Garland's Newest Openings Are Moving Into Its Oldest Rooms
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
The old North Hill Masonic Temple at 706 W. Garland has a second-story balcony, and Taylor Rainwater opened The Temple Tavern in the building on Feb. 13. He plans to seat diners out there when the weather allows. "You're able to see, especially at night, the whole neighborhood with all the neon lights down the road," he told the Spokane Journal of Business in February.
The building went up in 1922. The view takes in the Garland Theater, a 1940s-era movie house, plus long-running names like Mary Lou's Milk Bottle, the Brown Derby and Ferguson's Cafe. Look at almost anything new on this stretch of Garland in 2026 and you'll find it in a room the district already had. Even the theater's October calendar is mostly old films brought back.
Most of this year's changes sit on the north side of Garland Avenue, about half a mile west of Division Street.
| Address | Before | Now | Status as of early October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 706 W. Garland | The North Hill on Garland, closed at the start of 2026 | The Temple Tavern | Open since Feb. 13 |
| 815 W. Garland | Under construction | Garland Clayground, community pottery studio | Aiming for a fall opening, no date announced |
| 828 W. Garland | Garland Drinkery, closed in 2025 | Red Rose Social, cocktail bar | Renovating as of February; opening not confirmed |
Two of the three replace businesses that closed within the past two years, and in both cases the new tenant does something close to what the old one did. One restaurant took over from another restaurant, and a bar is taking over from a bar. The district kept its number of places to eat and drink and changed who runs them.
The Spokesman-Review profiled The Temple Tavern in June, and that piece shows how much the restaurant carried over from the space. Rainwater said he lived in the neighborhood years ago, watched the space get built out, and "always had my eye on it." He also noted that "it already had a pizza oven." The name comes from the building itself.
Rainwater has cooked around Spokane for years. He worked at Casper Fry and Durkin's Liquor Bar after moving here in 2015, and most recently he was head chef at South Perry Pizza. He owns the restaurant with his wife, Chrissy Loe.
The menu draws on the neighborhood too:
Produce comes from Casa Cano Farms in Valleyford, and there is always a roasted vegetable dish built around whatever is in season.
The restaurant is small. It covers about 1,000 square feet and seats around 40 people inside. Balcony seating can roughly double that when the weather allows. This month's cooler evenings will decide how often the balcony is usable. The tavern's site lists hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and closed Mondays. Happy hour runs 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The Sunday breakfast pizza comes with baked eggs and a drizzle of maple syrup.
One block west, at 828 W. Garland, Red Rose Social is taking over the old Garland Drinkery space. City permit records cited in February describe a renovation of the 850-square-foot room, including a new ADA-compliant bathroom and bar. The company's social media says it plans to serve craft cocktails, beer and bar food. The owner, Aaron Fiorini, also runs Market Street Pizza on East Sprague in Spokane Valley and on North Market Street in Spokane. We haven't found an opening date or posted hours in any later reporting. If you walk by and the lights are on, that's newer news than we have.
Across the street at 815 W. Garland, Garland Clayground is building a community pottery studio. Inland Northwest Business Watch reported on Sept. 23 that it will offer wheel-throwing and hand-building classes, memberships, workshops, date nights and one-time pottery sessions. It will also have a small retail corner selling finished pieces and other handmade work. The owners said they hope to open "sometime this fall" and will announce the date on social media. As of this week, the studio's website doesn't list any scheduled events or classes.
Clayground is the one change this year that isn't a replacement. It adds something to make on a street that mostly offers places to eat, drink and watch.
The same pattern shows up on the theater's screen at 924 W. Garland Ave. Look through the theater's October calendar and you'll find almost nothing new. Instead you get anniversaries, 35mm prints and films many people in the neighborhood first saw decades ago. These are the dates left as of today:
The theater's pages list two different start times for Rocky Horror. The event listing says 11:45 p.m. and the special-events day view says 11:30. Plan on the earlier one. Many of the month's screenings are free with Movie Club, so a membership can make a weeknight horror film one of the cheapest outings on the avenue.
Put the calendar and the block side by side and the rest of October practically plans itself. Rocky Horror falls on a Saturday this year, Oct. 31. The Temple Tavern is open until 9 p.m. on Saturdays, which leaves dinner and a stretch of the evening before the late show. The Castle in the Sky matinee on Oct. 10 starts at 4:30, close to when the tavern's pasta goes on at 4. The Monday trivia nights are the exception. The tavern is closed on Mondays, so those evenings belong to the theater and the long-running spots up the street.
Rainwater told the Journal he expected the restaurant to bring in people who were already out window shopping on Garland. He added that everything on the menu travels well, so you can take a pizza to the park. His plan depends on the street around him rather than competing with it, and the October calendar follows the same approach. If Red Rose Social and Garland Clayground open before the month ends, 828 and 815 W. Garland will join that walk, one in a former bar and the other in a room built for a new purpose.
At Patricia O'Callaghan, we follow blocks like the 700s and 800s of W. Garland because small changes in who occupies a storefront shape how a neighborhood lives day to day. If you own nearby and want to know what this year's turnover on the avenue means for your corner of North Spokane, we'd be glad to talk it through. Schedule a private market consultation.
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