By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Affluent residents have attracted a slew of new restaurants to a neighborhood known for its old-fashioned diners -- places like the Mecca Cafe, which opened in 1929 and is said to be the oldest family-run restaurant in Seattle.

Shoo Be Doo Diner is one of the new crop. It's part of the 11 Roy Street development tucked between the Marqueen Apartments and Tower Books. Shoo Be Doo has typical daily specials -- meatloaf, pot roast, Swiss steak -- along with burgers, soups, salads and nine microbrews. It's filled with kitschy, 1950s memorabilia, movie star photos and a Marilyn Monroe mannequin.

Owner David Tarbox says it is patterned after his Maui restaurant, Peggy Sue's. He estimates he has invested $500,000 in Shoo Be Doo so far. "We looked at sites at Green Lake and Wallingford, but we were attracted to Queen Anne because of its demographics, special events (at Seattle Center) and we saw development coming," Tarbox says.

A European-style bakery will join Shoo Be Doo in October but an Asian restaurant pulled out of the project. That leaves some 6,000 square feet available, says Tom Sante, vice president and general manager of Rainier Properties, the real estate arm of Diamond Parking Inc.

One prime spot of neighborhood interest is the lot at Queen Anne Avenue North and Roy Street, across from Shoo Be Doo. The site, once home to a Union 76 gas station, has soil contaminated by leaking fuel tanks.

John Hoffman, a Queen Anne architect and member of the Community Council, says one popular idea is to reconfigure the intersection, which everyone agrees is dangerous. The intersection would become an "S curve" and eliminate one of the two banks of stoplights at the intersection. The softer-radius turn would require the use of some of the vacant lot.

The rest of the plot could be developed into a public plaza backed by a small, mixed-used project that might offer al fresco dining, Hoffman says.

Developer Bruce Lorig, who recently developed The Willis condominiums directly above the empty lot, says he, too, would love to see the intersection improved and a public space created.

Discussions have begun with the city's Parks Department and King County's transit agency but no commitments have been made.

Continued:

• Gentrification is in full swing
• Neighbors split on whether changes will be good or bad