INDIAN VALLEY — A year after a fire destroyed a newly renovated two-bedroom manager’s apartment and office of the landmark Indian Valley Motel, the owners hope to reopen for business.
The manager’s apartment was destroyed in a blaze Feb. 28 at the motel, which is next to another local landmark — Granny’s Cafe — about 13 miles west of Port Angeles on U.S. Highway 101.
Owners Terry and Carol Roszatycki, who closed the cafe for two months to complete work on the motel, hope to reopen both businesses by March 1 — if all repairs are finished.
The apartment and several motel rooms that were damaged by smoke had been newly renovated at the time of the fire, which was caused by an electrical problem.
The owners’ daughter, Angela Roszatycki, was leasing both the cafe and motel from her parents and was running them and living in the apartment in the motel, Terry said.
“It was very traumatic for her to lose everything,” he said. “So she decided to move to Seattle.
“She is working in a restaurant there and decided to get a fresh start.”
She was not at home at the time of the fire.
George, a female sheepdog, managed to open a screen door and lead Milo, a male highland terrier, out of the smoking apartment, Terry said.
Terry said he had taken the opportunity of the slow winter season to close the cafe and do some of the final touches himself.
The motel was insured, and insurance had covered some, but not all, of the costs of repairs, he said.
The rooms are already finished, he said, and the manager’s apartment lacks some details, such as carpet.
“The rooms are all new,” he said.
“Of course, they were all new right before the fire, too.”
Although the rooms are available for people to stay in now, January is a slow month — though the place is hopping during the summer season — so the couple plan to officially reopen the motel at the same time the cafe reopens.
The Roszatyckis have owned the motel and cafe since 2000.
The restaurant was opened in 1956 as a drive-through burger cafe, and the motel in 1957.
