Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, December 7, 2012
www.issaquahreporter.com
Ace in the hole Citizens unite in support of Sammamish hardware store
Lief Moi, the owner of Filos on Issaquah Creek, stands at the full bar in the restaurant. Below; Issaquah Creek flows by Filos after a heavy rain. Moi said they see deer, beaver, coyotes and heron regularly out the windows.
BY KEVIN ENDEJAN ISSASQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
LINDA BALL, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
COMING FULL CIRCLE Issaquah restaurant owner finds his past a pathway to the future
“He said pay me back when you can, and if you can’t, don’t worry about it.”
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his story begins in 1974 when a Greek immigrant named Spiro Aliagas opened a small pizza shop called Olympia Pizza on Queen Anne Hill. A then 14-year-old boy of Norwegian heritage, Lief Moi, got his first job with Aliagas, washing dishes and busing tables. Moi’s uncle had helped Aliagas start the business.
Moi loved the restaurant business and stuck with his Greek boss while he opened many more restaurants — in Wallingford, Capitol Hill, West Seattle and more. Ultimately this led to Moi helping open Jay Berry’s in Issaquah in 1982, which was once the most popular restaurant in Issaquah. Moi was the manager, bringing with him recipes handed down from Aliagas. Jay Berry’s is where he met Tonya, his wife. “She was a local girl, homecoming queen from Issaquah High School,” Moi said.
– Lief Moi They married in 1984 and decided to start a family. The four children they raised are now grown. Lief and Tonya also have four grandchildren and one more on the way. He left the restaurant business while raising his family. But now he’s back, with Filos on Issaquah Creek, his own SEE FILOS, 3
SEE ACE, 3
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BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
With the final clock winding down, Sammamish community members showed up in full force at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to support a business on the verge of extinction. An estimated 90-100 citizens packed the meeting room at City Hall on Dec. 4 to support Ace Hardware, whose lease in the Sammamish Highlands Shopping Center expires August 2013. Forty-six community members spoke for more than two hours, trying to sway the council into considering expediting a revision of its Comprehensive Plan and approve a parcel of land located on the other side of the stream from the Washington Federal building, between Northeast Second and Northeast Fourth streets. “This property is uniquely situated to solve this problem,” said developer Elliott Severson, whose land is currently only zoned by the city for limited office retail. The developer and his attorney, Charlie Klinge, spoke of how the city could legally enter a development agreement, similar to what other cities like Issaquah and Duvall have done. By doing this, they could swap adjacent property south of their land owned by Sammamish and go forward with the construction of a new hardware store. “The cost and design will be taken care of by the developer,”
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