Rainier Valley State Bank

Rainier Valley State Bank. This building housed Simeon Toby’s Rainier Valley State Bank starting in 1924. By 1938 the bank had become a branch of Seafirst Bank, in 1950 Seafirst built a new bank building across Rainier Avenue, where a wooded knoll had recently been leveled. This building became Cleo’s Apparel, a women’s clothing store that served the wives and sisters of Harold Rector’s customers (see #26). Cleo’s Apparel closed in 1991 during Columbia City’s economic decline. In 1999 a Starbucks opened here as part of a campaign by Magic Johnson to bring coffee shops to undeserved neighborhoods.