HUCKLEBERRIES: Just a little 'Psycho'

Just two motels named Bates operated in this country in 1995, prior to the 35th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

One was in Vale, Ore., and the other at 2018 E. Sherman Ave., according to the American Hotel/Motel Association. But only one — the Bates Motel in Coeur d’Alene — embraced its connection to the 1960 horror thriller.

The Bates owner in Oregon wasn’t interested when an NBC producer sought an anniversary interview for the show, “Eye to Eye with Connie Chung.” Coeur d'Alene owner Allen Markizon jumped at the chance.

Markizon and his manager, Mike Paradis, celebrated their connection to the spooky motel operated by serial killer Norman Bates. Their business sign featured a haunted house and lightning bolts.

And they sold Bates Motel souvenirs: T-shirts, pillowcases and, of course, shower towels.

In May 1995, Paradis wore a T-shirt for a Coeur d’Alene Press interview that read: “Bates Motel manager. And I’m not Norman.”

“It’s fun,” Paradis said. “Kids will call up all the time and ask if Norman is here. I’ll say, ‘No, but I’d be happy to stab, um … I mean, help you.”

The most popular room at Coeur d’Alene’s Bates was the same as the fictional prototype in which Marion Crane took her fatal shower: No. 1. Some visitors morbidly watched “Psycho” at the Bates. A video of the thriller was available at the desk.

An occasional guest said the place was haunted, claiming that ashtrays moved, lights flickered, ghosts moaned, and they’d been watched by something and felt sudden chills. A website or two claimed author Robert Bloch stayed at Coeur d’Alene Bates before writing the 1959 novel that inspired Hitchcock’s ground-breaking movie.

But the motel wasn’t known as Bates until 1987, when Coeur d’Alene accountant Randy Bates bought it. He intentionally named the motel after himself as a shrewd promo gimmick, according to The Press.

Originally known as the Kenniston Motel when it opened in 1950, the business has had several names besides Bates, including Hiway 10 Motel, Roadway Inn and Lighthouse Motel. In January 2024, after extensive remodeling, it became The Flats.

Our Bates Motel is gone, but not forgotten by locals who delight in things that go bump in the night.

Did you know …

That Frank Sinatra Jr. and his eight-piece orchestra performed a fundraising concert for Tubbs Hill on May 9, 1975, and bombed?

The Coeur d’Alene Jaycees brought Sinatra to town to help raise the final $9,318 of some $72,000 in local matching money to buy 34 acres of Tubbs Hill from KAW, Inc.

The ticket price was $5 for the concert at the Coeur d’Alene High gym. But only 60 people showed up — and the Jaycees were left $2,500 ($14,861 in today’s dollars) in the hole.

Seems Junior Sinatra couldn’t pack them in like his world-famous father.

“We did lose a lot of money on it,” admitted Jaycee Gene Hill.

The Jaycees reacted nobly to the setback. They ate the loss.

Window washing

One of the bravest men in town 45 years ago was a window washer: Robert Mitcham.

The 44-year-old native was dangling from North Shore Motor Resort’s Cloud 9, seven stories up, when a Coeur d’Alene Press photographer arrived May 13, 1980.

Mitcham, the cleanup supervisor for Hagadone Construction, said he loved the work. But it had unexpected downs.

He had broken 36 bones in 31 falls, the scariest of which was an 87-foot plunge in La Jolla, Calif., in which he broke both legs and his collarbone. He also had ridden a wooden scaffold 48 stories down the side of the Seattle First National Bank.

When asked why he did such dangerous work, Robert said: “I like to take chances.”

Gone too soon

Corissa Yasen was the greatest female athlete that veteran sportswriter Greg Lee saw in his 41 years covering local high school sports for The Spokesman-Review.

The 1992 Coeur d’Alene High graduate won countless firsts in track & field and cross country — and led her Coeur d’Alene High girls track and basketball teams to state titles.

She later shone at the University of Purdue, where she played basketball, was a nine-time all-American track star and won the 1996 national heptathlon. Many considered her the greatest female Boilermaker ever.

All this, and she was humble, too, said sports scribe Lee.

That humility was evident in a faded Press photo from May 2, 1990. Despite her celebrity, Corissa is shown helping her high school coach, Donna Messenger, pick up trash along U.S. 95 near Hayden.

After college, Corissa played briefly in the old WNBA before returning home to work as a pharmacist.

On May 12, 2001, at age 27, she died of a drug overdose.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Blooming flowers/and soft spring breezes,/fresh green trees and/allergy sneezes — The Bard of Sherman Avenue. (“May”).

• Lewiston or Bust: It was inevitable that Coach Gene Boyle of the local Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy would get an offer he couldn’t refuse. His Coeur d’Alene teams simply won. In six years, Gene’s hoopsters compiled a 96-42 record and won A-3 titles in 1967 and 1968; his footballers won 45, lost six, tied two. On May 16, 1970, Gene, 28, got his irresistible offer: the head football coaching job at Lewiston High.

• Ash Sunday: Dunno what you did after Mount St. Helens exploded Sunday, May 18, 1980. But Larry Schwenke, who was described by The Press as “Coeur d’Alene’s teacher/coach and all-around good guy,” donned scuba gear and scooped up handfuls of the “volcanic leavings to possibly hunt for gold.”

• He Was First: You know that “Father Bill” Wassmuth led the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations in the mid-1980s. But did you know that Pastor Rick Morse of the First Christian Church was the group’s first leader? The task force was formed in February 1981 after racists painted graffiti on a Jewish owner’s restaurant in Hayden. Rick and his family were harassed. Bill’s house was bombed. Tough job.

Parting shot

Mother’s Day has passed, but Buck Moore’s lyrics to Randy Travis’s “Angels” linger on. The 2004 song features men discussing the existence of angels. Then, one says, “Man, are you blind? Just look in your mother’s eyes.” A 1952 Rathdrum High graduate, Moore, of Avery, wrote songs for country western’s top singers: Travis, Ray Price, Tammy Wynette, Jerry Lee Lewis and Hank Williams Jr. Although he hated English classes, Buck credits his mother, Margaret, for pushing him to become a songwriter. “She was a little old Indian who worked like a dog to put us through high school,” Buck told The Press in May 2005. Moore wrote “Angels” in three hours with Troy Seals and Harvey McNalley, his brother-in-law. The song was a moderate success, reaching No. 48 on the Billboard country charts. Still, it tells of a mother who believed in her son and didn’t let him give up. Buck Moore died at age 79 while cutting firewood Sept. 10, 2013.

• • •

You can contact D.F. “Dave” Oliveria at [email protected].

    A Coeur d’Alene Press ad promotes Frank Sinatra Jr.’s 1975 fundraiser.
  

    Steve Bly, of the Idaho Parks & Recreation Board, second from right, praises Scott Reed, second from left, for arranging a final, major Tubbs Hill purchase May 8, 1975.
  

    Window washer Robert Mitcham dangles from the North Shore Motor Hotel in May 1980.
  

    Corissa Yasen and coach Donna Messenger pick up litter along U.S. 95 in 1990.
  

    Coach Gene Boyle of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy, left, his wife, Barbara, and assistant coach John DeLong accept Team of the Year honors at the 8th Annual Sports Banquet on Jan. 22, 1970. Boyle also was named Coach of the Year after his 1969 football team finished 9-0.
  

    Larry Schwenke donned scuba gear after Mount St. Helens erupted May 18, 1980.
  

    Rick Morse of the First Christian Church led the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.
  

    Buck Moore honored his mother by writing a 2004 song for country star Randy Travis, titled “Angels.”