This lunch counter at Four Corners was originally owned and operated by Guy Nando Belleman and his wife Myrtle Anna (Neal). It was located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Kent-Kangley and the Maple Valley Highway, aka SR 169. Myrtle was sister to Bill Neal who constructed the original Wilderness Village Tavern where he also operated a gas station and rented cabins to travelers. William (Bill) Neal heard the railroad was selling land at Four Corners so contacted the Bellemans and recommended they buy it. The Bellemans paid $600 for the 40-acres. Guy Belleman built a Union 76 gas station catering to loggers passing through and then constructed a restaurant called Belleman’s Corner lunch counter with Myrtle as cook. Assessor tax records show the structures were built in 1945.
Myrtle Belleman’s homemade pies and donuts were legendary. It’s reported that some locals ate all three meals a day there. The business included a tavern, separated from food service by a short wing wall. Ray Spurgeon purchased the business from the Bellemans in 1949 and enlarged the facility. In time Kenny Marshall, a local realtor purchased both the gas station and café, leasing the station to Louis Capponi and the café to a series of owners. The building was later rechristened Four Corners Tavern where live music was often featured on Friday and Saturday nights. One of the most successful operators of the business was George Caruso, who also took over Fran’s Café at Wilderness Village renaming it Caruso’s. Bernell Kombol was another of a collection of later operators, none of whom were particularly successful. In its last months the Four Corners Tavern was operated by a couple of guys, who according to local rumor set the 1980 arson fire which gutted the building and led to its demolition. This site on Highway 169 is near the current location of Four Corners Starbucks. This southeast looking photo from the late 1940s comes courtesy of Teresa (Belleman) Reese, a Tahoma graduate and the granddaughter of its first owners. Next week another view of this same business in 1955.
