(click to enlarge photos)

Published in The Seattle Times online on March 20, 2025
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on March 23, 2025

113-year-old Roosevelt District jewel houses tiny shops ‘of hope’

By Jean Sherrard

What do storybook characters Ferdinand the Bull, the Little Engine That Could and the subject of today’s column have in common? All are plucky, dignified survivors in a seemingly indifferent universe.

“It’s like a reverse ‘Up’ house,” says Ryan Donaldson, adding to the trope and referencing an unassuming two-story structure anchoring the corner of 65th and 16th in the Roosevelt district.

His grandmother, Lucille Moreau Mrozcek, lived and

worked here beginning in 1980. Built in 1912, the combined house and shop, once Jewel Grocery, today stands isolated in what resembles a war zone, strewn with graffiti-covered broken concrete foundations.

“For years, my grandmother refused to sell,” Donaldson says. “This place was her home, full of family history, and she wanted to preserve it.”

“Mom’s my idol,” adds daughter Barbara Donaldson. “She never let up.”

In the early 1960s, Lucille and then-husband Conrad Mrozcek opened an artists’ supply shop on “The Ave,” serving university art students and professionals. Within several years, they opened a complementary business, Seattle Auction Palace, dealing largely in art and antiques.

Following their divorce in 1968, Lucille continued working full time while raising seven children. Buying the corner house and shop near Roosevelt High School made juggling life as a working single mother tenable. For nearly 40 years, she helmed Silhouette Antiques downstairs while nurturing children and grandchildren above.

“She had a signature saying,” Barbara recalls. “ ‘You do what you’ve got to do.’ Simple as that.”

Even as investors snapped up nearby properties, Lucille was adamant, refusing to move out. “She was definitely a thorn in their side,” Ryan says.

After her death in 2020, hoping to preserve the

existing structures, her family sought a sympathetic buyer. “We put up a for-sale sign,” Barbara says, “and in walked a young couple who lived just up the street.”

The two, Jenny Gerstorff and Josh Frickberg, were thrilled at the idea of opening a business in a location with neighborhood history. After many months of DIY renovation, repair and re-use, their shared vision bore fruit.

Ravenna Rocks, featuring crystals, gemstones and a host of geologic marvels, is housed in the Silhouette Antiques space, while just upstairs, Ravenna Refills offers organic shampoos, soaps and lotions in reusable containers.

For Lucille’s offspring, the preserved place provides the perfect coda. “We get to come and visit whenever we want,” Barbara says. “It’s like adding another branch to the family.”

“With so much bad news these days,” Gerstorff says, “we’re really happy to be good news for the community.”

Ravenna Refills partner Robin Dreisbach agrees: “We’re like a little shop of hope.”

WEB EXTRAS

Ravenna Refills will be having its official grand opening celebration on Saturday, March 29th, 3-6pm. We’ll be on hand to document the event!

Click right here to watch our narrated 360 degree video of this column.

Scroll down for more photos telling this fascinating story.

And here’s an interesting coincidence, discovered by Josh Frickberg’s dad. The Pingreys – Albert and Kittie – (pictured below) who also once owned the structure and ran a grocery there, are Josh’s 7th cousins, 3 generations removed.