When your family has lived in a place for a long time, everywhere you look are landmarks of your own memories, and those of your parents and grandparents. Sometimes the very absence of a landmark is in itself a story, but that’s a story for another time.
When we have dinner now in a restaurant called Todo Mexico on First Street, I can’t help but stare down at the river from the windows far above, trying to see the river and the river banks the way my great-grandfather would have, when he operated two very different businesses here.
My great-grandfather William Mero was a businessman in Snohomish from about 1900 until 1954. One of his businesses was the M & M Saloon, located at 1101 First St.
When Prohibition became the law of the land, my great-grandfather Billy Mero and great-grandmother Mabel turned the M & M saloon into an ice cream parlor they called The Silver King. They sold the business itself a few years later. As the Silver King it remained a favorite town restaurant for decades.
Billy Mero went on to be a contractor and builder, while Mabel had an art shop downtown. Later he was to be a county commissioner, with a road outside of town named for him. And the business at 1101 First St. is now a restaurant called Todo Mexico, in a building that is one of my personal landmarks.
This was interesting reading as I didn’t know your family history in Snohomish went back 2-3 generations and that the Silver King was built by your grandparents. Your dad was my family doctor as a kid and I road the ski bus with you an your brother in the 60’s.
Thanks, Dave, that’s nice to hear. My great-grandparents didn’t build the building, but operated the business there.
Love it. William was my grandfather. Dad was Edward Vernon Mero. We love history as well. I write history articles for our historical society website and local magazines. Just finished digitizing my dad’s show business scrapbook. My sister still lives in Los Olivos, near Santa Barbara. I am on FaceBook as Bill Mero.