Dick Smith, 63, owner of the Mecca Cafe on lower Queen Anne and the 5 Point Cafe at Fifth and Cedar, died of cancer on October 1. He often billed his restaurants as Seattle's oldest family-owned eateries (he'd taken them over in 1975 from his father, who'd gotten into the restaurant biz in 1929). Both are small spots, divided between food counters serving up hearty, inexpensive, unpretentious eats (the Mecca's menu bears the slogan "Not fine dining, just a fine diner") and smoky, crowded cocktail lounges serving up stiff drinks and raucous conversation. (Wall signs proclaim, "Smokers Welcome--Non-Smokers Beware"). Smith was also an outspoken political curmudgeon, keeping his restaurants non-union while resisting gentrification. In fact, the 5 Point's front window still bears a neon sign denouncing the Seattle Commons development scheme, to which Smith helped lead the political opposition.

Rev. David Colwell, 84, died September 22 from complications after a fall. Colwell led Plymouth Congregational Church on Stewart Street from 1967 to 1982. In 1980, he started the Plymouth Housing Group, an independent nonprofit group operating 700 low-income housing units in 10 Seattle buildings (including one, on Denny Way, named for him). He was also a co-founder of the Church Council of Greater Seattle. He'd come to Seattle from a church in Washington, D.C., where he was heavily involved in the '60s Civil Rights movement and helped plan the 1963 March on Washington.

The Trophy Room, a retro beer bar in the back of Shorty's hotdog stand and video-game parlor on Second Avenue, a Belltown institution for over four years, was shuttered on October 1. It was a crowded, popular joint, particularly on wrestling and South Park TV nights; but owner Martha Manwaring said she needed to concentrate on the main food-and-games side of her business.

Gary James Lockhart, 59, died September 18 at his Seattle home after a heart attack. Lockhart wrote the books The Weather Companion (1989) and The Herbal Center of Healing (1998). He was a longtime advocate of herbal remedies; in the mid-'90s, he helped lead the successful effort to preserve the University of Washington's Medicinal Herb Garden. He held several day jobs throughout his 25-year writing/researching career (most recently at City Ice), and left behind "about a dozen manuscripts, which are yet to be published," according to his friend Arthur Jacobson. People interested in helping get Lockhart's manuscripts into print are invited to contact Jacobson at 328-8733.