The last time Dick Spady opened a restaurant in Seattle, the year was 1974, and inflation was at 11.3%. The average cost of a new house was $35k, and the average annual income was $14k. Hard to imagine, too, but the price of gas was at .55 per gallon, and a new car cost $3,750. And while the new Queen Anne Dick’s was welcomed into the community with open arms, our nation’s “Tricky” Dick was forced to resign as President of the United States.
Yep, that was eons ago.
So you can imagine the frenzy that ensued earlier this week, when Dick’s son, Jim Spady, announced that after 36 years, Dick’s was going to open a new location. What’s more, the folks behind this Seattle institution—whose fans on Facebook are in the 100,000’s—have asked people to vote for the area in which they should consider opening:
- North (Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, Edmonds, South Everett),
- South (West Seattle, South Seattle, Renton, Burien, SeaTac, Tukwila), or
- East (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Bothell, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Sammamish)
The best part is that they intend to model the store after their flagship store—our very own Dick’s on 45th–which opened in 1954.
On Wednesday, Dick’s announced that a hacker had found a way into the site’s poll, and tampered with the votes. The company posted the following message on their website:
We would like to apologize for any issues you have had with our most popular poll ever. Rest assured that your votes are being captured, though the results being displayed may appear to be incorrect. We are also aware of individuals who are gaming the system in attempt to influence the results. An in depth analysis of the voting will be performed before announcing the official result.
By Thursday evening, Dick’s announced that the poll was “scrubbed clean” and it looks as though the North has taken the lead with 45% of the votes. The South is in second place with 29%, followed by the Eastside with 25% of the votes.
