History is what a community thinks it is, and we think the former Denny's will be a far better gateway to Ballard than another rather shapeless and characterless condominium designed in cookie cutter fashion by developers seeking to cut costs, not design unforgettable buildings.

We believe the city's Landmarks Preservation Board should vote on Feb. 2 to make the building with the peaked roof a permanent historical building and push back at the seemingly unending supply of overpriced condos.

The 1964 building served as a well-known Manning's Cafeteria until that company ceased business in 1980s and, after Ballard residents protested its destruction, was remodeled by Denny's, then was closed last fall in the wake of the condominium plague gripping our community.

When the Landmarks board voted 8 to 1 to look again at the prime example of "Googie" architecture many in this city cheered. The developer, as you can imagine, was less cheerful, even suggesting that the slightly adorned box building they were proposing "fits in better with the city's 'urban village' concept," and suggesting they wanted to know, "If this is being used as a way to stop development - I do not know if that is the right approach."

This newspaper thinks the approach is simply to save a landmark building that has for over 40 years attracted motorists to Market Street and at the same time served as a relatively low-cost gathering place for the people who live here. We note that many over the years were directed to Ballard by suggesting "you cross over the bridge and then when you find the big, peaked-roof restaurant, turn left."

Does Ballard have to be all wall-to-wall big square buildings with a few balconies and a chain store on the street level? Do we want to live in, forgive us Pete Seeger, "ticky-tacky big boxes?"

The former Denny/Manning's can have many uses. It can be restored to the grand red dining room pictured on Page One of the Jan. 9 issue of the News-Tribune. Or, it would lend itself well as an indoor shopping center for small merchants to display their wares, even an indoor farmer's market for winter.

But the classic building should remain as a landmark for people to find Ballard and Market Street, not just a big condo across the street from a huge supermarket and a chain drugstore.

Let's keep some of the charm that used to be the real Ballard.

- Jack Mayne