OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

This mimetic restaurant in the shape of two teepees appealed to motorists whizzing along on Aurora Avenue (Highway 99). Herman E. Olson is credited with opening the tee-pees on 03/13/1937; Walter Clark, who owned more than 22 other restaurants in Seattle, had purchased the place by 1942, when his name appeared on the roadsign, becoming "Clark's Twin T-P's." The name was temporarily changed to Power's Pancake House between 1959 and 1967. The hyphen between "tee" and "pee" was dropped by a new owner in 1976. According to Woodbridge and Montgomery, the Twin Tee-Pees were fabricated of concrete (as well as wood and metal) in California and transported to the site on a flat-bed truck. The Twin Tee-Pees went out of business in May 2000. Its sign still survived in 2006, however. Colonel Harland Sanders managed the Twin Tee-Pees c. 1942 for owner, Walter Clark and supposedly perfected his fried chicken recipe here, although this may be apocryphal. Walter Clark received some of his training as a restauranteur while working for the Manning's Coffee Cafe chain, started by Edward F. and William W. Manning at Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1908. Restauranteur Robert Perides owned the Twin Tee-Pees from 1980-2001. He obtained a demolition permit after city inspectors found that the 63-year-old building had lead paint in walls, asbestos in floor tiles and dry rot in beams. Additionally, restrooms, once located upstairs, had to be relocated downstairs for ADA reasons, making the whole project too expensive for Perides to undertake.

The Twin Tee-Pees consisted of two sections, the north teepee housing a bar and kitchen, the southern, a dining room with an open hearth.

Demolished on 07/31/2001. A fire occurred 07/31/1997, causing $3,000 damage to a wall and the foundation. A basement fire started by a cigarette damaged the tee-pees in the early morning of 05/31/2000. The fire caused $100,000 damage, mostly in the basement.

PCAD id: 8697