HORI CAFE BUILDING
(BLOCK 36; LOTS 8, 9 & 10)
This Whitefish landmark has a long and colorful history, centering around a Japanese immigrant, M. M. Hori, who had come to the Flathead Valley as a house-boy for the family of Charles Conrad, a major figure in the founding of Kalispell. Conrad gave Hori 10 acres of Whitefish land, and he soon became a successful truck farmer. Hori opened a café and bakery in the north part of this building in the early 20th Century, and in 1918, he bought what was then called the Northern Hotel just to the south.
Hori made extensive improvements to the buildings and operated the Hori Cafe and Hotel until his death in 1931; his wife continued operating it until it was leased to C. C. C. Smith in 1942. Smith's business closed after only a couple of months, and
the building remained empty until Jack Erinton bought it at a court sale in 1944 and reopened it as The Palm Hotel, leasing its operation to longtime residents Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Mackey. In 1946, the café section was converted into a store, later occupied by several small, short-lived businesses.
Local businessman Jack Sesler and his family purchased the building in the late 1970s, cleaned it up and renamed it "The Remington", with a fine-dining restaurant called Frederic's. The building has had a succession of owners since the Seslers sold it in the mid '80s. It entered the 21st Century under the ownership of Ted Sproul, featuring a casino and Italian restaurant.
Sponsored by the
Stumptown Historical Society and the Whitefish Community Foundation
From the plaque at the building