George Louie, Owner Of Restaurant

When George Louie opened his Louie's Cuisine of China restaurant 13 years ago, he put on an extravaganza never seen before in Ballard: a lion's dance and a three-day grand celebration.

That was his style. Even the design and decor of the restaurant was different: a blend of Chinese, Pacific Northwest and contemporary - a far cry from the usual proliferation of heavy red-and-gold trappings.

The restaurant quickly became a favorite in Seattle, remembers his wife, Rose. But that wasn't unusual; he had knack for success.

Mr. Louie, 80, died on Oct. 13. Born in Seattle, he attended Garfield High School and graduated from the University of Washington in 1932 with a degree in economics.

He began his business career on shaky ground - taking over his father's financially troubled International District restaurant, the Chinese Garden. Washington Mutual Bank agreed to extend a loan and hold off foreclosing on the restaurant if George took over the operation.

``Our father ran the business in the old way. It just needed good management and George put his schooling to use and brought it out of the red,'' said his brother, Art.

The onset of World War II saw Mr. Louie enter the Army Air Force. He rose to the rank of master sergeant before his discharge in 1945. Over the next several years he worked for the Veterans Administration and then The Boeing Co.

In 1954 he and Rose opened their successful George Louie's on Crown Hill.

Mr. Louie was an avid golfer. He was a member of the Everett Golf and Country Club and the Cascade Golf Club, a group of mostly Chinese men who played on public golf courses. It was while playing with this group that he met Joey Ing, a Seattle architect.

``George did a lot of his business on the golf course. He asked Joey to design him a new restaurant . . . something different,'' said Rose.

Ing remembers Mr. Louie as a ``one-of-a-kind person. . . . He never got upset, whether in business or on the golf course. He always was a gentleman. He took great pains to know about you.

``He had faith in me to design a restaurant that was not a typical Chinese place . . . one that was timeless, something beyond the ordinary. We purposely stayed away from red colors. It was a not what you would expect,'' said Ing.

Ing said that Mr. Louie, his wife and their son, Steven, laid the groundwork for the design. The restaurant, just north of the Ballard Bridge, opened in 1977 and for several years was the most popular Chinese restaurant in Seattle. But tragedy struck in June 1981 when Steven Louie died in an airplane crash in Costa Rica. ``He had bought a vacation place down there and gone down to look it over and do a little fishing,'' said his mother.

A year later, Mr. Louie fell off a ladder, suffering a severe head injury. Later, he suffered from heart trouble. Rose said he never regained his health but continued to greet people at the restaurant. She and their son, Laurence, assumed responsibilities for the restaurant operation.

``Everyone knew him and he knew all the regulars by name. He will be missed by a lot of people,'' she said.

Mr. Louie was involved in a number of community activities, including the Ballard Rotary Club and the American Legion Cathy Post, and he served on the Ballard Hospital board of directors.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Louie is survived by a daughter, Dr. Georgina Louie; two brothers, Arthur and Kenneth; and two grandchildren.