Former pawnshop owner Nettie Polishuk dies at 86

Nettie Polishuk saw a lot of Seattle's history from behind the counter of a pawnshop. It was a time filled with longshoremen, penny arcades and cops who came in to purchase their handguns, said her grandson, Sandy Pearl.

The pawnshop, Central Loan, is still at 1016 First Ave., as it has been since Irman and Nettie Polishuk started it in the 1920s, although they sold the business and retired in 1976.

Mrs. Polishuk was born in Seattle on Aug. 19, 1913, and died Monday (May 29) of heart failure. She was 86.

"It was the end of an era, not only for the family, but also of the best know-it-all of the downtown area," Pearl said. "From the police chief on down, she knew them all.

"I was raised in the back of that store. It was stuff you only read about in books."

Times changed, but for generations Central Loan was a constant, Pearl said. And the heart of the store was Mrs. Polishuk, a beautiful, dignified woman, he recalled.

"She was behind a lot of the trust that you didn't see," he explained. "You didn't see that in those stores."

As an example of how Central Loan operated for more than 40 years, Pearl noted that while there was a written agreement saying goods held as collateral for loans could be sold after 90 days, the Polishuks would routinely hold items for a year or more.

"People could come back a year later, and their clothes, their suits, their toasters were still there," he said. "They'd loan money, even though they knew they weren't going to get it back."

Over those years, the Polishuks learned about a part of Seattle that was often unseen, one where women would bring in their mink coats to get money to buy a present for their husbands and where deals were made with a handshake.

Central Loan developed a reputation for dealing in firearms, Pearl recalled. The pawnshop once had one of the few existing Civil War-era Gatling guns, a machine gun.

Mrs. Polishuk was born to Esie and Rose Adelson and attended Garfield High School. She and Irman were married 63 years. Irman died in 1995.

Mrs. Polishuk volunteered regularly at the Kline Galland Home, a nursing home, and was volunteer of the year in 1995. She held life memberships in City of Hope and Hadassah. She was a member of Jewish Women International, the Children's Orthopedic Hospital Guild and Temple B'nai Torah.

She is survived by two daughters, Cookie Pearl and Sharon Wehl, both of Bellevue, and six grandchildren.

Services were held yesterday.

Donations in Mrs. Polishuk's memory may sent to the Kline Galland Home, 7500 Seward Park Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98118; or City of Hope, c/o Bernice Green, 13343 Third Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 98125.