Nicolle Farup recalls, "Diego was a part of my experience living on Capitol Hill in the '90s. I saw him almost daily for years, and I know he meant a lot to people who maybe didn't know Jeff but would stop by the store just to see [his dog]."
Auto Trader magazine phased out its Seattle-area production office in January after 22 years as a cost-cutting move ordered by chain management, leaving only a small sales staff to fill pages that will now be designed and printed in Portland. The local Trader operation began as Piston and Rudder, a locally owned weekly specializing in photo ads for used cars, trucks, and boats. In the mid-'80s, Piston and Rudder became a regional franchisee of the national Trader Publications chain (owned by KIRO-TV's current parent company, Cox Enterprises); Trader Publications fully bought out the local owners in 1990. Dozens of local arts-and-music-scene types held day jobs over the years in the Trader production department, including ace rock photographer Charles Peterson. But, just as the Trader had cut into the daily papers' car-ad business, so have websites (including AutoTrader.com) cut into Trader's business.
Elizabeth Poessinger, 91, came here from Germany in 1954. She, along with her daughter and son-in-law, started the Schnitzelbank restaurant at 7330 Bothell Way in Kenmore. From approximately 1962 to 1997, the Schnitzelbank was a popular spot for friendly, unpretentious continental cuisine and nightly performances by lederhosen dancers. (It's now a private residence, but retains its Bavarian-ski-lodge facade.) Poessinger died December 29, 2001, of unspecified causes.
