Phoebe’s Pastry Cafe says farewell, ice cream biz expands and cafe celebrates recovery
Phoebe and Dan Martinson, the longtime owners of Phoebe’s Pastry Cafe off Cooper Point Road near the Olympia Auto Mall, are saying farewell to the cafe for other pursuits.
They recently closed a cafe on Division Street and now they’re doing the same to a location that has been around for 13 years. The last day of business is July 3, they said during an interview with The Olympian.
“I guess what I want our message to be is that we’re retiring from the food business,” said Phoebe, who has spent an entire career in an industry that began for her when she attended culinary school at 17.
“There’s some sadness, absolutely, but we’re going out on our own terms,” she said. “We’ve made a decision. We want to live differently and change the course of the next however many years we have left.”
In addition to running the cafe, Phoebe also took time to focus on herself, making a commitment to lose weight after she reached more than 300 pounds. She hired a trainer, shed more than half her body weight and shared that journey on social media, attracting thousands of followers.
“I started with a one-person follower, and it’s grown like crazy, and that has now grown into a coaching business,” she said. “I’m coaching women across the country. I’m not, you know, a fitness trainer and I’m not a licensed nutritionist, but I go on my Instagram every day and talk about the process of making decisions to change my life.”
She also has written a book about that transformation and how others can do the same.
Dan Martinson also has worked in the food business for most of his career, but he’s also a devoted collector of art, prints, posters and even bills posted on telephone/power poles.
He has a second act in mind as well.
“It’s just what I’ve always done,” he said about his collecting, “but what I’ve been doing for the last year is learning how to frame because I have collected art, loose art prints and posters. Not posters so much, but, you know, I collect funky things. You know, funky prints.”
Dan is going to combine those passions and open a business in early July called Found Art in space on Pacific Avenue in Olympia in a portion of the former Lighthouse Antiques and Crafts Mall space, he said. Lighthouse has since moved to a spot on Martin Way.
Phoebe’s Pastry Cafe is for sale, but they said they also are committed to July 3 being the last day of business. If the business sells before then, great, but it’s not their real focus, they said.
More presidential photos at Steakhouse
Downtown Olympia’s 1889 Prime Steakhouse — so named for the year Washington became a state — has added more presidential photos to a private dining room known as the President’s room. The photos are of presidents who visited the state during their campaigns or terms.
There’s a photo of President John F. Kennedy during a visit to Spokane, and one of President Ronald Reagan during a visit to Seattle. And now there are photos of President Jimmy Carter in Tacoma and President George H.W. Bush in Seattle.
Lt. Gov. Denny Heck was on hand to make a few remarks about Carter, while state Sen. Drew MacEwen, who co-owns the steakhouse, shared some thoughts about Bush.
Heck on Carter: “The thing I want to mention about President Carter is that all of this came, as he would so often say, from his religious grounds, his religious beliefs, but also because he was just a really decent human being and he treated other people the same. And boy, couldn’t we use more of that.”
MacEwen on Bush: “I have always felt a little bit of a kinship with the president. And it goes back to 1988 when I was 15. My parents were supporters of Bob Dole in the primary, and I thought, how can you not support the vice president to become president? And so I handmade a ‘Bush for President’ sign and stuck it in my bedroom window in defiance of my parents. And I won.”
Ice cream shop expands
SweetLee’s Ice Cream continues to grow. The business has a location at the Tumwater Craft District on Capitol Boulevard and recently opened a second location at 1001 Cooper Point Road SW, near Mud Bay, a pet store.
In addition to the two locations, SweetLee’s also has two food trucks, according to its website.
The hours at the new location are noon to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and noon to 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Grand re re-opening of downtown cafe
RevMo Choppers and Coffee is having a “grand re re-opening” of its downtown cafe on June 14, according to a Facebook announcement. The business is now at 606 Union Ave. SE in Olympia, but it began in a spot on Capitol Way that was damaged by a huge 2021 blaze that devoured a five-story building and damaged others on the block.
“After losing our original space to an arson in December 2021, RevMo is back!,” the post reads. “It took us four years to recover from this devastating event. We have restored all damaged motorcycles, and our cafe is finally open for indoor seating. We have a new name, a new look, and a new space!
“Come celebrate with us with a good old-fashioned ribbon-cutting event! Ride in on your custom/classic motorcycle or hot rod to the Grand RE-RE Opening of RevMo Choppers & Coffee!
“We’ll have coffee specials, pop-up shops, a swap meet of vintage motorcycle junk, and a good ol’ fashion ribbon cutting with giant scissors. Arrive at noon and join us for the photo op!”
The grand re re-opening event is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., the post reads.
New bank branch
Olympia Federal Savings is opening a branch in Chehalis later this summer, the thrift announced.
The branch, which will be located at 535 N. Market Blvd., will be a full-service financial center offering money management, savings, mortgage lending, business banking and commercial financing needs, according to a news release. It also will have an ATM accessible from the downtown sidewalk.
“It’s been 10 years since we opened our last branch, so we were very deliberate in choosing Lewis County, which is a community focused on delivering a high-quality of life and where neighbors take care of neighbors,” Josh Deck, President and CEO, said in a statement.
“We are a bank that has grown organically for the past 119 years, going where our customers have asked us to be. We’ve never purchased a bank and we’ve never been acquired by another financial institution. It’s just not who we are.”
If you know of a retailer, restaurant, coffee shop or other business that is opening, closing, expanding, remodeling, or changing its focus, send an email to reporter Rolf Boone at rboone@theolympian.com.
This story was originally published June 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
